Page 1. WAOY Wednesday 07/29/09

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1 And This Will We Do If God Permit An Expositional Journey Through the Epistle to the Hebrews Chapter 13- The Horror of Unbelief Hebrews 3: The Horror of Unbelief- Part 4 WAOY Wednesday 07/29/09 Welcome again my beloved in Jesus Christ. We are continuing our verse by verse journey through the Epistle of Hebrews, and today I want to continue in our new section of our study by looking at The Horror of Unbelief- so let's read Hebrews 3:7-11 again together: 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Now on the last broadcast- I was showing you the six truths about Unbelief that the writer gives us in this passage. And I want you to see that makes it so horrible- so please write these six truths down: 1. Unbelief Rejects the Voice of God 2. Unbelief Hardens Your Heart 3. Unbelief Provokes God 4. Unbelief Tries the Patience of God 5. Unbelief Brings Forth the Wrath of God 6. Unbelief Keeps You Out And last time- we were going over the second truth that the writer of Hebrews is teaching us - so let s continue that on today's broadcast by looking again at Hebrews 3:8a Page 1

2 Harden not your hearts, Now as I said last time- there seems to be somewhat of a controversy today about whether or not God hardens the human heart or if we harden our own hearts. But the Bible clearly says that both are true. We do harden our own hearts, and there are times when God hardens the heart of people. Here in Hebrews, and many other places throughout Scripture- God's Word absolutely says that we harden our own hearts, and the Bible also clearly teaches- especially in Romans 9- that God also hardens the human heart. Now the great 19th century preacher- Charles Spurgeon said that the way that God hardens the human heart is by simply leaving men to their own sinful devices. In other words- God doesn't force hardness on anybody- but He simply abandons us and leaves us to ourselves. This is a type of Judgment that is called "Abandonment", and it occurs when a people or a nation or a Church knows the Truth but constantly refuses to repent and believe the Truth. There is a point when God will abandon that people or nation or church and allow them to do whatever it is they want to do and receive damnation for it. Now there are various kinds of Judgment that the Bible teaches about. For example- there is "Eternal Judgment"- which of course is Hell. Then there is what is called "Cause and effect Judgment", that is when people continue to sin and they either get sick or they lose their marriage or they lose their money, etc. This is Divine Judgment that is the result of continuing to do what God said don't do. Then there is Judgment called "Cataclysmic Judgment", when God rains down fire on a city or consumes a region with a flood or a Hurricane or a Tsunami. Then there is the kind of Divine Judgment called abandonment". This is when God "gives people over" to their own sinful wicked lusts and no longer restrains them from doing what they want to do. And there are some tale-tell signs given to us in the Bible when God has abandoned a nation and no longer convicts them of sin. We find this type of judgment in Romans 1: 18-32: 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Page 2

3 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Now notice that the Apostle Paul begins this section of Scripture by talking about a very unpopular subject- the Wrath of God. Please read verse 18 again: Page 3

4 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Now notice here that this wrath is not revealed from the earthbut from Heaven. So this wrath does not come from natural disasters like Hurricanes or Floods or Tsunamis. But Paul teaches here that this kind of Judgment called "abandonment" is "revealed from Heaven". And it is reveled from Heaven against what? "all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men", do you see that? But not the general normal sin that all men commit. No, this wrath of God falls on a nation when men do something very extraordinary. Look at the end of verse 18: who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Now the word that was translated here into the King James as "hold' actually means: to suppress. So these men know the Truth, they understand the Truth, they have full comprehension that what they are doing is evil in God's sight- but they don't care and they continue to sin and they not only sin- but they suppress the Truth that they do know. They push the Truth down- so that they are not troubled by it, and so they can continue to sin without guilt. They suppress the Truth so that they are not bothered by out dated things like conviction and repentance and purity. And over a period of time- these people do exactly what the writer of Hebrews warns us not to do- they harden their heart. They become very cold and hard with Righteousness and Holiness and godliness. Now look what happens next- please read verses again: 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, Page 4

5 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. You see, these are not people who have never heard- these are people who absolutely know about God and the things of God- probably because they were raised in Church by godly parents- but they refuse to bow and they refuse to repent and they refuse to surrender. And they begin to descend down further and further into darkness, and now God abandons them. Please read verse 24 again: Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Look how Paul writes this: "God also gave them up"; do you see that? This is the Judgment called Abandonment. This is when God gives them up and allows them to do whatever is in their heart and no longer deal with them and no longer restrains them and no longer convicts them. You see, dear friends- God, in His great Mercy, sends the Holy Spirit to convict our hearts. Now many people resist that convictionbut the conviction is not judgment- no, when God convicts you of something- that is Mercy. God is lovingly and tenderly convicting your heart so that you will repent and turn away from that thing. And without that Holy Ghost conviction- we would all be lost, nobody would ever get saved, and those of us who are saved would not last ten seconds and we would all turn away from God and go back into sin. So in His great Mercy- God the Holy Spirit that occupies our bodies even before we are saved- cries out to God with groanings that cannot be uttered- and that is not speaking in tongues- we don't do thisthe Holy Spirit does this all by Himself- and that- along with Jesus Himself at the Right Hand of God interceding on our behalf- keeps us saved and keeps us faithful and keep us going on with Jesus Christ. So this wrath is not poured out on saved people- Paul is not talking about genuinely saved people here- he is talking about people who have been exposed to the Truth and yet they have never repented and been saved. You see, there is a problem with the heart of unbelievers that we acquired after Adam fell that works in us so that if we continue to resist Page 5

6 God's convicting Power- our hearts get harder and harder. And there is a point where God lets these people go and they can then do whatever is in their hearts to do without any conviction or any remorse or any godly sorrow- because godly sorrow is a Sovereign Work of the Spirit and the Spirit has utterly abandoned these people. This underscores the seriousness of handling the Truth deceitfully and of not valuing Divine Truth. We have been so blessed with God's revealed Word, dear friends, and we should treasure that gift. God could have left us ignorant and not given us His Word- but He graciously moved on 40 writers over a 1500 year time frame to give them 66 Books that are the most unique in all the earth. These Books are God breathed and they reveal the entirety of all that God desires to speak to Man and all that we need for both life and godliness. So do not play with God's Word. Do not play around with Truth. Hold Truth, Cherish Truth, fight for Truth, earnestly contend for Truth, struggle to understand Truth so that you may be blessed and not cursed, and so that you may escape the horror of unbelief. Well, I have to stop right here, but please join me on the next broadcast as we continue our journey through the Epistle of Hebrews. May God help us all by The Covenant of Peace Church. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America The Covenant of Peace Church John Clark Road Gulfport, Mississippi Scripture quotations, except those noted otherwise, are from The King James Version 1977 by Thomas Nelson Publishers. Used by permission. This is a single transcript in a larger series of teachings taken from a verse by verse study of the Epistle of Hebrews. You are free to reproduce it and distribute it as the Lord leads you- without cost or reimbursement to us with the stipulation that you may not add anything or take anything away from this transcript without the express written permission of The Covenant of Peace Church and that this complete copyright statement be at the end of all copies. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Be watchful and quicken your pace. Soli Deo Gloria. For the Glory of God alone. Page 6