back to index2019-06-23 Warning Signs Against Apostasy Pt.1
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 3, verses 7 through 11. 00:00:22.400 |
"Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden 00:00:27.600 |
your hearts as when they provoked me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where 00:00:32.840 |
your fathers tried me by testing me, and saw my works for forty years.' 00:00:38.200 |
Therefore, I was angry with this generation and said, 'They always go astray in their 00:00:44.720 |
As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.'" 00:00:52.960 |
We pray for the Spirit of God to use the words that you have ordained and illuminate our 00:01:02.040 |
I pray that your Son's voice may be made clear, that your children may hear His voice and 00:01:08.800 |
We ask for your anointing and your blessing over this time. 00:01:14.880 |
The text that we're looking at this morning is a warning against apostasy. 00:01:21.000 |
In fact, you can say, you know, the title of the book of Hebrews is "Glorification of 00:01:26.080 |
Christ" or "Exalting of Christ" or "Fixing your eyes upon Christ," but there's a reason 00:01:31.440 |
why the author has chosen to go into detailed Christology. 00:01:37.360 |
And the reason why is because there's a danger of this church starting to slip into apostasy. 00:01:43.400 |
So what he's saying here in this text, where he says in the previous week, "Consider Christ," 00:01:48.880 |
is the reason why he is telling them to consider Christ, because of this drifting and this 00:01:58.320 |
If you've been a Christian for any period of time, and I ask you, can you think of one 00:02:02.640 |
individual that you thought, when you were younger, when you first became a Christian, 00:02:07.040 |
that that person was a genuine Christian, or he was on fire for God, but is no longer 00:02:14.480 |
I can guess, from my experience and my conversation and my own personal life, that probably, if 00:02:21.800 |
not all, most of you will be able to name at least one or many people that at one point 00:02:27.000 |
walked with the Lord, is no longer walking with God today. 00:02:29.960 |
And maybe it might even have surprised you that these people were people that led you, 00:02:35.880 |
encouraged you at one point, but they're not with the Lord anymore. 00:02:40.320 |
I remember very specifically, as a young pastor, seeing some of the people that I felt like 00:02:48.760 |
was headed toward the right direction, but various things would happen in their life, 00:02:53.040 |
and then seeing them just drift away and walk away from God. 00:02:55.960 |
And I remember early on in ministry, it felt like a punch in the gut, you know, like investing 00:03:01.960 |
so much time in prayer, meeting small groups, counseling, and then to have an event or something 00:03:09.000 |
happen and just kind of walking away from God, thinking, "Man, this is just too hard." 00:03:14.800 |
But since then, I've seen so many people walk away from their faith that it's no longer 00:03:21.280 |
In fact, it shouldn't be, but I've almost become numb to it. 00:03:26.920 |
If anything, it's more surprising to see people persevere and stay on fire for God for a long 00:03:39.960 |
Years ago, I was talking to an individual, and this young lady that used to be in my 00:03:45.360 |
college ministry, she saw me talking, and I haven't seen her in a decade. 00:03:49.880 |
So she's already gotten married, and she was in her early 30s, and she was walking by, 00:03:56.880 |
And I guess she recognized me, and she tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Hey, Pastor 00:04:04.480 |
And so I was very glad to see her, and we did a little bit of small talk. 00:04:08.140 |
And as she was walking away, she looked at me, and she said, "Oh, you guys meeting together. 00:04:13.920 |
This must be some sort of counseling session or discipleship or something." 00:04:17.280 |
And then she looked at me and said, "Oh, you're still doing the Jesus thing, huh?" 00:04:21.840 |
And then I just kind of nodded my head, just kind of in nervous laughter, and then she 00:04:26.160 |
And I remember as she was walking away, thinking, "Wow, she fell that far away." 00:04:31.040 |
Because I remember in college, she would have been one of the people that I would have chosen 00:04:34.520 |
in saying, "This person is going to be on fire for God and bear much fruit for the kingdom." 00:04:38.480 |
But whatever happened in the last 10 years, she was actually surprised that I was still 00:04:45.640 |
Every single one of you can probably think of somebody and may have wondered, "What happened? 00:04:52.280 |
How did somebody who seemed to be that committed and that focused, that sacrificial at one 00:05:02.360 |
Webster's Dictionary describes the word apostasy as an act of refusing to continue to follow, 00:05:14.240 |
Second Thessalonians 2.2, Paul warns that before Christ comes, that there's going to 00:05:20.000 |
be a mass apostasy that's going to take place before the day of the Lord. 00:05:26.160 |
Because of apostasy, according to Scripture, sometimes it's persecution, it could be false 00:05:30.920 |
teaching, temptation, worldliness, defective knowledge of Christ, sin, or simply drifting 00:05:41.920 |
That's the primary concern that the author of the book of Hebrews has in the whole book 00:05:51.680 |
There is sexual immorality, but the primary problem with the recipients of the book of 00:06:01.200 |
They were confessing Christ, but it wasn't important enough. 00:06:05.520 |
And they just started neglecting and drifting. 00:06:07.200 |
That's why the repeated command over and over again, "How shall you escape if you neglect 00:06:13.860 |
So the reason why the author is focusing all his attention on the beauty of Christ is to 00:06:20.680 |
get them back to focus on Christ and to stop drifting. 00:06:25.920 |
Paul says in 1 Timothy 4, 16, "Pay close attention to yourself and your teaching, persevering 00:06:31.320 |
in these things, for as you do this, you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for 00:06:37.040 |
In other words, he says watch your life and your doctrine, both of it, because if you 00:06:44.000 |
don't do it and you begin to slip and drift, there's consequences over salvation for life. 00:06:50.560 |
That's to say, there are some groups and some people who are very righteous in their life, 00:07:00.560 |
In fact, if you were to think of a group of people who are very committed in being moral 00:07:05.880 |
and upright citizens, you think of maybe Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses who strive, going door 00:07:13.920 |
to door, being persecuted and yelled at and mocked, and yet they're out there every week. 00:07:20.540 |
Right moral, hardworking people, yet in their doctrines about who Jesus is, they become 00:07:31.840 |
There are some people, and the concern that we have and where we live, is that people 00:07:40.840 |
If you were to ask the fundamentals of Christian faith, there are many people that surround 00:07:46.840 |
us, that can tell us about who Jesus is, about his identity, about the Trinity, about justification, 00:07:53.920 |
sanctification, glorification, yet in their life they have become apostate. 00:07:59.480 |
Their life looks nothing like what a Christian should live. 00:08:06.200 |
So there are people who have become apostate in doctrine, but there's also a great number 00:08:09.640 |
of people who have become apostate in their right doctrine, but their life has drifted 00:08:15.800 |
See the whole book of Hebrews is a book warning the church. 00:08:21.640 |
Apostasy doesn't always look like just packing up your bags and leaving and then joining 00:08:27.880 |
the secular world and saying, "You know what, I'm going to worship idols, I'm going to make 00:08:32.460 |
That's not what apostasy looks like in most cases. 00:08:34.880 |
In most cases, our hearts and our life just begin to drift, and then you wake up one day 00:08:39.720 |
realizing that maybe you don't really even believe. 00:08:44.240 |
What I want to do today and next week, we want to take a look at this text in 7 through 00:08:50.400 |
There are five things that I've kind of, you can divide it any way you want, but there 00:08:53.720 |
are five things that I want to point out about the dangers of apostasy and how it happens. 00:09:00.160 |
Today I'm going to be dealing with two of them, and then next week I'm going to be dealing 00:09:05.320 |
Initially I wanted to do all of it together, but I don't want to cram it all. 00:09:09.680 |
So today I'm going to be dealing with two of them. 00:09:11.480 |
The first two is that apostasy happens when we defer our obedience to a future date. 00:09:20.600 |
Apostasy happens when we defer our obedience to a future date. 00:09:23.560 |
Two, apostasy happens when we harden our hearts against God. 00:09:29.720 |
Number three, apostasy happens when we do not learn from the past mistakes. 00:09:35.840 |
Fourth, apostasy happens when our hearts begin to drift away from God and toward the world. 00:09:42.480 |
And then the end result of apostasy, according to scripture, is that we are not able to enter 00:09:48.280 |
So the last three part of it we're going to deal with next week, the first two we'll deal 00:09:52.400 |
So the first one, apostasy happens when we defer our obedience to the future. 00:09:59.440 |
In verse 7 it says, "Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they 00:10:03.920 |
provoked me as in the day of trial in the wilderness." 00:10:07.280 |
The word "today" is repeated over and over again, not only in the book of Hebrews, but 00:10:14.120 |
He says the exact same thing, "Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart." 00:10:18.840 |
That same phrase repeated in verse 15, chapter 4, verse 7. 00:10:25.080 |
"Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart." 00:10:28.600 |
Again in verse 13, he says, "Encourage one another day after day as long as it is called 00:10:39.800 |
There is a sense of urgency that when you hear the gospel, to respond. 00:10:44.400 |
When you hear the challenge or a rebuke or an encouragement, to respond immediately. 00:10:52.080 |
If I ask one of my children, "Hey, take out the trash on Thursday." 00:10:56.840 |
He says, "You know, I intend to take it out, but I'm going to take it out on Saturday." 00:11:00.480 |
Saturday is useless because the trash is going to be picked up on Friday. 00:11:05.520 |
So he may say, he may have convinced himself, "I'm going to do it, but the trash needs to 00:11:10.200 |
be out today, Thursday night, or else Friday, your obedience on Saturday is completely useless." 00:11:17.520 |
When God says to obey, and he calls his people to come, and we say, we don't say no, but 00:11:27.040 |
In 2 Corinthians 6, it says, "For he says, 'At the acceptable time I listened to you, 00:11:36.360 |
Behold now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation." 00:11:43.400 |
Why does obedience and response have to happen immediately? 00:11:46.640 |
Because obedience that is delayed already says that there is a disobedient heart. 00:11:53.720 |
It is not a man, it is not a heart of surrender. 00:11:56.280 |
And what we don't recognize is that we think that revelation will always be there, that 00:12:03.560 |
God's voice will always, well we have the scripture, if I don't obey today, I mean there's 00:12:08.800 |
If I don't like this church, there's a church down the street. 00:12:16.600 |
But there is a difference between revelation and illumination. 00:12:21.160 |
Illumination we have any time we want. You can wake up 3 in the morning, you can listen 00:12:25.400 |
If you don't like this church, you can go down the street and you can hear another sermon. 00:12:28.960 |
If you don't like that type of sermon, you can go to another church and hear another 00:12:32.840 |
If you don't like this pastor, you can go to the next pastor. 00:12:37.120 |
But there is a difference between revelation and illumination. 00:12:40.440 |
Revelation is the written word of God that is given that we can read and study and understand 00:12:46.000 |
Illumination is where the Holy Spirit takes the written word of God and He convicts us 00:12:53.320 |
Why the gospel is preached to the same group of people and certain people give their lives 00:12:57.360 |
to Christ and other people harden their hearts toward God. 00:13:01.940 |
You can read the scripture, one day, same passage, but God takes that passage and He 00:13:07.200 |
reveals your heart and He convicts your sins and causes you to give your life to Christ. 00:13:13.440 |
In Isaiah chapter 55, it says, "Seek the Lord while He may be found." 00:13:18.440 |
Meaning, you will always have revelation, but illumination is not constant. 00:13:25.000 |
Illumination is His kindness that leads us to repentance. 00:13:30.800 |
There's a reason why Jesus, before He preaches, says, "He who has ears, let him hear." 00:13:40.400 |
Some people have a hard time hearing, so He says, "If you can hear me, come near." 00:13:46.920 |
He's talking about people whose ears have been opened to the word of God. 00:13:51.800 |
As He was preaching, those who God has been gracious to open your ears to hear the truth 00:13:58.400 |
that He is about to preach, "He who has ears, let him hear." 00:14:04.120 |
In James chapter 4, 13-14, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to 00:14:09.760 |
such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit,' 00:14:15.040 |
yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. 00:14:18.280 |
You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." 00:14:25.720 |
We have no idea if tomorrow you will be here. 00:14:32.080 |
You have no idea if you would even have the desire. 00:14:35.920 |
In fact, the majority of people who grew up in the church never outright say, or very 00:14:42.280 |
The majority of people who go astray from God, who become apostates, typically the response 00:15:02.220 |
When I finish my school, when I get this job, when I save enough money, if I pay my bills 00:15:06.440 |
and get rid of my student loans," and there's always delay. 00:15:09.920 |
I'm planning to do it, but it's not a good time right now. 00:15:13.840 |
But what ends up happening is you have no idea. 00:15:19.840 |
And you revisit this a week later, a month later, a year later. 00:15:25.880 |
The Word of God, same Word of God is being preached, and your heart has become hearted. 00:15:34.060 |
Not realizing a delayed response was disobedience. 00:15:37.920 |
That's why he says, "Now, today, if you hear his voice, today, if you are convicted, today 00:15:45.040 |
God doesn't give you things today and then expects you to respond tomorrow. 00:15:50.960 |
Then he'll, he wouldn't talk to you tomorrow. 00:15:54.300 |
If he's preaching today, if he's calling you today, he says, "Today, now is the time." 00:16:00.520 |
Luke 17, 27-30 is describing the end times and what the world would be like when he comes. 00:16:09.120 |
They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage 00:16:13.160 |
until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. 00:16:19.180 |
It was the same that has happened in the days of Lot. 00:16:22.440 |
They were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were 00:16:25.480 |
planting, they were building, but on the day of the Lord, when out from Sodom, it rained 00:16:30.720 |
fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 00:16:33.480 |
So it will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 00:16:38.880 |
Do you notice the warning that is given about the coming of Christ and judgment that is 00:16:45.120 |
coming, that the life that's described, and there's idolatry, there's murder, there's 00:16:54.140 |
He says they're going to be marrying, they're going to be drinking, they're going to be 00:17:00.160 |
eating, they're going to be building, they're going to be selling. 00:17:06.740 |
It's going to be like everybody else in this world. 00:17:09.580 |
They're going to go to school, they're going to get married, have kids, pay their bills, 00:17:13.040 |
put some money in retirement, live a nice, comfortable life, and all of a sudden, bam, 00:17:18.800 |
the judgment is going to come, like a thief in the night, like birth pains of a pregnant 00:17:23.920 |
woman that's going to come suddenly, and all of a sudden, everything in your life is going 00:17:31.440 |
Where you and I live, the greatest danger is the chasing of the American dream. 00:17:39.760 |
That is the greatest deception, that is the greatest drain of our spiritual lives. 00:17:46.640 |
Yes, many people struggle with pornography, and that is an issue. 00:17:51.680 |
But overall, the greatest thing that is sucking the church dry is this desire to have a taste 00:17:59.640 |
of the American dream, where we are constantly fed. 00:18:04.080 |
We live in a great country where we are able to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. 00:18:09.880 |
And in and of itself, how can that be sinful? 00:18:16.420 |
Because if we're not careful, and if we're not sober, it is the pursuit of what is good, 00:18:22.900 |
the pursuit of what is good that causes us to forfeit what is the best. 00:18:32.760 |
We know the distinguished marks between chasing after the world and chasing after God. 00:18:40.120 |
But the temptation is, what's so wrong with focusing my energy on my children? 00:18:43.620 |
What's so wrong about putting money away in retirement? 00:18:47.100 |
What's so wrong about moving up ahead in life? 00:18:49.940 |
And none of that, in and of itself, is wrong. 00:18:51.740 |
But the Bible says, at the end times, before judgment comes, our life, the life of the 00:18:57.620 |
world is going to look exactly like anybody else. 00:18:59.540 |
They're just going to live as if they're going to go on forever before judgment comes. 00:19:03.700 |
That's why Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3.1, "Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word 00:19:08.180 |
of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified." 00:19:20.420 |
And he's the one who says, "I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also 00:19:25.180 |
He teaches us about predestination, about election, about adoption. 00:19:29.220 |
Why is there such an urgency to get the gospel out? 00:19:33.980 |
Because tomorrow, he doesn't know if he's going to be there. 00:19:37.180 |
He doesn't know for his generation, for those people at that time, God has called him to 00:19:45.300 |
There was a sense of urgency in his heart for the salvation of the lost. 00:19:50.140 |
But today, and again, our greatest life sucker, our greatest killer of joy, killer of life, 00:20:06.300 |
But the primary thing is this false pursuit of things that we think are going to make 00:20:13.860 |
And all it does is lead to frustration and destruction. 00:20:18.220 |
That's why he says today, it is his kindness that leads us to repentance. 00:20:24.380 |
If you hear the word of God, and it makes any sense to you, that wasn't you. 00:20:30.320 |
If you're sitting there basically saying, "Okay, you know, I got nothing to gain from 00:20:36.100 |
If you're sitting there and the word of God is convicting you in any bit, the Bible says, 00:20:40.660 |
it's his kindness that has caused you to be there. 00:20:44.660 |
He opened your ears, he softened your heart, he caused you to see. 00:20:49.540 |
It's his kindness that leads you to repentance. 00:20:52.020 |
And when God calls you to repentance, and you say, "Not now. 00:21:00.700 |
And the reason why this is so important is the next thing. 00:21:04.440 |
Mercy begins by delaying obedience, but when we delay our obedience, the second thing happens. 00:21:15.920 |
In the book of Revelations, chapter 2, the warning against the church of Ephesus, though 00:21:20.000 |
they were religiously very upright people, he says, "I have this against you, that you 00:21:29.280 |
You know, the dangerous thing in our culture is we automatically assume that if you've 00:21:34.560 |
been a Christian for a while, and the longer you've been a Christian, that your fire has 00:21:42.200 |
If you're a young Christian on fire, you give testimony, we assume that, "Oh, you're new. 00:21:48.160 |
And that's what we think about marriage, too. 00:21:50.440 |
You know, it's like, the people who are the most excited about their marriage are the 00:21:54.120 |
And if you've been married for 10 years, less. 00:22:01.280 |
Or, "I've got to train this monkey to do dishes." 00:22:03.200 |
Like, that's the way we talk, because we think that if you've been married for a long period 00:22:07.760 |
of time, your love has died, and you're just persevering, and that's sad. 00:22:17.080 |
But sad thing is, that's applied even to our walk with God. 00:22:21.080 |
When people are on fire, it's like, "Oh, when did you get saved?" 00:22:26.080 |
If somebody's been a Christian for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, you just automatically 00:22:35.480 |
You know, you're just kind of in the back, just watching. 00:22:37.840 |
Sad to say, the reason why that perspective is true is because, observably, it is true. 00:22:48.680 |
In Revelation chapter 2, it doesn't say, "You've lost your first love," as if we were carrying 00:22:53.560 |
something, and it just slipped through our fingers, and we had a hole in our pocket, 00:23:06.840 |
He says, he didn't say, "Don't let your heart be hardened." 00:23:17.400 |
You know exactly where this is going, and you chose it anyway. 00:23:21.120 |
If we delay our obedience, a year later, you're not going to be in the same place. 00:23:28.240 |
Our faith is living and active, just like the Word of God. 00:23:32.640 |
So the stream that you stand in, that is moving, five minutes later is not the same stream. 00:23:39.040 |
So when God calls you, and you say, "You know what? 00:23:41.920 |
Maybe after a little bit, maybe when our kids are a little bit older, maybe when the bills 00:23:45.420 |
are paid, and the Word of God comes, your heart is not in the same place anymore." 00:23:54.800 |
I used to sing these songs, and it used to move me and convict me. 00:24:00.680 |
I used to love the fellowship, but what happened?" 00:24:08.480 |
You may have revelation anytime you want, but illumination is by the kindness of God. 00:24:13.640 |
That's why He says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. 00:24:21.920 |
In Isaiah 64, verse 8, it says, "God is the potter, and we are the clay." 00:24:26.120 |
And the illustration is that God is the one who is molding us, and as clay, we need to 00:24:32.080 |
And that's why God continues to call the nation of Israel being stiff-necked. 00:24:36.820 |
Stiff-necked is somebody who is stiff and will not yield, will not bend. 00:24:43.800 |
I don't know how many of you have experience in making pottery. 00:24:49.320 |
I don't, but I have some experience in working with cement. 00:24:53.400 |
Cement, you add water, you know, and you pour it wherever, whatever it is that you are cementing, 00:25:03.040 |
If you make a mistake and it's lumpy, you can't come back the next day and then say, 00:25:11.540 |
So if it's not formed the way you want, you have to break it up and throw it away. 00:25:17.560 |
So that period where you pour the water and it's moldable, that's the time where you need 00:25:23.640 |
That's the time you need to mold it the way that you desire. 00:25:27.640 |
When the Word of God is taught and you are convicted, and you say, "Man, I really need 00:25:37.040 |
And then the next statement is, "Not today, tomorrow." 00:25:49.120 |
The Bible says in the book of Amos, the prophet goes to a nation of Israel who was hyper-religious 00:25:55.280 |
during that period of time, and yet they were committing all kinds of sins before God, and 00:26:01.960 |
And God kept on calling them, calling them, sending prophet after prophet, and they would 00:26:07.800 |
And as a final judgment to the nation of Israel, at the end of the book of Amos, he says, "A 00:26:12.440 |
famine is going to come, but not a famine of rain or of food or of harvest, but the 00:26:19.960 |
That they're going to be staggering from place to place, wanting to hear from God, but it 00:26:25.600 |
In other words, the opportunity for you to hear and repent has come, but now it is gone. 00:26:32.560 |
That's why I said, "Today, do not harden your heart." 00:26:37.360 |
Verse 8 and 9, "Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me, as in the day of 00:26:41.160 |
trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried me by testimony and saw my works for 00:26:48.280 |
This is a direct quote from Psalm 95, 7 through 9. 00:26:52.520 |
You know what's interesting is, David is writing this Psalm, in Psalm 95, dealing with the 00:26:57.880 |
same problem that the author of Hebrews is dealing with the problem 2,000 years ago. 00:27:03.800 |
The event that David is referring to happened 400 years before he writes Psalm 95. 00:27:09.960 |
So that particular event that they are referring to is repeated all over Scripture as an example 00:27:24.320 |
I mean, it must have been some horrendous sin that all throughout Scripture, that this 00:27:30.640 |
becomes the example of Israel's rebellion against God. 00:27:35.800 |
The text that they are referring to, or the event that is referring to, is located in 00:27:41.800 |
And this is the event that David is referring to, and this is the event that the author 00:27:48.000 |
Now normally I don't like to read long texts, but I think we need to understand the context 00:27:52.960 |
of this verse, because this is used as a primary example of warning of what not to do. 00:28:06.560 |
Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of 00:28:10.200 |
sin according to the command of the Lord and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water 00:28:17.720 |
Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink." 00:28:22.000 |
And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? 00:28:26.440 |
But the people thirsted there for water, and they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why 00:28:30.920 |
now have you brought us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with 00:28:42.240 |
Of all the examples, of all the examples that can be given about the rebellion and stiff-neckedness 00:28:48.840 |
of Israel, what is mentioned here is innocuous. 00:28:55.040 |
I mean, of all the things that you can talk about, about the rebellion of Israel, they 00:29:01.040 |
were thirsty and they said, "Give me some water." 00:29:05.400 |
I mean, the whole book of Psalms is about crying out to God. 00:29:25.880 |
What is it that they were doing that is being used as a primary example of Israel's rebellion 00:29:33.480 |
Verse 4, "So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, 'What shall I do to these people? 00:29:39.640 |
Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders 00:29:43.560 |
of Israel, and take in your hands your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 00:29:48.840 |
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, 00:29:53.400 |
and there will come out of it that the people may drink.' 00:29:56.960 |
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 00:29:59.860 |
He named the place Masah and Merjbah, which literally means to test or to quarrel with 00:30:06.760 |
This is because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, because of the test of the Lord, 00:30:13.640 |
Let's dig a little bit further, what he says. 00:30:16.280 |
Hebrews chapter 3, 8-9 was a direct quote from Psalm 95. 00:30:20.240 |
He says, "As in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tried me by testing me." 00:30:26.920 |
You notice that in this basically same sentence, the word trial and tested is mentioned three 00:30:34.920 |
The first two are from the same root word, and it is neither positive or negative. 00:30:40.120 |
It's just like when you test something to prove something, to see the quality of something. 00:30:44.920 |
That's the word that is used here, to try or to test. 00:30:48.320 |
The word for testing is a different word, but again, it is not neither positive or negative, 00:30:57.400 |
Now all of that is just kind of a setup to help us understand this text. 00:31:01.760 |
What he is saying here, what David is saying, and it is quoted by this passage, is God was 00:31:07.500 |
bringing the nation of Israel through the wilderness to prove them, to test them. 00:31:13.800 |
Just like it says in the book of James, "Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds." 00:31:19.320 |
That God is using that to prove the genuineness of your faith. 00:31:24.080 |
He says that's what God was doing to the nation of Israel, but what did they do? 00:31:29.940 |
They took that proving, turned it around, and they tested God. 00:31:35.840 |
They turned it around saying, "And here's where the problem lies." 00:31:41.400 |
It's not simply that they were thirsty and saying, "God, where is this water?" 00:31:47.800 |
They tested him, "And is the Lord among us or not?" 00:31:53.160 |
They were testing God and saying, "If you are real, if you are really among us, why 00:32:02.700 |
So God was causing them or proving their faith. 00:32:06.220 |
They turned it around and they began to point finger at God. 00:32:13.400 |
On the surface superficially, it looks innocuous. 00:32:19.440 |
Who wouldn't be complaining if you have young children and they are not able to drink water? 00:32:27.280 |
The whole book of Psalm is a pleading before God before that. 00:32:33.000 |
But their sin and their rebellion was they look at their circumstance and when they were 00:32:43.720 |
When they were squeezed, what came out was unbelief. 00:32:47.140 |
And that's what he is referring to, that they were stiff-necked. 00:32:50.320 |
In Deuteronomy 6, verse 14, it says, "You should not put the Lord your God to the test, 00:32:59.880 |
Luke chapter 4, verse 12, when Jesus is being tested, he answered in quoting that passage, 00:33:04.480 |
it is said, "You should not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at 00:33:06.480 |
And then they turned the tables around and say, "Why are you doing this to me?" 00:33:10.580 |
And what was revealed when they got squeezed was what they valued. 00:33:24.000 |
And when God didn't give them what they wanted, they questioned him. 00:33:31.840 |
Do you see the danger and how dangerous this is? 00:33:35.600 |
That on the surface it looks very innocent, but behind that God saw apostasy. 00:33:41.980 |
And why that is used over and over and over and over again as an example that we do not 00:33:51.400 |
While they were drinking, while they were marrying, while they were eating, while they 00:33:54.720 |
were buying, while they were selling, the judgment came. 00:34:04.760 |
Because the sins of us drifting away from God, it seems innocuous. 00:34:11.260 |
And everything seems okay until trials come and then it reveals what you really value. 00:34:21.340 |
We were committed to the same things we were committed before we became Christian, but 00:34:29.500 |
Their hearts became so hardened that they no longer recognized God as God. 00:34:37.740 |
You know, this week I was reading an article that was so ridiculous. 00:34:44.160 |
And it's just amazing to me how somebody could fall away this far. 00:34:50.840 |
Don't nod your head because I don't want to hear it. 00:34:53.940 |
I've never watched the show, but I understand the premise. 00:34:56.600 |
You know, they choose a pretty girl, they get ten decent looking guys, and then she's 00:35:04.020 |
And in that process, there's a lot of sexual activity that takes place, at least according 00:35:10.560 |
But the reason why this made the news was because this one young lady, and I forgot 00:35:15.200 |
her name, was professing to be a practicing Christian. 00:35:20.000 |
And there's rumors that were going around that in the context of choosing which bachelor 00:35:25.240 |
that she was going to choose, that she was sleeping around with different guys. 00:35:29.000 |
So they asked her, "How are you able to do what you're doing as a professing Christian?" 00:35:56.680 |
Christ is being used to help her with whatever it is that she is pursuing. 00:36:02.040 |
And if we're not careful, if we're not paying attention, we're not sober, we can easily 00:36:10.960 |
I mean, if you're struggling with pornography, no one's going to fight against that. 00:36:16.520 |
And you're seeking help, you're getting counseling. 00:36:22.800 |
We know when you're coveting and slandering and it is sinful before God. 00:36:27.840 |
But the most dangerous sins are the sins that we have compromised and we've allowed and 00:36:37.160 |
And it allows us to slowly drift away from God. 00:36:40.720 |
And next thing you know, you're nowhere near God. 00:36:42.640 |
And you can say something like this without blinking an eye. 00:36:52.760 |
There's a reason why Exodus chapter 17, 1 through 7 is used as a primary example of 00:37:01.200 |
I mean, Israel at one point in their history, sacrificed their children. 00:37:09.080 |
Like open idolatry, Asherah worship, Baal worship. 00:37:16.320 |
I mean, consider all the sins that they committed that the author and David could have chosen 00:37:21.500 |
to say, "Do not be like the nation of Israel. 00:37:29.840 |
But that's not what he chooses as a primary example of their rebellion. 00:37:33.640 |
So when they got squeezed, they turned their finger toward God. 00:37:48.860 |
Matthew chapter 13, 14, 16 says, "In their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, 00:37:54.380 |
which says, 'You will keep on hearing, but will not understand. 00:37:58.620 |
You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. 00:38:01.540 |
For the heart of this people has become dull. 00:38:04.580 |
With their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would 00:38:09.140 |
see their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return, and 00:38:16.600 |
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear." 00:38:20.180 |
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. 00:38:27.100 |
It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. 00:38:34.860 |
When your children are grown up, not only will your hearts be hardened, so will your 00:38:42.100 |
Religious activity does not raise up godly children. 00:38:48.420 |
Religious people are the hardest people to reach with the gospel because they think they 00:38:54.100 |
I shared with you last week, if you asked me before I became a Christian, "What do 00:38:59.220 |
I would have given you an orthodox answer because I memorized scripture. 00:39:03.300 |
Because I went to VBS, I never missed church, but I had no idea who Jesus was. 00:39:09.500 |
If we delay obedience, in God's eyes, it's disobedience. 00:39:14.940 |
And we are hardening our heart to the point where we wake up one day and the word of God 00:39:24.980 |
And it sounds like nothing more than instructions on building IKEA furniture that you have no 00:39:43.620 |
If you gave all your life to Christ today, how will your life be different? 00:39:51.660 |
If you gave all of it and Christ was Lord of all of your life, how will it change your 00:40:00.980 |
How will it change the way you handle finances? 00:40:04.040 |
How will it change the way you choose who you marry, where you work, what you pursue? 00:40:15.380 |
But if you think to yourself, "Man, if I really gave my life, it would be this different." 00:40:21.220 |
Then the next question is, "Then haven't you delayed obedience?" 00:40:31.180 |
You know that God is speaking to you in certain areas of your life. 00:40:37.500 |
You know that that's something that God wants you to surrender. 00:40:46.180 |
Some of you are sitting here with your hearts so hardened that all you can think about is 00:40:58.220 |
That most of you, that your hearts have become soft enough that when you hear His voice that 00:41:03.420 |
you would respond, that you would not harden your heart. 00:41:06.820 |
That it is the kindness of God, the fact that you're sitting here and listening, and if 00:41:10.900 |
you're convicted even a little bit, that that wasn't you. 00:41:14.500 |
You didn't wake up this morning and say, "I'm going to have a soft heart. 00:41:16.700 |
I'm going to open my ears so that I can hear." 00:41:19.340 |
God, in His grace, allowed you to be here and hear His Word. 00:41:23.660 |
And for you to understand even a bit of it, it's because of His kindness that is leading 00:41:27.860 |
And if you say not now, you will leave this room with a hardened heart, and next week 00:41:38.140 |
And that is why He says today, today, not tomorrow, not tonight, today, if you hear 00:41:49.020 |
Let me ask our worship team to come and take some time to lead us in prayer. 00:41:58.780 |
If you have caught yourself in your heart, you've been wrapped up in your studies, in 00:42:02.740 |
your goals, in your family, relationships, whatever it may have been, but your heart 00:42:07.660 |
has become so hardened that the Word of God is no longer penetrating, take some time to 00:42:18.100 |
Open my ears that I may hear, that I may follow my Savior." 00:42:23.140 |
So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.