Hebrews
“Encouragement for a life of faith”
Part 3
“Pure hearts”
Hebrews 3:12-14
Today we will continue with our study of the great New Testament book of Hebrews
This book has so much to offer for the born again believer in Jesus
But also has great information for the lost or the seeking as well
Just to recap for a moment
In the first week of our study we saw how the writer of Hebrews shows Jesus as
“The Real Deal”
And we learned how we must
As his followers never accept any substitute
The next week we looked at the danger
To our spiritual walk
Of drifting away from what we know
What we have read
What we have studied
And what we have been taught
The danger of drifting away from God and his word
I laid out 6 warning signs that we may be drifting
And they were
Loss of focus
Loss of priority
Loss of passion
Loss of self discipline
Loss of commitment
And loss of compassion
And we looked at how to avoid drifting
We looked at the consequences of drifting and not drifting
I titled this sermon series
Encouragement for a life of faith
I chose this name because we do need to be encouraged
But
Always a but right
Sometimes we get encouraged by getting stepped on a bit first
Last week was a mashing on
But
I pray that you were able to apply the points from the passage and begin drift proofing your life
Today is another exhortation
What this means is the writer or Hebrews is applying some pressure
And therefore
I
Am going to apply some pressure
Prayerfully the result of the pressure will be to expose sore spots in our Christian walk
And then we can address those spots
And begin the process of healing that area of our Christian walk
And prayerfully as we grow and mature we will be encouraged
In Chapter 3 of Hebrews
The writer
Starts out with more detail about the supremacy of Christ
If you want to know more
Please pray about attending our round pen bible studies
And
Open your own bibles and dig
The writer talks of Jesus being greater than Moses
Who is considered to be the greatest prophet
And then
He begins an
Exhortation
Remember exhortation is a talk that inspires change
Let me read for you Hebrews 3:1-11
And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and[a] are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger[b] and High Priest. 2 For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully when he was entrusted with God’s entire[c] house.
3 But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. 4 For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.
5 Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. 6 But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.[d]
7 That is why the Holy Spirit says,
“Today when you hear his voice,
8 don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled,
when they tested me in the wilderness.
9 There your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
even though they saw my miracles for forty years.
10 So I was angry with them, and I said,
‘Their hearts always turn away from me.
They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest.
He reminds us in verse one
To listen
Pay attention
And to think carefully
Remember last week from Romans 12
To be transformed
We must change the way we think
We must think carefully
Then
He goes onto show why Jesus deserves more glory than Moses
And he shows us Jesus as the creator
And as the creator
Jesus is greater than the prophets
The law
Angels or anything else
Then he begins his exhortation
In verses 7-11
He says God’s chose people
The Israelites
Were unable to keep their hearts pure
So they lost many of the blessings that God had for them
Including getting to go into the Promised Land
Let me remind you that God led the Israelites in the desert
He provided for them
He fed them
Their clothes and shoes did not wear out
They received many blessings
But due to their lack of belief
When I say belief
I don’t mean belief in God
They believed in God
But
I mean
They had a problem trusting him in every area of their lives
They had a problem believing that he is in charge and working daily in our lives
We often suffer from the same problem
Head knowledge
Instead of heart knowledge
Then our writer moves onto
A message that speaks right to my heart
And I pray as believers here this morning
It will speak right to yours as well
Before I read for you verses 12-14
Let’s think of something together
Think of the word “Pure”
I often think of things like “Pure “Maple syrup
Or “Pure” Cain sugar
Or “Pure” Angus
I have no doubt you can think of many ways to apply the word “Pure” as well
The word “Pure” means just that
Free from additives
Free from impurities
Free from anything other than what is supposed to be there
Anytime something is called “Pure”
You can be assured there is some method of determination
Of the claim of purity of the item in question
Remember this part
When something claims to be pure
There is a standard that it is compared to
Let’s read the writer of Hebrews second exhortation to his audience
And his second exhortation to us
Hebrews 3:12-14
Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters.[f] Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.
He starts out with
Be careful
Watch out he says
Be on guard
Hey---Heads up guys
Make sure your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving- turning you away from the living God
Make sure your hearts are
“Pure”
Pure hearts
Then make sure that your hearts are not unbelieving
So that you won’t
Drift away from God’s word
So That you won’t go back to the gate
Back to your old sins
And your old life
Check your heart he says
Remember I said there are standard of pureness
And when something claims to be pure it has to pass the test
In order for us to claim pure hearts we must look at God’s word
We must look at the character of God
And we do both by looking at Jesus
He is our standard of pureness
There are many verses about the purity of Jesus
And if I was to list all of them
We could be here for hours
But
I believe this verse wraps up the standard that is Jesus’ and the standard we should be striving for if we truly want pure hearts
I john 3:1-4
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. 3 And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure.
John writes to assure us of our place in the family of God when we are his children through Jesus
He goes on to show the difference in the world around us and how we should be
Then he tells us that we will be like Jesus one day
And that while we are waiting
We should keep our selves pure in the expectation of Jesus’ second coming
Then in verses 4-10
Then John paints us a picture of what pure is not
Let me read that for you
1 John 3:4-10
4 Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. 5 And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. 6 Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.
7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life[a] is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers[b] does not belong to God.
John shows us purity- Jesus
Then he shows us impurity- ourselves while living for ourselves
You see
In order to be pure
We must be like Jesus
Who was perfectly pure
How do we know what that means?
It’s all right here in God’s word
Here is one example
2 Corinthians 5:21
“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Jesus never sinned
He was tempted just like us
But he never sinned
That is pure
That is the standard
Back to Hebrews
Our writer
Tells us to make sure there is no evil in our hearts
He tells you to avoid disbelief
He tells us that these things can cause us to drift away
Then in verse 13
He gives us a challenge
Actually it is more of a command
13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.
We
As believers
As those striving to have a pure heart
Those trying to live up to the standard that Jesus sets
Must warn each other about the dangers
The dangers of drifting away
The dangers of sin getting a foothold in our lives
The danger of being deceived by sin
The danger of hardening our hearts against God
Pharaoh did that
Judas did that
These are extreme examples
But examples just the same
Of
Hardened hearts
Remember how that turned out for those guys
So how do we warn each other as the write states?
Do we go up and beat them over the head with a bible
Sinner ----sinner ---sinner
You can do that
I can tell you it is pretty ineffective
I can also tell you
It is a really good way to lose any opportunity that you may have to reach someone
Do we embarrass them?
Or call them out in public
Once again
You can do this
But don’t be surprised
When your friends start avoiding you
Or worse just punch you in the nose
A much better way to warn them
Is to love them
It is hard to get someone to listen if they don’t like you
Get to know them
And then God will open doors
Another way is to teach them
Don’t beat them over the head with God’s word
Show them with Love what it says
And then let the Holy Spirit work on their hearts
Be knowledgeable enough to correct wrong thinking and false teaching
This means we must study
Warn them by setting an example
Practice what you preach
Live it
Not just say it
Verse 14 says
“For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.”
There are many in this world that try to read into this verse something that is not there
They use this verse to show a works based salvation
They say
Accept Jesus
Be baptized
And then live a good life
And if you are lucky
Maybe you will get to go to heaven when you die
This is not what our writer is talking about
Remember he is talking to saved people
Believers in Christ
We have discussed assurance of Salvation many times
We can’t lose the gift we received
Our writer is once again talking about blessings
Living the Christian life to the fullest
Remember how you felt when you believed
The weight of the world lifted from you
You looked at the world differently
Thought differently
And you acted differently
He says we need to find that feeling again
Find that excitement
That Joy
That peace
In our hearts
And if we do
We will share in all that belongs to Christ
Blessings
Blessings
Peace
Hope
Assurance
Contentment
Love
This goes right back to last week’s sermon
If we are faithful to the end
If we don’t drift
If we keep our focus
If we make and keep Jesus our priority
If we nurture our Passion
If we practice self discipline
If we stay committed
And keep our compassion
Guy’s
In cowboy terms
If we stay hooked
We will find what Jesus has for us
And
I can tell you this
What he has for us will far exceed our wildest dreams
Verse 15
Remember what it says:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled.”
Our writer once again refers to the nation of Israel
And warns us not to do what they did
He warns us to hold onto to our belief
Once again not just believing in God
But believing that he is in charge
That he is Lord of our life
Believing that he can and will work out everything for good for those called according to his purpose
As Paul says in Romans 8:28
Skip to verse 19
19 So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest”
Rest
We discussed rest a few weeks ago on our Lord’s Supper service
As a believer we are assured of eternal rest
What this means is that if you have accepted
Jesus as your savior
When you leave this earth
You will go home to be with God
In Glory and you will find rest
Eternal rest
But
Once again with the buts
It is possible
To live in this life
As a believer
And due to a lack of belief
Belief that God is completely in charge
To live in turmoil
No rest
You see to enter his rest in this life
We must stay connected
We must strive for pure hearts
We must avoid evil
We must believe
And we must not allow our hearts to become hardened by sin and the things of this world
Close from the heart
Pray
