We're looking at Hebrews chapter 3 this morning, and we're looking at verses 7 to the end of the chapter, so we're continuing our study in Hebrews 3. That's found on page 1188 in your Bibles. This is the word of the Lord. We'll read at verse 7. 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 40 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. 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 will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses and with whom he was provoked for 40 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. And there will end the reading of God's Word. Well, I think as you heard that passage read this morning, That's a very sobering section of Scripture of the Bible that is addressing with great detail and help for us the problem of apostasy. As we look at this section, I want to remind you that as we've looked in this book, we looked in this book of the author's goal to help these Christians with perseverance and to help them in light of the struggles that they're facing in life. Probably one of the most neglected subjects in the Christian faith is the reality of apostasy. How real the problem is and how dangerous the problem is. The author here is working hard not only to keep them from apostasy, but to diagnose what apostasy is, what it looks like, and what it looks like in the Christian life so that we would not do as Israel did. That's 1 Corinthians 10, which drew that direct connection also. So he's speaking here, as you know, when you speak this way, you speak to the visible external covenant community. Not everyone may be in the same place. There may be people who have departed, who are here today for certain reasons and have departed and really are not believing. And that shows up in all kinds of ways. And there are those who are sincerely trusting in Christ. And one of the things that you do as a pastor is you have to speak to the external covenant community because you don't know every heart, do you? That's a big challenge for preaching. And one of the purposes here is to call and make sure that there are none who are apostatizing. That's the goal of this particular passage, and that's why we need to understand it. For it was Jesus himself who said, not everyone on that day who sits in church and says, Lord, Lord, is going to enter the kingdom. Just that mere fact should make us tremble and think a lot about what the Lord is after and what true faith is. And that's his goal. He knows the believer in Christ will persevere to the end. And as we looked at with the first warning passage in chapter 2, one of the ways that he perseveres, his saints, is to provide these warnings to keep them. And that's what we're looking at this morning. It would be, as I said last time, if your son was in a boat and approaching a waterfall and did not recognize it, wouldn't you throw your son a lifeline? Of course you would. You wouldn't just take the attitude of, as so many people take in the Christian faith, not thinking about repentance and faith, it'll all turn out well in the end. You'd help your son. You'd go after your son. And all the struggle and the hardship. And it's as if what he's saying to us today is, you're almost there. You're at the border of the promised land. cross over. You're almost home. So don't lose heart in the struggle. Don't become weary and discouraged in your souls. Continue to embrace God's promise and all the promises that you have believed. And when everything around you gives way, when the mountains are hurled into the midst of the sea, when the whole earth's foundations are crumbling. Remember the promises of God. When the world is rocked with war and hardship, when death is all around us, remember the promises of God and don't be unbelieving but believing. That's the effect of this passage today to help us in Hebrews, that Jesus is not slow to give us everything he's promised. The reason this project is still going on was evidence right here this morning, because he's still saving. But he knows that in all of this, there can be a giving up response. I don't know if you've ever felt like that, of just giving up. Well, he has an answer to help us in the struggle, to keep our eyes on the goal, to keep our eyes on the prize, who is Jesus, who is ready to receive us into glory, so that what a great passage we have before us this morning as we come to the table, for coming to the table, the Lord wants faith. The Lord wants belief. The Lord wants trust from us. And as we are in the wilderness, this is one of his great privileges to keep us. Well, what he does here briefly this morning is provide a sobering story and then he follows it with a serious warning and he concludes with a sacrificial solution and to help us toward Perseverance. And this is an important section. As we now come to the second major warning of the book, you'll remember what he's been doing is bouncing back and forth between exposition and this is what preaching is. It's not just story time. It's exposition of the scriptures as the apostles did from the Old Testament to show Jesus in fulfillment. And as he does that, you'll notice here that underwoven into these expositions are warning passages that he gives. And you'll notice here this morning that we come to the second particular warning, which is embedded with this great story that we all know and is important to look at. Look at verse 7. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness. As you know, that's, as I read to begin the service, that's a direct exposition of Psalm 95 he is working with to help us understand Psalm 95. And you'll notice there, it's so important to the author that he repeats the warning of Psalm 95 twice. Big two testimony witness. Psalm 95 is a wonderful psalm. It's a great psalm. celebrating God's greatness and God's shepherding care for his people. And think of how much we love listening as we come into worship, this kind of announcement. Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise. Why should we do that? Because the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his. The sea is his for he made it. The hands, his hands form the dry land. Oh, come, let us worship. Notice all this is embedded in worship. And bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God. And we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. What a celebration of his magnificent attributes. What a celebration that he's the king above all gods, that he deserves from us, which was the very reason he brought Israel out of Egypt, to worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness and to enjoy him. But we don't like the second part of the psalm. It breaks into what feels like a serious downer. Today, if you will hear his voice. Now, what did we look at in Hebrews 1? Whose voice? Who's speaking? I'm going to come back to the one who is expressly speaking here, which is marvelous. Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day, it says Psalm 95, at Massa in the wilderness, When your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work, for forty years I loathe that generation and said they are a people who go astray in their heart and they have not known my ways, therefore I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. You have two kinds of people in this psalm, don't you? You've got those whose hearts are gripped by the gospel, who love Jesus, who want to be in worship, Who love the church, as we looked at last week. Who are celebrating God's wonderful ways. And then the psalm breaks into the great problem of Israel in the wilderness. We'd love to stop at the praise part, right? I mean, that's what people think all worship is today. It's just praise. This was the psalm of entering into worship. And they didn't stop at the first part. You'll notice here that he wants us to specifically think about Israel in the wilderness. He has certain events on his mind. The author is really thinking of Israel's entire journey after they were brought out of Egypt with all those mighty and awesome wonders that the Lord had done. He had led them through the Red Sea and split the sea and shown power and plundered the Egyptians, confusing them and sending them and drowning them right in the middle of the sea. They had come to and seen all of the marvelous works. They get to Meribah and they say, give us water to drink. Moses said, why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water and the people grumbled against Moses and said, why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? What a statement. This grumbling spirit of a people who had everything. They had everything given to them. And the whole characteristic of their life was a complaining spirit. But the big event, the big rebellion he has on his mind is when they came to the border of the land in Numbers, chapter 14. Remember what they said? Would that we had died in the land of Egypt or that we had died in this wilderness. Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt? Moses responds, and Hebrews 3 is grabbing this. Don't rebel against the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, how long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me? In spite of all the signs that I've done among them, Numbers 14, and Israel refused to enter the land. Probably took two years to get there. God said, you got another 38 of wandering for that. The issue was that they turned away, they forgot his promises, and the consequence was, surely, said the Lord, this is what I will do to that wicked congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness, they shall come to a full end and they shall die. The author of Hebrews is working with this. And what should have been one of the striking things is, is after they had just witnessed Pharaoh hardening his heart to the Lord. Remember, there was that dual hardening. God was hardening in Pharaoh, but it was just as much Pharaoh's desire as he hardened his own heart to the Lord. Just like Pharaoh, Israel is hardening its heart to the Lord. Now, this is where the author is drawing the connection to the New Testament church and is showing us the solidarity and the connection between Israel and the church. And he's giving this warning, isn't he? The entire study of Israel in the wilderness captures for us something very important, that we, like Israel, are in a time of testing. Do you think about that in the Christian life, that what the Christian life is is a time of testing? It's called from Psalm 95 that, the day of testing in the wilderness. There's this great tension between the already and the not yet. And between promise and fulfillment. And what is the struggle of the church in this present age? Well, this is what we're looking at with Israel. Just like they faced, they said, God is not with us. What's God doing in these times? They're facing all these problems in the world, these first century Christians. These early Christians want to go back. It's the same thing. They want to go back. They don't want a pilgrimage. And you see, I think that Spirit easily can fill people. You know, just give us a smooth ride into the kingdom. We don't want any struggle. We don't want any opposition. We want to build our beautiful houses and kick our feet up and lead the great life and be comfortable and never be tested walking through a wilderness. Are you kidding? And when things don't go well in life, tell me which one of you is not facing some kind of test right now? Who isn't? Well, if you're not today, you will be tomorrow. It never really goes all that well. It's a struggle in life. God blesses us and gives us, we'll look at in a minute. But notice here, wilderness life is just that. He wants you to realize we're not in the land yet. We're just like Israel in the same place. We're walking through the wilderness for 40 years. Through the valley of the shadow of what? Death. He wants us to understand Israel's story. One pastor said, the sooner we realize that we're walking through the wilderness, the better. This, he said, answer helps us to answer questions like, why does God allow all these wrong things to go on in my life? Or why are things so hard? Because you're in the day of testing. You're not home. And what happens, and what he knows can happen in the covenant community, the external covenant communities, we're looking at this, is that people can harden their hearts to the Lord. And in all this discouragement, where does that lead? Well, that's what apostasy is. And you see it in connection to the kingdom. You see it in disconnection from the church, from his people. Hebrews says, they provoked me for 40 years due to, I want you to notice, they were hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. It was sin. And he's going to give the ultimate expression of what it was in a minute. Do we run to sin in our lives? Of course we do. We're always struggling with sin. The question is, are we running back to the Lord? Or are we running farther and farther away from him? See, the author says that ultimately what's behind all of this, that ultimately what's behind what we study of Israel in the wilderness, was unbelief. Notice the last line. It's so crucial here. that generation did not enter due to unbelief. You mean you could sit in church and be unbelieving? Yeah, you could. When Jesus told the parable of the ten virgins, he said, the kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. They all became drowsy and slept, but at midnight there was a cry. Here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him. They all rose, the virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut. Afterward, the virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly, truly, I say to you, I do not know you. there's the issue there was unbelief in the covenant community it was unbelief and he said watch you don't know the day nor the hour one of the things that i've pressed here is that we cannot be loosely connected to the church just because of the culture that's a big issue beloved we can't be loosely connected to the church just due to the events of the church and the traditions of the church and the families of the church. But you have to be here for what reason? Because you need Jesus. Because you near a sinner and are under the judgment of God. And you need forgiveness. And if we're here for any other reason, that's the path to apostasy. Are you here for Jesus? Are you here because you need him? Are you here because without him, there's no hope? We're broken people. Have we gotten on our knees and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, not the bad guys over there? See, these tests in life expose where we are. The root of a bitter, complaining life and running into sin, all of that was evidence of unbelief. And what is the author so concerned about? Confidence. Isn't that amazing? This is how much God is putting out the hand to the sun and the boat. Confidence. That he's with you. That you are his body, his church. That God is carrying us through. And look at all he's done for us. You know, you stand back from this. You just witnessed it this morning. Look at all the care. Look at all the provision. Look at the promises. Look at what was illustrated in baptism. And what does the testing when it happens, where does that land us? This is my God. I will trust him. The author is so concerned to draw the connection so that we don't fall into this. Take care, brothers. lest there be in any of you an unbelieving heart. That's the heart of this this morning. An unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. So what does he say? To make sure that we don't think this problem only belongs to Israel, he says something so powerful here. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, You rarely get that in Scripture that way. A few times, a handful of times, does the Holy Spirit speak this way. And when he's speaking, it should make us tremble. Today, that's not Israel anymore, Psalm 95. Today is your day. Today is right now. Today is the day of salvation. Since the ends of the ages have come, the Spirit is pleading with you. Don't harden your hearts. I know the discouragements are real. No one says we have to go through them with a smile. There will be tears. But he wants to encourage you by saying, you're almost there. How many years have I walked you through the wilderness, says the Lord? Think about it. Look, have I not shown you my son? Have I not shown you the gospel? Have I not cared for you? Have I not provided for you? Have I not given you every manner of good thing? Have I not given you everything? And then I've announced salvation to the ends of the earth. And I have announced to you the forgiveness of your sins. Have I not always been with you, says the Lord? Have I not always proved it? When you were in your darkest moments, the mere fact that you're here today when he says today shows his steadfast covenant love. Don't lose heart. But most important, because we can't read hearts, don't harden your heart and resent God in your life for your testing. Those whom he loves, he chastens. So may there not be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief. He won't abandon. He doesn't forsake. But since you're already at the border, you're a heartbeat away from glory. Cling to the promise. He'll fulfill his word. He'll make good on them. As Jesus said, he's compassionate. Come to me and I'll give you rest. we're going to see some awful things in our journey home, beloved. You know, we've been seeing it. You're going to lose loved ones sitting next to you in death. Will you resent God? You're going to see war and you're going to see suffering and you're going to see hardship. You're going to face sickness you never thought you'd face. He wants you to know he's testing you. That's what life is. And that his goal is to refine you as silver is refined and test you as gold is tested so that, listen, the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it's tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's what he's doing. The Bible's message to us is, don't be unbelieving, but believing. But it is the wilderness. You're not home yet. Just a little bit longer. Just a little bit longer. And glory will come. So what does he do? he encourages the church with this sacrificial solution, verse 13. How are you kept? You know, it's really amazing. The Bible never considers you to be an island getting through this on your own. That's part of the problem. Notice he says, but exhort one another every day, so long as it's called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. sin is so deceitful the verb means come alongside your brethren come alongside your family each one of you matters you can't be disconnected from his church and be a christian you just can't there's no provision for that that mentality in the new testament it's just not there it's covenantal you're a family come alongside one another love one another encourage one another do you see people drifting away from the body of christ of course we do do we see a complaining spirit see it for what it is and help them come alongside them bless them love them serve them strengthen them and remember we share together in christ and there's something so beautiful if we indeed hold our original confidence, you have a confidence in the gospel. Your confidence is Jesus. He will not fail to give you any good thing. I mean, what a message we have, you know. One man's sin, through one man the whole world was plunged into this misery. Think of what I said at the beginning. Through one man's righteousness, He paid for your sins. He redeemed your lives. He gave you his righteousness. He doesn't leave you nor forsake you. You who have walked a long time, there's no turning back. His promise is sure. And what is that gospel promise? The forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. Jesus said his sheep will hear his voice. And they will persevere to the end. Have you heard his voice today? See? Today, if you will hear my voice. Have you heard his voice? Don't harden your hearts. When we've been there 10,000 years, they say, right? The song, bright shining is the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun. Be strong in grace. Look to Jesus. Hold fast your confidence. You couldn't have written this script. You couldn't have dreamed all this up. He is the divine Son of God. And all of His promises are yes and amen. Today, the Holy Spirit pleads with you. Hear this voice. For it's time to cross over. Very soon we cross over to our heavenly inheritance. Don't go back to filthy Egypt. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for speaking through the work of your powerful Son and by the Spirit that we would hear the plea of heaven. And since we don't know where every heart is, And that it's easy to be loosely connected to this for all the wrong reasons. Take every heart of unbelief and by your powerful spirit, put a heart of faith there. And as we know, you will persevere your sheep to the end. You will keep them. May we hear this great voice today knowing that it is by your powerful word that you do keep your sheep. Give us confidence now as we come to the table and let us come with faith for you've spread a table in the wilderness for us that you might encourage us and strengthen us and help us. So let us come with believing hearts. We should taste and see that the Lord is good. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.