Please join me in turning to the book of Hebrews chapter 3. We return this evening to the passage that we began looking at this morning. We're going to read at verse 7, beginning there down to verse 19. Hebrews chapter 3, beginning 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 share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said today, if you 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 was he 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. We saw this morning that to harden your heart is a serious issue. The Bible doesn't just tell us that, the Bible shows us that. What happened in times past is set before us today as an illustration, as an example of what you and I must be wary of, what we must be on the alert for. When the Lord, here in verses 7 through 11, sets before us the testimony of the psalmist in Psalm 95, verses 7 through 11, who reminded us all of the generation that died in the wilderness after being delivered through the exodus. God led his people out of Egypt. They saw many wondrous, miraculous things. God loved them, took care of them in miraculous ways. They had every reason to believe him, every reason to listen to him, every reason to trust him, every reason to follow him. And yet an entire generation perished and never entered into the rest that God had prepared for them because they did not believe him. This is not only sinful, this is not only tragic, it is something that calls for divine retribution. It's something that stirs in God anger. They provoked the Lord with their unbelief, verse 9 says, therefore I was provoked with that generation. To harden the heart is a provocation of holy God. It invites divine response, and that's what they saw. So, in verses 7 through 11, we have an illustration. Now, in verses 12 through 19, we have the application. The writer of Hebrews says, here's the picture, here's the passage of Scripture that I want to begin with, and now I want to begin to apply it to you who are reading this, to you who are hearing this. I've set the preeminence of Jesus before your eyes up to this point in this letter, and now I am exhorting you to continue with him. Don't throw away your confidence, but continue with Jesus. Understand that you're in the right place when you've embraced Jesus. And so I'm exhorting you by the tragic example of unbelief, I'm exhorting you not to allow that kind of heart to exist in you. put away the kind of heart that would lead you away from the living God. And so, in verses 12 and following, we find a warning from God and we find the way of unbelief described for us. We begin this evening with the warning. There are two imperatives found in verses 12 through 15. Take care, brothers. Lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Do you see there where it says, take care? That's an imperative. That's a command. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today. None of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Do you see where it says that we're to exhort one another? That's a command. The first imperative has to do with a congregational watch. a congregational concern, a congregational watch for the spiritual health of its individual members. We'll talk about it in just a moment, but we're being commanded here as a congregation to watch for the spiritual health of each and every individual member of the congregation. The second imperative has to do with congregational action. The first, congregational concern. The second, congregational action, activity. And that is in the interest of the spiritual perseverance of every individual member. So we're watchful to make sure that everyone is healthy and we are taking action to make sure that no one leaves. No one walks away. No one walks away from Jesus. We are active in the interest of the perseverance in faith of every professing believer in our midst. That's what we're being called to here. Notice, first of all, the congregational watch for spiritual health. Take care, brothers. Take care. Blepote is the word. It is a second person plural imperative form of the word blepo, which means to see. So he's saying you all watch. When he says take care, he's saying you all watch. You all be on the lookout. Look for this. Be watchful about this. Be alert to this. Be aware for this. That's the command. We are commanded. As a congregation, it's a plural word, we are commanded, all of us, to be on the lookout for something, to be watchful about something. Not only is it a watching kind of concern that's being described here, we're to be concerned for the congregation in a watchful way. It is a preventative concern. That is, we're on the lookout against something. We're watching for something that could be in an individual's life but must not be allowed in an individual's life. You can't have this in your life because it is devastating spiritually. It is dangerous. In fact, if left unchecked, it's damning. Take care, brothers. Notice, lest there be in any of you this kind of heart. So we're on the watch to make sure that this kind of heart he's describing is not in any one of us. So we're on the lookout against something. By the way, just a quick note, you notice he does this in a generous way, in a warm way, because he says, take care, brothers. Now, realize he's already seen indications of the danger of departure in the lives of these people. This is why he writes the letter the way that he does. This is why it's full of warnings passages. He's concerned about them, but he doesn't assume that this is going to be their story, that they're going to defect. He doesn't just assume that. In fact, he's hopeful so that he exhorts them not to do that. So on the one hand, he's not assuming the worst about them. He's not assuming they're lost. He's calling them brothers, but he's not naive. Neither is he treating them as if this is beyond one of them, as if this couldn't happen to some of them. It's a great lesson for us as we exhort each other, we believe the best about each other, we're hopeful about each other, and yet at the same time, we're not naive about the spiritual dangers that face all of us. We understand that each and every one of us needs to be exhorted when it comes to our faith in Jesus Christ. No one beyond that, no one who can say, I have no need of that. I never need exhortation. I never need encouragement. No one can say that. So it's a watchful concern. It's a preventative concern. Third, it is an individual concern. He is addressing the group But he does so in a way that is to be applied case by case, individual by individual. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you, literally, lest there be in someone, lest there be, we could say, in any one of you, congregational concern, but applied on an individual level. Congregational watchfulness, but concerned about each and every individual member. In fact, I can say it to you this way tonight, how you are doing spiritually as an individual is a matter for church-wide concern. And I tell you, folks, that's a strange thought to many people in the day and age in which we're living. Many people join a church and they want to exist in anonymity. I come when I want to come. I leave when I want to leave. I listen to what I want to listen to. I do what I want to do. Your job, church, is to make me happy. Your job is to provide an atmosphere that I enjoy. I'm a customer. I'm a consumer. And in terms of accountability, I'm not accountable to anybody but God. I mean, that's sort of the mindset that we have in our society, in our culture today. The Bible teaches us something very different from that. How you are doing spiritually as an individual member of this church is a matter for church-wide concern. And for two reasons. One, we should be concerned about how you're doing because we love you. Love does not ignore your spiritual condition. When you see a brother or sister heading south, so to speak, spiritually, when you see that they're not doing very well, it would not be love to ignore that. It would be hate to ignore it. Love speaks to it. Love recognizes it. Love addresses it. So if we're going to love the people who make up this congregation, if we're going to love you, we can't ignore how you're doing spiritually. There's another reason why your individual spiritual condition is a matter for church-wide concern, and that is we're concerned about the church. That is, I'm not just concerned about you because I love you, I'm concerned about you because you're a part of this community. And how you're doing spiritually affects the rest of the community, whether you know that or not. Do you ever think about it that way? that we ought to be concerned about how you're doing because you are a part of this community? And if you're not doing well, you actually can have an influence in the life of this church that is not good? Think about the children of Israel, the example we were given in verses 7 through 11. How did their wicked heart of unbelief manifest itself? This was their pattern for 40 years. As the Lord said of them, down in verse 9, they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. Well, let me ask you, church, how was that manifesting itself? Well, it definitely manifested itself in doubt. Spies come back from the promised land and all but two give a negative report, and who did the people listen to? Not the ones who spoke the truth, but the ones who spoke out of doubts, doubting God. And so that wicked heart of unbelief in Israel was manifested with doubting. Do you think that doubt is contagious? Do you think that a spirit of unbelief in one person's life can have an effect on another person's life? They manifested their unbelieving heart with disobedience. just disobeyed the word of God. After they disobeyed God, would not enter into Canaan land, God spoke his judgment toward those people. They got up the next morning and they said, now we're ready to obey. It was too late. Today was passed. The day of opportunity had passed them. They had disobeyed the voice of God. Do you think that when one member of a community dares to disobey God, that that can actually embolden others to disobey God? Is it true to say that the companions that we choose have an effect on our own moral behavior and choices and the way that we think about things? And so if disobedience is left unchecked in a community of believers, do you think that's going to have a negative effect on the rest of the community? Isn't that why church discipline is taught in the New Testament? Isn't that why we cannot have open sin in our midst and no one address it, no one speak to it, just allow disobedience to have its own way? Don't you understand that the health of the whole community is at stake? They began to grumble. If there was anything that characterized those people who perished in the wilderness, they were murmurers and they were grumblers. Do you believe that grumbling has a contagious nature to it, that it spreads? Oh, you know it does. Just think about any family discussion you've had where grumbling got started. It didn't stop with one person. Pretty soon, everybody joins in on it, and everybody's having their part of it, and everyone wants to talk about what's not right, and everyone wants to complain a little bit. Yes, it has a spreading nature to it. You see, your spiritual condition is a concern for this whole body, not only because we love you, but because you're a part of us and we're a part of you. And when you're not doing well, not only is that not good for you, that's not good for us. So this is a watchful concern, this is a preventative concern, this is an individual concern, but one that the whole body shares in, the whole church shares in it. Take care, plural word, brothers, plural, lest there be in any of you, any of you, this kind of heart. Fourth, this is a discerning concern. This calls for discernment. You see, we're watching for something. What are we watching for? Lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. An evil, unbelieving heart. What does it mean to harden your heart? That's what we're told in verse 8, don't harden your heart, Don't harden your heart. What does that mean, though, to harden your heart? We talked about it this morning. It's a stubborn heart. It's a stiff-necked heart. It's one that doesn't yield to God. One doesn't listen to God. That's true. But now he gets to the nature of it, the nature of what that really is. I mean, when you turn a stiff neck to the Word of God, when you don't listen to the Word of God, do you understand that is positively evil? This is an evil heart that's being described, a heart that has given itself over to what is wicked, what is morally worthless. That's what the word means. It is at the same time an unbelieving heart. So get this, unbelief is not morally neutral. When you don't believe God, you are actively engaging in sin. An unbelieving heart is an evil heart. An evil heart is an unbelieving heart. I wonder if we think about it that way. When you give into your doubts, when you don't believe the scriptures, when you don't obey the scriptures, do you think to yourself, that is evil? Or to say it another way, if I were to ask you tonight before we started the sermon, tell me what you think of when you think of evil acts. Would the word unbelief have jumped into your mind? I mean, when I don't believe God, that is an evil heart expressing itself. And as he describes to us here what we're to be on the lookout for, a few things that I observe, this reminds me, this tells me that we are, by the grace of God, able to discern how our hearts are doing spiritually. Let me say it this way, if I can't recognize when my heart is tending in this direction, there would be no point in watching for it. So if I'm called to watch for it, that means God, in his grace, will give us the ability to recognize it. And if this is a congregational responsibility, then not only does he give me the grace to recognize that in my own life, but in the right kind of spirit, in the right kind of way, in a loving kind of way, he'll give us the discernment to help each other. to be able to see some signs that are cause for concern in the lives of other people whom we love and whose lives we're a part of because we're a part of the family of God. Or I could say it like this, if we're to discern this kind of evil, unbelieving heart, what are we looking for? We're to be on the watch against it. So what does it look like? How does it manifest itself? Well, by our desires. Again, reflect on the illustration we've been given. Think about the children of Israel. What did they really want? The Lord leads them out of Egypt. He's leading them to a promised land. Seems like all they're really concerned about are material, temporal things. Where's our water? Where's our food? What are we going to eat? I'm tired of this manna. Can't we have meat? I mean, it's just these temporal concerns blind to the spiritual reality that the name of God had been set on them. In fact, that's what Moses argues with the Lord when he begs the Lord not to destroy this people. It has to do with the Lord's reputation. They're blind to these things. They're just thinking about themselves, thinking about their own desires, their own bellies, so to speak. This is what they're thinking, and this is what an evil heart begins to look like. It's just concerned about temporal things. Your desire for the eternal, your desire for spiritual things begins to wane, and you begin to run after things that will only last the length of this life, on this side of heaven. Which is to say, this kind of heart gets manifested by our choices. We can talk about our desires all we want to. If you want to know what your desires are, just take note of what you choose. Take note of where your priorities are, what you put first, what you sacrifice for, what you give your time to, what you give your money to, what you give your presence to, and there we will know where your priorities are, where your heart really is. Where your treasure is, dear one, is where your heart really is. So this is manifested in your choices, manifested by your words. Think about it. When you are walking with the Lord in a way that is healthy and vibrant and zealous, don't you talk about Him? Don't you talk about His Word? Don't you talk about the things of God? Don't you want to be around people who can engage in that with you? So when we find ourselves talking about everything under the sun more than we would ever talk about Jesus, than we would ever talk about Scripture, than we would ever talk about spiritual things, there's something going on in your heart that's not good. I'll tell you something else. When we're walking with the Lord, our responses are different. If I could say it this way, it's not just what we do in a studied kind of way, in a prepared kind of way, but the condition of our heart begins to be manifested by how we respond to things we didn't expect. Things that come into our lives that sort of surprise us. Someone mistreats us, how do I respond? Some circumstances, especially difficult, I didn't expect on meeting with this, you know, but now I have. How do I respond to that? Some area of disappointment or some bad news about your health or the loss of a job or whatever it may be, your responses begin to tell you how you are doing spiritually. Unbelief is a serious issue. It's a matter of sin. It's a matter of sin. Be on the watch, brothers. Lest there be in any of you, any of you, so serious that we don't want this to be in any of us, an evil, unbelieving heart. You want to know what makes it so evil? You cannot disbelieve God without wrongly conceiving of God. Every time you choose not to believe God, you are commenting, whether you mean to or not, you are commenting on the nature and the character of God. If God is not to be believed by you, why not? His word speaks, you turn a deaf ear to it. His word speaks, you say no thank you. His word speaks, you don't obey. So why not? Must be that he's a liar. or that he himself is evil and not to be trusted. If he is truthful, if he is good, if he is the one who loves you more than you've ever been loved, if he's perfectly wise, if he's always right, why would you not listen to him? You see, the only way that an evil heart of unbelief can exist in a person, the way our hearts become hardened, listen, is when we accept a viewpoint of God that sets us free to refuse His words. That's what happened with Adam and Eve in the garden, especially Eve, she was the one deceived. Satan comes to her and tells her lies about God. Did he really say this? Don't you know that God knows? that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like Him. Don't you know it is a God who wants to keep something good from you that would tell you to believe what you believe? Why don't you just trust your own judgment? Because He's not to be trusted. Don't trust Him, trust you. And every time, my friend, that you, by your desires and by your choices, say, I'm not going to believe God's Word, I'm going to go my own way, you have just swallowed, once again, the lie of Satan about the character and nature of God. He must be a liar, he must be evil, because I can't think of any other reason you wouldn't believe him and do what he says. Exodus 14.11, they said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt? that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians. For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." Unbelievable. Did you, Moses, lead us out here because there are no graves in Egypt? Friend, have you been paying attention? Moses was an instrument, but he didn't lead you out. Almighty God led you out. Did you not see the Red Sea part? Were you not aware of the plagues? Didn't you experience the Passover? By the way, what is that big pillar in front of you? Didn't you have water come out of a rock? Haven't you seen...I mean, let's go on and on. And you might say, well, this happened before this. No, look, this was their pattern for 40 years. They've seen these things. They're just not moved by these things. And they can't see God in it. Is the Lord among us? They just see Moses. And so they have a view of God that questions whether he's even there. They have a view of his servant that would imagine that they've been led out of Egypt just to be sacrificed. That's why the exodus, so that they could be destroyed. And so their unbelief toward God just reveals That they've accepted a viewpoint of God that excuses them to reject His words. So that when you or I say to the Word of God, I don't listen to it, I won't hear it, I won't obey it, understand why it is so evil. Because you've accepted some view of God that allows you to do that with His Word. Which gets to the next thing we see in this particular concern commanded in the life of the church. It is a preserving concern. Take care, brothers, all of you. Be on the watch lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that would lead to something. Be on the watch because this leads somewhere. When it goes unchecked, when it's not repented of, it leads somewhere. What does it lead? It leads you to fall away from the living God. Aphistemi is the word which says to fall away. The idea is to go away, to withdraw. It's the concept of apostasy. to fall away from God, to be removed away from God, to withdraw away from God. The evil, unbelieving heart leads a person to withdraw from God. Why the emphasis on the fact that he's a living God? Didn't have to say that. Could have just said, leading you to fall away from God. Would have been true. It doesn't say that. It says, leading you to fall away from the living God. I wonder why he emphasizes living. Because when you walk away from the biblical God, all you're left with are dead gods. Gods that aren't real. Gods that will be the figment of your own imagination and the result of your own fancies and desires. See, either we'll listen to the God of the Bible, either we'll give our hearts and ears to his word, or we'll embrace a God of our own making. And any God of our own making is a dead one. You want the real God, the living God, the saving God, the loving God, the merciful, gracious God who really exists, then you must listen to His Word. Because you harden your heart against that God and walk away from Him, you've walked away from the only living God who is. Why must an evil heart be addressed? Why must an unbelieving heart be addressed? When doubt begins to sprout, when stubbornness begins to set in, When disinterest toward God and His Word begins to manifest itself, when unfaithfulness begins to show up in greater and greater degrees, you had better address it if you love that person because they're on their way away from God, the only God who really lives, the God of the Bible. So the first command has to do with the congregational concern for the spiritual health of its individual members. The second command, verse 13, calls for congregational action. You see, we're not called just to be concerned about each other. We're called to do something. What are we called to do? Verse 13, 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. As a church family, we are to take positive measures to protect each other against hardened hearts. And notice how it's described. We exhort each other corporately. Exhort one another. So again, this is... This has individual concern, but it's applied in the corporate body. It's applied in the church. We exhort each other, one another, an eye on the lookout for how we're doing. And when we see any area of concern, we, parakaleo is the word, we come alongside each other and we exhort. We come alongside each other and we encourage. We admonish at times. We rebuke at times. We motivate each other, you see? We stir each other up to love and good deeds. So we exhort corporately. We exhort regularly. Exhort one another every day. Every day. We need regular encouragement, regular exhortation, regular admonishment, regular motivation. Doesn't this require us to have some sort of interaction with each other? Well, pastor, how do we have interaction with each other? Well, we do so not only in the public meetings, but I'm going to tell you something, the public meetings are important. We're going to see it when we get to Hebrews chapter 10, we're told not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, which is the manner of some, but to what? Exhort each other all the more as we see the day approaching. And so when we gather together, there's the opportunity to be exhorted. I wish we had fewer meetings. I wish we had more. We understand the realities we face living in the world we do. That's why we have chosen to have three services a week. But if we understand the danger of sin is such that daily exhortation is necessary, then regular meetings of the church, we can gather together and exhort each other, are not meaningless, they're meaningful, and they're desired. We exhort corporately, we exhort regularly. Third, notice we exhort urgently. As long as it is called today. I think what he has in mind here... has to do sort of with what is pictured there with the children of Israel. You know, we're living right now in the eschatological today. This is a day of grace. This is a day of opportunity. This is a day to pursue Jesus. This is a day to receive the gospel. But dear ones, we are quickly headed toward the end of today. When this age will be closed, one day before we know it, our Lord will have returned to the earth. There'll be a division between the sheep and the goats. And there will be the loss of the opportunity of salvation for myriads of people. So as long as we're in the today, we need to exhort each other. Exhort corporately, exhort regularly, exhort urgently. Finally, we exhort redemptively. But we understand there's a danger here and we want to save one another in that sense. We want to rescue one another. Exhort each other in this way so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. That's why we need regular exhortation, because you see, it's not just an evil heart that's been hardened. It's not just an unbelieving heart that has been hardened. It is a deceived heart that has been hardened. And what deceives hearts is sin. Sin lies to us. It is attractive. It offers promises of pleasure and satisfaction. It is a liar. But it has a powerful effect when it's believed. It hardens your heart. It makes your heart insensitive to the things your heart desperately needs to be sensitive to. How many of you know tonight? that when you yield to the Word of God, obey the Word of God, repent when the Word of God addresses your sin, right, so that you turn from it and you get out of it, how many of you have recognized that now you are able to see things about that sin you couldn't see when you were in it? Because it had anesthetized you, it had put you to sleep, it had made you insensitive. You're on the other side of sin, you're beyond it, you've repented from it, you've turned from it, and now it's like your eyes are open and you can say, how? How was I like that? How was I there? Couldn't see it when you were in it. That's why when someone says, well, if you can give me good reasons to get out of my sin, then I will, I say, get out of your sin, obey the Word of God, and you'll see all the reasons you shouldn't be in it. Because sin blinds people. There was a dear man this morning who talked to me after the service. There was something he needed to make right in a relationship. Sent me an email this afternoon. He said, I've made it right and I'm free. That's what the Lord does for us when we listen to him. Sin lies to us. God doesn't. He tells us the truth. So the congregational action is an exhortation. What are we called to do with each other? Exhort each other regularly, urgently, redemptively. want to save each other from hardened hearts that have been deceived by sin. And we ought to have the kind of spiritual insight that loves the person who would rescue us from that. I mean, you bring something to my attention and I couldn't see it and now I can see it and I'll turn from it. I love you. Thank you for caring enough about me to rescue me. I don't want my heart to be hardened. And all of this operates with a congregational conviction. So we have a congregational watchfulness, we have a congregational action, and this all operates where there's a congregational conviction. Here's the conviction, verse 14. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence. Firm to the end, as it is said. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Here's what we know. We know that saved people receive this kind of exhortation. We know this, that we really have a share in Christ. We really have our part in Christ only if we continue with Christ. The evidence that you're really in Christ is you continue with Christ. So that when someone begins to drift, when they begin to fall away, when they begin to walk away, we see them walking the wrong direction. Here's our confidence. You go to a person who is really saved and they're walking in the wrong direction and you bring their sin, not your opinions, Clearly identified by the word of God, their sin before their eyes, if they really know Jesus, ultimately, I'm not saying they'll do it every time the first time they are confronted, but ultimately what happens with a believer who is confronted with the voice of the Holy Spirit through the word of God, they hear the voice of the shepherd and they respond to the voice of the shepherd. That's why this kind of interaction between one another in a congregation is healthy, it's loving, it's blessed by God. This is how he preserves his people. In fact, this entire passage, you will misread it if you don't see in it, what is God doing through all these verses? He is striving with his church, and he is striving with his people for the purpose of their perseverance. He's saying, listen to me, and in this way, he is keeping them. In this way, he is holding on to them, and he knows they will hear his voice. They will not harden their hearts, not if they're really his. So this is the warning from God. Take care, brothers. Exhort one another, brothers, lest there be an evil, unbelieving heart in you, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Because you know what? We really have our share in Christ if we continue with him, if we don't throw away our original confidence, if we hold fast our original confidence firm to the end. And now he drives it home by describing for us what we've already seen, the way of the unbeliever. The way of the believer, you heed the warnings, you turn to Christ. What's the way of the unbeliever? Verse 16, this is a rhetorical tool that he uses here. It's just a way that people would sometimes use for teaching. He gives us six questions. Three of them are really questions. The other three questions really serve as answers. Verse 16, for who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Kind of like a catechism. Who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Can you answer? Well, was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? Aren't they the ones who heard and rebelled? And with whom was he, the Lord, 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," which is a way of saying, was it not those who were disobedient? Three questions, three questions that answer the questions. Very similar, but I do think there's something unique to each one, a unique beauty to each one of these pairs of questions. Who heard and yet rebelled? Who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not those who left Egypt with Moses? That pair points to a tremendous privilege. The ones who rebelled were the ones who were led out of Egypt with Moses, a tremendous privilege. With whom was God angry? I'll tell you with whom he was angry. He was angry with the people who disobeyed him for 40 years. For 40 years. That points to a tremendous patience. Tremendous privilege let out of Egypt, tremendous patience. For 40 years, God tolerated these people. Their unbelief, Their boldness in dishonoring God. For 40 years, the patience of God was on display. And whom did God swear that they would not enter his rest? The ones who disobeyed what they heard from God. So the third one is a tremendous punishment. Privilege let out of Egypt. Patience, 40 years God strives with them. Finally, punishment because they would not hear his voice. And I don't know sometimes if we really realize what a massive punishment this was. Exodus 12.37 tells us that 600,000 men left Egypt. It doesn't include women and children. Add the women and children in, over a million, almost certainly, and some have estimated maybe 1.5 million people left Egypt at the time of the Exodus. But we're told in Scripture 600,000 men. Now, think about that, 600,000 men. of those 20 years of age and older, so all the adult men, two entered the promised land. Two. The rest died. Why? What was their great sin? What was their great evil? Unbelief, that's the point he drives home. Look at verse 19. Let's get his point. So we see, they were unable to enter because of what? Unbelief. That's the great evil. That's the great sin that cost 600,000 men. 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and finally perishing, never entering the promised rest of God because they did not believe Him. Kent Hughes said this, he said, many of those, perhaps most, who left in the Exodus had an inadequate faith in God. At first, due to their miserable plight of 430 years of slavery, the brilliant leadership of Moses, the repeated miraculous plagues on Pharaoh, and the grand miracles of the pillars of cloud and fire and the parting of the sea, they were ready to follow God anywhere. But as soon as the initial glow wore off, they outrageously cried, is the Lord among us or not? It was a fair-weather, herd instinct faith. Good until the first trial. when it dissolved in unbelief. The problem today is that so many people, when asked about faith, point to their exodus. When they began with Christ, they can wax eloquent about their experience. How dare anyone question that? They went forward. They left Egypt. They were baptized and identified with God's people. They visibly drank from the same rock, Christ. They use the same redemptive vocabulary with the same pious inflections. But troubles came and they turned away. Their exodus is a convenient memory. But to trust God now, that's a problem for their faith is dead. Is there someone here tonight, you tell people about your exodus, but tonight your faith is dead. You don't trust God now. You're not loving him fervently now. You're not following him passionately now. You've just got stories of times past. when God showed himself mighty and powerful in your life. But what is he doing in your life now? Where are you believing him now? I believe, like this writer believed about these people, that tonight I'm addressing brothers. And so what I'm saying to my brethren is if the way of the unbeliever is not you, then take the pathway of the believer. Don't harden your heart. Listen to his voice where his word addresses us and exposes us and encourages us and promises to us. Believe him. Don't be like the spies who came back and said, we're like grasshoppers. I can't see how God's going to fulfill what he's promised. Be like Caleb. who said, the Lord has taken away their protection. He'll be with us. Let's go. Is that your heart tonight, Lord? Wherever you tell me, let's go. Whatever you have for me, let's go. Whatever needs to change in my life, let's go. Wherever I've been yielding to sin, where I can see myself moving backward, oh, Lord, forgive me. I want to turn around and then let's go. Show me the truth, and by your grace, I'll trust you. Let's go. Let's bow together for prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the way you graciously strive with us. You have not just saved us forever, you keep us in faith by your power. And you, Lord, make use of your word As an instrument, as you do this work in your people, we thank you for the holy word of God that is living and active and sharp. Indeed, Lord, it exposes us down to the very thoughts and the intentions of our hearts. Lord, we've not seen the parting of the Red Sea literally, but we have seen you lead us out of death into life. You have forgiven our sins. You have made us right with yourself. You have granted us life. We are not the people we used to be. And as a congregation, Father, we have seen you do mighty things here. Oh, Lord, save us from the day when all of our stories about trusting God are in our past. Let us see that today the Spirit speaks. Lord, there is something for us to do today, to listen to you about today. And I pray that as we hear, we will not harden our hearts. And we'll watch out for each other, love each other enough to pay attention to how one another is doing spiritually and exhort each other every day and all the more as we see the day approaching for as long as it is today. Help us to be faithful, to come alongside each other, to help each other, to make sure, Lord, that there's not a deceived heart found in us, not a hardened heart, lied to by sin and its temporary pleasures. We ask for these things in Jesus' name.