All right, so it's a bit of a review from last week as we continue chapter three. The writer quoted from Psalm 95 as he began by saying, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Now, the writer of Hebrews quoting Psalm 95, which actually quotes Moses, is that he was speaking, saying that God was warning his people, the children of Israel, not to harden their hearts. But then the writer quotes this warning for the first century church because they are in danger of going down this very same road of rebellion. But as we noted, the interesting phrase, if you hear my voice, this expression acts to distinguish between God's people and those who are not. And it certainly brings to mind Jesus' own declaration, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And what was Jesus saying there? He was saying that it's not that if you have a choice to make whether or not you're going to repent, no, this doesn't denote an act of the will, but rather an act of granting by God. That is, those who have ears to hear are given ears to hear by God and they will hear. Jesus went to great pains to distinguish the disciples who had been granted the ability to know the mysteries of the kingdom as opposed to those who hadn't. But notice this declaration is made in the context, not of those considered outside of the house of God, but those on the inside. These were the Pharisees, the religious elites who he was talking about, who had not been given the ears to hear. And likewise, the writer of Hebrews brings up this example of the generation that refuse to hear or believe God's commands time after time. And he warns them, 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. Now the writer of Hebrews takes his quotation of Psalm 95 from the Septuagint. But we compared last week the ESV renderings of Psalm 95, which is actually taken from the Hebrew text. He says, do not harden your hearts, he says, as at Meribah, as on the day at Masah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. Now the reason for this change is simple. The name Meribah in Hebrew simply means rebellion. And Masah means testing. Now the biblical practice of naming places always had a pedagogical and theological purpose behind it. You see, the people of the ancient world, like us today, are memorial creatures. That is, we rely on memories to recall things. But unlike us today, who have the luxury of the internet, for example, the ancients did not. No, they had to rely on physical writings when available, but actually, most of the time, they relied on oral traditions. which include naming places to commemorate what happened there. In this case, the names Meribah and Massah were given to Israel to help them remember what happened when they encamped in the Desert of Sin. In Exodus chapter 17, the children of Israel complained that they didn't have any water, and questioned why Moses led them out of Egypt to begin with. Moses was told by God then to strike the rock at Horeb, and from it, water would come. Now, despite this mercy, God wanted to remind them of how they acted so unfaithfully as their sin was called Meribah because in their quarreling they rebelled against God. And then at Massa because in rebelling they tested the Lord their God. But these stiff-necked people didn't get it. No, they rebelled and tested God despite the fact that he had been so gracious to them and provided for them time after time as he says, God says, 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. Now, this quote harkens back to chapters 13 and 14, where God's patience with the stiff-necked people came to a head when the spies reported back with conflicting accounts about the Canaanite, Canaan and its inhabitants. Now on the one hand, most of the spies complained about the natives being too formidable for them. But Caleb and Joshua, if you remember, encouraged the people to trust in God to fight for them. For after all, had God ever failed them? No, he had not. But after hearing the full report, what did the people do? Did they believe Caleb and Joshua? No, they didn't, did they? Who do they believe? The other spies. They said that surely they can't succeed. Instead, what did the people then do? They then called for Moses to relinquish his leadership. They said, we're gonna pick someone else who will lead us back to Egypt, the land of leeks, right? The land of melons, the land of oppression. But this provoked the Lord to anger. And when he said in response, how long will these people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? So I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them. All right, Steve. Yeah, Jordan, you know, we know of salvation through grace, through faith alone, and election, and God's elected people. He holds them accountable for their sins, and so, you know, we think about grace, but we get it twisted, and we think it's not fair, but we have to remind ourselves, you know, grace is never deserved. That's right. And so God holds them accountable for their sins, and He withholds His given them faith, but they're still accountable. Right. In fact, they're more accountable. They're more accountable because God had shown himself to them in signs and wonders. In fact, that's what the Apostle Paul and the writer of Hebrews has already said about signs and wonders. That harkens back to all these signs and wonders that Moses did, that they were going to receive greater judgment because God had appeared to them and shown himself in full power and glory, and yet, despite that fact, they did not believe. Right, Barry? I was just gonna comment, God holds all sin accountable. Even in, God commanded Moses to tell Barak to bring forth water, and he struck Barak, and he remembers that. Right, and that was a set, yeah, that was later on. The first time God did have Edhorib, had him strike the rock. But again, the second time, what did God tell him to do? God told him to say to the rock, "'Cause why, he already struck the rock the first time." And he wasn't to strike it again. But what that does show is that, and to your point, is that God had already provided them water from a rock. And here they are complaining again. This was their pattern. This was their pattern. And so that's why God said to them, They shall not enter my rest. You can see that hardness of heart that we're gonna be talking about more about this evening. And I love what he says there. I don't love it, but it's very poignant. He said that they always go astray in their heart. This is a pattern. This is not just an occasional slipping, right? No, this is a habitual pattern of these people, that they go astray in their heart. They don't love me. They're like that, they're like Gilmer, right? He just, the prostitute, he just strays time after time. And that, you can see why God compares idolatry to whoredom, is because, to adultery. Because this consistent pattern of being unfaithful, despite the fact he'd given them everything. He'd given them, he'd been faithful to them time after time. So this was, again, this was their pattern. So in Numbers 14, God accused Israel of testing him on 10 different occasions. Actually, I had that last time I got rid of that slide. On 10 different occasions, God said that he had tested them. So this is a pattern that they have shown. So this isn't really a pattern that is indicative of God's faithful people, but rather the evil people pre-flood whose every intention of their hearts was evil continually. They sought their own way continually. And of course, what did God do? He decided to send a flood to destroy the earth, to wipe away this mass perdition that was there. And yet God is making the same accusation against his people. So that's how grievous this situation is. And this is accusatory language where God is handing down an indictment a legal indictment against Israel as covenant breakers, which they have proven to be one too many times. And because they were unfaithful, God is left with no other choice but declare, as I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Now, as we discussed, that generation who was led out of Egypt would not be allowed to enter the promised land, but would die in the wilderness. They will be cut off from God's blessing and favor. But then as we close last time, we consider this question. Did this very proclamation by God mean that in addition to dying in the wilderness, that they were eternally damned? Well, as we considered last time, the writer of Hebrews has this paradigm of what he's considering, these warnings of apostasy. Do you remember what he said in his first warning in Hebrews chapter two? He said, for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? And what was the writer's point in saying this? That unbelief, which resulted in disobedience to God's Old Testament law, had severe and temporal physical consequences. However, if these consequences were severe for breaking God's Old Testament law, How much more severe are they gonna be for disobedience to Christ? For they are both eternal and spiritual consequences. Now, as we closed last time, you may be tempted to ask, well, if Israel wasn't damned, but merely not allowed to enter the promised land, then why did the writer of Hebrews use this example regarding apostasy? Well, it's very instructive that what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, where he describes this very thing. He said, our fathers were all under the cloud, they all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. Nevertheless, with most of them, God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, as we discussed, two things are of note here. First of all, God, with most of them, was not pleased. All of them had partaken of the same blessing of the covenant, right? That's what he says. All of our fathers were in the cloud, all passed through the sea, were baptized into Moses. But with most of them, he wasn't pleased at all. Why? Because they had hardened hearts. They were rebellious towards him. So it's likely that many of this generation were ultimately apostate. But it doesn't mean that God did not preserve a remnant there, a small remnant. At the same time, just because he preserved a small remnant, it doesn't mean that they didn't pay the temporal consequences of dying in the wilderness. Likewise with us, when we rebel against God, we shouldn't expect anything else than to suffer the consequence for our rebellion. Right, David? Oh yeah, it's the profound effects of sin, and we're gonna discuss that more this evening as a writer of Hebrews is going to kind of hone in on that very thought. But in a second, Paul says then, now how should, I'm sorry, I missed this. Sorry, missed my train of thought here. So second of all, Now, given God's severe accusation against Andrew, it's hard to imagine how any would be saved, right? But that's where we have to consider admonitions like Paul's to Timothy. Again, Timothy was enduring all these attacks from false teachers. There was grand apostasy in the early church, but Paul gave him this admonition, gave him this encouragement. Despite of all that, the Lord's know whose are his, right? So while it's likely that many of the generation, that first generation, were ultimately apostate, it doesn't mean that God didn't preserve them, even though they suffered the temporal consequences. But second, Paul then says, now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Now what's the point of an example? It's to instruct with the end of promoting or discouraging certain behavior. In this case, Israel's disobedience and suffering, the consequence, took place as an example for us, so we wouldn't go down that same road of rebellion. That's what Paul is saying here. Now, God often uses, we know this to be true, people as object lessons in order to instruct future generations to not take the path of unbelief. How many times have we told our children, don't do as I have done in the past, right? What are we doing? We're making ourselves object lessons for them. The mistakes that we have made, we don't want them to make. And God does the same. He will make someone an object lesson, therefore as a warning that we not go down that same road, lest we suffer the consequences for that. Now as we continue this week in verse 12, the writer will now begin to exegete his quotation of Psalm 95. He says, Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Now, the ESV's rendering of the writer's admonition to take care is perhaps a little weak. The Greek word blebete is an imperative. In other words, it's a command. So the sense here is more like this. Watch out, brothers, right? Now, as any faithful pastor would do, he will do whatever it takes to get his congregation's attention. Now, the analogy of shepherd and sheep is quite appropriate here. Now, I've said this before, so don't be offended, don't take offense to this, but the fact is that the sheep, or the congregants, are notoriously stupid animals, right? And have been known to fall to their death. I'm not calling you stupid personally, right? I want you to understand that. But sheep have been notorious, they're notorious for acting that way, right? I love this, I told Jake this before, one of my favorite videos is this video of a shepherd who had just freed a sheep from this crack in the ground. And he gets up and then the sheep goes bounding along and he falls in the same crack and the shepherd has to get him out again. That is the life of a pastor. That is the life of a pastor. seeing people make the same mistakes over and over again. But just because they keep making those mistakes doesn't mean he doesn't continue to warn them, right? That's what a good pastor does. With patience and love, he continues to seek their welfare. He wants to save them from peril, and that's what he does. But does a pastor do so very nonchalantly? Does he say, You're getting kind of close to the cliff's edge, sheep. Come back here. No, that's not what he does, is it? No, not at all. What does he do? If need be, he will shout at the sheep. Come back, right? He will act violently, if need be, in order to bring that sheep from the edge, from the precipice, right? And this is kind of what the writer of Hebrews is doing. Watch out, sheep! Watch out, lest you find yourselves in danger. So there is a similar call that Paul actually gives about church discipline as well. Because what he says is, what is the warning specifically? Watch out, brothers, lest there be any of you, an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. So he's warning them to check their own hearts to see if there are any amongst them who has an evil and unbelieving heart. Why? Because that kind of sin spreads, doesn't it? The apostle Paul warns this in 1 Corinthians chapter five, do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened, right? So again, what is he admonishing to do? to, first of all, check their own hearts to see if there'd be any sin within them, and also to check within the congregation, because that sinful, that rebellious tendency needs to be weeded out from the church. It needs to be taken out from the lump, right? So now what's interesting is that this call to check their hearts was the same call that Caleb and Joshua told the people when offering their report to the land. You remember what they said, only do not rebel against the Lord, right? So what were they saying? That the sin of unbelief is the very heart of rebellion, right? It is this very heart of unbelief. Again, we said over and over, this unbelief of the Israelites had was the height of absurdity. Why? Because God had always delivered on his promises, right? It's not as if some atheist said, well, I've never seen God, God has never done anything for me that I can see. Well, this is why the Israelites and people who are in God's house are gonna be more accountable, because God has shown himself to them clearly, clearly and in power, right? Steve? Yeah, and isn't that the overarching theme of the first five books is Moses is recounting of how God has his people in this different, two different nations in effect. And now he's giving them over to the Israelites to take possession of this land and they come back with rebellion. That's exactly right. And in fact, what is the call? I love what the writer of Hebrew says here. And this is a call that the Old Testament, the Hebrews would have known This is highlighted by the writer's description of this rebellion. It says, to fall away from the living God. Now the term living God was not just a mere title given to God, but was always used to contrast Yahweh, both to the pagan nations and to their false gods. Now when Goliath challenged, you remember this, when he challenged Israel by asking them to send their greatest warrior, David. You remember how he responded? David said, for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? You see, a challenge to Israel by Goliath was seen as a direct challenge to Yahweh, the living God, the incomparable one. For David knew that the gods that Goliath served and every pagan like him were, as Psalm 115 says, were merely idols of silver and gold, the work of human hands, they were not the living God. They were mere inanimate objects, deaf, dumb, and blind, as Isaiah says, right? So how absurd it is then to continue in unbelief towards this living God who has made himself known to them and shown them his power. But rather than continue unbelief, the writer of Hebrews admonishes them, he says. but rather exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by this deceitfulness of sin. Now the Greek word rendered here for exhort is parakaleite. Now while it can mean exhort or encourage, and it's certainly contained within that, it's more nuanced than that, particularly with the writer of Hebrews. Within it, I believe, he's actually saying, that I urge strongly to you." Now, we know as parents, the act of exhortation rarely is saying to them, oh, I know you can do it. You know, I'm being their personal cheerleader. Oftentimes, that's not enough to motivate them, is it? What do you have to do? You have to drag them out of bed many times, right? You tell them, hey, this is what you need to do. And frankly, what you're going to do, right? That's exhortation. That's urging strongly. That is taking them by the hand and leading them and guiding them. And that's what this pastor is doing, this writer of Hebrews is doing. He is guiding them, he is strongly urging them because guess what? Many of these Hebrews Christians being persecuted, they didn't have a lot of motivation. They needed that exhortation, that strong leading by one who would direct them back on the path. But what is, likewise, the exhortations given by the apostles and the leaders of the church are not mere encouragements or suggestions, but are rather commands. In fact, there are a lot of commands that the writer of Hebrews gives, and a lot of imperatives. But what is the writer commending them to do or commanding them to do? He says, to exhort one another every day as long as it is called today. Now the writer is stating the obvious, that as frail and weak human beings, we need to press each other along to remain faithful, right? Now while it is God who alone keeps us and preserves us on the path of faithfulness, we know that to be true, he does use means to make it so. And part of those means is what? All of us. the body of Christ, which encourages one another to walk faithfully. And this will be a point of emphasis for the writer who will state this point again in chapter 10, the verse that we like to quote a lot, as the reason not to neglect the meeting of one another in worship. For it is in this context of our coming together that we encourage one another. So if you're not here, then how can you be exhorted? Right? How can you be encouraged? How can you be pushed along by others in the body of Christ? You can't do that on your own. You need others. Barry? That's exactly right. Because it's a mutual thing, isn't it, Barry? It's a mutual thing. How many times have we approached a coming and worship and we just didn't feel like it today? We didn't feel like God's presence, but after meeting and worshiping with God's people, someone said something to you, or just even a smile. Something as simple as just a smile. God used that in order to pick you up, to take you out of the moley grubs, right? And to encourage you to press on to be faithful. Right, Lonnie? Mm-hmm. alongside. That's right. That's right. That's because that's the only way it's going to happen. That's the only way it's going to happen. We were not created as to be isolated creatures. Right. We were not meant to be solitary. We were meant to commune with one another. And so again God is the one who will preserve us to the end. But he uses means and that's you and I together. Right. David. and scarier. And then once I do it, it turns out it was only the original size, and it wasn't a big deal in the first place. And I think it's probably a similar thing with coming out to church. If I'm feeling really tired, and then I come anyway, I find out, oh, that didn't add to my fatigue, or it might have even helped. That's right. Yeah. Because what it does is it puts things in perspective. particularly whenever we're coming together. We often say this here at the church, but we were made for worship, and whenever we don't worship, we are out of joint. We're like a saw trying to nail a hammer, or nail a nail like a hammer. We're not fitting our function properly, and so when we worship, and in the context of God's people, not worship by yourself underneath the tree somewhere. I'm talking about worshiping with God's people. That is what we are created to do. And therefore, that's why things can almost, you would think magically, change for you, right, in your mind, is that all of a sudden you have a better perspective, a truer perspective of things, because God is using, those are means of grace, meeting together, with the saints is a means of grace. God is blessing you every time you come. So every time you don't come, you're withholding yourself blessings, right? And why would you do that? Right, David? That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. And that is the beauty of what happens in the sanctification process. In the fall, man was marred He, while he remained an image of God, he was a broken image of God. And what does salvation do? It reverses that process. It's a slow process. There are a lot of shards on the ground that God has to pick up and put back together. And so that's a lifelong process. But that's what's happening, you're exactly right. We are being put back together. We're a bunch of humpty dumpties out there, right? God is having to put us back together and it's a slow process but yet it's a necessary one. That's right. That's the glory. We're now glorified. So for each one of us that process is going to take a different time. We have all different rows down the road of sanctification and the road to glory. But you're right. As soon as we die that last piece in fact I love kind of more like this analogy. The Christian life is we have to go 1,000 miles, right? The Christian life as you're living it is like we barely make it a mile. When we die, God takes us the rest of the 999 miles. You know, the leap is that drastic. We make such little progress in this life. We make such little progress in this life, and that's why when people say, you know, they bemoan the fact that they haven't seen progress. Well, first and foremost, most of the progress is gonna happen when you die. There's a reason why we have to die, right? As the Heidelberg Catechism says, it's to stop the sinning. It's to stop the sinning, and that is something we're never going to achieve in this life. We will never be sinless in this life. We will always struggle, and when we die, that will be no longer a problem for any of us. That's what we're all looking forward to with bated breath, right? Is that time when we will not suffer with that. But it's interesting too, if you notice that the writer of Hebrews in this, in verse 13, he quotes today. So he says, but exhort one another every day as long as it is today. I'm saying, why is he doing that? Well, again, this hearkens back to God's proclamation in Psalm 95. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Now, the call given in Psalm 95 is as if the writer's arguing that there is time for, it's not as if there's time for obedience at some point in the future. No, it's not so you can sow your wild oats here, or, and I love what Augustine said, you remember? This is in his confessions. Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet. Right? How many of us honestly have thought this in some form or fashion? You know, God, I want to live for you, but right now I like my sin a little too much. Right? Right, right, because that's what he's doing. He's assuming, first of all, he has more time, right? Yeah, absolutely. I think every one of us, probably to a certain extent, has thought this, or something similar to this, to where we like our sin a little too much, right? Especially for those of us who didn't always grow up in the church, who kind of were brought out of the world. That transformation process was often slow. It wasn't immediate. God was working in us, and we were still struggling with those sinful impulses that we didn't want to let go of. Right? Mary? Just like Gabe, when I was young and a Catholic, I was going to be a nun. But then I met Jesse, and that went off the window. Right. Right. Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, I must say, Jake and Rosie are eternally grateful for that. That's right. So, well, Jesse was just too handsome. That's what it was. Jesse was just too handsome. That's right. But as we said, this is not how it works, is it? This is not how it works at all. What is Paul, it's very telling what Paul tells the Corinthians. He says, now is the favorable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now is the time to obey God and live unto him, not only when we feel desperate and are without any other options. No, we are to be obedient today, lest we find ourselves, as the writer of Hebrews says, that you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Now the word hardened here carries with it a sense of robbing yourself of sensitivity, making yourself callous. Now the imagery here is that of water that's drawn from clay. And what happens to clay after it's deprived of water? It dries or it hardens, right? Likewise, when that softness that the spirit of God provides is gone, the conviction of the spirit is absent, nothing's left but darkness and callousness towards God and his ways. Now we know that process of hardening while difficult subject is primarily due to God's withdrawing his spirit of restraint. We all know the famous passage in Romans chapter nine, right? He has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. But here's the point. God is not causing man to do anything outside of his will. No, mankind's nature without the preserving grace of the spirit will naturally harden and he will act according to that hardened nature. So no wonder then that the writer says those who no longer have that preserving power of the spirit fall prey to what the writer calls the deceitfulness of sin. This is the allure of choosing anything contrary to what God has commanded. For the allure of sin is what allowed the serpent to deceive Eve, to believe the lie that she and Adam could be as God and determine for themselves good and evil. And this is what mankind naturally wants to do when God's merciful presence is absence. He will choose evil over what is good every time. every time, and he's not being forced or compelled to do otherwise. That is what he wants to do. But then as we close, the writer reiterates the warning from verse six in a slightly different way. He says, for we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Now if you recall back in chapter three, verse one, the writer used the same word share or partake, medokoi, to indicate how we partake in the heavenly calling because Christ first partook of human flesh and he therefore by that united himself with us. But then in verse 14, he says that we partake of the heavenly calling because of we partake in Christ. Now the Greek word for confidence here is hypostasesos and is primarily used as referring to a foundation or a support. So one, instead of rendering it like this, as our original text in the ESV, for we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold to our original confidence, we could render it this way. For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold to our original foundation, firm to the end. Now the ESV's rendering of confidence here is not wrong for what should you hold confidence in but a foundation, right? Especially a firm foundation. And this is what proves out one's faith, whether or not one places his trust, his confidence in the work of Christ to the very end. Now we know that it's God who preserves us to the end, but God's preservation is proven out by those who persevere to the end. And for those who don't, it proves out that God has not kept them. For as John says in his first epistle, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they were not all, they all were not of us. Again, it's proven out that they held fast to Christ, their foundation to the very end. Because if they, apostates don't do that, right? As John says here. They prove themselves out. They prove themselves out. We know ultimately that it's God's work and God's work alone. But this is how, again, for us, the problem is is that we can't see the end from the beginning. We can't see the future. So what are we called to do? We are called to proclaim the gospel to everyone, right? Regardless of who they are. Because we don't see the end from the beginning, right? And a lot of those people you don't know when God changes them. That's right. That's right. Right. Because a true apostasy is a final falling away, right? It's a final rebellion. It's not a period of rebellion that we all go through. It is a final rebellion in which it's, they are, that which leads them to eternal condemnation. Right, Jake? Mm-hmm. you can really see the warning, but also to self-examine and to make sure that what you're doing or where you're putting your attention is not pulling you from Christ. A lot of times when we talk about the evil that he's talking about, I don't know about anybody else, but in my mind, sometimes when we hear evil, But a lot of times, it's those things that we really, really like. Right. You know, that is pulling us away. Right. And so you can hear that command to watch out. That's right. Watch out for those things that you enjoy a whole bunch. That's right. That's not worldly, or that you keep it in check. That's right. It doesn't pull you away. And it doesn't get in the way of your glorifying God, right? Right. Obviously, we can make anything inaudible. And I think that's what, you know, another thing that he's saying. Well, yeah, that's exactly right. And going back to what he said, watch out lest you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So while God, there is a sense by which God withdraws his restraint, which causes the hardening. Whenever you pursue sin, and you ever, you were enticed by the deceitfulness of sin, that goes into your hardening. That's right, just like the serpent. It looks enticing, doesn't it? Sin, it looks enticing, but the end consequence is that you are hardened against the things of God. You are hardened against God. And again, then you start acting like these stiff-necked children of Israel, right? Which, despite the fact that time after time he had shown his power to them, they still didn't believe. Again, it goes into that condemnation then Jesus gives, then to the Pharisees. The greatest condemnation were for those, right? And so therein lies the warning for the church. God has shown himself to his church. Check your hearts, lest you find yourself hardened by the sequence of sin, right? Steve? The Word of God is proclaimed and admonishments are made, like we're reading in Hebrews. And the Spirit of Christ will work on those that are His and bring that conviction. And there's power in the Word because the Spirit is active in the Word. And the Holy Spirit in us will respond to that conviction, whether it's immediate, or in time. That's exactly right. Because of the preserving work of Christ in us. Right. But to your point, those that aren't in Christ, the dead are dead. Right. And that brings, it doesn't bring conviction, it brings judgment. That's right. So what's interesting is that it's the same act that brings about either softening or hardening to the believer and the unbeliever. So that warning serves as a softening agent for the believer in which they are pricked they are convicted and therefore they repent. Now for the unbeliever they hear that and they become more angry against God they become more hardened calloused towards God. And so it's the same act it's the same act. And so that's why the word of God never returns void as Isaiah says it will act as either as a means of softening or of hardening. Right? Gabe? That's right. Right. Right. That's exactly right. You can see the dual nature of the Holy Spirit in that. Right. That's right. That's exactly right. So next week the writer is going to continue this warning as we will see that he will go on to caution what happens when God commands his people and then they reject it.