Wandering from the Heart

DATE: SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

Topic: “Wandering from the Heart” Hebrews 3:7-13 Do not dare to copy the behavior of the Israelites in the desert! This is a warning from the Epistle! A warning against hardening of heart! It had happened to Israel in the desert, and it can happen again to anyone who does not take care of the heart!

I. So today the Holy Spirit continues to speak through Psalm 95:7-11.

A. Just as he did at the beginning when he inspired the psalmist. (Vs. 7) “If you hear his voice today…”

1. The people of Israel wandered (walked aimlessly) through the desert.

2. (Vs. 8) "Do not harden your hearts..." When God speaks, we must be quick to respond!

3. Doubting his word is treating the Lord as a liar, and that means that he will incur in “His anger”, in “His wrath”. It is not the anger or wrath (feeling of intense fury) of the Pastor, but that of God.

4. Do not throw into my life the anger that God may have, because you provoke it when you do not want to hear Him.

5. This is the story of Israel in the desert. A painful record of complaints (be careful also if you complain about everything!), of the concupiscence, idolatry, incredulity, and rebellion of those people.

6. It was in the wilderness of Paran that the unbelieving spies returned with a wicked report of discouragement and doubt (Numbers 13:25-29, 14 :). And the people decided to return to Egypt, to the land of their slavery.

7. (Psalm 95:9) (Numbers 14:33, 34) Such was the indignation of God that HE DECREED THAT THE PEOPLE WOULD WANDER THROUGH THE DESERT FOR FORTY YEARS.

8. Only Caleb and Joshua entered the promised land (Numbers 14:28-30).

9. It is significant that, just as Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, so the Spirit of God dealt with the nation of Israel, after Christ's death, for approximately forty years.

10. (Psalm 95:10) "They are a people whose hearts go astray." God's deep "displeasure" with Israel in the desert prompted this harsh denunciation.

11. God accused them of a perpetual inclination to turn away from Him and to willfully ignore "His ways."

12. They are not in God, they live aimlessly, they ignore God's ways! They move away because they live wandering!

13. (Vs.11) In His “anger”, He swore that they would not enter in His rest, that is, to the land of Canaan.

14. The explanation that the Holy Spirit gives us about this experience of Israel is found in Hebrews 3:12-15.

15. It is proper in the Epistle to the Hebrews to call "brothers" to whom it is addressed.

16. But, not all who come to church are true Christians, nor true brothers.

17. All who profess to be believers should constantly be ON GUARD AGAINST AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF that could lead them to turn away from the living God!

18. This is a constant threat that exists in one, it is not the others, it is what there is in one's life For such reason, stop accusing and examining the other and look at "yourself".

19. (Vs. 13) “… before exhorting one another each day…” A good antidote is mutual exhortation (the brief family talk or sermon for the caution, for the warning).

20. It is good to speak or exhort when you see that they want to distance themselves from the Lord. Because there are religions that cannot deal with sin effectively.

21. “… as long as it is called: TODAY…” Today, that you are still living and there is God's offer of salvation by grace! Today, which is the acceptable time! Today, which is the day of salvation! Today, escape for your life!

22. (Vs. 14) You are reminded that “… we are made partakers of Christ…” if we hold FIRMLY TILL THE END our confidence from the beginning. We must demonstrate with our lives that we have been genuinely saved. If not, it is pure hypocrisy, it has just been merely visiting a place.

23. FAITH IS THE ROOT OF SALVATION! PERSEVERANCE IS THE FRUIT!

24. Who are the companions of Christ? Those who by their steadfast faith show that they truly belong to Him!

25. (Vs. 15) Israel's sad experience is in the words of Psalm 95:7, 8 "If you hear his voice today, do not harden your hearts, as in provocation."

26. What was said to Israel is now addressed to anyone who might be tempted to abandon the good news and turn back. It is that they do not leave the church, but God!

27. (Vs. 16) The apostasy of Israel: The “rebellion”, the “provocation” and therefore the “retribution” (the payment!).

28. THE REBELS are identified as "...all who came out of Egypt by the hand of Moses."

29. Caleb and Joshua were the exceptional loners! (Vs. 17) The PROVOCATION = those same rebels who provoked Jehovah for forty years.

31. There were about six hundred thousand of them, and by the end of the forty-year term, the desert was dotted (marked) with six hundred thousand graves.

32. (Vs. 18) RETRIBUTION = the payment that those who might feel tempted to leave “the despised” minority of true Christians for the vast majority of those who have an external form of religion but who deny the power of piety. Are the majority always right?

33. In this chapter of Israel's history only two were right, and more than half a million people were wrong!

34. (Vs. 19) It had been "unbelief" that had kept the "rebellious children" out of the promised land, and it is "unbelief" that keeps men out of God's inheritance in each dispensation. The lesson is evident: let's guard ourselves from "a bad heart" of "unbelief."

35. Caleb and Joshua honored God by saying that His word was truthful, His infinite power, His disposition unchangeably full of grace, and His faithfulness, such, that He would never arouse (promote) any hope that would not be satisfied. Amen.