Our focus this year has been and continues to be a heritage of faith, and we have a wonderful heritage of being part of the family of God, a part of the family of faith. In Hebrews chapter three, we're going to return there this morning. I'm going to ask you to turn to Hebrews chapter three once again. You have your message guide so you can follow along through that. You can see our text is verses seven through twelve of the third chapter of the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews three, verse six, it talks about the house of Jesus Christ. Remember, we've looked at this in the past. It says in verse six, but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the whole firmament to the end? This is a description of the great family that every Christian is a member of. It is a house of faith. It is a family of faith. And the passage that we come to this morning challenges each of us to make sure to make absolute certain that we are a part of this house, this great family of faith that we just read in verse six. In fact, this passage in verses seven through 12 is just one of several warnings that we will be coming to in the book of Hebrews. These warnings are for those who profess to have salvation, to make certain that they possess salvation. You know, there are many that come to a church and make a profession of salvation, and yet they truly do not possess it. And that is what this warning, as well as the other warnings that we will look at later on as we go through the book of Hebrews, that's what these warnings are there for. It is so that you and I, no matter where we think we're at in our walk with God, will come to the realization that I must not just be a mere professor, but I must also be a possessor of the salvation that I say and claim that I have. This warning is both important and necessary, because if you're not sure about your eternal destiny, death is not the time to find out where you're going to go. There's a lot of people that wait to death's door to make any sort of profession of salvation through Jesus Christ. There are so many people that live their entire lives, and when they get to the very door of death, Perhaps they even die unexpectedly. It's too late once you've crossed through those doors and that gate of death to make sure to make absolute certain that you're part of the family of faith, because this is the time. This is the life that God has given each person walking the face of this earth to ensure that their walk with God is the right walk. And then when death comes, the decisions and the faith that you had in this life will come to fruition. And if you haven't had the faith, if you're not part of the family of God, if you're not part of the family of faith, when that death comes to you, it's too late. And that's why this warning is in this passage. Let's look at this warning together in Hebrews chapter three, verses seven through 12. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart as in the provocation or as in that time of strife, in the day of temptation, in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted me, proved me and saw my works 40 years. Wherefore, the Lord says, I was grieved with that generation and said they do always err in their heart and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Verse seven. begins with the word wherefore. That word ties our passage this morning with a preceding passage which revealed that Christians are part of the household in the family of Jesus Christ. And that word wherefore ought to encourage and motivate you and motivate me to make sure that we're part of this family, to make sure that we're part of this household of Jesus Christ. After all, when you think about how great The Lord Jesus Christ is. And that's what the Hebrews is talking about. It's talking about the greatness of Christ. When you think about how Christ is greater than all the prophets, which was in chapter one. When you think about how Christ is greater than even the angels that we hear so much about. When Jesus Christ is greater than death itself, because he is life. When you think about how Jesus Christ is even greater than God's faithful servant Moses that we looked at in Hebrews chapter three. Why wouldn't you want to be a part of his house? Why wouldn't you want to be a part of this wonderful family of faith? To finish the sentence that started with the word wherefore in verse 7, you actually need to skip down to verse 12, because after the word wherefore, if you have the King James and some other version, it actually has a parentheses and that parentheses ends in verse 11. In other words, this is inserted between the first part and the last part of the sentence. which really is teaching us what we're to do with this passage. So we're going to look at that parenthesis here in a moment. But let's take that out for a moment and look what it says in verse 7. Wherefore, jump down to verse 12, take heed. In other words, because of the family of faith that Jesus Christ provides, you and I are responsible to do something with our lives. Wherefore, verse 12, take heed, brethren. Let there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. In other words, make absolute certain that you are part of the family of faith and not a part of the family of the faithless, which is the children of Israel that is described in the parentheses in verses seven through 11. Because if you're a member of the family of the faithless, if you follow after the example of the children of Israel, It means, as it says in verse 12, that you will depart from the living God. And you know what happens if you depart from the living God? You depart from him for all eternity. In fact, in verse 12, that word depart comes from the word that we get our word apostasy, to apostatize. No one wants to be considered an apostate. because an apostate is someone who has denied their faith, who has fallen away from God, as it says here, who has departed from the living God, and there is no hope yet left for them. The Bible says, wherefore, take heed, brethren. Take heed to your walk and relationship with Jesus Christ. Make sure you're part of the family of God, because if you're not, you will be an apostate. And an apostate will never enter into the presence. of the living God. It's a very severe warning. It's a very important, solemn thing for us to consider this morning. Take heed, brethren. The purpose for us considering this passage this morning is for you to make sure and for me to make sure no matter how long we've been members of Grace Baptist Church or no matter how long we have professed Christ as our Savior, you need to make sure that you are part of the family of faith. How do you know? How do you know whether you're part of the family of God and the family of faith? Well, how do you know if you're in the part of any family? There are certain things that you have in common as a family, certain family traits that you can identify in your life to verify whether or not you're part of the family. For example, if you have the same last name as I do and you come to this church, more than likely you're part of my family. Paige has an Elmer, Brady has an Elmer. My wife took the last name Elmer and that identifies them as part of my family. There's a lot of other Elmers out there, believe it or not. A lot of other Elmer last names. And I look around and I wonder, I wonder if they are part of my family. And a lot of people enjoy genealogies because they can find other people that have the same last name and see whether they're related to them. Oh, they're my long lost great uncles on my Ant side, twice removed, whatever. But we're still part of the same family, even though it's an extended family. You can figure it out by the last name. Sometimes people have physical characteristics that are the same. Have you ever noticed that some family features resemble themselves? They've said that husbands and wives tend to look alike as they grow older. I don't know if that's a good thing for my wife in my case, but maybe the Lord will be merciful to her. But have you ever noticed some people in perhaps even your family, certain characteristics like their nose, you know. Some people have really small pug noses, some people have real big honkers, you know. And it tends to run in the family. Sometimes it's a big curse. But you can tell that they're part of the same family because of physical characteristics. What about same temperaments? I was at work yesterday up at the bank and the lady that I was working with, her husband, came in and we were talking a little bit and he basically made a comment that Nancy has the same temperament, the same temper as her dad did. hot temper, apparently, not that I've seen it yet. But he says, I hope you never do, because he has seen it and identifies her temper temperament with her father's temperament. And they could tell that they're part of the same family. There are always certain things that you have in common as a family, and you will notice some very obvious common circumstances in your spiritual family as well. There will be certain identifying features in your life if you are part of Christ's family, the family of faith. But on the other hand, there are also some very key character traits that you will see in your own life and that others may see in your life that identify you with the devil's family, the family of the faithless, the family that we see identified here and given an example of in that parentheses statement of the children of Israel. So consider with me this morning what family you are a part of and make sure you're part of the family of God, as we were saying about earlier. But to do so, we're going to look at it from a different perspective. We're going to look at it from the perspective of the family of the faithless, because I believe that in verses 7 through 11, that parentheses, it reveals to us the type of family that we are not to be a part of. It is revealing to us the faithlessness of the children of Israel. And if you have identifying marks in your life that identifies you with the faithless Israel, you need to beware. You need to be cautious. You need to take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, just like Israel has. Verses 7 through 11 provide us with what the family of faithless looks like, because it points back to the faithless Israelites. First, we see that a faithless person is a spiritually unresponsive person. A faithless person is a spiritually unresponsive person. This is one character trait of the family of the faithless that you do not want to have a part in. Look at verse 7. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost says, today, if you will hear his voice. Verses 7 through 11 is a quotation from Psalm 95, verses 7 through 11. That is a passage we read at the very beginning of our service. This was a psalm that David wrote, but here in Hebrew, it is attributed to the Holy Spirit, which we can see is a very clear claim of inspiration. It says that David said it in the psalms, and here it says the Holy Spirit said it. Well, of course, if it's inspired, God, the Holy Spirit spoke all of these words. And it's a very clear demonstration of inspiration. But what is the Holy Spirit trying to reveal through this passage? These verses illustrate through the Israelites the danger of thinking that you're a part of the family of faith, when in reality you're a part of the family of the faithless. According to the Harris Poll, several years ago taken, most Americans are optimistic about their long-term future. It's not talking about retirement. It's not talking about their career goals. It's talking about their eternity. In fact, according to this poll, most Americans think that they will go to heaven. Fully 84%, according to this poll, 84% of all adults say that they believe in the survival of the soul after death. And of these, about 76% expect to go to heaven. 76%. If you were to go on the street and ask somebody, where do you think you're going to go? How many of you think will say, oh, I'm going to hell? Most, if not all, will say, I think I'm going to heaven. They may have all sorts of reasons why they think that. But according to this poll, about 75% of all adults believe they're going to heaven. It says here that represents about 64% of the total population. Only 2% of those who believe in life after death expect to go to hell. So there's 2% of these people that were told that said, yeah, I'm going to go to hell. Well, why don't they figure out some way to not go to hell? I don't know why they'd want to go there. But 4% think they will go to purgatory. You see, the Israelites, too, thought that they were OK. Why? because they were part of Abraham's family. They thought, well, God said he's going to bless Abraham, and God said he's going to bless all the world through Abraham. Well, I'm part of Abraham's family. I'm a Jew. And because I'm part of Abraham's family, guess what? I have the promises of God on my side. And I bet if you were to ask every single one of those Jews that came out of the Exodus, came out of Egypt, I bet every one of those would have said, you know what? I'm going to have Why? Because I am of Abraham's seed. I am a Jew, and the promises of God rest upon me. And they are like many of us. These Israelites thought they were okay, but in reality, many of them were not included in the household of God. Why? Because of their unbelief. One characteristic of the faithless Israelites is that they were spiritually unresponsive. In other words, when the Lord spoke to them on one day, They didn't think that it was important to listen and obey that day. When the Lord says today, if you will hear his voice, he intended for them to respond that day. They were spiritual procrastinators. That's a word that I always hated hearing growing up when my mom and my dad would say, why are you procrastinating getting your things done, whether it's schoolwork or my paper route? or other things that I had to do around the house. They said, you are a consistent procrastinator. We are by nature procrastinators. We like to put off things tomorrow, what doesn't have to be done today. But being a spiritual procrastinator is an identifying mark of someone who is not part of the family of faith. It is the family of the faithless that has this mark, this characteristic, this trait in their lives. How many of us have this trait in our lives? When the Lord says through His Spirit on our hearts, today, you need to take care of this matter in your life. Today, you need to come into my house and worship. Today, you need to get rid of this particular sin that is besetting you and causing you to not be in my service and use. How many of us say, OK, I will get right with God tomorrow. I'm going to get right with God some other day. A spiritual procrastinator. A faithless person is someone who keeps putting off spiritual things. When you hear something from God's Word or from a lesson or message and it convicts you and you know that something in your life needs to change, what do you do? Do you put it off for another day? Then you are spiritually unresponsive. You are a spiritual procrastinator. A couple of quotes that I put on your message guide. One was by William Mason, who said, if we put off repentance another day, We have a day more to repent of and a day less to repent in another one. Thomas Fuller said this. You cannot repent too soon because you do not know how soon it may be too late. You and I must not be spiritually unresponsive to the Lord. You and I must not bear this mark of being a spiritual procrastinator. When the Lord says in your heart today, you need to obey. you need to obey right away or it may be too late. If you are spiritually unresponsive, you bear the mark of someone who is a part of the family of the faithless. And as I mentioned at the outset, that family belongs to the devil himself. And that is why we need to make sure that we're part of the family of faith, because if we are spiritual procrastinators, that is a characteristic, that is a family trait of someone who belongs to the devil. And if we are spiritual procrastinators here in this church, We need to get it right before it's too late. If you're a genuine Christian, part of the family faith, you will rather be spiritually responsive instead. In other words, when the Lord speaks to your heart, you will respond in your heart and in your life. You will obey when God tells you to do something. When God convicts you in your heart, you will respond. That is the mark of a genuine believer. That is a character trait of someone who is part of the family of faith. You and I need to make sure. You and I need to take heed. You and I need to consider our own lives and make sure, absolutely sure that we're part of the family of faith now, because when death comes knocking at the door, it will be too late. Second, we see that a faithless person is also a spiritually rebellious person. We see that a faithless person is secondly, a spiritually rebellious person, because in verse seven, when the Lord says, Today, if you will hear his voice, you ignore his voice instead. Another characteristic of the faithless Israelites is that they were rebellious. What makes somebody rebellious? When we think about teenagers, often we think of rebellion, rebellion, rebellion. In fact, one of the ladies I work with has a niece who has been rebellious toward her parents, rebellious toward all sorts of authorities. What is the mark of someone who is a rebel, someone who is rebellious toward their authority? Well, that they don't listen. Come down to that. They don't listen. And when they don't listen, they can't submit. And when they don't submit, they won't obey. And all this has to do with rebellion. But the very root of it is they won't listen to the authorities that God has placed in their lives. If you and I do not listen to the authorities that God has placed in our lives, we are rebels. We are rebellious in our hearts towards God, and when we are rebellious, that is a character trait of someone who is part of the devil's family. That is why his rebellion is serious business. Rebellion in the heart is something that needs to be taken care of in the life of every person before it's too late. As the quote says, you and I need to understand that if we do not repent today, we will not have more time to repent. We've got to get it right today. Even though the Israelites had the opportunity to hear the Lord's voice, they after all had Moses, that faithful servant of God's own house, who delivered God's Word to them directly, who in fact even heard God's Word directly. And then they said, don't have God talk to us anymore. Because we don't want to die, even though they had received a call to hear the Lord's voice when he says today, if you will hear his voice, they still would not hear the Lord's voice. They ignored him. They ignored his word and they rebelled in their hearts toward God. A faithless person is someone who keeps ignoring what the Lord is saying to them. A faithless person, a part of the family of the faithless, is someone who ignores what the Lord is saying to them. And you can ignore what the Lord is saying in different ways. John Gill, as I was reading his commentary, gave some examples of ways that we can rebel by ignoring what God is saying. One of those is by not being present when he is speaking. How does the Lord speak? Through his word. And when you do not open God's word or you do not put yourself under the sound of the preaching and teaching of God's word, You are, in fact, ignoring his word, which is a sign of rebellion in your heart. And that is a family trait of the devil's family, the family of the faithless. He goes on and states that you can ignore what the Lord is saying by being asleep when he is speaking. I remember Joyce would sit up here and every once in a while when she before she passed away, she'd be nodding off. And, you know, Joyce, she was at some poor health and I would Go up to her afterwards and she'd just say, Pastor, I'm so sorry I fell asleep. She goes, I'm just so tired, I didn't get much sleep this week, you know, just my aches and pains. I said, you know, that's okay. If you're tired, there's no better place for you to come. Just come sit under one of my messes and I will put you flat out. You know? If you're having insomnia, come here and I'll put you right to sleep. That's not what it's talking about. It's not talking about someone nodding to sleep because they didn't have much sleep the night before. Though, we do need to prepare. You need to prepare not only physically, but spiritually, but talking about a spiritual. Sleeping. Where we go, our everyday life. And nothing really affects us spiritually. So often we ignore what the Lord is saying by being asleep when you're speaking. Part of that is prayer. The Holy Spirit speaks through prayer as well. And as he does so, if we bow before him and we continue to just speak these words and utter vain and empty phrases, we are not waiting upon the Lord to speak to us and we're asleep. We can also ignore what the Lord is saying by turning away when he is speaking. Again, we may not do this visibly when we're sitting here listening to the preaching of God's word, but often we do it in our minds. Say, you know, he's talking to me and I'm going to turn my head and I'm not going to listen to the rest of the message. And you know what that is a sign of? It's a sign of rebellion in your heart. When you have rebellion in your heart, it is a sign, a family trait of the devil. The heart of the faithless. You can also ignore what the Lord is saying by running away when he is speaking. When you ignore what the Lord has to say, it reveals a rebellious heart. And if you are spiritually rebellious, you bear the mark of someone who is a part of the family of the faithless. But if you're an authentic Christian, part of the family of faith, you will have the opposite response. You will rather be spiritually reliable instead. In other words, God can entrust his word to you because he knows that when he speaks, you will not only hear, but you will obey. You will not just be a hearer of the word, but a doer of the word. You need to make sure that you're a part of a family of faith by making sure that it's part of rebellion. Spiritual rebellion is not a trait in your life. But in verses eight, nine, we certainly see that a faithful person has another character trait, and that is that they are spiritually rigid. Look at verse eight, nine. The Lord says to the Israelites and to you and to me, Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me and saw my work 40 years. Question I have for you is when you do hear the voice of the Lord, do you let his word do its work in your heart? Do not let your heart become so callous that it makes no impact on your heart and on your life. A callus is something I wasn't real familiar with until my brother took up guitar lessons. A callus is a piece of skin that toughens up. And as he was playing guitar lessons, as he took those lessons, his fingers developed calluses from pressing on those guitar strings. I would try strumming the guitar every once in a while, and I would complain because my fingers hurt. You could see the impressions of the lines of the wires on my hand. And I said, this is not for me because it hurts too much. My brother was persistent. He continued to play the guitar and the calluses came on his fingers. He was able to play it. And I asked him one time, let me see your hand. Let me see your fingers. And I looked at them and they were hard, calloused. In fact, if you tried to push your fingernail into his into his finger, it wouldn't leave an impression or a mark. Unfortunately, What is good for guitar playing is not good for spiritual people. It is not good for the spiritual heart of every person that is sitting here. We are not to feed people with callous hearts. That is a sign of a faithless person. The faithless Israelites were spiritually rigid. They hardened their hearts. That's what rebellion does, in fact. The less you hear and the more you ignore of God, the harder you harden your heart. You become spiritually rigid so that you will not let God impress anything upon your heart. The faithless Israelites were spiritually rigid. Their hearts were hardened. Zechariah 7.12 says this, Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone. If you don't take care of rebellion in your life today, your heart will become as hard as a rock. It's kind of hard to make an impression on a rock. The only way that you can make an impression on a rock is with dynamite or a chisel. And it takes a lot of might and a lot of effort and a lot of energy to make any impression on something that is hard as a rock. My desire is for you and for me at Grace Baptist Church is that we do not have hardened hearts of stone, because it will take that much more effort, that much more severity, to crack that heart of stone. We need to be people with hearts that are pliable, that are ready for God to work. When did the Israelites harden their hearts? Verse 8 has some interesting phrases. It says, harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness. That verse basically refers back to a period in Israel's history in Exodus chapter 17. In fact, I'm going to ask you to keep your fingers in Hebrews 3 and turn back with me to Exodus chapter 17. This was a period in their history when the Israelites were first freed from their slavery and bondage in Egypt. Do you remember how the Lord rescued his people from Egypt? Think about how they were rescued. They were heard of as slaves for 400 years in Egypt. And God sent 10 amazing, miraculous plagues that only affected the Egyptians and not the Israelites to get the Egyptians to say, and Pharaoh to say, OK, I'll let you go. And then after God had done these 10 plagues, The children of Israel, as they're walking toward the Red Sea, they see this great barrier and they don't know how they're going to get across. And God, in a miraculous way, parks the Red Sea and has them set foot on dry ground all the way across the Red Sea until they got to the other side. A miraculous thing that they saw. Amen. That wasn't it. They're all on the other side. Every single one of them passed on dry land. They're looking back and they see that the Pharaoh's chariots and all the Egyptian army is pursuing them because they thought if Israel could do it, we're going to do it too. So they're in the middle of the Red Sea and God, in a miraculous way, says, I'm going to close the waters up and I'm going to devastate the Egyptian army and kill them all. And of course, we know Moses' song of praise to God. The horse and his rider, he was thrown into the sea. And then God leads them through the desert. pillar of fire by night, a column of smoke by day. Here, the children of Israel are seeing these miraculous signs of the evidence of God's blessing upon their life. And yet what happens in less than two years? We come to Exodus chapter 17, verses one through seven. Let's read what happens. And all the congregation of the children of Israel, during from the wilderness of sin after their journey, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in rapid and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore, The people did chide with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore, do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore, is this that thou hast brought us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. The Lord said unto Moses in verse five, Go on before the people. And take with thee the elders of Israel, and thy rod wherewith thou smotest the river, and take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock with your stick, and there shall come out water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And Moses called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? That word, Massa, that he named that place, is the word that we have here in verse 8 of Hebrews, temptation. That was the temptation in the wilderness. They tempted the Lord. That word, Meribah, is the word provocation, the strife that they caused before the Lord. You see, a faithless person is someone who does not allow God's word, is someone who does not allow God's work to affect their heart and their lives. That's what the children of Israel did. They saw all these wonderful miracles. And yet they hardened their heart toward God. If you are spiritually rigid, you bear the mark of someone who is a part of the family of the faithless. But if you are a real Christian, part of the family of faith, you will be spiritually pliable instead. Just as Adelaide Pollard once wrote, have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will while I am waiting, yielded and still. We need to make sure that we're part of the family of God by making sure that our hearts are pliable in the hand of the potter. I mentioned to the young people in the teenage group several weeks ago that we're like Plato or should be like Plato in the hands of God. Kids like to play with Plato. They like to mold things and make things after what they want to make. We need to be like that in the hands of God. Fourth, we also see that a faithless person is spiritually rambling. Look at verse 10. Spiritually rambling. Wherefore, the Lord says, I was grieved with that generation and said they do always air in their hearts. They have not known my ways. This verse reveals God's reaction to those who are faithless. It says that he is grieved with them. That word is one of the most severe descriptions of disgust that could have been used by God. It has a similar meaning to what we read in Revelation 316 when it says that God would rather spew them out of his mouth. That's what the picture is there. God loathed that generation. God grieved. God wanted to spit them out. Why was the Lord so grieved, says in verse 10, because they always air in their hearts and they have not known my ways. The faithless Israelites were spiritual wanderers, spiritual ramblers. In fact, that's what that word air means. It means to wander around like a bunch of sheep. Like it says in Isaiah 53, 6, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way. Have you ever chased sheep? Probably not too many here have chased sheep. I've chased sheep before. It's kind of fun. Some of you probably chased ducks though, right? What happens when you chase ducks? They come back at you. Well, some of them do. But if they were smart, they're going to scatter. And where are they going to run? Anywhere they can to get out of your way. That's a picture of the Israelites, and that's the picture of someone who is not a part of the family faith. When the Lord strikes at your heart, you're going to run away from him. Doesn't matter where, doesn't matter to whom, you're going to run and run and run, and you're never going to return until he gets your attention. When the Lord tries to get your attention, where do you go? You go to him. Their hearts were wandering in a greater wilderness. Forty years they traveled through the Arabian Peninsula. Forty years! Wandering around. And yet, as the Charles Spurgeon once said, they were wanderers in body, but they were also wanderers in heart. And they didn't know the Lord's ways because they couldn't find them because they weren't. A faithless person is someone who wanders around, never getting serious about following the way of the Lord. My question for you is, are you serious about your spiritual walk with God? If not, it is a mark. a family trait of the faithless, the devil's family, if you will. We need to be serious about our walk in relationship with God. The children of Israel were wandering around. They were aimless. They were rambling around, spiritual ramblers. The Lord said he was grieved with them. But if you're a true Christian, part of the family of faith, you will be a follower of the Lord and not a wanderer. We need to make sure that we're part of family and faith. And finally, Fifth, we see that a faithless person is spiritually restless. People that have these identifying marks of someone who is not part of the family of God say, I'm okay. I'm at peace with myself. I'm happy. I'm enjoying life. I'm getting to do the things I want to do. And I don't have any constraints on me. My parents aren't going to tell me what to do. The government's not going to tell me what to do. My church isn't going to tell me what to do. I'm going to live my life my way. I'm going to enjoy it. They say, I have peace in my heart. Look at verse 11. The Lord says that the spiritually faithless person is restless because the Lord says, I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. The Lord was leading the children of Israel out of Egypt so that they could enter the land of promise, which would be a land of rest. That word rest means a calming of the wind. If you'll picture with me the children of Israel in that wilderness, that desert area, from time to time, I'm sure there would be wind and sandstorms that would darken the clouds, darken the sky, and they wouldn't be able to see, and they would choke because of the dust. Part of the rest that God had in store for them was when they would go into the promised land, it would be like breathing a breath of fresh air. And yet the Lord said, I am going to withhold that from them. I'm going to make them choke on the dust of their sins. But because of their unbelief and their constant challenges to the Lord, the Lord would not let them enter into that rest. And because of their unbelief and persistent disobedience, they were spiritually restless. In fact, that entire generation that was freed from Egypt would die in the wilderness, except for two. Who are those two? You remember those two? Who are the two that got to go into the Promised Land? Joshua and Caleb. Why? Because they were men of faith. They weren't men of faithlessness. Two notable exceptions. What a wonderful truth. A faithless person is someone who will never find real peace and rest in this life or in eternity. They may think they're at peace. They may think they're having a blast. Yet the Lord says they will never enter into my peace, my peace. That's the peace that passes all understanding. That is the peace that this world can never, ever find apart from God. The Bible says there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. There can be no rest to an unbelieving heart. If you are spiritually restless in your heart, you bear the mark of someone who is a part of the family of the faithless. But if you are a sincere believer in Christ, if you are a true Christian, part of the family of faith, you will find rest for your soul. No matter what the circumstances you face, no matter how the world is falling down around you, there will be an abiding peace in your heart that the world never knew. Peace that it cannot take away. Make sure you're part of the family of faith. Wherefore, it says in verse seven, Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. You need to make absolute certain in your life that you are not like the Israelites. The Israelites were spiritually unresponsive. They were spiritually rebellious. They wouldn't listen to God. They were spiritually rigid. In other words, they hardened their heart to God. They were spiritually rambling. They wandered around everywhere else except to Him. And they were spiritually restless. You need to make sure that those character traits that we see in the life of the Israelites are not in your life. Because if you see them there, you are part of the family of the faithless. What family are you a part of? Are you a part of the great family of faith? What family traits do you find in your heart and in your life? This morning, we need to heed this warning. We need to make absolute sure that we're part of the family of faith. We need to make absolute sure that we're a part of the family of faith. Let's close in prayer. Gracious Father, I thank you that you have given us warnings in Scripture because it is a very serious matter to ensure that our life and walk and relationship with you is right. Because when death comes knocking on this door of our lives and we're not right with you, it will then be too late. I pray, Father, that if there is anyone here who bears the family traits of someone who is part of the family of the faithless, that you will even now convict them in their heart, show them and impress upon them that today is the day of salvation. That today is the day they must respond in their heart to the Lord Jesus Christ to save them from their sins. That today is the day they must repent of their sins and get right before you. Today is the day they must respond. I pray, Lord, that we will not put it off another day. I pray that we will not be spiritual procrastinators, but that we will have the faith in God, that we will have the character traits of someone who is part of the family of Christ. Lord, help us to realize there's only two families. We're either a part of one or a part of the other. And as the Bible says. By their fruits, we shall know. Help us to analyze our own fruits. Help us to analyze our own hearts. Help us to take heed, to look deep, to consider, to think about our own walking relationship and make sure that we're a part of the family of faith because it is so important. It is so critical. Because if we're not, it is so dangerous. Lord, I pray that everyone here is part of a family of faith. If they're not today, Lord, that you will speak to them. They will get their heart and life right before you. First, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.