Jesus is our Rest

Do you know what’s the most dangerous place on earth? Could it be Syria? Syria is ranked first as the most dangerous place in all the world. The reason why is that people live in a constant fear of death because of ongoing war and violence. Same could probably be said of the Gaza Strip right now. Maybe its Snake Island in Brazil. Snake Island is overrun by the Lancehead Viper, whose venom is so powerful that it can melt human flesh. Or maybe the most dangerous place on earth is North Korea, who consistently holds first place for the most human rights abuses in the world. What do you think? Could North Korea be the most dangerous place on earth?

What if I were to tell you that it is none of these? What if I were to tell you that the most dangerous place on earth is actually a worship service where the gospel is preached. Do you want to know why? Here’s why: You can hear the good news of what God has done to save you by giving His Son Jesus Christ to die in your place – you can even affirm that it’s true – But if you never do anything about it; if you keep putting God off; if you keep asking God to prove Himself to you, but never really taking a step of faith to put your trust in Jesus – you are in danger of hardening your heart toward God and walking away from Him forever. That’s what makes a gospel preaching church such a dangerous place. For if you are always hearing the good news but never acting on it, you will eventually harden your heart toward God and walk away forever. That’s the sobering reality of rejecting Jesus. If you hear the good news found in Jesus, and then reject Him, you’ll never enter the rest God wants to give you in Jesus.

Now, why would I bring up this sobering reality this morning? Well, that was what was happening among the Hellenistic Jews at the time the author of Hebrews wrote this letter. There were those who heard the good news about Jesus, but they were refusing to believe in Jesus, and instead, were returning to their Jewish religion, and putting their hopes in their good works, and not in what God had done for them. So, by rejecting Jesus, they were rejecting God. Why does this matter for us? The same thing happens today. There are many people today who hear the good news about Jesus, but they’re not willing to put their trust in Him. As a result, they are putting themselves in a place of danger with the living God. And God doesn’t want anyone to be in that place. So, today, as we return to the letter to the Hebrews, we’re going to see that God wants us to be aware of the dangers of an unbelieving heart, and what we can do about it to ensure that we will always keep the faith. So, if you brought your Bible with you today, let me encourage you to find Hebrews 3:7-19, where God’s Word gives us two warnings from Israel’s failures, that if we heed them, will help us to keep believing, and find our rest in Jesus. Let me give you a warning right up front. This is a serious message God wants us to hear. So, here’s the first warning.

Warning #1 When you hear God’s voice, respond to Him in faith: So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.” Hebrews 3:7-9 This first warning has three parts to it, followed by the example of Israel’s hard-hearted unbelief.

The first part is this: This is a warning that comes from God speaking to us through the Holy Spirit. God is speaking right now to those who have heard God’s truth but are refusing to take the step of faith and trust in Jesus. What God’s Word is saying to you right now is “Listen up. What I’ve got to say to you is a matter of life and death.” In other words, what God spoke then, He speaks to you today. That’s the beauty of God’s Word. It’s timeless. And it’s living. “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.” Hebrews 4:12 So, right now, God is speaking to those who have heard the truth about Jesus, but because of your love of sin, or your fear of what others might say, or some other excuse you may have, you are on the fence about Jesus. You may even like what you’ve heard, but you are putting off trusting in Him. So, God is saying, “Listen up!” “I’m speaking to you today about your unbelief.

That leads us to the second part of this warning: A few things. First of all, the Holy Spirit is saying, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” When God says, “today” God is calling you to a sense of urgency. You need to make a choice, and you need to do it soon, or you will go the way of Israel. If you have heard the truth about Jesus Christ, if you know what God has done for you by sending Jesus to die for you, you need to act on it, now, today! Be careful about putting this off. God’s Word says, “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 No one knows if you will have another opportunity to decide. If you put off choosing to trust in Jesus until sometime in the future when you “might be ready,” that time may never come. So, you need to listen to what God is saying to you today. You need to be careful not to do what Israel did when she heard God’s truth and refused to act on it.

Which leads to the third part of this warning: “do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion” Hardening their hearts to God is what Israel did. How did they harden their hearts? They kept refusing to trust God. They kept testing God to see if He would come through for them. And every time they tested Him, their hearts grew harder to God. That’s what the illustration from Israel’s history is all about. Let me read this for us: Do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.” That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So, I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” Hebrews 3:7-11 What the author gives us here is a summary of Israel’s unbelief. God delivered them at the Red Sea, but rather than thank Him, they immediately began to complain, wishing they were back in Egypt. Then God provided Manna from heaven, but they continued to complain and engage in acts of disobedience. Then in Exodus 17 we read, Then whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So, they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” Exodus 17:1-2 This is a perfect example of their hardness of heart: They were not trusting God for water in faith; they were demanding water from God as their due and as a test to see if He really could or would provide it. Their real purpose is spelled out a few verses later: “They tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Exodus 17:7.

God had been providing for them all along; they had abundant evidence of His power and care. But they would not put their full trust in God, so they kept saying, in effect, “God, just do this one more thing for us so we’ll know you’re real.” But when He protected them again or provided for them again, they still refused to believe. “Don’t be like these people,” pleads the author of Hebrews. “Don’t make excuses for not believing; don’t harden your hearts to God like they did – or you will lose your opportunity like they did.”

So, what should we take away from this warning? First, of all, we must recognize that a complaining spirit is always an indicator of unbelief. If we grumble about God’s handling of our affairs, it may be because we doubt his goodness, or even His power to help and protect us – in short, we doubt His worthiness to be trusted as our God.

Secondly, complaining is a symptom of a deeper spiritual problem. If we grumble and complain, we show that we really don’t know our God. This was exactly God’s diagnosis of Israel: ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ Hebrews 3:10

Thirdly, and most importantly, if you are still on the fence about Jesus, stop testing God, stop looking for more evidence from God to prove that He is trustworthy. He’s already given us the evidence of His love in giving us Jesus. As Paul wrote, But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Stop putting God off and put your trust in Jesus. Don’t miss the opportunity God has given you today. Now, let’s look at the second warning:

Warning #2 See to it that you cultivate a faithful heart See to it, brethren, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:12-13 Again, there’s a few key terms we need to unpack in order to grasp how important it is for us to cultivate a faithful heart.
The first term is this: “See to it,” is the Greek Word for “beware.” It is a present imperative – a command, that is meant to be obeyed continually. It is stated as a warning that should be taken seriously. It means we must take the initiative to protect our hearts from unbelief. And we must continually do this.

Second, the word “brethren.” The word “brethren” it is not a reference to Christians, as “holy brothers and sisters” in verse 1. It refers to Jewish brothers who had a knowledge of Jesus but were not believing in him.

Thirdly, the description “a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” This turning away was actually a turning back to Judaism – after having heard of the grace of God to them in Jesus, the forgiveness found in Jesus, the new life found in Jesus, they were rejecting what God had given them in Jesus. They were going back to life under the law… this is the definition of a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from God. FF Bruce explains this turning back in these terms. He says, “It would not be a mere return to a position previously occupied, but a gesture of outright apostasy, a complete break with God. For those who had never been illuminated by God’s final revelation of Himself in Christ, Judaism provided a means of access to God – shadowy and imperfect as it might be. But for those who had received the illumination of the gospel – to renounce it in favor of the old order which the gospel had superseded would be a form of the irretrievable sin – the sin against light.”

So, sin described here is simply the sin of unbelief. One writer says, “The greatest sin in the world is unbelief. It is the greatest offense against God and brings the greatest harm to ourselves. When you have heard the truth of Jesus Christ, when you have acknowledged that it is the truth, and then turn your back and walk away from Him, there is nothing God can do. Once you have heard the gospel and understood its claims, and then say no to Jesus Christ, you have fallen away.”

So then, what are we to do with this warning? God is pretty clear. We are to encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.’ Hebrews 3:13

This command to “encourage” is from the Greek parakaleo, a form of the word used by Jesus of the Holy Spirit. It means coming alongside to give help. The writer is saying to the believers among those to whom he is writing, “Get alongside each other and help each other.” Don’t let your friends, especially those who have not yet trusted in Jesus, go it on their own. Come alongside them and help them to keep learning about Jesus, so that they will put their trust in Him, and not go back to their old ways.

The problem these Hebrews were facing and what many people face today, is that it is easy to go it alone. One of the greatest strategies of the evil one is to keep seekers or even new believers isolated from mature believers. In that way, he can get them to go back to their old habits, back to their old ways of doing things, and convince them that they don’t really need to trust in Jesus.

Listen again to how F.F. Bruce explains this: “The exhortation to mutual encouragement was wise: in isolation from fellow-believers each individual among them was more liable to succumb to the subtle temptations which pressed in from so many sides, but if they came together regularly for mutual encouragement the devotion of all would be kept warm and their common hope would be in less danger of flickering and dying. In isolation each was prone to be impressed by the specious arguments which underlined the worldly wisdom of a certain measure of compromise of their Christian faith and witness; in the healthy atmosphere of the Christian fellowship these arguments would be more readily appraised at their true worth and recognized as being so many manifestations of “the deceitfulness of sin.” The point is simply this: every believer needs encouragement, and every seeker of Jesus needs it even more. Being together in worship, or in a Journey Group, we can have our hope rekindled, we can be reminded of God’s mercy and grace in Jesus, so we can better handle the constant bombardment of temptations and deceptions we all face. The author of Hebrews is saying, “We are better together than apart. We can fan the flame of faith when we’re together. We can gain strength when we are weak. And we can battle the deceptions of the evil one, so that none of us will be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”

All this to say, is that the devil doesn’t want anyone to believe in Jesus or keep believing in Jesus. He doesn’t want anyone connected to God’s family. He wants you isolated and alone, so he can destroy your faith. He cannot take away your salvation, once you have put your trust in Christ. For Jesus is very clear on this: “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24 But he can render your faith meaningless by deceiving you and getting you to walk away from the Church. And if he can do that, then he can get you to live like an unbeliever. So, the author of Hebrews reminds of how true faith begins and how we keep the faith by saying: We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? Hebrews 3:14-16

In other words, the writer of Hebrews warns his readers not to go backwards once they’ve come to know who Jesus truly is. So, he shows us three examples of how the Israelites failed in their unbelief – to remind us of the dangers of drifting in our faith. The first example is this: a good beginning does not guarantee a good ending. We see this in verse 16, “Who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?” These people had seen the great miracles in Egypt, and especially the parting of the Red Sea. Yet when they experienced hardship, they turned away. Even the most impressive of beginning does not guarantee perseverance in the faith.

Second, we learn here How dreadful it is to become hard-hearted toward God. Listen to verse 14, And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter His rest if not to those who disobeyed? So, we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Hebrews 3:15-19 It’s a dreadful thing to be hard-hearted toward God, for when you hear His Word, but then do nothing with it, forget it, never apply it – you may end of like Israel did, and never enter God’s rest. What happened to Israel because of their hard-heartedness is that they wandered the desert for forty years and died never being able to enter the promised land.

And finally, we learn here the reality of God’s wrath against sin. God was angry with those who rejected Him. This word “angry” does not mean simply unhappy or disappointed. It means being vexed, wrought up, incensed. God was extremely angry with Israel’s sin. These stubborn Israelites resisted and rejected Him over and over again, so finally He rejected them. He refused to allow them to enter the rest He wanted to give them. Such is the sad reality of their hardness of heart. Their refusal to ever really believe in God forfeited the blessing God wanted them to enjoy. Tragic.

So yes, these two warnings from Israel’s failures serve as a sober reminder to us today of how important it is to not simply hear the good news about Jesus, but to hear the good news about Jesus and put your trust in Him. When we deny Jesus, we deny God. So then, when we refuse to receive what God so graciously gives us in Jesus, we put ourselves in a dangerous place. We risk the rejection of God. And I for one, don’t believe anyone wants to put themselves in that place. So, listen to the Holy Spirit. He says, “Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts. Do not turn your back on God’s grace. Do not test God and make Him prove Himself to you. Instead, take a step of faith and do this:

Make Jesus your Rest Put your trust in Jesus. He’s done it all for you. He’s taken away your sins. He’s removed God’s wrath if you are willing to believe. So, believe! Believe God has provided forgiveness, reconciliation and new life for you in Jesus. Receive His gift by faith. And you will have rest. For the writer of Hebrews says, 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. Hebrews 4:1 Jesus is God’s offer of rest. When you trust in Him, there will be no more striving, only rest. Let me ask you: Do you hear His voice? Are you ready to trust in Jesus? Then believe In God’s Son, and you will have rest.