Amen. If you'll find your Bibles or your smart device, whatever you use, would you turn to the book of Hebrews in chapter 3? The Book of Hebrews in Chapter 3. As you're getting there, I just want to tell our guests, welcome again. And as you look around you, you see a lot of folks that are out. Our teaching pastor, John Mark, is not here today. He's preaching at another brother's church today. And he will be at the wedding tonight. We have one of our couples, young couples at church, are getting married tonight and we rejoice over that. So I believe a lot of the ladies are there right now decorating and getting everything in order. So that's why some of our men are playing double duty, holding their children and listening to the message. And you'll appreciate your wife tremendously after today. Daniel and Tim, is it? Tim, Steve, sorry. Praise the Lord for God sparing your souls and your life and we rejoice what God has done through you and what an opportunity God has given us as a church. My prayer for Daniel and Vicki is that God will, I'm looking for Vicki, I don't see her, is that God will capture both your hearts as well as he's already captured yours. and send Daniel and Vicki to Nepal and we can support them as a church. That's our prayer. And so, brother, don't dig down too deep here. Amen. I rejoice that God gave you that extra time, so amen. Thank you again, Ed and all the band guys and girls for leading, preparing our hearts to worship. I've chosen Hebrews chapter 3 and 4. We'll read both of these chapters. I won't exegete each verse, don't worry. And I want to This has been on my heart for some time now. Warning passages out of the book of Hebrews, it's a common theme. There's about five of them. To warn the believers in no way is the apostle, they call it, many old Puritans call it the apostle who's the writer. And so I will refrain when I say apostle, you'll know that I'm speaking of the writer of the book of Hebrews, whoever it is. He uses these warnings to challenge these believers to endure on to the end, not give up. And so this is the emphasis to believers. And I believe it's very pertinent today for all of us that we just don't get bogged down in this life and cares of this world that begin to choke things out of us and sin overwhelm us and we begin to slow down. So, if I could do anything today, I challenge you and I charge you. Let's endure and let's encourage one another as we do so. So, in the book of Hebrews chapter 3, let's read two chapters together. The writer says, Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. He was faithful to him who appointed him as Moses also was in all his house. For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of things which were to be spoken later. But Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and boast of our hope until the end. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, today If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked me in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried me by testing me, and saw my works for forty years. Therefore, I was angry with this generation, and said, They always go astray in their heart, and they do not know my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter my rest." Take care, brethren, that there not be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. but encourage one another as day after today, as long as it is still called today. For that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance from now until the end. While it is said, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me. For who provoked him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not that those who had 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 not able to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, Let us fear. While a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you would seem to have come short of it. For indeed, we have had good news preached to us, just as they also, but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said. As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter my rest. Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world, for he has said somewhere concerning the seventh day, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works." And again, in this passage, they shall not enter my rest. Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them, fail to enter because of disobedience. He again fixes a certain day today. saying through David, after so long a time, just as he had said before, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, he would have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from his. Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that none of you will fall through following the same example of disobedience. For the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Let's pray. My gracious Lord, I thank you for this passage. Lord, we do need as your people We need warnings at time. We need promises at times. We need Father commands at time. And Lord, these believers needed warnings to continue on. They had become dull of hearing. And Lord, I ask you today that you would give us ears to hear and a heart swift to obedience. Lord, I ask you that you would speak deep down into the hearts of those who know you, that their hearts would well up in Christ and the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For those who do not know you that are here today, I ask for salvation. I ask for godly sorrow which worketh repentance, genuine faith that springs up into a life that is born again in Christ. God grant it, I ask in Jesus' holy name. Amen and amen. A weighty passage, I understand. I know. But I believe in this day and time the church needs this extremely and prevalent today. The church needs it. In chapter 3 is an interesting warning passage. It is the second one that the Apostle is writing These believers are having a tendency, and he's noticing this, that they are beginning to kind of lay back. He uses a word being shrink back. We've heard the word backsliding before, and they had began to kind of ease up a little bit. The day in and day out circumstances of living a Christian life were pressing on them far so than us and what we experience today. It was losing their job, it was losing their home, it was losing family members, it was cast out of the synagogue, no longer to come back. Many had lost jobs. It was a pressing, pressing time of receiving Christ, living in Christ, walking away from the traditions of the Old Testament and their fathers not completely severing that, but coming into Christ, walking in Christ and newness of Christ. It was a tough thing. There are a lot of things that cause believers to stumble. The devil, number one, who will cause us to stumble. You and I know that very well. I was praying the other morning. Saturday morning, actually, and rose early and began to seek the Lord and pray and all of a sudden a thought comes across my mind and where in the world did this thing come from? It is those fiery darts that the devil will bring. He's subtle and he's very crafty. Trials and tribulations will cause you to stumble and to back away and to fall into unbelief and does God Does He love me? Does He care about me? Is He really for me? Is He really my God? There's other things. Life just seems to get in the way. Our eyes on our circumstances. I don't have to try to pick your circumstances. You know what they are. And there's things that seem to overwhelm. There's waves of life that seem to overwhelm you and just kind of bring a crushing blow. And it causes us to waver at times. And these believers were. And sin enters into our life and sometimes, as the writer just said, it's the deceitfulness of sin. We no longer know that it's there, it's creeping up. It deceives us and we're falling into a hardened heart. The problem with the sin and unbelief is it always leads to apostasy. Apostasy is a walking away, a sliding away, a moving away from God. And the writer of the Apostle is concerned with these believers that he would spur them on, encourage them on, that they would finish the race that God has put them in. That they would not give up. Now I know some of you in here this morning may be ready to give up. Maybe some of you in here are already giving up and this is maybe one of your last shots. You're going to give God one more try. I want to tell you that Jesus is the absolute answer and the gospel is the answer. It's not a church. It's not a man. It is Jesus Christ and the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the answer. So many things cause us to believe, to fall into unbelief, but I want you to notice that the Apostle doesn't bring a condemning action upon them. That's never his drive in the book of Hebrews to make them doubt their salvation. He is cheering them on and reminding them. Notice what he says in chapter 3 and verse 1. Therefore, holy brethren, He's reminding them that they've been set apart, made holy unto Christ. They are brethren. They are not cast out. They are not lost. They are believers in Christ. He reminds them of that. He's coming at that impression, at that drive. He reminds them again in verse 12. Take care, brethren. Beloved of God, I love you passionately. I don't want you to fall into the trap of deceitfulness of sin and not finish your course. He says in verse 6, but Christ was faithful as a son over his house. And notice what he says, whose house we are. He reminds them that they are in the house of God. And I believe this is a reference to the church, that they're now a part of the church, they're part of the bride of Christ. This is an encouraging message that he's bringing to them, but yet a weight of warning. And sometimes we do need to warn. And many times our children, they just need a warning. They need one fired over the bow. I love you, but if you do that again, you know what I'm talking about. Because there's a great love and a passion. Listen, it's more than the apostle at stake. It's more than those believers. It is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and the church of God as they move forward through this world and through your workplace and where you are. That God would get glory out of your marriage and your home and your workplace. You see, God is at stake here. And he also encourages them deeply. Look at verse 13. He says, verse 14, he says, for we have become partakers of Christ. You have Christ in you. You're a believer if you endure to the end. Now, he's not saying, oh, look, you've prayed a prayer. We went through that baptism thing. And listen, you're on the road and you're saved. He's not saying that. He's just saying, listen, brethren, you've made a profession of faith. You have walked in Christ. You have come and repented of your sin and walking by faith. You've come into the bride of Christ. You have shown evidence of love of the body. Continue on in these things, because the danger is if we stop, it could be a very indicator that we never knew Him at first. That's what He's saying. Did not 1 John and chapter 2 remind us that they went out from us because they were not of us? A departing that typically happens for those who are not genuine believers. Well, there's a warning of unbelief. There's a warning of unbelief. Look at verse 7. This is interesting because the Psalmist, the Apostle here, draws from Psalms 95. Psalms 95 is an awesome passage that you would read. Now, the first six verses before verse 7 picks in, is a glorious, glorious worship for the church and God. In verse 6 he says, and He is our God and we are the sheep of His pasture. Today, do not harden your hearts. This is what the psalmist is saying. Notice what he says in verse 7. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says. There's no coincidence here that the Apostle, the writer, is bringing home the impact that this is not the Apostle that's speaking here all by himself. This is not just my voice. It's not just David who wrote the psalm. This is the Holy Spirit speaking. It's not just a word just to come across. It comes with the attentive ears, with the expectation of when God speaks, He expects obedience. You may be too young for this, but there used to be an old commercial about E.F. Hutton. Now, as Daniel said, he's not going to reveal those that are older, and he kind of looked over in that direction. I don't think 51's old. I just don't think it's old. But E.F. Hutton, they said when E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen. That was the only... My wife got that, thank you. young guys. Brethren, this is what the writer is saying. He said, the Holy Spirit says. The Holy Spirit is speaking this. Truly holy men of God have been this. The Holy Spirit is speaking here. Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts. The very intention is speaking with obey. A mother says to her son, little Danny, would you take the garbage out? She gets no response. He's still watching his cartoons. And she said, Danny, did you hear me? And he said, oh yeah, I heard you the first time. What would happen then? Did the mother speak with the intention that Danny would hear and obey? Or was she just kind of speaking knowing that, my, you can either believe it or not believe it. That's just up to you. I'm not going to make you do anything. Absolutely not. It's asinine to think that the mother was speaking without any intention of Danny obeying. And brethren, when God is speaking to His children, whom he has blood-bought with Jesus' blood. He calls upon us to instruct us and guide us and lead us that there would be the intention of obeying when the Holy Spirit speaks. I can't tell you how often I have had to repent over the sin of disobeying and resisting But he makes it very obvious to the Hebrews that God is speaking. God is speaking and the believer doesn't have the option to hear or not hear, or not respond. Look at chapter 1 and verse 1. If you have your Bibles open, notice what he says. The very first verse, the very first chapter, he says, God, after he spoke long ago to the prophets, I mean in the prophets to the fathers, God spoke. God revealed who He was. He revealed His commands. He revealed how man should respond to Him. God is speaking. He's a communicating God to us. And also in verse 2, He says, In these last days He has spoken to us in His Son. God is still speaking and now Jesus is speaking. Chapter 2, verse 1, he says, we must pay very close attention that we obey what we have heard. Notice what he says, verse 1 and chapter 2, for this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard that we do not drift away from it. Have you ever been driving down the roads, the typical road you drive, maybe a road you drive to work every day? And sometimes on the way home, you just kinda get in that mode of going home and you're not even thinking. And before long, you look up and you've already gone three or four roads past where you were supposed to turn. Maybe that's just when you get 50, right, Daniel? When that happens. This is what this means, just a, oh gosh! You kinda wake up one day and you realize, man, I've drifted away! I'm not as close as I used to be. How did I get this far away? You see, this is the emphasis here. Be careful what we hear. Now, to add more weight to this, because I think the Apostle is adding great weight to it. Listen to Hebrews 11.25. Just listen. He says, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven." There is a great accountability on hearing. In chapter 5 and verse 6 it says, the Apostles write in again, he says, I have much to talk to you about, much to share with you about. but you have become dull of hearing." Now what does this mean? It's alright, we don't hear, we get ya. Chapter 3 verse 7, notice again it says, therefore just as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Now brothers, the word harden here is an interesting word. because I'm gonna answer the question that some of you are asking already. Can a believer harden his own heart? And the answer to that is absolutely yes. It doesn't mean that you lose your salvation. That's not what is implied here at all. Nor through the book of Hebrews, but is implied that when we resist the Holy Spirit. Let me develop a little more and I'll tie it together with an illustration. The word hardened means the inability of anything to receive an impression from what is applied to it. The inability to receive that impression of whatever is applied to it. How many of you grew up with Plato? Now, I know I'm speaking to some who still know what I'm talking about. I remember when we grew up we had Plato and it probably first came out when I was little, but anyway, We had this thing called the barbershop. Does anybody remember that? You don't want to raise your hand, do you? Because you're going to say, oh no. They had a thing called a barbershop. You take this Play-Doh and the Play-Doh is pliable. You can bend it and move it and mold it and do whatever. You put it in there and you squeeze it down and it squeezes out and you got hair to put on this guy and you shave it off. You put it back in and it goes. But the only problem with Play-Doh is what? If you leave the top off, we never remembered to put the cap back on it. And our mom would always respond, well, you should have put the cap on it. I'm not buying anymore. That's how it always worked. If you didn't put the cap on it, what happened to it? It got hard. You can no longer put it through the machine to make hair any longer. It wasn't pliable anymore. Brethren, This shot me this week in reading this because I've never really pondered what takes place when we resist the Holy Spirit. Now let me dive a little deeper. John Owen. He has probably done the greatest work in Hebrews in the 1600s and most scholars today believe that nothing has ever matched the work of John Owen. And so I quote him and I say, he says, "'Obedience is applied to men's and women's souls.'" Obedience is applied to men's souls through God's Spirit, through His commands, His promises, and His will. And When we resist the Holy Spirit, His job is to bring obedience to the believer. He impresses God's commands. He impresses God's promises. He impresses God's will on us. Now when we begin to push off and kick against and run from and hide from the leading of the Holy Spirit and prompting that area of our life that He wants to work on, we begin to harden our hearts. We do it. Let me ask you something. We sit in my office one night last week in a little family Bible time and we were talking about this passage. And I asked him, I said, you don't have to say anything But has the Holy Spirit been trying to work an area of your life, maybe the last three, four, five months, maybe the last two, three years? Has there been an area, and you know it immediately, there's an area, maybe one, maybe two areas, that the Holy Spirit's really been speaking? You've been sitting up under good preaching, teaching, and accountability, and in city groups, and you've The Holy Spirit just kept prompting, and kept moving, and kept working, and alive, and you just... I'll work a little bit on it, but you don't commit headlong to obey the command, or the promises, or follow in God's will, and pray it into your life, and it just pushes off. Do you know what I'm talking about? I know you know what I'm talking about. And when that area, we do not allow the Holy Spirit to bring God's Word, His commands, His promises, and His will, and to change my heart, change my life, I begin to go into hardness of heart. This is the danger. This is why I'm spending more time here. Because brethren, this is the danger of resisting the Holy Spirit's moving and working within us, sanctifying us, and growing us in godliness and holiness. We resist and we come with a hardness of heart. It doesn't stop there. Notice what he says. Resisting the Holy Spirit produces a hardening. Hardening produces unbelief. And unbelief produces an evil heart that turns away from the living God. Notice what he says in verse 12. Take care, brethren, that there be and not be in any one of you. Who's he speaking to? Not the Israelites of old. He's speaking to the believers now. Take care. Take heed. Pay special attention. Brethren, that there be not in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. He's not implying that you lose your salvation because you cannot. As a true believer, you cannot. But you can drift away from the Living God. You can harden your heart and go away from God and be in your sin. You won't stay there as a believer because Hebrews chapter 12 will not allow you to stay there because the Heavenly Father is a disciplining Father and He'll take you to the woodshed and He'll bring you back in His loving grace and you'll share His holiness. That's what He says. But if you receive no discipline, then He says you're illegitimate children. You see the writer's passion? You see his drive for the believers that we not fall into this trap? Oh brethren, how easy it is, isn't it? To begin to drift a little bit and not hear. To get a little ease here, a little ease there. All of us, all of us, all of us are susceptible to it. That's why we need one another. Take care, brethren! Take it care! And let me get to the good part, but before we do that I want to make one more point, and then I'll move to the good part. There's still a warning to all of us that we not harden our hearts, that we hear, not as Israel. They provoke God for 40 years. 40 years! I want you to notice that in chapter 3 verse 1 through 6 he talks about Moses, and Moses was a faithful servant over his house, but he says, now Jesus, in verse 6, but Jesus was faithful as a son over his house, the church. And the Apostle is writing, and I believe the emphasis here is saying, just as Israel grumbled against Moses, y'all remember how Moses led Israel out of Egypt? They're going and they're thirsty, of course, they're in the desert, and they get to a place, and the Bible says, in Exodus, I think it's 15, that they begin to grumble against Moses. And that was just the starting. Now brethren, here's what happens is that not only did they grumble against Moses, but he sees emphasizing here that the heart begins to turn against Christ. Begins to get hardened to Him. Matthew Henry said this, and I quote, "...the hardening of your heart is the spring of all our sins." The hardening of our hearts is the spring of all our sins. It's not that important, is it? It's not that much. All right. He said, Brother David, Alright, I got the weight. I feel the weight. And that's my intention. I pray that the Holy Spirit has brought that weight. Because that's what should happen in a warning passage. And then, the response is, He catapults Christ. And this is what should happen. Notice what he says. There are two things that the writer takes the people of God to. And number one, he emphasizes the body of Christ and the gospel of Christ. We'll look at chapter four in just a moment. Number one, he emphasizes how are you going to maintain a heart that is hot, walking with God, following God. Now listen, I'm not talking of perfection. I'm not implying that at all. But brethren, what keeps us from deceiving our own self? He says in verse 13, the deceitfulness of sin. We can be drifting and not even know it. How does that happen? How? Number one, he says verse 13, look what he says. He said, but encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today." You say, what? Man, he just brought a weight of a warning passage and don't harden your heart. And man, he's driving this point home and all of a sudden he says, encourage one another? Brethren, this is such an important aspect of the body of Christ that you and I encourage one another. Notice what he says. The the process of encouraging, of encouragement. In chapter 10, verse 24 and 25, he says, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our assembling together as some of the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near. Can I tell you something that you need encouragement more than you think you need encouragement? You know what the word encouragement here, it means to persuade people with humble, comforting words, consoling them that they may be comforted. Let me ask you something. I know some of you feel, I just don't have that gift of encouragement. I just don't have it. There is a gift of encouragement in Romans and it speaks about that someone's gifted with an extra special amount of encouragement. They seem to have the right words at the right time at the right place and it just is the balm of Gilead to your soul. But Brethren, here's what the writer is instructing that all of us, all of us be encouragers to one another. There is not one believer in this church that can come through this door, has the right to sit down, and expect everybody to come and encourage them, and bless them, and meet them, and talk to them, and not himself be an encourager to someone else. We are driven by the need to have someone put their arm around us to love us and encourage us on that we not stop and quit and give up. I don't care who you are. I don't care how strong you are. I don't care how much scripture you've memorized, there's gonna come a day when you need somebody to come alongside you and just say, brother, sister, I love you. Thank you so much for your labor in the Lord. You mean a lot to me that you came today and I see you every Sunday, Sunday in, Sunday out, and your faithfulness is such an encouragement to my soul. We need that, don't we? There's not one person I've ever experienced that didn't need encouragement. There's some of you in here this morning. You need encouragement. You've been kind of out of the word a little bit, kind of out of fellowship. You don't have an accountability group. You don't have a group of men that you can share with, love with, that they love you and they speak into your life. They know every dirt detail about you save your wife or your husband. and you're able to just pour your soul and they're able to encourage you through the week by a little text that you get on your phone or something like that that just kind of spurs you on that you just don't stop. You know what I'm talking about? It's that encouragement. How do you encourage? Brethren, to be good encouragers is you've got to get by yourself. And what I mean is, not alone. You've got to get over yourself to be able to encourage someone else. To pour yourself into someone else's life. Notice what the Apostle is saying. You want to maintain a heart that stays away from unbelief, and hardness, and coldness toward God, and unbelief? You start encouraging the brethren. How can you encourage the brethren if you're not around them? being a part of your city group, being a part of your church, and being a part of the body of Christ. This is where the body of Christ is able to encourage one another, to strengthen one another as you get these words of encouragement. This week I have friends of ours down from Arkansas and and Mark and Carolyn and their three children and we love these brothers. It's my step-niece and we met them, gosh, when I was pastoring in Arkansas and Mark and Carolyn were in the church and we met these guys when they were just kids. We've just walked with them for a long time and saw them grow in the Lord, man. And I'll tell you, God just uses them tremendously to encourage us. And our hearts have just been overwhelmed with joy and happiness of the Lord as they have been down talking with us. And Mark and I were driving around looking for stuff the other day. Man, I enjoyed just kind of riding around in my car talking with him, and we would just encourage one another in Scripture. Man, what a joy that was in my heart! The things that we were looking for, we couldn't find it in one store, and I said, well I know another store across town, we'll go over there. We'd just drive across town and go get it. I enjoyed just fellowshipping with my brother. We need encouragement, do we not? You need to open your mouth, and you need to encourage the brethren. You need to be in prayer. You need to have folks on your prayer list. You need to be thinking. When the Holy Spirit lays someone on your heart, you need to go to that individual, or you need to text that individual, or email. That's like outdated stuff, right? Or you could call them. That's like really outdated stuff, and I know you won't do this, but you could write them a little note and put it in the mail, and I know you'll never do that anymore, right? But when's the last time you put your arm around somebody and says, man, I just want to tell you, you've been on my heart, and I just want to tell you I love you so much. I just appreciate you. Thank you for serving the body. I just don't love you the way that I should. And I just want to tell you, I just appreciate your faithfulness. Amen? Encourage the body. encourage the brethren." And then he says in verse 25 as well, he said, "...and all the more as you see the day drawing near." I believe this is the end times, however the writer feels, whether you're pre-trib, whether you're mid-trib, whether you're off, it makes no difference to me. As you see the day drawing near, as you see the times getting worse and worse, brother, this is where you and I need more encouragement than we've ever needed. We need to do it. We think about it sometimes, but you need to get off your chair and do it. Amen? Alright, I'll move on. I know we've got a wedding to be to, so... The second point, look at chapter 4 and I'll move faster through this. Therefore let us fear. Let us fear. This is a great fear of God. This is not a reverential fear. This is a horrifying fear of being cast away from God. let us fear if while a promise remains of entering his rest that any one of you may seem to have come short of it." He's not telling the believers that you have to have this kind of fear of God. He's just saying that these who have come short of it are the ones who should have this deep fear of God. He said, for indeed we have had good news preached to us just as they also, but the word which they had heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who had heard." I believe this text right here in verse 2 drives the rest of this passage. It is referencing the gospel, the good news that was preached. It was also preached to those in the Old Testament. He said, hold on just a minute, pastor. You mean the same gospel? The gospel pointing to the cross was proclaimed. How was it done? When they came through, they got out in the wilderness, and they came to a little sea called the Red Sea. And as they prayed, Moses lifted up his arm and staff, and God opened up the water. It parted on sides. They walked through on dry land. They looked through, and Paul uses this as a reference, as an example in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. It says, and they walked through the water. It's a picture of identifying with Moses. It's a picture of baptizing. It's identification. Secondly, as they went they were thirsty and they were in the middle of the desert. They didn't have a river. They didn't have pumps. They didn't have water bottles. And so God told Moses, he said, strike that rock over there. He said, so what? Strike that rock. You know, you had to think Moses was like, really? I'll strike it. So he goes over and he takes his staff and he strikes the water and water, I mean strikes the rock and water gushes forth out of this water. All the animals are being watered, all the people are being given drinks of water out of this, and this was a picture of Christ. How do we know this? Look at, don't turn there, I'm quickly trying to end. First Corinthians 10, he says, 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." Now this has happened to all of us, all of them, for an example to us. This is the gospel in the Old Testament. I could go more and more. The Red Sea, the Rock, the manna. This is referenced in John chapter 6. He is the bread of life. The manna was given to them. The serpent on a pole, the Passover, the tabernacle. It all pointed to Christ. This was the gospel. But they never added, they never coupled it with faith. And the gospel is presented faith. must be coupled with it and you can't muster up faith. Faith has to be given according to Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. It is a gift of God to believe, to trust, to have faith in Christ. But they did not believe. They were unbelievers and they fell in the desert. They were lost in their sins. This drives the whole passage and he says there is a Sabbath rest. Now notice just two things and I'll close. Because the first point is that how are you going to get away from a hard heart, from a unbelieving heart, is encouraging one another in the church, spurring one another along, looking into one another's life. Secondly, how are we going to get through is called the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ. And what I mean by that is this. The writer, the Apostle, talks of a Sabbath day rest, or God rested after His creation. On the seventh day He rested, and we know this. I don't have to explain this or go into great detail. And he says, but yet they still did not enter that rest. That is a rest. It was there, but Adam and Eve, I believe Adam and Eve here, caused this rest and all mankind to where they could not rest, and God's rest. because the original sin, Adam and Eve, had sinned against God. Therefore, all mankind are sinners and are separated from God. Romans says, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Man must repent of their sin. They must confess their sin and repent. Godly sorrow worketh repentance and come to Christ in faith, believing, walking with Christ. This is what the writer, I believe, is speaking of. He talks about another rest. Look at verse 8. He says, For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. So we see that the Sabbath rest and Adam and Eve had disrupted that rest. That man has to come through the gospel to enter into God's rest, to be a friend of God, where now he's an enemy against God, lost apart from Christ. For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day." Now, if you remember that God was angry with Israel And they died in the wilderness. Those that were 20 years and above, they all died because they refused to go into the land of Canaan. You remember that, don't you? And when they got to the land, they sent in 10 spies. Joshua and Caleb were part of the 10. They go into the land of Canaan. They came back. They're bringing grapes back and some of the pictures that we used to have in our little children's Bibles. You remember them? Grape for like softballs. And they came back with milk. The land's flowing with milk and honey. God has given this land. Let's go in and take it, Joshua. And Caleb said, and the other eight said, Oh, no, there's giants in the land. We can't go in there. It's too hard. And where are we going to go? We would have been better back in Egypt. We could have been back there eating food and meat, and it was better back there. But now you draw us out. Oh, the argument ensued. And the Bible says that God was angry with them and so headed them back out into the wilderness and they all died. They all perished out in the wilderness. And so now Joshua is raised up. In the book of Joshua we find out in chapter 5 that God has instructed him. He's getting ready to lead Israel across the Jordan. They get the Ark of the Covenant. The priests are carrying the Ark on the staff. They touch the Jordan River with their feet and the Jordan River parted. Y'all remember your Old Testament, don't you? I know I'm talking to younger folks, but older folks seem to know the Old Testament. A part of the water stood up. They walked across to the other side. And then in chapter 5, listen to this. Joshua is getting ready. He's in the land. He just crossed over Jordan. Jordan, by the way, the land of Canaan is not a picture of heaven as some of our old hymns will present. I believe most expositors say that Canaan is just a illustration of the Christian life. And so Joshua's on the other side and he gets there and he's walking down the path and he sees a man standing there and that man has his sword drawn. And so Joshua goes up to him and he says, are you for us? As they say in Arkansas, are you for us or against us? And the guy responded, no. Gosh, what answer is that? He said, no, I'm the captain of the Lord of hosts. and Joshua fell on his face. Now if it were an angel, an angel would have said, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, you don't get on your face before me. It was Jesus incarnate in the Old Testament. It was a Christophany in the Old Testament. The captain of the Lord of Hosts told Joshua, take your sandals off because the ground you're standing on is holy ground. Y'all remember that, right? Joshua fell on his face before Jesus. Remember now, it's just the Christian life. It's living out that Christian life and so they go over Jordan and their first battle is what? Y'all remember? Joshua fought the battle of Y'all have had too much, right? It's time to go. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. He goes over The captain of the Lord of Hosts says, no, I don't want you to take the armies out. You have everybody put their arrows in their sheath, and you put your store it all. We're not going to attack them. I don't need a battle plan. You do what I tell you to do, because the battle is the Lord's. It's not yours. And so Joshua tells the army, you'll go ahead of the Ark of the Covenant. We'll surround it, but y'all don't say a word. I don't want you to shoot the first arrow. I don't want you to climb the wall. I don't want you to do anything. I just want you to go out and be totally quiet and just march around Jericho. So all right, so they went out and they marched around Jericho. It's the first day they came back. set up camp, next day they get up, they said, what do we do Joshua? Joshua said, I want you to march around camp, do the same thing you did yesterday, do the same thing. And they did this for six days, and on the seventh day the Lord of the hosts told Joshua, said I want you to go, you go around it how many times? Seven times. And on the seventh time you're to do what? They just shouted. Can you imagine these trained archers that could shoot with the left hand and the right hand? Could you imagine the only... just shout? And the walls came tumbling down. Who fought the battle? Jesus did. The battle is His, not ours. The Christian life is lived by looking unto Him, the author and perfecter of our faith. It's not about David Ramsey and what I do. And when I get in the flesh and I start doing it myself and my own self-sustaining, I get miserable. I make a mess of it. My joy is out the window. But oh, when I yield to the Captain of the Host, my Lord, the Gospel, my Christ, and He is able to fight the battles, lead me, I don't have to worry. He's taking care of David Ramsey. I can submit and rest in Him. This is the Gospel. This is a rest. I don't have to worry whether He's going to take care of me or not. I don't mean if I die, I get Him. I don't have to worry if these are going to attack, if I'm going to get my job. Is it going to provide? Is my health going to hold out? Is this going to happen? Is my marriage going to work? Are my kids going to turn? I trust you, Lord. That's my rest. I don't have to worry about my sin making me lose my salvation. I don't have to worry about God ever hating me. There's no condemnation to those that are in Christ. I am free! That's a rest of the gospel. And I'm sure there must be some here this morning that you do not have that rest and you lay your head down at night and there is misery, there is unrest, there is no peace in that life. And lastly, he says, For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that." What he's saying is this is not the last rest. Verse 9, so there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. And I'm just going to end right there. He's talking about a rest to come. And I believe that's a direct reference to glory. In Hebrews chapter 12, we find the verse that says, that this is not our home, we're looking for our heavenly city. And that'll be our final rest. That's the gospel. He has saved me from my sin. He is saving me today. He is saving me to glory. That will be my glorified body. That is the gospel. That's the gospel. So where does this one particular verse come in, in verse 11? He says, Be diligent that you enter this rest, that no one fall." This word, fall, means to fall dead like they did in Israel, in the wilderness. For the Word of God is sharper, it's powerful than any two-edged sword. It's able to pierce asunder the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no man is hidden from the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, which means this, If you're not up under the gospel grace of Jesus Christ, if you're not a believer in Christ, sins washed, you've confessed, by faith you're walking with Christ, brethren, the Word of God exposes all of what you do. It has revealed to God everything, every thought, every intention, every motive, everything of your heart lays wide open before God. You can't hide not one thing. He sees it all. He knows it all. There's nothing you could ever hide. And the very last part of that verse, in verse 13, it says, with whom we have to do," meaning this, it means you'll answer to Him one day. I pray today that you repent of your sins and trust Jesus Christ by faith alone through Christ alone. I can't save you. I can't lead you in a prayer. The only thing I can do is say, TODAY! Today! Harden not your hearts. Harden not your heart. If you hear His voice today, repent. Because you're not guaranteed tomorrow. We're not guaranteed. We're not guaranteed another hour. Today! Today! repent, confess your sins before Christ right where you are and repent and trust Christ by faith. Father in heaven, Lord I rejoice in your goodness and your word and Lord I pray your word has encouraged the body of Christ that Lord that they would come together and realize their word of encouragement is greater than being quiet and Lord it is needful to stay away from an unbelieving heart, a hard heart and Lord God, I do pray that, Lord, you'd let us rest in the gospel of Christ. And, Lord, if there's not one here, if there's one here this morning that, Lord, they are not resting in Christ, it's just a false assurance. Or maybe there's one, Father, that came this morning and they're lost in their sins and the Holy Spirit has been speaking. And, Lord, you're bringing them to a godly sorrow of repentance and they are turning to you. Lord, I pray that they would be saved. Lord, let them be saved. And Father, as we approach the beautiful table of communion, to rejoice in the gospel of Christ, the goodness of Christ, the good news that Christ's body and His blood. Lord, we rejoice in Christ. Lord, prepare our hearts. Lord, let us examine ourselves, expose the hardness of our hearts, the deceitfulness of sin, And Lord, I pray that we would not have a heart of rebellion, but that we would have a humble, submissive heart, ready and willing to obey and follow. I pray in Jesus' name. Would you take a moment and seek the Lord and respond in obedience to whatever the Holy Spirit has spoken. And when you are ready, by all means, believers, believers come and partake of the Lord's table. There are offering boxes on the left and the right. that you will be able to give your tithes and offerings. When you are ready, believers, by all means, you come to the table. Amen, Father. I don't want to preach and be a castaway. Father, I want to preach. Respond in obedience. Help me to respond in obedience. Respond in obedience.