Hebrews chapter 3. It is time to expand on the warning that we ended on last week. I will remind you of what that was in just a minute, don't panic. So, I focused last week when we went through it on the comforting aspect of it. The reason why we could do that was because, well, they were going to reiterate it and go back over it again. So there's no point going over the same territory the same way two different times. We can cover different aspects of it. It's one of the joys. So remember, this is a letter. It's also a letter with commentary on the teachings. So there is zero room to stop or place to breathe. So you have to keep things in mind. So let's recap two and a half chapters, shall we? In light of who Jesus is, what Jesus does, how now do we understand ourselves? See, that's so easy, isn't it? You're like, how did that take you three weeks? I don't know, I talk a lot, I'm sorry. Verse 12. Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart. All right, pause real quick. Those are the ones that are going to be cast off. So let's rewind just a little bit to verse 10. I was angry with this generation and said, they always go astray in their heart, and they did not know my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Now, I told you last week that that's good for those of you that are in the kingdom because it's a comfort. Sin will be dealt with. Sin will be done away with. But that's for you that are in the kingdom. If you're not in the kingdom, is this happy news? This is not happy, happy, joy, joy. This is a warning, which again, though, in your Bible, I always like to point this out when you get to letters or anything that comes after the Gospels, is nothing new to the message of Scripture. So Matthew 13. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." See, that's a warning. And by the way, remember who all of these letters of the New Testament are addressed to. Mentioned this before, I don't know if it was last week or week before last. These aren't messages given to the unbelieving world. You're not supposed to take Hebrews. I mean, you could, nothing, well, I can't say nothing bad will happen to you, it is 2024. But you're not supposed to, the point of Hebrews is not that you take it and go stand at the street corners in front of Walmart and yell it at people. It might be effective, try it, let me know how that works out for you. Call me afterwards, but no, I'm not going. This is for the church. Why are these warnings there? Because church, you're supposed to be wary of having these festering influences and sins abiding in your fellowship. 1 Corinthians 5. I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or a covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler, not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? Those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. I always love how Paul is going to be like, I'm telling you to get rid of the sin. Stop leaving it. Don't ignore it. Don't excuse it. Don't make excuses for it. Get rid of it. Now, Christian, what's your hedge of protection there? And we're going to mention that again, probably, so don't worry. Where does that ministry start, always? With you! This is the warning from Matthew 7, right? Before you look at the speck in your brother's eye, you remove the log in your eye. So it always starts with you, but never forget, after you've removed the log from your eye, then you can see clearly to do what? Take the speck out of your brother's eye. You never- You having sin, you having problems, is never an excuse to look at somebody else and be like, well, can't do anything, I'm just as evil as they are. You both of you need to repent. All you've said out loud is we both have problems, let's figure this out. That's what is always supposed to be the case. Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart. Why not? Because that falls away from the living God. Now, we're gonna take a pause because this is an idea that Hebrews is gonna come back to. So, quick little exit ramp, but I promise it is worth the while. Hebrews 10, if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Now, I know what I just said because I was there when I said it and mostly paying attention to what I said. mostly, that these are messages given to the church. Well, this sounds an awful lot like people who are in the fellowship, who are supposed to be what? Believers, redeemed people, are going to fall away. Did Hebrews just tell us we could lose our salvation? All right, time out. Short answer, no. Long answer, gets more complicated because you have to go backwards. Always remember this. So, I know you guys understand this concept, but it behooves me to remind you of it a second time, sir. I am Joshua and these are the children of Israel. And then they throw slushies at them, it's great. Fun was had by all. See, those of you that have never seen VeggieTales, you think I have bumped my head and completely lost my mind. Those of you that are giggling with me, you're like, it is that awesome. That's one of the top ones. And for the rest of the day, keep walking, but you won't knock down our wall. Keep walking, but she isn't gonna fall. See, and you're all bobbing your head that you know this. So that's where that weird little French accent comes from, sorry. So no, Hebrews is not telling you you can lose your salvation, but remember, like I just said, Hebrews is built on foundations that have come before it. Corinthians, Romans, we covered this when we went through the book of James. Reading through James, I kept pointing out, you read James and go like, where did James come up with this idea? And then you run to the teaching of Jesus and you read something Jesus said and be like, oh, it's right there. So same thing here. You read this in light of what has come before. Well, what are some of the warnings that have come before? Something like Matthew 13 is an excellent warning. The parable of the soils. I won't read you the parable. I'll read you the explanation of the parable because when Jesus tells you what the parable means, you know what you should do? You should listen to that explanation. Should you be sitting there going, I wonder if there's another way to understand this? No, there isn't. How do I know that? Because Jesus told you what it means. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. Now pause for a second. Is that a believer? No, they heard the gospel, but what did it do? Nothing, in one ear, Out the other, nothing accomplished, right? So there's one person, one category, no believer. The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places. This is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the world, immediately he falls away. Now pause for a second. Is that a believer? No, because what's the mark of a believer? Perseverance, being sanctified, bearing up under trial. This is why trials exist. They don't give you faith, they prove your faith. This is James 1, 1 Peter 1, Romans 5, Luke 6, you can do all those at home, you're welcome. So, this is someone who heard it be like, ooh, I really like the sound of that, but the minute I have to suffer for it, the minute it becomes complicated, I'm out. I'm out. I'm so tempted to make a real-world comparison, but it would get me in so much trouble, so I'm not gonna do it, I'm not gonna do it, I'm not gonna do it, I'm not gonna do it. My wife is in the corner going... No, I'm gonna behave. I am an adult, I can do this. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word. And the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. Now, pause for a second. Is that a believer? No, because they love what? They love the world more than they love God. What's the word that we assign to people who love something else in the place of God? That's an idolater. Now, do idolaters inherit the kingdom? No, because they have not God. This is 2 John. You have not Christ, therefore you have not God. You started with the wrong God, therefore you got the wrong Jesus, therefore you got the wrong salvation. You want a really good real world example of this? This is your prosperity gospel in action. You think it saves, but the minute I stop getting the goodies from the goodie bag deliverer, what do I do? I throw everything away and I go live my own life. This is what Mormonism would look like. You get people out of Mormonism 99 times out of 100, you know what they go to? Atheism. Because they've believed a lie and they have nothing to show for it and so everyone's evil and rotten and I don't want to do this anymore. This becomes the problem you get with false religion. And this is one of the reasons why you don't really see the massive persecutions in the modern world against false religions. Because they're on the same side. They're accomplishing the same thing. Leading people astray and taking them away from the light. So what you've received thus far in this parable is three categories of people who heard the gospel, but were not changed by the gospel. The one on whom the seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. We've covered this a thousand times. Who's the driver of the sanctification of your life? God is through the work of the Holy Spirit, which means the driver of your sanctification is not you, but the accomplishments wrought by the work of Christ. Meaning if that sanctification is not occurring, if there is no fruit of any kind, and by the way, what level of fruit celebration are we talking about here? Every little baby step is good progress, right? So, That is accomplished because the Holy Spirit is driving you and spurring you forward. If that's not occurring, it's because the Holy Spirit is not driving you and spurring you forward. He didn't take a nap. He didn't go sit in the corner and be like, nah, I'm just leaving that one go. He can't be taught. So the reason why Hebrew sounds like it's warning you against losing something you've already accomplished is because you're pretending. you're in the fellowship, which again goes back to the warning being given to the believer. Why do you root out sin in your own life and root out sin in the fellowship? Because you do not want to allow it to fester, because allowing sin to fester and grow and develop is not the work of believers in the work of the Holy Spirit, but work of unbelievers in the spirit that is anti-Christ. So by allowing that, you're not falling away from Christ, you're revealing that you never actually had Christ. So again, you don't just grab the, I'll use our fancy big terms, you don't use the didactic, the teaching material of the New Testament to then reinterpret the narratives that have been laid down by Jesus. You read the teaching material in light of who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he has taught. Because wait for it, who's the biggest authority on what Jesus is doing? God through Jesus. So when he teaches, you'd be like, you know, I should probably see the work that he accomplishes in light of the teaching that he lays down. That would make sense, wouldn't it? And then I should see the light, I should see the teaching of his apostles in light of his calling to them, which is done in light of the work that he has done on their behalf. So everything comes back so that your anchor is who? Christ. Remember that for later. That'll be very, very important. So verse 13. So instead of that, instead of festering sin, instead of allowing it, encourage one another day after day, which again I'm going to point out to you is not a new thing, and it's not even a new thing in the New Testament. You can go back, you know it's a good day when we get Leviticus, right? When a cross references Leviticus, you know it's a good morning. Leviticus 19, you shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart. You may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Going all the way back to the beginning, part of the reason why that law, I mentioned this, this was last week, I think. Part of the reason why the law in Leviticus, coming from Numbers and Exodus, is so all-encompassing is that you do not allow sinful people any wiggle room. That's vital for a community of faith, as Israel is supposed to be, because you're not allowed any wiggle room, which means the beauty of that is when you see your neighbor going astray, how obvious is it? Because there's no wiggle room, there's no room for interpretation. We know what's right, we know what we're supposed to do, I can obviously tell if you're not. Now, when I see you doing what you are not supposed to do, or not doing what you are supposed to do, do I sit in my house and be like, can you believe these people? Just look at them, look at them, just mm, mm, mm, mm. Shameful, isn't it? Shameful. Kids, don't be like that. Is that what we're supposed to do? No, don't incur sin because of your neighbor, but rather reprove your neighbor. Love the neighbor. Call them to repentance. Instruction in the right way. This is how it was always supposed to be. This is what Israel was supposed to be. This is what the church is supposed to be. This is what the kingdom is supposed to be until Jesus comes back and we don't have to do this anymore because we're perfect. Isn't that gonna be so awesome? This is what the longing of Romans 8 is about, is actually recognizing, you know, after a while, this war against sin is kind of constant because when I'm fighting against my sin, you know who I'm fighting the most against? Me, because who's my biggest problem? Yeah, this nitwit right here. All that gray matter in the middle is what I'm constantly warring against. It's going to be so nice when I don't have to do that anymore. So this is what builds forward. You get things like Ephesians 4. Laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. And you guys know my rule about the truth. Is it nice? No. Is the truth mean? No. It's simply what? Truth. Case in point, the French are weird. That's just a fact. You watch the Olympics, you watch the history, and you just go, you guys, there's just, that was our entire joke. As I sat there, we watched the opening ceremonies laughing hysterically, because I was making way too many comments. And I said, you're going to, because I watched it live. Cameron was running errands and doing stuff. So I got to watch it live during the day. And then Cameron wanted to watch it like on the replay. And I told him, I said, just so you know, 27 times during this opening ceremony, you are going to go, why are the French? And you're like, why, why, why are they doing this? And the answer is because it's a broken, weird culture that has no foundation in God, no basis in who Christ is and what he has done. And then what would humanity look like if you just left it to its own devices and this is what it produced? And huzzah, that's, exactly. The French peas are so much better. But see, even the French peas are weird. Why? Because they are French. My father-in-law's favorite peas are the French peas. He likes the Lassure peas. Those are the only ones he actually likes. He calls them sewer peas because, you know, Lassure and that Southern accent, they become Lassure, Lassure, so they're just sewer peas. It is what it is. So encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today. Okay, pause for a second. This is what I mean when I say you can't forget sections. Why do you care that it's called today? Like, who named it that? Well, God did. Hebrews 3, 7. Today if you hear his voice, so you're building on the same point that has already been made and always remember that The gospel call is not a call to five years ago. It's not a call to five years from now It is a call to sinners who are lost and separated from God right now right now, today if you hear his voice. Encourage one another as long as it is called today, 1 Timothy 1. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life. See, if you were sitting there like chillin' out on the road to Emmaus, not the road to Emmaus, the road to Damascus, wrong road, sorry. Wrong book, wrong chapter, wrong road. Chillin' on the road to Damascus, and Paul was rollin' by goin' to arrest Christians, would you be sittin' there goin', there he is, you see that guy? That's the dude. He's gonna write a whole bunch of letters, he's gonna preach a whole bunch of sermons, he is going to be mighty for God and bring salvation to the Gentiles and argue in the synagogues, he's gonna be awesome. You'd be saying what? Hide. Hide. Get out of here before he finds us. That guy can't be saved. That guy's too far gone. There's no hope for him. Look at him. He's throwing women and children in jail. He's getting people executed. That is a bad dude. Avoid him at all costs. And what's the lesson? Paul got the lesson. Dude, God picked me because it's proof to you. If he can get me, If he can redeem me, then who can he redeem? Who can he reach out and get? This is the encouragement. You encourage and strengthen one another because we stand steadfast in faith in Christ, proclaiming truth to the world, not allowing sin, not allowing anything, because we don't know when the proclamation of the message just, oh shoot, we got one. Like, how did that happen? I don't know. I didn't do it. Holy Spirit just went, mine. And when he does that, who fights it? Yeah, because when God fights, God wins. That's a lesson I taught my kids when they were little. It's like, you can fight all you want, just know when you fight, I win. See, I'm still, for a while, I'm still the biggest person in the house, so I can still get away with that. I'm still bigger than Andre, and I'm still bigger than both the kids, so. Well, it might be for a while. Connor tried to get me the other day. He thought he had me. He walked up, gave me a big old bear hug from behind. He's like, I gotcha! And then I just kind of did this and his feet were off the ground. And he's like, uh-oh. He's like, yep, uh-oh. So I'm still good for now. But who's bigger than God? Oh. Do you want another VeggieTales? Because you know what? God is bigger than the boogeyman. He's bigger than Godzilla and the monsters on TV. Oh, it's been a while since I did that one. Again, as soon as I asked, Cameron's like, yes, yes. See, it's her fault. She encouraged me. It's not me, it's this woman you gave to me. See, there you go. You're encouraging. There you go. She's listening today. But that's kind of the point. God wins. God is larger. He plucks who He wants. He redeems when He desires, when He chooses. And you do what in the meantime? You encourage. You're sanctified. You trust in God. You lean upon the work that Christ has done. You trust in the work of the Spirit and know that He is building His kingdom, and that's what you do. So, as long as it's called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Now, time out. What's the cure for that? How do you make sure you don't get jaded in the world, that you don't get jaded by your own conscience, that you don't get torn asunder by your own sin and iniquity that you're warring against every day? For every look at yourself... No, we're up to 15. I was at 14 last week. See, I'm keeping track. You thought I was kidding about that. You take 15 looks at Christ and you remember who Jesus is and what He has done. 1 Corinthians 3, according to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. Each man must be careful how he builds on it, for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, pause for a second. That's universal. There's not another foundation to build your life on. You're either building rightly on Christ or you're building wrongly by ignoring Christ. But the foundation of all things is still what? Still Christ. I mentioned this in Sunday school, I think last week. This was a fascinating argument I read in a book a couple of months ago. The argument was you can't actually have secular atheism in a world unless you have monotheistic Christianity first. because the philosophy behind the idea that we don't believe in any God is built upon the freedom of the gospel message that tells you that God redeems and gives people the life that they have. And I'm sitting there going, interesting. It wasn't perfect. I mean, again, I'm not going to recommend it because the book's like this big and it's hard. He tries to trace the history of philosophy from like 300 BC to the present. It's a little numbing after a while, but once you get like 200 pages in, I'm one of those people that I have to finish it. So, you know, grit my teeth and survive, but he's not wrong. It's the argument, I can't remember even who made it now, but in order to be angry and try to punch at God, you have to climb up into his lap first. You have to, in order, the arguments that build upon the foundation that I hate God are built upon the foundation that God has created, that God sustains, that he's here. We've joked about this before. You, science, math, are built on the suppositions that the universe is constant. Well, why would a randomly chaotic universe ever be constant? You have constancy in what? Something that's ordered, something that's created and laid out. So you suppose God in order to then use the tools that he has given to despise him. So I always joke with you guys, what are the two things every atheist knows? There is no God and I hate him. and because that's how you consistently live your life. Everything is built upon Christ, either for, in service, or against, in hatred, in neglect, in judgment. Verse 14, for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end. Now, that becomes very, very important because, Christian, once again, what's your assurance What is the assurance that you're clinging to? Is it your profession? Is it your good works? Is it your understanding? No, what's your assurance? Christ. Christ is my assurance. So for every look at yourself, you take 16 looks at Jesus. I told you I'm keeping up. John 6, this is the will of Him who sent me, that of all He has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise Him up on the last day. This is who Jesus is, this is what Jesus does, which again, This is why the warning can be what it can be, and why the understanding of your assurance should be what it is. Hebrews is not saying, well, you were in, but now you're out. No, no, no. You were pretending to be in, and we just found you out. you went out from us because you were not of us. You were never actually in in the first place, which is again why it's very, very important that you actually are part of a local body of believers, that you don't pretend that church is just something you do by yourself. You can't. Where's your accountability by yourself? I mean, let's be honest. Who makes the worst accountability partner for you? You! What will humanity justify? Make excuses for? I mean, yeah, that's a list, isn't it? That could be a book that somebody's probably actually written. Instead, you actually need your neighbor to look at you and go, that's not what the book says. That's not what this is supposed to be. That's not how this is laid out. That's not who we're supposed to be. There's a better way. There's a more excellent way. There's something more important that we can work towards and work on. And that's part of the joy, that joy is found where? In the work that Christ has accomplished. Because when someone, see, this is my point. For you spirit-empowered believers, I'm giving you all the benefit of the doubt. That's how nice I am, see? When someone points out sin to you, after you go through the initial how dare you phase, you know the phase I'm talking about where you get mad at the person because how dare you do that to me. Then what happens? Then you have two apologies, don't you? Yeah, one to God and one to the person you were mad at for pointing it out to you because you recognized what? See, that right there, that little moment where you're like, now I gotta apologize twice and repent for two different things. That's good because you know who brought that to your mind? The Holy Spirit. If you didn't have that, it'd be because you thought about your life and you evaluated it and you came to the conclusion that I'm fine. This is like when the government investigates itself and be like, we have determined that we did nothing wrong. And you're like, I don't think that's how that's supposed to work. But it is how it's supposed to work because we made the rules that determined what we could determine that we did nothing wrong. See, is that true of the universe you live in? No, it's not. Because who makes the rules for your world? Not you. God. This is again, Christian, why the hope is in eternity. Why both the joy and the sorrow is long-suffering and down the line. Why you have comfort in the fact that God will undo sin and while the sinner lost in his sin should have fear. You can comfort in that because you know there is coming a day when that wrong that is over there, that you despise, that you can't do anything about, that you wish would be undone, you know that it will be dealt with and you can rest. And you can rejoice because God has you, God has ushered you into his kingdom, and he will undo that. Justice will come. Either Christ will bear that penalty or they will bear that penalty. And I can rejoice in either of those because I trust God to work out and to bring about all things that he has promised. And that's a comfort. Again, for every look at yourself, take 17 looks at Jesus. Take all the looks at God. I told you I was keeping up. Verse 15. While it is said, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me. Now pause real quick. Because that sounds almost exactly like what we read last week. There's a reason it sounds almost exactly like we read last week. It is exactly what we read last week. It's a quote from Psalm 95. It's one of the reasons why I think that ultimately, Paul is the anchor and the voice behind whatever the commentary on this sermon in Hebrews is. Because from those of you that went through Romans with us and have gone through anything that Paul has ever written, Paul has never met a dead horse that he would not beat. I mean, Paul has never met an idea that he would not circle back to 27 times in the same letter and keep going. Someone's going to explode in a second. I didn't do it. So, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me. Verse 16, for who provoked him when they had heard? Now, this is gonna get really interesting because They found us. It's not one alarm, it's another alarm. There it is. See, you don't turn your alarms off, the fire department will come for you. There you go. You gotta have fun with it. It's wild. I had a seminary professor that went over this one time and actually learned this one time. It's the, he used to say, look, if there's something like that that's a distraction to service, just deal with it, move on, don't worry about it. He said, just don't ever try to compete with the wasp. You ever get a bee or a wasp in church? He goes, just stop everything, go get a ladder, kill the bug, because anything you do for the next 10 minutes is a complete waste until that thing is dead, because everybody's doing what? And there's like some four-year-old in the back trying to catch it, you know, it's just stop everything, kill the bug, move on with life, and you know, so yeah. And I've always joked, I said, first sermon I ever preached, a cell phone went off in the middle of it. Cell phone belonged to my mother. And the best part is it goes off and... My mother was not the gentlest of people always, and not always the one who was exactly aware of the words flying out of her mouth. I saw in real time her sitting in the middle of that church pew as she caught the curse that was gonna come out of her mouth real quick. I could see, and then she grabs her phone and I'm like, yep, that's mom right there. God love her. Anyway, so yeah. So verse 16, for who provoked him, talking about God, when they had heard? All right, pause right there because we're about to go into the Exodus. And this is a fascinating question that is being asked about the crowd in the Exodus. So what was the point of the work of Exodus? This is something we've covered before that we really need to make sure you keep in your mind right now. And the simple definition is the work of the Exodus is to redeem and deliver the people of God. By whose... I'll take both answers for this. By whose hand? God's through Moses. Now pause. Jesus is what in regards to Moses? He's better than Moses. Just like he's better than the angels, Jesus is better than Moses. This is important. Moses is a savior for Israel. Moses is not the savior for Israel. And something we talked about when we went through Exodus, what feels like a lifetime ago. When did we go through Exodus? Was that 2021? It's, man, that's 2020. Oh, three, four years ago. Man, I feel old now. I still remember doing that. I remember watching you guys fall asleep as we talked about the tabernacle. I'm kidding. Somewhat. Now, one of the jokes that we made that helps you keep things in mind is, for the most part, while we got Israel out of Egypt, We never really got Egypt out of Israel, for the most part. That's gonna become important because that foundation is kind of what's being built out here. So, who provoked him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who come out of Egypt led by Moses? Now, that's horrible English because the NASB translates it as literally as possible. Basically, the question is, didn't everybody that came out of Egypt get led by Moses? And the answer is what? Yes! Deuteronomy 29, Moses even says this, I have led you 40 years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. I want to buy those shoes. I need some Exodus flip-flops. I mean, do you have any idea what I have to spend now to get shoes that last two or three years? It's insanely bad. I used to be able to buy shoes for 25 bucks that last a year or two and it was worth it. Now it's 125 bucks and they don't last 20 minutes. It's awful. And my kids, oh my goodness, I'm gonna cut Connor's feet off, I swear. Buy him a pair of shoes and a month later, like, the sole is no longer attached to the bottom of the shoe. He has, unfortunately, the same feet I have. We both have these fat little hobbit feet that they go this way. So when I was a kid, my parents would buy me shoes and they would forever fall apart. They'd forever fall apart right here. right there because that wide part of my foot would just push on them and then they would split. And then when I was an adult, I discovered they actually made wide shoes and then that would stop happening. But I'm not spending the extra money on a foot that's gonna grow every six months to buy the extra wide shoe for him. So they just split and fall apart and I spend $20 on new shoes. Well, it's the rule of life. It's like I'm not spending the $75 to $80 on good shoes when you're gonna outgrow them in six months. That's just insane waste of money. You might as well just destroy them for 20 bucks. Anyway, so I can't buy the Deuteronomy 29 sandals, so I have to overspend on everything else. Verse 17, so Moses led them all, yes, and with whom was he, not Moses, but God, angry for 40 years? Was it not those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness? Now, this is why remembering that crowd and the entirety of the biblical narrative is so important. So let's put the Exodus crowd in perspective by going to what Paul teaches in the New Testament. This will make sense in a second, I promise. Romans 2. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter, and his praise is not from men, but from God." Now, if you want a corollary to that, you go to Galatians 3. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. Now, this is a reminder of something like the wheat and the tares. What's the point of the parable of the wheat and the tares? Is you've got this beautiful wheat field, but some enemy has done what? Come in there and sowed weeds amongst them. Well, if I just start ripping weeds out of the field, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna destroy this beautiful wheat plant that we have labored and worked for, and there goes the profit. What do you do? You dig it all up at the end, you harvest it at the end, and then you separate it. Well, what's the metaphor? Christian! Beautiful wheat plant! In a world of what? In a world of weeds. See, you are the blossom between two possums. There's a good Southernism for ya. Oh, if you've never been in the South or any other time, Cameron's heard it. Cameron's heard it a thousand times. You can see Johnny Duncan right now, can't ya? Because he's the one who always said it. Anyway, sorry. You are the wheat in the beautiful field, corrupted by the weeds all around you. When does that get undone? In the judgment. God redeeming his people while judging sin. That was true in Jesus' day. It's true in your day. It was true in Israel's day in the exodus. You had all the bad apples amongst the good fruit. You had that multitude of people. Some were in, some were out. How would you know over time? Again, I would actually venture to guess that during that initial exodus, the number who are actually in the kingdom is low. Quite low. I mean, you think about, we send spies into the land, how many of them are believing of the 12 spies we send into the land? Two! You get, what, Joshua and Caleb. And that's about the extent of it. This is something that Moses doesn't forget. So, if you go back to Deuteronomy 29, before he talks about the awesome sandals that don't wear out, Moses summoned all Israel and said to them You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and in all his land The great trials which your eyes have seen those great signs and wonders Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know nor eyes to see nor ears to hear What did they see? They saw the parting of the sea, they saw the plagues, they saw the manna from heaven, they saw all the wonders, they saw the fact that their shoes haven't all worn out yet. I mean, be honest, that would be a big deal, right? Walking around in the rocks and in the sand, you know, with all the bugs and whoever knows trying to eat you, and the shoes are still good, go team. And yet... Who does the work of redeeming? Who does the work of sanctifying? Who does the work of strengthening his people? It's God, and God alone. He can do all the miracles. He can show you all the wonderful things. If God doesn't change the heart and the mind of people, what's gonna be the problem? The heart and the mind of people. Now stop. This is why you have to remember that Jesus is better than Moses. Because all Moses can do is point you in the right direction. He can lead the horse to water, but what can't he do? He can't make him drink. So Moses can lead, Moses can point, Moses can beg, he can plead, he can sin himself, he can do all of those things. At the end of the day, he needs God to move you in order for something to be different. Jesus comes down and goes, there's the water, drink it. Yes, sir. He can change the heart and mind. He can actually redeem his people. He's not just leading them out. He's leading them out and actually saving them, actually changing hearts, actually changing minds, actually giving them a new nature to lead them into the good kingdom that God has promised. Jesus is better because He is not a Savior, He is THE Savior. He's the guy. There's not another one coming, there's not somebody else you should be looking for. This is the question, are you Him or should we look for another? Jesus is like, I'm the guy, that's me. That's why the Messianic titles, that's why the miraculous works, that's why the redemption, that's why the resurrection, that's why the teaching, that's why everything is because He's the guy, the buck stops with Him. And that's what Hebrews is getting on about. is he's demonstrating that the people have always been the problem. The solution has always been the work of God. The warning to the church is that, Christian, you... Christian, you are forever going to be surrounded by sin and iniquity in the world. Admit it, you are slightly impressed. Just a little. I'll believe in that when we do the recording. Batteries die mid-sentence. Oh no, there are times when the squirrels are paying attention up here and we know what's going on. So, you are forever in a world that is surrounded by sin. But rejoice, God has redeemed you. God can shepherd you to a good end. God can bring you to the right kingdom, and he will undo that sin. And that sin, whatever sin you are worried about, because he knows who is his. And as you see that sin and that iniquity spring up around you, do not fear it. Do not fear confronting it, because who's going to be victorious? God. He's changed your heart. He's changed your mind. He's changed your nature. Therefore, you can rest in Him. When you look at yourself and you see the problems, you take the 17 looks at God, the 17 looks at Christ. No, it was 16 last time. Well, now it's 18. And you rejoice that He has you and that He holds you. Verse 18. And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? See, this is part of that call. Who enters into the land? Who enters into the rest of God? Those who have trusted in the work that he has done, those who have trusted in the redemption he has brought. In other words, God, wait a minute, is capable of doing two things at once, right? We've pointed this out a thousand times. He's capable of redeeming his people while judging sin. You see this in Numbers 14. The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel which they are making against me. Say to them, As I live, says the Lord. Just as you have spoken in my hearing, so I will surely do to you. Your corpses will fall in the wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number, from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me. Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become prey, I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected." See, that's borderline indignant from God. You have rejected me. You have grumbled. You have whined and complained that God can't redeem you, He can't save you and protect you, we're gonna die in this wilderness, and our children will die eaten by wild animals in this desert. Oh yeah? You will be judged. You will die. And those kids who you think I can't protect, I will redeem them and I will save them and I will bring them into a good land and nanananana. God's just more mature than I am. Big shock, right? That's basically what Numbers 14 is. Now, you fast forward to the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 10. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Talk about the pillar of cloud by day, walking through the parting of the waters. And they all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness." God showed them the cloud, God parted the waters, God fed them, God cared for them, God protected them, and they were not redeemed. This is the reality of the world in which you live. So what do you do? You're wary, trusting in God, never in yourself, looking to his redemption, verse 19. So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Notice where Hebrews just reign you right back to. What's your anchor? See, go back a couple of verses. What's your protection against that unbelief? Those looks to Christ, the understanding of His redemption. What's your protection against the hardening of your heart? The work of Christ and the softening by the Holy Spirit and the sanctification moving forward. What's the hope? The faith of the people. The faith in what? who Jesus is, what Jesus has done. Jude 5, I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. See, by the way, pay attention to the grumbles of Israel in the wilderness. What do they want? They want food, they want water, they want protection, they want the land, they want blah, blah, blah, blah. Where are all of those things? in the here, in the now. Now, where could I get food if you're Israel in the wilderness? And where could I get water? And where could I be safe from the enemy armies that are all around me? And where could I have a nice little land that I can raise my family and people will mostly leave me alone? I had all of that where? In Egypt, back in my bondage in my slavery. Christian, you would never know anybody who would look at the world and go, yeah, Jesus is nice and all, but you know, life is pretty good. Kids have a good school. I got a good job. You know, things are going well. And you want me to kind of go against the things of this world to stand for something that, let's be honest, most people are against it and make my life complicated. Why would I do such a thing? Because I am comfortable. The cares of this world choke things out and the seed produces nothing. It's the same reminder. It's the same caution you get going out into the world. Again, Christian, what's the cure? 1 John 2. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God lives forever. What's the will of God again from John? that of all Christ has received, he will lose none of them. He will bring them into a good kingdom. The love of the world, if anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. See, that goes in both directions. If the love of the father is in him, does he love the world? The answer is no, because he's discovered a better kingdom, a better place, a city whose builder is God and not men. This is what all of these little reminders, all of these little hopes are pointing to. The work of Christ is not always pretty in this world. The understandings of who Jesus is and what he has done are not always simple, but they're always fruitful. They're always good. Why? Because they're rendered by a faithful people to a God who has redeemed them, who they love, who they are serving. In opposition to the tugs of the world, the schemes of sin, the enemies of everything that the kingdom is supposed to be. Because of that joy, because of that positioning by God through his work, we are at rest and at peace because we are with him. You live here now, I get it. Lord knows you're reminded of it on a regular basis, aren't you? Perfect case in point. Do you think I planned on having the 17 conversations about the weirdness of the world that I had to have with my kids after watching the Olympic opening ceremonies? Was that part of the plan? No, but was it the reality of my world? Yup. Do you think on a random trip to the grocery store half the time you're gonna have to explain the things to your kids you're gonna have to explain, or explain the things to yourself you're gonna have to explain half the time? Nope. But yet, what do you have to do? You ever think you're gonna have to evaluate, why don't we know which bathroom is which? As a battery gets thrown at me? The podium is attacking! That's never good. See, all of these things we look at and go, this was never supposed to be. Well, okay, yeah, but what is sin corrupt? Yes. What does it destroy? Yes. What does it make you have to defend? Everything. Every inch of ground. Okay. But that defense is good. That faithfulness to God is good, why? Because it is empowered by the Spirit, which is given by God, because of the work that Jesus has done, because of who he is and what he is building for his people. So we rejoice, as long as it is called today, what do we do? We remain faithful, guarding our hearts, guarding our fellowship, trusting that it is the God who has brought us this far, will not forget us, will not forsake us, will bring us to a good end. And we go to war in the meantime, and we rejoice in that battle, because God is good, and he has not forgotten us, and he has redeemed. Let's pray.