If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 through 19. Hebrews chapter 3 verses 12 through 19. Take care brethren that there not be in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end. While it is said today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me. For who provoked him when they had heard? Indeed did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

And with whom was he angry 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 not able to enter because of unbelief.

Let's pray. Gracious Father we thank you for your patience. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you for the cross. We thank you for giving us eternal life. We pray Father that your word would speak to us. Soften our hearts, open our eyes. That we would be willing Father God not only to listen but to apply all that you give.

We pray that what you have intended with these words that in our generation Lord God that we would heed it, that we would apply it, and that we would be sanctified. And so we entrust this time to you that your name may be exalted in Jesus name we pray.

Amen. You know in the last few months I've been visiting the doctors quite a bit. Again not necessarily because something specifically is wrong but because our church changed insurance from HMO to PPO so I had to find new doctors and every time you visit a doctor they do the exact same thing.

You know whatever it may be just a routine checkup and they first they weigh you and then they take your blood pressure. And then so they go off that information and they ask a few questions and then if the questions come back and there's anything concerning they'll ask you to do blood tests.

And then if the blood test comes back and then they see some problems from that they'll give diagnosis and ask you to visit other doctors and go see a specialist in certain things. And it's almost true of any doctor you go to no matter even if you have a stubbed toe you'll go in they'll weigh you and then they'll take your blood pressure.

Just to kind of examine that there might be something that points to something and that's usually what I experience when we go to the doctors. Well the text that we're looking at the whole book of Hebrews is really the author is like a physician who's carefully examining this church to see where they're going astray.

We have seen and you'll continue to see there is no specific doctrine that they are rejecting in Christ. Their primary problem was their Christian life with the pressure that was coming from the world was starting to get to them and so they were slowly beginning to drift back into their old life.

Now to them because their old life was Judaism that's what they were struggling with and that's why the author systematically puts the supremacy of Christ in every chapter that he's above the angels above Moses above the high priest above the sacrificial system above the sacrifices itself. But his what he is doing is carefully examining this church to see what is causing this drift and ultimately to warn them that if they don't catch themselves from this drift that eventually they're going to find they may find that they don't really have faith at all.

And then it warns in the at the end of it says because of their unbelief that they did not enter the rest. Now chapter 3 ends with this warning it started this section in chapter 3 began with this warning and then it ends with this warning with a nation of Israel.

Verse 16 for who provoked him when they had heard indeed did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses in other words they were exposed to all that God had for them. They ate miraculous food and then when that wasn't enough God gave them quail God opened up the ground and gave them fountains of water.

They were the ones who walked through the Red Sea and saw God's power. They saw all that God had done but at the end their behavior provoked him. Verse 17 and with whom was he angry for 40 years. Was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness.

Again it was not a one time event. This was characteristics of this group for 40 years. They were constantly grumbling before God and to whom did he swear that they would not enter their his rest but to those who are disobedient. Even though they were Israelites even though they were even though they were God's covenant people that their constant grumbling before God caused them to fall away.

So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. It is a small small things that we see in our life that if we're not careful that causes us to drift. So this text that we're looking at this morning I'm going to divide it into three parts where he encourages us and warns us about this drifting toward apostasy.

So there's three encouragement one to take care. We'll look at that first. We're going to spend most of our time on that and then two to encourage one another and then third to persevere. So to take care to encourage and to persevere. So let's take a look at the first one.

This warning against apostasy he says take care brethren that there not be any of you evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. The word take care literally is blepo which means to look. It's the future tense of optonomi. So those of you who are optonomist and you know that that's where the word comes from.

It basically means to take a careful look in the King James version just says to take heed. New King James it says to beware and I.B. it says to see to it. But basically it means to carefully look. I think that Chinese character for be careful kind of captures that idea.

Those of you guys who know Chinese I know probably half the room probably know some Chinese and the Chinese word for be careful is Xiao Xing. In the service I said Xiao Xin and then I got rebuked by a bunch of people. Xiao Xing. And Xiao Xing literally means small heart.

Small heart. So why would be careful like if you go to a bathroom saying be careful they'll say Xiao Xing on it. So when I first learned of this word like why would the Chinese word for be careful be small heart. Well I googled it. And I probably could have just asked anybody at our church but I googled it.

And basically the idea behind it is the heart meaning to take care. To take care small small things take care. Does that make sense. Pay attention to detail. That's basically what it means to be careful. That's a literal word for be careful in Chinese. Xiao Xing. That's exactly the idea behind this word blepo in Greek.

It means to be careful and to watch out. Because often times it is the small things that we kind of sweep under the rug. That we don't think it's a big deal. You could think about all the things that the Holy Spirit could have used as an example of the rebellion of the nation of Israel.

There were period in Israel's history where they sacrificed their own children. They went after idols. They defiled the temple of God. I mean you could say if you look at the totality of Israel's history the 40 years out in the desert was probably the highlight of Israel's history. That's when they were the most obedient.

It wasn't until they went into the promised land where the outright idol worship began to just take break out. But all throughout scripture it is the time in Israel's history in the 40 years out in the desert is used and highlighted, repeated over and over again as an example and a warning against apostasy.

But the primary problem with the nation of Israel is a constant discontent with God. That if they were thirsty they were hungry and if they were hungry they didn't have meat. How far? Why did God bring us out here? And we saw that a few weeks ago. That it didn't take much from the very beginning, even before they were delivered, there was grumbling that was taking place.

Even after they came out of the Red Sea and they would break out into worship just a few days later. They would break out into grumbling, "Why did he bring us out here? Moses goes up into the mountains, he doesn't come down soon enough." And then they break out and they make golden calves and begin to worship it.

Out of all the things that God could have chosen as an example, as a warning against Israel's apostasy, it was what seems innocuous at first look. That's chosen as a primary example. And the reason why is because the root of rebellion started with that. The reason why they went after idols and worshipped other gods, it started out with a discontent and unbelief in their heart that was expressed through their grumbling.

Isn't that exactly what Jesus says in Matthew 5, 27 and 28? You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Now the Bible is not saying that the person who actually committed adultery versus somebody who's struggling with lust is equally sinful.

And what he is saying is that small root of lustful thoughts and lustful look that you compromise and say, "Well, it's not a big deal because I didn't commit the physical act." That is the root of adultery. And that's why that is highlighted again in James chapter 4, 1 through 2.

Watch what he says, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you is not the source of your pleasures that wage war in your members. You lust and you do not have, so you commit," what? "Murder." Did you see what he did? He went from coveting to murder.

He said it is this desire that you have that is unmet, that's frustrated, which is causing the quarrels. It's waging war within our members. And then when you get frustrated enough and it bears enough fruit, not only does it cause conflict, it says the root of murder is this envy.

You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. And the reason why people cannot ask is because they know that the desires of their heart has nothing to do with God. That's why they do not ask. In fact, if you look at the Ten Commandments, it starts out by saying, "Thou shalt not have no other gods before me." I use the King James Version because it has more authority.

At least it sounds more authoritative than "Don't do this." That's the way I memorized it when I was young. "Thou shalt not have any other gods before me." But if you look at the Ten Commandments, why did the Israelites struggle with idolatry? What caused them? After all that God has done for them, after everything that they saw from God, why would they in their right mind, when they got into the land of Canaanites, did they constantly struggle with idolatry?

Answer is pretty simple. It was a desire, a coveting of their heart. When God didn't provide the rain and they got frustrated, when they looked at the Canaanites or the people of the land and they seemed like they were doing fine and they were having many children, they began to worship Asherah.

They began to worship Baal because they were the gods of fertility. So if God is not going to answer, then I'll go this path. So the root of idolatry was coveting. They saw what other people had and they wanted it, and so if God wasn't going to give it to me, I'm going to worship this idol.

First Commandment. The defilement of the First Commandment is a small root of coveting in their heart that they are allowed to continue to percolate and to grow in their hearts. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any other graven image." That Second Commandment basically is worshiping God, but then worshiping Him in the way you want to worship Him.

Creating a God in your own image and worshiping Him. Why do you think that the health and wealth gospel is so popular around the world? They have the same Bible. They supposedly have the same gospel, and yet they believe that if you believe in Jesus Christ that God's going to make you healthy and wealthy.

Why is this false gospel so popular around the world? Because of the coveting of their heart. They create a Jesus. They call Him Jesus. They read the same scripture, but it's not the Jesus of the Bible. At the root of the defilement of the Second Commandment is coveting. They want Jesus to give them what they want, and if they don't, they'll create another Jesus.

"Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain." Every single one of these commandments, the root cause is because of a desire of their heart. Why do they use the Lord's name in vain? Today, we only think of it as saying, "God something," and using it as a curse.

But really, the application of verse 3, the prohibition of verse 3 is not using the Lord's name and pursuing things and giving credit and saying that this is for God. And the perfect example of that is in the Middle Ages, the Christian Crusades. They're angered by what the Muslims did, and they're going to retaliate.

And so they went there, and they did exactly, you know, like committed some horrendous acts under the banner of Christ. And that's what that means. So what was the root of that? Anger. Coveting. Just like James says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," coveting someone else's wife. "Thou shalt not steal," coveting what other people have.

"Thou shalt not bear false witnesses." Again, in James chapter 2, "Thou shalt not covet." In the end, all of the Ten Commandments ultimately point to the rebellion of Adam and Eve. God gave them everything, created them for the purpose of worshiping God and giving credit to God. Instead, they saw God's glory and said, "I want some." That was the root of Adam and Eve's sin.

And that was the root of Satan's sin. It may seem small and insignificant, but you and I live in a generation where coveting is rampant. We have phones, and we look at our social media, we are constantly bombarded by other people's best parts of their life. You don't put your failures, or you don't put when you had a hard time with something or difficulties in life.

You highlight the best parts of your life, whatever that may be. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. I'm not saying that responsible Christians put all the bad things and complain. But we end up coveting what we see. And so we're constantly on our phones, on the tip of our finger, looking at the world.

We're not even talking about Orange County, looking at the world of things that we could possibly have. I want to go there. I want to eat this. We look at other people having birthday parties and say, "How come I'm not invited to that?" We look at other people moving into their new homes and say, "Oh, how come my house isn't like that?" And we are constantly bombarded and feeding ourselves with coveting in our hearts.

And so we have spiritually saying that we need to look for eternal things, but on a day-to-day basis, we are filling ourselves with the things that have nothing to do with God. 1 Peter 2, 11 says, "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul." First, let's stop here.

Aliens and strangers. If we don't first and foremost acknowledge and understand and embrace our identity as aliens and strangers in this world, that sometimes will lead us into wanting, like, "I want to belong. I don't want to be an alien and stranger in my work. I don't want to be an alien and stranger at my school or even in my home." And so, because we want to belong, we begin to covet what they have.

We want to have what they have. We want to do what they do. But he says, not realizing that these desires that we are feeding ourselves is waging war against our soul, and oftentimes we're not even aware how it is eroding us. We become numb. We become numb to the unholy things of this world, not realizing there's a spiritual battle, not outside with satanic things, but inwardly with our own desires.

In Psalm chapter 1, verse 4, it says, "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked." What is the counsel of the wicked? The counsel of the wicked is constantly feeding us what you should want. You should be this kind of person. You should have that kind of a job.

You should have this kind of relationship. You should have that kind of community. And so we are constantly being fed the ideologies and the principles of this world. But he said, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners." Do you see the progression?

An individual who gives in to the constant coveting of what he sees, he or she sees, he eventually is going to stand with the sinners. He's going to be identified with them. So standing with sinners basically means that you're not going to look any different. It starts with our thoughts and our desires, then eventually you begin to be identified with them, and then the final conclusion is that you nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.

You become an antagonist. And so there's this progression of sin, and it begins with desire. And this desire that is unmet, and that was the root of Israel's sin. God was not enough. Their God was their comfort. Their God was their belly. So when God didn't provide, they began to grumble.

They began to complain. Because they weren't worshiping God. They were hoping that God would worship them. John chapter 139 verse 23, "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." When was the last time you truly prayed this prayer before God?

I mean you can pray even now, you can pray it, but when was the last time you really stood before God and searched me? Search my inner parts. Search my thoughts. Search my emotions. Search me. See if there's any hurtful way in me. Or have I just swept these things under the rug?

It just doesn't seem like a big deal. Israel's apostasy, the warning of Israel's apostasy, wasn't their idolatry, wasn't their child sacrifice, wasn't the defaulting of the temple. It was just their constant discontent with what God gave them. And he says, "Be careful. Watch out for these things so that you do not fall into evil and unbelieving hearts." He calls us evil.

The word for evil is "pernea," and where we get the word "pornography." And the word literally means "to be corrupt." And this grumbling that they kept on doing before God, he says it was evil, it was corrupt, because God created the lips of man for the praise of his glory.

And instead of praising him, all that came out of his mouth was complaining how God didn't meet their needs. And so therefore, he calls it evil because it was corrupt. And this corruption ultimately is a revelation of unbelief. Unbelief is what caused them to not see what it is that they had in Christ.

The result of what seems to be innocent, if it is not checked, it leads to evil. It leads to hardening of heart and eventually unbelief. Praising God is not something that you can do because of your strong will. It says in Hebrews 11, 6, it says, "And without faith, it is impossible to please him." This is not something that you determine to do and say, "You know what?

I'm going to do better. I'm going to be more moral. I'm going to be more disciplined. I'm going to give more. I'm going to sacrifice more." He says, "If you don't have faith, no amount of determination, no amount of will, no amount of sacrifice is going to please him." Because what God desires more than anything else is worship.

And worship is not something that you choose to do and say, "You know what? I'm just going to change and be a different person." He says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must first believe that he is." So if you look at other translations, they may say, "He who comes to God must first believe that he exists." But I think the correct translation is the NASB where he says, "He who comes to God must first believe that he is." And I believe that this is directly related to the "I am" statements that Jesus made in the book of John, where in every circumstance, they were depending on the leadership, they were depending on the gate, they were depending on whoever else, and Jesus continued to say to them, "I am." I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through me. They're living in fear because of death. He says, "I am the resurrection and the life." Well if you go, what's going to happen to us? He says, "I am divine. You have to abide in me." And he keeps telling them, "I am the light.

I am the good shepherd. I am the door. I am." And that's exactly what the author of Hebrews has been telling them all the way up to chapter 12. That everything that you have confidence for, everything that you're putting your hopes for, he says, "If you do not first believe that he is, there is no way to please him." Our life is a constant revelation of what it is that we value and believe.

Not our attendance on Sunday, because, you know, this is hard. The hard part of doing church in Orange County, California, again, this is not unique to Orange County, but I believe that this is happening even in China, or it was, where it's comfortable. This is a great place to come if you're lonely.

There's a lot of friends. Maybe you like playing baseball in high school and you miss it. We have a softball team. Maybe you tried out for the football team and you didn't make it, but you're a superstar at church. Maybe you like music. You have an opportunity to practice your gift here.

You've always loved children. It's a place for you to play with children here. I'm not saying that people's motives are just purely not good, but there's a lot of reasons why just even non-Christians would want to participate in the fellowship of the church. But the primary reason why you and I are gathered here together is for His worship.

If you and I, and every single one of us, whether you have Facebook or not, we live in a part of the world where covening is rampant. And when I say covenant, I'm not talking about the world inside of us. Every time we turn on the TV, even on the radio, we are being sold the next big thing.

If you have iPhone 7, you need iPhone 8. And if you have 8 for 10 months, you have trash. You got 9 coming, you got 10. And that's kind of like how the world works. What is it that the church can possibly give that can compete with all of that?

All of that? Friendship? I mean, plenty of people go to bars and hang out and make great friends over there. Purpose? I mean, just give yourself to your family and make money and whatever that purpose is. What is it that the church can offer that can compete with that?

I mean, if I believe that I can give the best sermon and be so articulate that I can convince a group of people every single week to forsake their life and give it to Christ, I mean, I should be a billionaire by now if I have the ability to do that.

The only thing that the church has that can compete with the rest of the world is Christ. Only when you gaze upon Christ, only when you are falling in love with Christ, only those who believe that Christ is will look at the rest of the world and say, "That's rubbish.

I want this." That's why he says, "You cannot please God. It is impossible to please God without faith, for he who comes to God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him." He is the rewarder of those who seek him.

Not your business, not your work, not your family, not your wife, not your children, not your friends. But he is. So he says to take a look, take a careful look, examine, "shaoshing," small heart. Examine the things that naturally causes us to drift. Secondly, he says, "To encourage one another day after day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." The word for encourage, "parakaleo," to call, to aid, to help, to comfort, to encourage, to beseech with strong force.

The way we use the word encourage, typically, at least in our generation, encourage, we naturally think when somebody feels uplifted. "Oh, he's so encouraging." Encouraging means like no matter what you do, he never comes down on you. He's like, "You always feel good when you're around that person." The word for encourage is a neutral word.

It's neither good or bad. It just means to strongly provoke. It doesn't always mean like you feel lifted. You can be rebuked and be encouraged. In Hebrews 10, 24-25, he says, "And let us consider how to stimulate," that word literally means to provoke one another on toward love and good deeds.

Not forsaking our own, assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Provoke one another. Not only are we to examine ourselves carefully, we are to be in a part of a community where we are provoking one another on toward love and good deeds.

If we're not careful, we can easily provoke one another on toward worldliness. And you know how easily that happens. Somebody buys a nice house, somebody buys a nice car, somebody has great travel, and then we look at that as part of our community and say, "Oh, I want that." And inside of a church where Christ is supposed to be at the center, he's only centered by name, but there's no true fellowship going on.

Typically, when we evaluate ourselves, we think, "Oh, I should pray more." I get some Bible because I get some teaching, and maybe I attend Bible studies, so I get some of that. Evangelism, you know, I should share a little bit with my friends. But one of the things that are truly lacking in the church is fellowship.

We deceive ourselves often if we're not careful to think we're having fellowship because I got together with my friends and went and watched a movie. We play softball together with Christians. We got together and made dumplings on Saturday. And so therefore, we have plenty of fellowship. But the word fellowship means provoking, provoking on toward God, partnering together with someone.

So the question is, when was the last time you were provoked by somebody on toward love and good deeds? When was the last time that because of that person, you were provoked? You know, provoked is a very strong word. It's not just a casual response. Just kind of like, you know, when we think of provoked in a negative way, you're provoked to anger.

Like, you don't have control. You're just like, "Ow!" In a good or bad way. When was the last time you were provoked by somebody on toward love and good deeds? And the other question is, when was the last time you provoked somebody because of you? Somebody decided to follow their life in Christ and drop what they were doing and say, "You know what?

I better get my act straight." Or to really like, "I want to love Christ like you love Christ." When was the last time somebody was provoked by you? See, we can easily fool ourselves to think that we have fellowship because we're surrounded by Christians. And let me ask you, you know, we have friends that we hang out with all the time, right?

And you're a close group of friends. When was the last time you guys sat down and really prayed for each other? Not because it was prayer time, not because it was meal time, but because your hunger for God led to that. When was the last time that your conversation, your community that you belong to provoked you?

"Man, I really want to love Christ." And if you can't say that that's how your friendships are described, you're not running with those people. You're living with those people. You have community with those people, but they're not your partners. You're not fellowshiping with those people. In fact, when you have a lot of Christians where there's no provoking going on, it actually does more harm than good because it deceives us to think that fellowship is happening when it is not.

True fellowship requires provoking. Now, I'm not saying provoking means like we're always examining each other and say, "Hey, you better do this and you better do that." We're not saying that, right? First and foremost, we need to examine ourselves. But our attitude should be in the context of community that we are constantly encouraging each other because that's the way God designed it.

Second Timothy chapter 2, 22-23, "Now flee from youthful lust and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." For whatever the reason, we desire true fellowship and provoking when we first become a Christian. We look for churches, small groups, mentors, but for whatever the reason, after we've been a Christian for a period, we no longer need it.

I'm strong enough. I know how to read the Bible. I know how to pray. I've known this, and we have a tendency to be spiritually lax when it comes to fellowship. Well, God designed it that we are to run together, to encourage one another, not only to examine ourselves but to encourage other people, to provoke one another as long as it is called today.

Like, what does he mean by today? Of course it's today. Today is always today, right? When he says today, when the Bible oftentimes uses time, it is used as God's ordained period. So when he says, "As long as it is called today," this ordained period, when God's calling you, His kindness is calling you, that is ordained today.

Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today. If you hear God's voice today, God is being gracious. Even when He rebukes, even when He disciplines, it is the grace of God that leads us to repentance. Anyone who is outside of the grace of God has no interest in the Word, has no interest in examining himself.

He doesn't care if he's drifting. He doesn't care if he's not right with God. He doesn't care if his joy does not come from God. But those who hear, and that's why Jesus kept on saying, "He who has ears, let him hear." That's exactly what it's saying, "If it is called today." If God is being gracious today, do not harden your heart with deceitfulness of sin.

You know this passage, Proverbs 24, 33, 34, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. Then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man." We oftentimes use that for physical laziness. That if you're lazy physically, you're going to have poverty.

But it's true even spiritually. You know, some of us are very diligent when it comes to physical things. Go to the gym, work out, eat right, you're great at work, but when it comes to spiritual things, it's just not urgent. It's not important enough. And you see yourself drifting, but it's kind of like, "Heard it and done it." And then you allow yourself to continue to drift.

Even the word for sin, even the word for sin can sound innocuous, hamartion. The primary word in the Bible that describes sin is hamartion. The word hamartion basically means to miss the mark. It doesn't sound that bad because there's other words, wickedness, licentiousness, rebellion, pornographic. I mean, there's plenty of words that describe sin, but the predominant word to describe sin is hamartion, to miss the mark.

It doesn't sound that bad because hamartion basically sounds like you tried to make an effort and you didn't get an A. You didn't get an A. I mean, B is not bad. C is average. D you didn't fail. So hamartion doesn't sound that bad, but the reason why hamartion is the primary word for sin is because that little deviation from what God has desired is what caused the rebellion.

That's what caused the sin of mankind to live under the dominion of death. And on the surface, it seems like it's just a mistake. And that little mistake that we sweep under the rug, that we excuse, is the thing that continues to trip us up and ultimately leads to rebellion against God.

There's a reason why Israel's grumbling against God is used primarily to warn Israel, warn the church. We say, "Hey, do not worship other gods." Like, I don't worship other gods. I come to church every Sunday. Don't use the Lord's name in vain, saying, "Okay, I won't say God whatever anymore." Keep the Sabbath holy.

I can do that. I can go to church every Sunday. And if we're not careful, we can think, like, "Why take care of all of that?" All the while, the coveting in our hearts is rampant. The discord, the discontent, which is causing all kinds of conflicts. And our heart has become so dry and distant from God that the Word of God no longer makes any sense to you.

All the while, thinking that we're good because we've done this. Second Thessalonians 2, 8 through 12. Oh, sorry, it's Jeremiah 17, 9 through 10, says, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the mind, even to give each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds." Now, notice here, he says his heart is sick, but what does God search?

The heart, the mind, and the deed. The heart, the mind, and the deed. All of man. Man's rebellion oftentimes begins inwardly. And it is inward rebellion against God that eventually gets expressed outwardly. And that's why he says, "Shawshin," small heart. Look carefully, exam carefully. Second Thessalonians 2, 8 through 12, "Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming.

That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish." Sin always deceives, no matter how small it is. And it deceives us first. The Bible says that damnation will come to those who live in deception.

He says, again, "Because they did not receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved, for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence, so that they will believe what is false." They will believe. It's willful unbelief. That's how it's described in Romans chapter 1, because they love the darkness.

They don't want to be exposed to the light. They embraced it. They will believe what is false, "in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." Be careful. Be careful. The Christianity that we see in America has drifted so far away that if you are an average Christian, you may not know the Lord, if you're not careful.

We need to know our faith is genuine according to the plumb line, the word of God, not your friends, not the community, not this church, and not the leaders. What does the word of God say? That's why he says, third and finally, to persevere, "For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end." When he says, "if we hold fast," he's not saying that salvation is by works, that if you work hard that we're going to be saved.

Of course that's not what he's saying. He says, "If your confession and your assurance that you started with is what you have now, and that this assurance, this genuine faith, is what you will have in the future." No one can have assurance of salvation based upon ten years ago.

I know I was sincere then. I had genuine faith then, even though there's no evidence of it today. Perseverance. Perseverance is the final test of assurance of salvation. Is this faith real? And that's why the Bible continues to ask us, demand us, and warns us to examine yourselves. Examine carefully.

And as you examine, to encourage, and in encouraging, to persevere. Remember the height from which you had fallen, repent, and redo the things that you did at first. And that is the challenge that you and I are living in. You may be the best Christian among your friends, and still be far off from God.

You may be the strongest person. You may be, you may know the Bible better than anybody else that you know in your life, and still be way, way, way from the center of God's will. That's the danger of where you and I are at. And again, this is not to discourage you.

It's to reiterate the warning that is given to us. Just like if we went to a doctor and he's examining us carefully, that we do not drift toward the world, allowing our hearts, and then eventually, other than the fact that we go to church and we're active, there is no true evidence.

Are you genuine worshippers of Christ? It is impossible to please him without faith, and he who comes to God must first believe that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. I am not the standard. Our leaders are not the standard. Our church is not the standard.

Only his Word. Only his Word. That didn't work. Only his Word. Again, and I know that you've heard this enough, that for many of you, it's old. Many of you, it's old. Time goes by so quick. We were there yesterday with the salt and pepper people, and some in their 50s, and some about to hit their 60s, and a bunch of them just turning 40s, and you think about how quickly the 20s went, and you think about the 30s, it's like, blur, 40, you don't even remember.

Like, did it happen when I was 41 or 49? It just goes by so quick, and so I can imagine what the 50s are going to feel like, like a blink. It goes by so quick that if we're not careful, if we're not anchored in Christ, and we just kind of drift along because the current is taking us that direction, you're going to find yourself decades later waking up thinking, "What did I do with my life?" I pray that that is not the case with us.

I pray that every single one of us recognizes what it is that we have in Christ, that we would praise Him, love Him, follow Him, and proclaim Him to the best of our ability during the short life that we have together.