Watch Out!

The section begins (3:7) and ends (4:11-13) on listening to God’s word and the dire consequences that will result if we don’t (won’t enter God’s rest, will be judged).

This also connects back to the key theme of the whole letter. . . to listen to God’s superior revelation and word in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Key Point : We must guard our hearts and hear God’s voice by faith so that we can enter his rest.

Don’t Harden Your Hearts Like Israel; Guard Your Heart (3:7-19)

Israel’s Rebellion: Hardened Heart (3:7-11)

Hebrews 3:7–11 ESV

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 author uses the story of the Israelites as a warning to the Hebrews. . . they must learn from their mistakes (1 Cor. 10:1-13).

By saying, “the Holy Spirit says” in quoting Psalm 95, the author affirms the truthfulness of Scripture and that they Bible is God’s inerrant word.

Psalm 95 is a Psalm of praise that calls Israel to praise the Lord.

At the end of the Psalm, David calls the people to worship the Lord and not harden their hearts towards him like the Israelites did at Meribah when they grumbled against the Lord because they did not have water and quarreled with him.

Just as the Psalmist reminds the people of God’s great salvation in Psalm 95 and tells them to not harden their hearts, the author of Hebrews uses this Psalm to reiterate the same point to his hearers.

God has given them this great salvation through Christ. . . therefore, they must not harden our hearts like their ancestors did in the rebellion and forget the great deliverance from their sins. . . but remember their exodus from sin and the great signs and wonders God did through His Son. . . who is there apostle and great high priest.

We must do the same.

Don’t Be Like Israel (3:12-15)

Hebrews 3:12–15 ESV

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

In light of the failure of the Israelites in the wilderness who failed to enter God’s rest (the promise land), the author calls the Hebrews to “take care” or “watch/look out” lest they too fall away from the living God because of an evil and unbelieving heart.

“Take Care” is an imperative command that calls us to be vigilant and examine something very carefully so we don’t fall.

For the sermon, give an example of being very careful to walk through a field with numerous holes or land mines.

Ephesians 5:15.

But what are we supposed to “take care” of?. . . our hearts.

How can we guard our hearts?

Examining our hearts and lives.

Testing ourselves to see if we are in the faith.

What is ruling our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions?

Daily reflection, confession, and repentance.

All of these things involve aligning our lives to the truthfulness of God’s word. When we look at God’s word. . . like a mirror, we will see where we fall short and will see our need for God’s grace.

The text implies that if we don’t watch where we are going our hearts will become evil and unbelieving and we will fall away from God.

Sin is deceitful. . . meaning it is not always clear that sin appears to be evil or wrong.

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).

Sin is pleasurable. . . but it is fleeting pleasure (Heb. 11:25).

Sin is so deadly because it can blind us. . . but not only can it blind us. . . but it can blind us from our own blindness.

If our hearts are hard and our conscience is seared from sin. . . we don’t even realize we are walking in disobedience to God.

Verse 13 provides a solution to prevent our hearts from becoming hard and unbelieving and to keep us from falling away. . . exhortation.

This word communicates encouraging each other and spurring one another on.

Encouraging someone is similar to fixing a dislocated limb (Heb. 12:12-13).

This can also imply warning each other if we are tending to drift away from our faith.

We should exhort one another every day (as long as it is called today).

This is the same word used in Hebrews 10:24-25.

We need exhortation from God’s word each day.

We also need exhortation from God’s people each day.

We need to confess our sins to one another so that we can be healed (James 5:16).

In verse 14, the author once more, gives a conditional statement. . . “we have come to share in Christ IF INDEED we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

This is another call to perseverance in our faith. . . to stand firm in our faith and hold fast to our confession in Christ.

Israel’s Rebellion: Unbelief (3:16-19)

Hebrews 3:16–19 ESV

For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

The author asks three questions by looking back to Israel as an example to show what an unbelieving heart looks like.

Israel heard God’s voice, they saw God’s wonders, they experienced God’s power. . .

Yet, they still rebelled against him. . . they provoked him for forty years in the wilderness. . . they sinned against him. . . and were disobedient to his word.

These four things (rebellion, provocation, sin, and disobedience) characterize the ingredients of an unbelieving heart.

The result was that they people did not enter God’s rest.

This shows that it did not matter if Israel was part of a community favored with God’s gifts. . . if they did not respond in faith to God’s word. . . they would not enter God’s rest.

For us today, it does not matter who your parents are, if you were born in church, or born in Cleveland, TN (the Bible belt). . . if you don’t respond to God’s word in repentance and faith. . . you will not enter God’s rest.

God asked, “What else do I have to do for these people to believe in me???” (Numbers 14:11).

By Faith and in Fear, Strive to Enter God’s Rest (4:1-13)

Hebrews 4:1–2 ESV

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

Therefore, observing the unbelieving hearts of the Israelites, and because the promise to enter God’s rest still remains. . . we must “fear” or “be careful” or “watch out.”

Both us and Israel have received good news of salvation. . . you could say that we have received the complete revelation of this salvation through Christ. . . but they failed to enter the rest because the message was not united in faith.

This verse proves that it is not the hearers of the word but the doers of the word will be justified.

If one does not trust and obey God. . . it does not matter how many times they hear the good news. . . if they do not respond in repentance and faith then they will not be saved (enter God’s rest).

Hebrews 4:3–7 ESV

For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

In verses 3-7, the author hones in on the idea of God taking a sabbath rest. . . resting from his works in creation.

He quotes Genesis 2:2 saying God rested on the seventh day from all his works.

Verse 6: There remains for some to enter God’s rest because in saying”they shall not enter my rest,” God is using “they” to refer to the Israelites who hardened their hearts and rebelled against him in the wilderness. . . they will not enter God’s rest but there still remains an opportunity for the future generations to enter. . . this is why he appoints another day through David in Psalm 95 calling Israel again to not harden their hearts but believe God’s word and enter his rest.

One way we know God’s “rest” still remains is because the day of “rest” began on the seventh day when God rested from his works. . . this was before Israel could enter God’s rest in the land of Canaan.

Just as God spoke through David in Psalm 95 to not harden their hearts but trust in God and enter his rest. . . He has spoken through the true David, Jesus Christ, calling his people again to not harden their hearts but to enter his rest through faith in Jesus.

And The reason he calls us to enter that rest is because a Sabbath rest still remains. . . look at verse 8.

Hebrews 4:8–10 ESV

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Verse 8-10. . . even though Joshua brought the people into the promise land and gave them “rest” (Josh. 21:43-45) this rest was not complete. . . for if it was. . . God would not have spoken of another day of “rest” in Psalm 95. But since God has spoken of another day of rest. . . there still remains a Sabbath rest for God’s people.

The rest described would be unthreatened and uninterrupted communion with God.

Canaan was simply pointing ahead to the ultimate rest for the people of God at the end of time.

The author says later in Heb. 11:13-16 that Canaan was not the ultimate promise land for the patriarchs because they had their eyes set on a “better country.”

For the Hebrews, “resting from their works” signifies resting in the finished work of Christ for their sin through his sacrifice. The author was calling them not to go back to the temple. . . to the old sacrificial system. . . but to rest in the finished work of Christ.

This “rest” ultimately signified the completion of one’s life on earth and rest from the pilgrim’s journey through the wilderness to finally rest from one’s labors in the joys and delights of the heavenly kingdom (see Rev. 14:13).

Response (4:11-13)

Our response to God’s word tonight comes in these last few verses of chapter 4.

Since a Sabbath rest still remains. . . we must strive to enter God’s rest.

Hebrews 4:11 ESV

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

This verse provided hope to the Hebrews that entrance into God’s rest was still possible.

“Strive” is an imperative command that communicates having an intense desire and to be zealous for something. It is often used to describe an athlete who seeks to expend all of their energy to complete a task.

It is interesting that the author commands us to work hard to enter God’s rest. . . implying that we must train ourselves in our faith. We must discipline ourselves for godliness.

What does it look like to “strive to enter God’s rest” in our lives?

If we do not make every effort to enter God’s rest then we are prone to fall away by the same disobedience the Israelites demonstrated in the wilderness.

Example of athlete who does not prepare for the competition. . . or a student who does not prepare for the exam.

Hebrews 4:12–13 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

The author then gives the reason in these verses why we must strive to enter that rest. . . for if we don’t. . . God’s word will judge us and show that we have an evil and unbelieving heart.

God’s word is sharper than any two edged sword and will pierce through all the fluff that we present to others.

It will expose our true motives and true desires.

No one will be able to escape the judgment of God’s word and we will all be called to give an account to whether we listened, trusted in, and obeyed God’s word. . . or if we hardened our hearts towards his word and did not believe.

However. . . as we saw last week in Hebrews 4:14-16. . . “mercifully, this all-seeing divine judge has provided for guilty rebels a Great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God, who has experienced their temptations and now represents them before his throne-a throne of grace-in heaven.”

Just like an athlete has a coach who can them in their training or a teacher who can help a student with their exam prep. . . we have the greatest teacher and Coach in Jesus. . . who can give us the grace we need to persevere in our faith and finally enter God’s rest.

Consider and remember all that God has done for you in Christ.

How will you respond to God’s voice tonight?

As you have heard his voice tonight. . . do not harden your hearts

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