Hebrews 3:5-19,
>>> Do Not Harden Your Hearts <<<
5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;
6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
7 ‘Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
8 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
9 WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED ME BY TESTING ME,
AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.
10 “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,
AND SAID, ‘ THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART;
AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;
11 AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
‘ THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’ ”
>>> The Peril of Unbelief <<<
12 Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.
13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end;
15 while it is said,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN
YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.”
16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?
19 And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
The Israelites who had been freed from slavery doubted God’s promise to sustain them in their struggles in the desert; thus they were disobedient because of their unbelief. Likewise, Christians who doubt God’s promise to sustain them in their struggles against sin are also disobedient because of their unbelief.
Hebrews 4:8-13,
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.
9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Just as the Lord, after saving the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe, He will also destroy those of the spiritual Israel who don’t hold fast to their confidence and the boast of their hope firm until the end. We must therefore be diligent to press through each fiery trial of our faith, learning endurance and obedience, in order that we may glorify God and partake of the inheritance of the saints. (See Hebrews 3:6; Jude 5; Hebrews 6:11; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 Corinthians 6:20.)
Hebrews 12:7-10,
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.
11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
Jesus is the source of eternal salvation to those who obey Him, Hebrews 5:8-9.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
Please weigh everything I say on the scales of the word of God.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
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