A Hard Caution // Pastor Bobby

Whooo! It's one of those kind of mornings.

I came in with a wooo this morning because I tell you what,

it's been a good week.

God's doing some cool things,

and we get to enjoy what God does.

And that song just kind of points it out,

talks about who God is and what he's done.

And so we're in hebrews,

chapter three.

We're still considering the topic,

the object of our faith,

and. And the object of our faith is just simply Jesus.

We focus and prioritize and elevate,

and actually what the Bible teaches us is lift high the name of Jesus.

And so that's the goal of our morning,

and that's why we gather,

is to lift high the name of Jesus.

We're in the book of Hebrews.

The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus,

as is the rest of the Bible.

ActuallY, the book of hebrews just ties the Old Testament and the new

Testament together.

And really what we've seen through these first couple of chapters of

Hebrews is really about who Christ is,

that God has spoken,

and in these days,

God has spoken through his son Jesus,

and we should pay attention.

Okay? And so Today's message is really one of the warnings.

There are four warnings throughout the book of Hebrews,

and this is one of the warnings.

How many of you enjoy warnings?

Right? I'm going to tell you one,

that you're not supposed to get you ready.

You know,

when you're driving too fast down the highway and approaching traffic,

flashes their lights at you.

They ain't supposed to do that.

They're not supposed to let you know there's a cop sitting over the hill

with a radar,

right? But when we're driving too fast and somebody flashes their lights

at us,

what do we do?

Slow down.

Right?

We like that warning.

It what keeps us out of trouble.

So when we see the warnings of the Book of HebRews,

there's one in chapter two,

and now here's,

there's one in chapter three.

And the warning of God to his people,

because we know that God has spoken.

God has SpokEn through his SOn JeSuS.

And God is inspired,

the writer of Hebrews,

which we don't know who it is,

but we understand that as he's writing,

he is writing from the inspiration of God by his spirit.

Therefore, when we start verse seven,

it says this very specifically,

therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

all right,

that should be enough to go.

I should pay attention to what God's about to say.

I should stop and pay attention to what God wants us to hear.

So as we progress in this.

I titled this just a hard caution,

because this is what God's giving us.

It goes like this.

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 ancestors tested me,

tried me and saw my works for 40 years.

Therefore, I was provoked to anger with that generation and said,

they always go astray in their hearts,

and they have not known my ways.

So I swore in my anger,

they will not enter my rest.

Watch out,

brothers and sisters,

so that there won't be in any of you an evil,

unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God,

but encourage each other daily.

Why it is still called today,

so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception.

For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end

the reality that we had at the start.

As it is said today,

if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts,

as in the rebellion.

For who heard and rebelled,

wasn't it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?

With whom was God angry for 40 years?

Wasn't it with those who sinned,

whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest,

if not those who disobeyed?

So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Let's pray.

We need it.

God, we thank you.

Thank you for a day that we have to gather,

to worship,

to sing.

And, God,

as we gather,

worship, and sing,

God, we know you are reminding us of who you are.

God, you're reminding us of what you've said.

But even beyond that,

God, you're letting us know again what it is that you've done.

And so,

God, we gather here with a purpose today.

We gather here this morning to stop,

to pay attention,

God, to pay attention to your words,

but also to pay attention to the warnings that your word offers us,

to the cautions,

God, help us to pay attention.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. So will came in this morning,

he says.

Big crowd.

So I guess the parking lot is getting fuller.

Some of you might have been 925 folks and decided to come at 810.

Welcome. Glad you're here.

It's going to be better if you come at 810.

Parking started this week.

Did you all know that?

Paid parking.

If you park in the city's parking lots,

you have to either have a permit or you have to pay with the app.

However, in these two blocks,

they do not start patrolling until noon.

So we have a special dispensation from the town council.

They will not patrol the parking lots around the churches,

these two block areas.

So you can park at the beach,

walk over.

But starting at noon,

they start patrolling again.

So leave before noon.

But we are encouraging this 810 crowd to park on this side of the

building, because at 09:00 on Easter Sunday,

our friends will be here across the corner there,

and they will want all the parking they can get.

So we just park there first.

Okay. All right,

second thing.

Easter is coming.

Easter is in this month.

It's March 31,

the last day of the month,

and we're going to have a great big Easter celebration.

We start it on the Sunday before,

on the 24th,

when we celebrate the Lord's supper.

In all four gatherings that morning,

we'll be celebrating Lord's supper together.

And then on Easter Sunday,

we're going to do sunrise right across there at the beach behind the fire

department over there.

And that'll be at 630.

Then we'll do our 810,

925, 1040,

1150 worship hours here.

And so we'll have a big time of celebration on Easter.

And during that 1150 worship hour,

right at 12:00 kids are going to scarf up Easter eggs,

just so you know.

And then coming in May,

May 19,

we don't have all the details ready to highlight this,

but our first outdoor worship of the year,

where we put all the gatherings together,

will be on May the 19th.

So just giving you the heads up for that.

How many warnings do we see?

See warning signs?

I mean,

if you're driving down the road,

like, I'm driving a lot,

you all know I'm driving a lot,

right?

So I'm driving down the highway,

and all of a sudden you see this sign that says left lane closed ahead,

right? What does that tell you?

Don't drive in the left lane for a little bit.

Now, I could be obstinate,

hard headed,

and drive in the left lane and potentially find myself in a ditch or off

a bridge or running into the back of one of them cushion trucks.

You all know what I'm talking about.

They got the little bumper thing on the back of it,

right? I could take the warning,

say left lane closed ahead and into.

I'll get closer to where it's closed,

and they got cones sort of trying to veer me into the right lane,

right. The first warning I should pay attention to.

The second warning,

I definitely should pay attention to,

right?

Because if I want to be obstinate and hard headed about it and ignore the

warning. Guess what?

I get the consequences.

See? So I want you to notice what we're looking at here.

We are expected to read these verses from the book of Hebrews from an

author that we're not quite sure who it is,

whether it's Paul,

Apollos, Barnabas,

or some committee of all of them together,

maybe, we don't know,

written to people who are Christ followers,

people who have surrendered their lives to Jesus and are following Jesus.

And yet God is giving the instruction that the Old Testament was about

the proclamation of the Messiah.

The New Testament is the revelation of the Messiah.

And so these things tie together to tell us God's plan and progression of

redemption. God is saying,

pay attention.

Pay attention to what I've done.

Pay attention to what I've said.

Pay attention to what I've provided you 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 ancestors tested me,

tried me and saw my works for 40 years.

Therefore, I was provoked anger with that generation and said,

they always go astray in their hearts,

and they have not known my ways.

So I swore my anger.

They will not enter my rest.

See, this comes from psalm 95.

I marked it.

Listen to psalm 95.

Come, let us shout joyfully to the Lord.

Shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation.

Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving.

Let us shout triumphantly to him in song.

For the Lord is a great God,

a great king above all gods.

The depths of the earth are in his hand,

and the mountain peaks are his.

The sea is his.

He made it.

His hands form the dry land.

Come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord,

our maker,

for he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture,

the sheep under his care.

Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.

As at Meribah,

as on that day at Massa in the wilderness,

where your fathers tested me,

they tried me,

though they had seen what I did for 40 years.

I was disgusted.

Boy, that's pretty strong.

I was disgusted with that generation.

I said,

they are a people whose hearts go astray.

They do not know my ways.

So I swore my anger.

They will not enter my rest.

Those are called the enthronement Psalms 95 and 93,

and couple in that area.

Basically what they're doing is they're acknowledging who God is and what

God has done and calling God's people to worship,

to bow,

to surrender before him.

Can I just go ahead and say pretty flippantly,

it's understood not to ignore God.

And yet we live in a culture,

and at a time when people just want to ignore God,

they want to discredit God.

What is the reasoning in psalm 95 that says it's best to pay attention to

God, who is the king above all gods,

who actually holds all of creation in the palm of his hand?

If there's no other reason to honor God and to worship God and to bow

before God,

then it is the fact that he created it all and he holds it and sustains

it. See,

that's the warning he said.

And yet your ancestors rebelled.

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

And then in psalm 95,

it mentions the Meribah and the Massah.

That's where they turned against God.

That's where they ignored who he was and what he had done.

Now, this word rebellion,

it's interesting.

It's not just casual disobedience.

Okay, so let's ask ourselves the question.

What is rebellion?

What's rebellion?

You ready?

All right.

Is it rebellion?

No. Let's see.

I don't see many kids.

Well, a couple back there.

Yeah. All right.

Good to see you.

All right,

so is it rebellion to disobey your parents?

I'm not going to answer the question.

I'll let you all answer for yourself.

Is it rebellion to drive 56 on highway 17?

No, of course not.

Is it rebellion?

Right. You see,

that's the question I want us to consider this morning,

because that's what God is saying right here.

It says,

do not harden your hearts,

as in the rebellion.

Now, this word rebellion,

and you got to understand the context.

Remember, I've told you,

translation is an art form,

not a science.

And so this word rebellion communicates in English the sentiment of what

God wants us to understand.

But in the Hebrew,

it actually means rebellion with the intent to provoke anger.

That's why God says,

down a little farther,

he says,

they provoked me to anger,

therefore I was provoked to anger.

So their rebellious intent was in defiance of God,

not just a casual disobedience.

Like I'm going to ignore it.

Today. I got a meeting in Hampstead.

I'm going to drive 57 down 17.

Right?

No, it's not just a casual disobedience.

It's an intent,

a defiance of who God is,

that it's referring to that.

So when it says,

do not harden your hearts,

as in the day of rebellion,

on the day of testing in the wilderness,

where your ancestors tested me,

tried me,

and saw my works for 40 years.

They saw what I had done,

they knew who I was,

and they defiantly.

Right.

We're not going to listen to you.

We're not going to obey you.

You see?

Get mad if you want to.

We're going to do our own thing.

That's what this is referring to.

And God's saying,

hear the warning.

And then he goes on so far as to say this,

watch out,

brothers and sisters,

so that there won't be in any of you an evil,

unbelieving heart.

Evil, unbelieving heart.

Now, can I just be honest?

56 and a 55.

Evil and unbelieving.

I'm not sure of that.

But it is defiant,

right? I mean,

he's not here in this hour.

He comes at the 925 hours.

But we do have a highway patrolman that attends the gathering.

I was driving down 17 one day and he went by me like a shot.

A little bit later,

he texted me and said,

he said,

that's what a particular speed looks like on 17.

He was after somebody,

right? But he can do that.

I can't.

So let's think about the subtleties of hearing God's warning.

What is it that God has called us to?

What is it that God has said for us in order to be his children,

his people,

his followers of Jesus acknowledging who he is and what he's done on our

behalf, our salvation,

our redemption,

the trust that we've placed in him,

the fact that we make the confession because it comes in here,

this idea of if we hold on to our confession,

our confession that Jesus is Lord,

Jesus is master,

Jesus is the very center of my identity and my being.

You see,

if that's my confession,

then I should obey the principles of that confession that I bow and

surrender to Jesus,

my Lord.

I don't go out and live defiantly.

Just my selfish intentions.

I don't go out there and go,

I don't care that you died on the cross for me,

I'm going to do what I want to see,

that's the picture of the rebellion that the writer of Hebrews is talking

about. I don't care that you love me the most and the best,

right? There was a time in my life when God was dealing with me in some

issues. There became a prayer of mine during that time in which I would

just pray and tell Jesus,

Jesus, I love you more than I love my sin.

Jesus, I love you more than I love myself.

See, God was dealing with me on some things.

Some selfishness,

some self serving.

Just. I don't care that you told me to take up my cross daily and die to

myself.

Remember my childish stance.

I want what I want when I want it.

That is the admonition of our culture and our society.

See, this idea of evil,

unbelieving heart to avoid a hard heart that says,

I want what I want.

I don't care what you want.

I don't care about your instructions.

I particularly don't care what you've done on my behalf.

See, that's what the people in the rebellion were doing.

God had delivered them from slavery.

God had taken them out into a wilderness area,

taken them through the Red Sea.

God had provided for them in every way.

And they had said,

we don't care what you've done.

We want to go back to Egypt.

We want to go back.

Even though we were slaves,

we were at least safe there.

See, a hard heart rebellion,

unbelief that turns away from the living God.

See, that's the warning,

y'all. That's the warning.

Now we say,

oh, yeah,

I know I sin.

Oh, yeah,

I know my sin is,

on some level,

yes. Call it casual disobedience,

but on the other level,

it's rebellion.

It's the failure to surrender who we are to who he is and what he's done.

So when I look at these things,

I'm thinking,

God has told us to avoid this hard heart.

Be careful.

Watch out.

See, I like it that translate.

Watch out,

man. If you're walking along,

let's say you're walking down the street and you hear somebody go,

watch out,

man.

I'm ducking.

I don't know what's coming,

but I'm ducking.

Right? Thank you for the warning.

Right.

That's kind of the picture that the writer is portraying for us here.

And when it talks about the evil,

unbelieving heart.

And I've been saying this,

and we were talking about it this week,

this idea of the self- centered,

selfish, self- serving,

self- whatever nature of our culture and society,

right? Who suffers when we only serve ourselves?

Everybody around us.

And I was talking to Megan about children's ministry and stuff,

and the greatest suffering we see in our society today is in children

whose parents are more about serving themselves than they are about

taking care of their kids.

See that?

And I'm just like,

that's evil and unbelieving,

but here you go now.

All right,

good news.

Ready? But encourage each other daily.

While it is still called today so that none of you is hardened by sin's

deception. For we have become participants,

partners, companions with Jesus.

We hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.

What is that reality?

Jesus is Lord.

I bow.

I surrender.

I give up myself for Jesus.

Hold on to know somebody came out with some famous bracelets about that,

right?

What would Jesus do,

man? I mean,

anything you do,

any choice you make,

any attitude you hold,

any activity of your life,

the question is,

does it honor Jesus?

Is it bowed and surrendered before the throne of God?

Because if it's not,

stop it.

I had people,

young people that I used to.

I was a youth pastor for a long time.

Young people say,

I just can't help.

And I'd just sit there at my desk,

go, stop it.

They'd look at me.

They said,

but Pastor Bobby,

I go,

stop it.

Actually took it from a video of Bob Newhart.

You want to find it?

Go YouTube.

Bob Newhart.

Stop it.

You'll see this bit that he did,

where this lady sat in front of him,

started explaining why,

how she couldn't explain something in her life.

And he said,

okay, I'm just going to say this to you.

She said,

well, do I need to write down?

He goes,

no, it's simple.

You can figure it out.

It's fine.

He goes,

stop it.

Right?

See, when we consider who God is,

we consider what he's done.

There is no excuse for those of us who are companions and partners with

Christ to justify our rebellion.

Okay? There's nothing to justify it.

You can't make the case to defend yourself because there's no defense to

justify sin.

Okay? He repeats it today.

If you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

Then he asks the rhetorical questions from verse 16 through 19.

He says,

for who heard and rebelled?

Well, we know what he's talking about.

He's speaking to jewish people,

to the christians who have trusted Jesus as Messiah,

who are of the jewish culture,

ethnicity, faith,

all of it.

And they've recognized Christ as Messiah.

But the challenge of the book of Hebrews,

and we find it out in later chapters,

is that some of them were being persecuted and were tempted to go back to

the Judaism.

And so the writer of Hebrews is.

No, no.

Remember that Jesus died.

He is the lamb.

Not all those lambs.

It is his blood.

Not that blood that redeems you,

that forgives you.

That's what he says right there.

He says,

for who heard and rebelled?

Wasn't it all who came out of Egypt under Moses?

And estimates are somewhere between four and 6 million people that were

the captives in Egypt that came out on their way to the promised land and

they rebelled.

With whom was God angry for 40 years?

Wasn't it all those?

Wasn't it with those who sinned,

whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

Some estimates 3000 people died when they created a gold calf.

Most commentators tell you those were the leaders of the rebellion that

died in the wilderness.

And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest if not to

those who disobeyed?

So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Now understand that in Christ,

I told you before and people disagree with me and that's fine.

Unbelief. See,

I happen to be one of those people that I don't have the power,

strength or anything to undo what God does.

So when God saved me,

I was saved,

right?

Do I still sin?

56 is tough for me.

You see my point?

Here you go.

The rebellion,

the unbelief he's talking about is the denial of who God is and what he's

done. The refusal to trust God is the unbelief that is translated there

to rebel against God,

to doubt that God is God,

but more than that,

to live a life that proclaims God is not God.

See that?

And there are people who do that.

We see it around us all the time.

We see people who just denounce God and what he has said to us to rebel

against God.

And the failure of their rebellion resulted.

The consequences of driving in the left lane when the left lane is

closed. Consequences.

You don't get the rest that God's offer.

We all know people that struggle in their lives and go through hard

times. And we know some of those people who don't trust Jesus.

And we say something like,

I just don't know how people live without Jesus.

But there are some people who defiantly shake their fist at God and say,

I will not bow.

See, watch out,

watch out.

That's the warning.

It's a hard caution for us.

Don't miss it.

Let's bow and surrender.

Pray with me.

Father, thank you for today and for all that you have done.

God, we love you.

Thank you for every person here.

Thank you for the fact that you knew everybody that'd be here,

even the one I met early,

and you knew where we would be,

where we would be sitting.

You knew God,

what our hearts were prepared to hear.

And so,

God, I pray that you have prepared our hearts to hear you and that God,

if we are in rebellion,

if we're the ones defiantly shaking our fists,

that you,

Father, my prayer would be that we would submit,

surrender, bow and worship you because you are God.

If there's even one here this morning that doesn't know Jesus.

God, that's where it starts.

We've got to bow and know Jesus.

And then we surrender.

Thank you,

God, for your love for us.

Help us to love you back.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.