Not Angering God

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 3 verses 7 through 11 are our text today. And I'd like to preach to you a message entitled, "Not angering God." This is a warning sermon and it's a warning text and it is clearly the reasoning in the text is for us not to make God angry. Like you made in God's image, God has more than one emotion. He's not just love. The Bible says that He is love. First John chapter 4 and verse 8. But He's more than just love. He also has righteous anger. And you do not want to anger your God by repeated resistance, refusing, grumbling, doubting, rebelling, which begins with the drift. We talked about drifting. Do not drift some time ago in our messages from chapter 2 verse 1. Do not drift. And the Israelites are our main example in the text as ones who made God angry. So we'll be digging out of the Old Testament today and then some real life application. Read with me in Hebrews chapter 3 verses 7 through 11 and see how we need to not only hold fast to what we have already attained and consider Christ, but listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say about not hardening our hearts and angering God. In Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 7 it says, "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tried me by testing me and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I was angry with this generation and said, They always go astray in their heart and they did not know my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest."

Let's pray together. Lord, we live in a day when people by and large would rather think of You as only love and only accepting, but yet You are one who is definitely more than just love. You're very exclusive in what You deem as right and wrong and holy and not holy. Help us, Lord, to be humble before You and to truly learn Your way so that we can be pleasing unto You and not anger You. Thank you for Your steadfastness and Your faithfulness and Your long suffering and patience towards us. We do love You and it's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

And so the preacher of this sermon called Hebrews is putting out this essential warning. And this warning is essential to communicate to God's people. Now, among God's people, there are those who are already saved, being saved and not saved. There's always the same thing in every church and the recipients of this letter are no different. So there's wheat among the tares for sure. And so in order for the preacher here, not to accuse or arouse any undue suspicions, he leads off with this wonderful thing called brothers. And so in this text in chapter three and verse one, he says, "Therefore, holy brethren," and so now that is very disarming to be able to call one another brother and sisters in its hopeful language as well. Not that everybody is a true brother in Christ or a true brother or sister in Christ. Maybe they're not saved yet, but your hope is for them to come into Christ and that's the reason for preaching evangelism. It's the reason for preaching to disciple one another. It's the reason for talking about Jesus. And so there's no inappropriate accusations or suspicions aired by the preacher, only godly love and encouragement and hope for their wellbeing. And so every recipient of this Hebrew letter then should feel encouraged through these warning statements. But oh, how our personal sin is deceiving, is penetrating and it's personal, it's matters of the heart and the author here is warning. Not only the recipients of the letter, but by way of application, us too, not to allow our hearts to drift and not to drift away from Christ and not to even allow them to be hardened by repeated sin.

So therefore the preacher must pierce the heart with the word of God. And that's what the word of God does in chapter four, verse 12, it says the word of God can even separate the soul and get all the way down to the heart. And so the word of God gets to the heart. In Hebrews chapter four and verse 12, it says, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit and both the joints and the marrow and it's able to judge the thoughts of the heart." And so now the word of God and the preacher are getting to the hearts of the people. I ask you a question, would you rather be rightly judged before the judgment? It should be a hearty yes amen to that because Hebrews 9:27 says, "For it's appointed unto men once to die." And after that comes the judgment. And so we'll face judgment, but I would rather the word of God judge my heart now to make sure that I'm in Christ and right with Christ before I die and face judgment. Hebrews 10:31 says, "It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." And when we live with honor and reverence and respect and to a holy God, we live right in honor of Him and we respect Him and we love Him. And so I would like to say upfront that you're either drawing closer to Christ or drifting from Christ.

It's just a given. You're either drawing closer to Christ or, drifting away from Christ. And so to be drifting then is to be angering God. To be drifting is to be angering. And I would encourage us to think along these logical thoughts and that in the text you'll see disbelieving will lead to straying. It's because of their unbelieving hearts in the text is as to why they started to drift away from the Lord. And then disbelieving leads to straying and straying leads to repeated refusals, refusing to honor and listen to the Lord, which leads unto rebellion, active rebellion. And so drifting is the starting point, but it leads, if it's not corrected, into active rebellion, which then angers God. This is what is so upsetting to the Lord is how He was patient and kind for so long with Israel. Now I wanna start with debunking a distorted view of God. Humanity likes to distort the deity of Christ in the view of God. Turn with me to Exodus 34:6. I want you to see for yourself that God is not just a God of love in the New Testament and a God of wrath and anger in the Old Testament. And Jesus Christ, He is God. And He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, Hebrews 13:6 says. And God is both merciful and loving and patient in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament. And in Exodus 34:6, the Bible says, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." And that's important for you to see that God is a God of love in the Old Testament, and He's a God of faithfulness, and He's slow to anger. And so you cannot view God as one who was up in heaven with a hammer just waiting to pounce on you every time you do something small wrong. God is slow to anger. He's patient and merciful and very kind.

Now, when it comes to the Israelites and their mistakes, even the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 6 uses them as an example. Now these things happened as examples, 1 Corinthians 10:6. Their rebellion in the wilderness caused God to become very angry. And then even swore in His wrath that they would not enter His rest. And this was a building up over time. So Paul warns the Corinthians of Israel's rebellion and the grumblings. And he states that Israel is an example for us. And so how then does Hebrews, chapter three, and this warning passage fit into the whole? Well, the answer is Hebrews has lots of warning sections. And chapter two, verses one through four, chapter four, verses 14 through 16, chapter five, verses 11 through chapter six, verse 12, chapter 10, verses 19 through 39, and chapter 12, verses one through chapter 13, verse 17. It's a large chunks of warnings for you and I. And so this is a text that's within the major context of warning. Warning is the context here.

Now look with me in verse seven, if you would. Chapter three, verse seven, this is very fascinating. Chapter three, verse seven says, "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says." Just as the Holy Spirit says, okay? Now, the Holy Spirit is saying what He is saying through the scriptures. Now this presumes that you can clearly understand scripture. I'd like to take just a moment and talk about the doctrine of the clarity of scripture. The doctrine of the clarity of scripture. The theological word is perspicuity, the doctrine of perspicuity. Now this presumes that people can clearly understand what is said in scripture, especially the message of salvation. And so this formula, the Holy Spirit says in Hebrews 3:7, this formula is akin to 2 Timothy 3:16 where there's reprove and there's rebuke and correction. This authoritative tone, they're akin. And as well, it verifies what Peter said in 2 Peter, chapter one, verse 21, that this is not of men, okay? It's of the Spirit. And so what is being said is of the Spirit.

Now, as we continue to dig into here, I really want you to be able to follow along and listen. And I love our children in worship service. If any of them are making a noise, we do have a training room so that all would be able to hear. Today's message is important. So any children that aren't able to listen and learn, we have the training room. It's important that you learn this because this is a serious warning. The soberness of today's message should impact the way that you live. And it starts with knowing that this is clearly communicated to you, okay? The doctrine of perspicuity not only means God's word is clear and understandable, but it also asserts that common people can understand the word of God. Common people can understand. You don't need a Catholic priest, and you don't need a rabbi to be able to understand. Every person can understand scriptural passages. The unlearned can learn. The unlearned peoples, wherever they are around the world, whether they can read or write, they can understand. They can understand. You know, the Ethiopian asked the evangelist, Philip, while he was reading Isaiah 53, "How can I understand if someone teaches me or shows me?" And so Acts chapter eight, verses 30 and 31, proves that God works through people to help understanding. And so you can understand the scriptures. The normal and plain meaning of scripture is not hidden, and it doesn't take someone like Dan Brown to introduce the Da Vinci Code to unravel the meanings in scripture. It's plain for you to understand.

Rabbinic Judaism is reliant upon the interpretation of today's rabbis to be able to interpret the Torah. Rabbis teach that the law of Moses cannot be understood without the deep analysis of rabbis and their oral explanation. They would think and project that common people cannot understand God's scriptures. Rabbinic Judaism and Catholicism reject this doctrine of perspicuity. But John chapter 14 and verse 26 says, "He will teach you." The Holy Spirit of God, one of His roles, this paraclete, this partner in Christianity, this helper, He will teach you. John 14:26 says, "But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you." And then as well, you see, driven home through Luke chapter 24 and verse 45, He opened their minds to understand the scripture. And then in 2 Timothy 2:6, "The Lord will give you understanding." And then in Jeremiah 30 verse 24, "You will understand." I like John 1:9 where it says this, "There was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man."

You know, in Luke chapter 16, the matters of life and death for eternity were addressed by Jesus when he said that the law and the prophets is enough. That presumes that people can understand the law and the prophets and what they said in scripture to be saved. They are able to be eternally secure in Christ based upon their ability to clearly understand the scriptures. And so Hebrews 3:7 says, "The Holy Spirit says," and this is no different from when Jesus said, "It is written, it is written, it is written" three times in Matthew chapter four, verse four, verse seven and verse 10. And so this doctrine of perspicuity is very true for you and for me. And it's a hopeful doctrine. And so this clear warning is for us to be able to know who God is and how not to anger Him. This section in Hebrews chapter three, verses seven all the way through chapter four, verse 13 is founded upon a particular Psalm. And if you would turn to Psalm chapter 95, you will see the exact words and we'll read them together.

In Psalm chapter 95, it starts off with some real encouragement by praising God as a creator and redeemer, verses one through seven. And then it continues into a warning, it transitions into warning worshipers. And so Psalm 95, verses seven through 11, "For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." And here's an example, it's all I'm being called out, as at Meribah, that's a location of where Israel revealed. As in the day of Massah, same thing, in the wilderness where your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My work, 40 years I loathed them. This word in Hebrew means grieved. God was deeply grieved by their rebellion in the wilderness. For 40 years, I loathed that generation. And He said, they are a people who err in their heart. This word err, E-R-R, they err in their heart. It means to wander, it means to stray, and it ends in rebellion. If you are staggering in your heart or stubborn in your heart, you're erring in your heart. And again, the Bible is telling us not to let our hearts wander or stray or be hardened. And then it goes on to say, "And they do not know My ways. Therefore, I swore in My wrath." This word swore is to take an oath. "Therefore, I took an oath. I swore in My anger. They shall not enter into My rest."

And typologically, you're gonna see rest has a whole lot of meaning in this passage, and we'll see it unraveled more and more in the sermons to come. It's gonna take more than just today to unravel these concepts. Today, we're gonna be focusing on not hardening your hearts and angering God. But in this passage, you'll see in verse eight again, "Do not harden your hearts." It's a repeat, this whole text is a repeat. And the Hebrew preacher is using Israel as an example, as ones whom tested God, and they started quarreling among themselves, and they even accused Moses and God of taking them out into the wilderness to let their children starve to death, not have water. What an accusation. What a terrible thing to accuse God of something evil. They got to the point where they were so astray that they would even backbite or bite the hand that feeds them. There's a huge lesson to be learned. Turn to Exodus chapter 17, verses one through seven for me, and I want you to continue to help see for yourself.

Not only is Israel an example of not to murmur and grumble, but it's an example of how we, they are an example of how we are to be under trial, how we are to act, how we're to be, I should say it like this. They're an example of how not to be when you're going through a trial, how not to be when you're strained. In Exodus chapter 17, let's just start in verse one. "Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of sin according to the commandment of the Lord and camped at hard word, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted therefore water, and they grumbled against Moses and said, why now have you brought us up from Egypt to kill us? And our children and our livestock with thirst?" Verse four. So Moses cried out to the Lord saying, what shall I do with these people, with these people a little more, and they're gonna stone me. Then the Lord said to Moses, pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock of Horeb and you shall strike the rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel and because they tested the Lord saying, the Lord among us, is the Lord among us or not?

What a terrible thing here to see Israel shrink back from God and to start grumbling among themselves, accuse Moses and accuse God. And this angered the Lord and then He swore in His wrath that they would not enter to the promised land. Israel knowingly rebelled and they resisted God's rest. This is also reiterated in Psalm 78, verses 40 to 41. I'll read it to you. How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness. Then grieved Him in the desert. Again, and again, they tempted God and pained the Holy One of Israel. Now listen, scripture is clear. Israel is culpable and they rejected the deliverer. Mankind is also culpable when they suppress the truth. The same type of rejection is just the same as the New Testament suppression. In Romans chapter one and verse 18, you see today, people will suppress the truth. This willful suppression, this willful rejection of God. It angers the Lord because the Lord wants more for them. The Lord desires that no one would go into eternal damnation. You see, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth. That's Romans 1:18. And so when we suppress the truth and rebel against God and we grumble and fight amongst ourselves, and when we accuse God, then you are angering the Lord. So today's message is a warning, a sharp reminder, not to argue or accuse when in agony.

When you in life, whether it's fair or unfair suffering, do not argue, accuse God or others, and don't even grumble or murmur. Paul warned the Philippian congregation of the same thing when he said in Philippians 2:14, do all things without grumbling or murmuring. You see, grumbling is verbal, murmuring is internal. And so this is a condition of the heart. This is a heart issue for you to be able to be confident in God and praise God through agony takes some serious dedication to your faith. It takes recognizing that God can be angered and He will respond if you continue in that disposition. God wants you to be able to suffer well. He wants you to be able to know that suffering has a purpose. God wants you to have confidence in Him that He is sovereign and He's in control. No purpose of God can be thwarted, Job 42:2. You must own that. You can't just know that. You must own that in your heart that when in agony you do not get accusatory towards one another, especially not the Lord, especially not the Lord. So this is a very important warning because it's a matter of your heart. And the Bible is saying repeatedly, do not harden your hearts. It's Israel whom hardened their hearts against God in the rebellion and angered the Lord.

So if you're taking notes, point number one, God has anger. God has anger. If you did a simple concordance search on the word anger in the Bible, you would see God's name popping up over and over, and over. But just in our text, chapter three and verse eight, "Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me." Provoking, to provoke is to stimulate contention, to arouse, to excite, to stir anger. And so when you are provoking God through this, you are exciting anger inside of Him. Oh my, may you truly be ones whom do not excite and stir up anger inside the Lord by proving Him or testing Him. And verse nine, it says, "Where your fathers tried me by testing me." This idea of trying me and testing me is like an immature child who was testing and trying their parents' patience by doing exactly what they've been told not to do. Now I know you're probably the idea, that was me, right? The children try and test their parents by doing exactly what they know not to do. If they're told not to pick your nose, don't go in the corner and pick your nose. Same thing with everything else. You little scallywag.

That's a good old English word, by the way. In the 19th century, the word means a hilarious and lovable rascal who was mischievous, not really intending harm, but rebelling. And so these scallywags at heart were troublesome little rascals. They were making and poking at what was right by doing what was wrong and making it fun. But let me tell you, children, listen, you can only be funny for so long when you're doing something that's wrong. And then your parents should make them butt cheeks rattle. Wake up some obedience by smacking the booty. Sometimes you got to get to the mind, to the behind. They will respond. It's the same way God works with us. He will discipline us if we are scallywags. If we are taking lightly in some mischievous fashion what we should be doing by way of righteousness.

It's very important that you hear today's message because scallywags are amusing with their misbehavior. But this in the church is uncalled for because we're dealing with matters of the heart that are serious. And so we don't make light of obedience. And we don't make light of what angers God. We actually reference the Lord. We actually respect the Lord. Would everything we can to honor and respect the Lord. And when we're in here worshiping, this is a sober thing to be able to listen and understand with reverence. So it's important to not provoke the Lord. You also see that God has anger in verse 10. Look with me in verse 10. Therefore I was angry with this generation. This word angry means disgusted and grieved to have a violent irritation. You know this if you have children. This erupts inside of your soul when your child is disobedient. And when your children know better and they do it anyway this violent irritation that rises up inside of you it's hard to deal with. And so the warning today is do not drift from Jesus. Do not allow your hearts to be hardened because this irritates the inside of our loving God. This makes Him have to deal with a grievance.

And then the continued disobedience leads to God having sworn in His wrath. In verse 11 it says, and I swore My wrath. They shall not enter My rest. Oh my, this is important to understand that not only did Israel get killed close to the promised land but they didn't make it. Only Caleb and Joshua made it. It's important to realize that the people of God people that look like the people of God people in the church can get close to heaven and not even make it. It's important to realize that those whom have hardened their hearts have caused God to have to say to them they shall not enter into My rest. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It's a fearful thing to become apostate. It's a fearful thing to reject the living God over and over, and over. How many times have people around you rejected the invitation to come to Jesus? How many times have people around you rejected the invitation? Just come to church. How many times have people rejected the invitation? Let's pray about this. How many times, how many times, how many times? This is important that we do not inadvertently anger the Lord. And so now look with me in verse 15. It says it again. Verse 15, look with me. While it is said today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts is when they provoked me.

It's so comforting to know that some will see, some will be saved. It is going to happen. And so evangelism is effective. Discipleship does work. The cross is effectual. The gospel preached actually brings people from darkness and into light. And if they're still breathing, they still got a shot. They still got a chance. There's still time to repent. Don't move on to provoke God more and more. So point number one, God has anger. Point number two, God has anger towards sinful people. So what kinds of sins of the people make God angering? Well in verse eight, those who hear and then harden their hearts anger the Lord. Why would it accept the Lord for those who have heard the gospel and then shrink back from it and harden their hearts from it? Why would that make God angry? Well He gave His only begotten Son. What else could the Lord do? He's given us His words, He's given us evangelism, preachers, He's given us churches. He's given us, there's literally, how to what more extent do you want?

Literally in Luke chapter 16, the argument is if you raise someone from the dead, someone is dead in the ground, you raise them from the dead, the people will believe. And Jesus's response, uh-uh. The scriptures are sufficient. The word of God is enough. What else could I do? And so those who hear and yet harden, that angers the Lord. Verse nine, those who saw the works and then turned and tested the God. When you see God on display, when they saw the parting of the Red Sea, they saw the manna from heaven, which was Jesus. They saw water coming from the right. They saw all of these miracles and yet they turned against the Lord. And the same thing is for today. When God gets the glory for doing something, and yet people will turn away. And yet they test the Lord. That angers the Lord. In verse 10, those who stray in their heart, that angers the Lord. So straying is a sin that angers the Lord. You know, when you are engaged and committed in a relationship, it is very important that you do not stray. And if you have a godly spouse, you'll know right away if there's any type of straying going on. And the same thing for the Lord. If your heart goes astray, you will know right away by conviction, any idols, any adulterous thoughts, you'll know right away the Holy Spirit is faithful. Do not reject that. Don't push it aside. Don't repeatedly rebel against the Lord in that way that angers the Lord to go astray in your heart. And then as well to refuse what you know about God. In verse 10, it says this. And then in verse 12, the evil and unbelieving hearts anger the Lord. And then in verse 12, again, those who fall away from God, it's a sin that angers the Lord. And then if you continue to go on past it in verse 17, those who were taught by Moses and led for 40 years, they sinned because of their disobedience. So disobedience angers the Lord. And disobedience of unbelief angers the Lord. They didn't have fear of the Lord. Chapter four, verse one. And they heard and they did not profit from preaching.

Let's just look at verse two. Turn to chapter four, verse two. And look with this. This is interesting. "For indeed we have had the good news preached to us." Okay, we're talking about what kind of sin angers God. "For indeed we have had the 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." Then you go on to see that He swore in His wrath that they would not enter His rest. This angers the Lord to hear the preaching of the good news of the gospel and then to reject it. That angers the Lord. That's a sin. And so those who continue in this disobedience and hear the good news preached are rebelling against the Lord. Point number three is do not anger God. Again, if we go back through the text, you'll see, do not harden your hearts. Do not harden your hearts.

Do you know that Jesus was angered and grieved? In Mark chapter three, verse five. In Mark chapter three and verse five, He looked out over the sin of the people, and He was angered and grieved by it. I'll start at the top. Mark three, one says, "He entered again into the synagogue, and the man was there whose hand was withered. And they were watching Him to see if He would heal Him on the Sabbath." So the Pharisees are trying to entrap Jesus so that they might accuse Him. And He said, "He said to the man with the withered hand, get up and come forward. And He said to them, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath to save a life or to kill? But they kept silent after looking around at them with anger and grieved. And He grieved in His heart. He said to them, stretch out your hand. And He stretched out His hand. And His hand was restored." The point of bringing up this passage is that Jesus was not only grieved, but He was also angered at this sin. And the Pharisees had hard hearts towards the gospel. And the warning is, don't harden your hearts. Don't let your heart go astray. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart for the wellspring of life." You know, there is a scheme of the devil today that is, by and large, more effective than anything I have ever personally seen at perverting the hearts and minds of children. And bear with me for a moment, because the Bible says, "Be on guard for yourselves and the flock." That's an admonition towards elders in Acts chapter 20 and verse 28. And as I do my best right now to warn and to help guard our flock, I would just simply say to us that it's normative now for children and youth to have eight to 12 hours of screen time a day.

Let that sink in. This is equaling cognitive decline. This is not an increase in intellect. It is a decline in intellect. And this is something that damages their ability to focus. Parents, please listen and please spread this word of warning. I know you see what I see every single day with parents on their cell phones and kids on their cell phones, and the screen time is just out of control. You ask yourself, who is educating and discipling the next generation? It's a worldly consensus of whatever data is being grabbed by the algorithms. It damages the ability to actually read a book. It sit down and focus. It damages their ability to be patient and it damages their ability to even sleep. And so I appreciate the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship out of England in reporting these facts because they're fighting against Great Britain adopting what's called Tech Ed. To replace teachers with tech. For AI on a screen to teach the children. Eliminate the teachers, use the tech. And so it's pure screen time for education. And you know that America seems to be the follower of England in many trends in many ways. And so shall we not work against that in our own family discipleship? EdTech is the wave of the future in public schools and it's causing learning to plummet. It's not an increase, it's a decrease. And so it's really truly like marijuana. Smoking marijuana never made anybody smarter. And this is the same thing. It's retraining the brain towards a secular bent and the damage is showing up in far greater extents other than just the ability to focus and learn. It shows up in irritability towards their parents. You take away that game or you take away that screen time, they get really mad.

And when you dishonor your parents, you're dishonoring the Lord because there's a command to honor the Lord so they make it well with you. It's the same for any aged person. When you were on your phone or on your screen and there's present company, if you are pulled away from your screen, it angers you. We need to beware. The present company takes a priority. This is how God designed you and I and manage these tools well. Make sure that we are not allowing our next generation to be educated by this secular scheme. But it's worse than that. Suicides are up 167 percent with girls and 90 percent with young boys. It's literally harming them to the extent for which the results are in. And so social media and screen time is adding to not only irritability and disobedience, but it is dragging them into isolation. It is dragging them into looking inwardly. It's dragging them into self-centeredness. And anytime you are secluding yourself away from God, you are a sitting duck for Satan.

And so shall we not be evangelist and warn of the schemes of the devil, but not to allow the average age of a seven-year-old now having a cell phone to be on Facebook and social media and to be warping their mind and warping their inner being. We need to be able to protect what's called the doctrine of perspicuity, the clarity of Scripture so that our children can read the Word of God. They can focus for long periods of time. They can spend time with God in the Word of God. They can pray. They can strain towards Christ. You need the strain of writing, and you need the strain of reading to be able to internalize these concepts. These things do not get internalized through typing and texting and video. They can get maybe somewhat into you, but to really own Christian doctrine and character, it takes strain. And this, the screen time is robbing them of their desire to strain and read. They want rapid response now. Their limited attention is what's been reduced from a minute to 30 seconds to down 15 seconds to what now? Seven seconds down to, if a commercial or an ad or a game or a show doesn't catch their attention two seconds, they're off to the next. They're doom scrolling. And that's just not the way the Word works. It's not the way Christianity works. And so this is a real warning, a real danger for us to be able to make sure that we're heading in the right direction in the future because this kind of stuff over time adds up. And so my encouragement is to guard your own. Don't allow your children and youth to have devices in the bedrooms alone by themselves because you know Satan will pervert their minds with secular information quickly.

Second identities, all kinds of different terrible things happen when you do this. So this inadvertently will enable your children to anger God. This is angering the Lord because the children are becoming hardened towards the Lord, hardened, calloused. You can't get to them. There's onion layers of secularism that's over their hearts where the Word of God, it can penetrate but boy it sure is a lot of work to get to one who is now warped in their mind.

Take home truth number one, repent today. Today is the day of salvation. In Hebrews chapter three verse seven it says, "Today if you hear His voice." The preacher of Hebrews is passionately pleading and persuading the listeners not to fall back into abiding to in the law of Moses. He's pleading with them. Today, repent, run to Jesus, repent of Judaism for that is gonna lead you to apostasy. And so logically if one is backslidden into what looks like a state of apostasy, I want you to know that it's never too late. You don't know if one is apostate or not. That's something that you can't know is between them and the Lord. And so today, don't drift Hebrews chapter two verse one. Today confess Christ chapter three verse one. Today hold fast to Christ chapter three verse six. Today do not harden your hearts chapter three verse eight. Today do not be unbelieving and fall away chapter three verse 12. Today, while the promise still remains of entering His rest, fear any of you that you do not come short of it. Chapter four and verse one. Perhaps this illusion of coming short of it in chapter four verse one is an allusion to Israel. The Israelites almost getting into the promised land. Don't come short of it. Repent today and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter 55 and verse six says, "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near."

It's never too late. You're still breathing, you still got breath, you still got thoughts and feelings, you're alive. You can repent and believe in the gospel. John 12:36 says this, "While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become sons of the light." Oh, but what if someone is living in extreme immorality? Some of you know people who are so trapped in sin, they love their sin and you're like, "You should never ever be reached." Every time I talk to them, it's like trying to nail spaghetti to the wall or jello to the wall. Every time I talk to them, it's futile. They're beyond being saved. No, no, no.

Think of the Corinthian church. The ones who are our example in scripture are the Corinthians because Paul said in second Corinthians chapter six, verse two, "Behold now is the acceptable time. Behold now is the day of salvation." And these Corinthians were guilty of Corinthianizing. That's a Latin and Greek word kind of combined to help you understand that they were given to immorality. They were given to sensuality. They were given to drunkenness. They were given to all these idolatrous acts. People in the Corinthian church were Corinthianizing. It's not too late. The ones who are the farthest away from Christ are still saved. "Behold, today is the day of salvation." Today is the acceptable day. Second Corinthians chapter six and verse two.

Take home truth number two is to remove evil from your heart. It's your job to take care of your soul. In chapter three and verse 12, it says, "Take care brethren that there not be any one of you, an evil, unbelieving heart." Get that evil out of your heart. Cut it away like surgery. Expose the evil, confess the evil, get it out of you. Satan is a master at getting evil doubt lodged inside of your heart and soul. So saturate satanic seeds of doubt with scripture. If you have doubt in your heart, get it out by saturating yourself with scripture. The antidote for sin is scripture. The medicine that you need is scripture. Take this problem and address it with scripture and bathe your heart and bathe your mind, review the scriptures and get that doubt out of there. This is modeled by Jesus in chapter four of Matthew where He said, "It is written, it is written, it is written" three times to Satan's temptations. And so this is arming yourself with scripture. You're able to cut out the doubt like surgery, like a knife cutting out cancer, like an ax chopping at the root of the problem, like a sword cutting the head of the enemy off. Or as Elder Parker sometimes sees a snake on his job and gives it the Genesis 3:15 treatment. Heel to the head, crush it.

Take care of your heart. This is important for you to be able to do this. And the last one is encourage one another daily. Encourage one another daily. In chapter three verse 13 it says, "But encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Listen, you being around the fellowship is not only important for you, but it's important for others. You must be encouraging one another. You must be being encouraged by one another so that the deceitfulness of sin does not creep in and grab ahold of you. But if you're not here, then that slick devil will start to isolate you and move you away. And just like charcoal away from the fire, the coal will go out. It gets dimmer, you're drifting. You're getting farther and farther away from Christ. And so the more that you can be engaged in the word of God, the more that you can be engaged in the local church, the more you can encourage one another and be encouraged, you will be having had the deception of sin being addressed as you go. Sin is deceiving and guess what? Others around you can perceive if sin is becoming an issue in your life and they can encourage you.

Lots of spiritual mature believers in this church and they will sniff things out and encourage you and help you. But you got to be humble, you got to be willing, you got to be transparent, you got to be engaged, you got to be here, you got to be around church so that you're benefiting from the design of the church. You have a divine designer of this thing called church and the results of fellowship equal so many wonderful things. It's not just gonna save you money for trying to go to some type of secular psychologist or therapist, it's not just gonna save you time. It's better. All of the problems in the world today simply can be addressed through the ordinary means of grace. The word, fellowship, worship, prayer in the ordinances. Seriously address all of these things. And so as we are stirring up encouragement for one another, it keeps us from the deceitfulness of sin. But if you shrink back, your heart becomes a little bit more distant from the Lord, a little bit more hardened. And if nobody can speak to you, if you're not responding, if nobody can encourage you, you're not here, that is a slow decline.

And so be engaged in encouraging one another daily. Daily, it's not just a one way street where you encourage people, it is actually being encouraged as well. Daily, this is a relationship. It's not just Sunday attendance. And so don't let go. Hold fast.

So now I would like to end in Numbers chapter 12, if you would turn with me to Numbers chapter 12 as an example of being unwavering and not falling away and refusing to grumble, not getting angry and accusing. This is an example of two good people going the bad wrong way. In Numbers chapter 12, you have the most humble man at that time, Moses, being accused by his wife and Aaron and speaking against them and angering God, them acting foolishly. I just wanna read it to you in Numbers chapter 12, verse one and following. "Then Miriam," Moses' wife and Aaron, "spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?" Is he jealousy there? It's unfortunate. "Has He not spoken through us as well? And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who has been on the face of the earth. Suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, you three come out of the tent of meeting. And so the three of them came out and then the Lord came down in a pillar of a cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent. And He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, He said, 'Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses. He is faithful in all of My household. With Him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly and not in dark sayings. And He beholds the form of the Lord. Why then are you not afraid to speak against My servant against Moses?' And so the anger of the Lord burned against them. And He departed.

When the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, "Oh my Lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother's womb." Moses cried out to the Lord saying, "Oh God, heal her, I pray." But the Lord said to Moses, if her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp. And afterwards she may be received again. And so Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days. And the people did not move on until Miriam was received again. And afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Peron.

Let's pray together. Lord, thank you for this example, for us not to anger You by accusing others by grumbling against others. Lord, I pray that You would help us to be humble like Moses and to not murmur against leadership in the church, not murmur against one another and cause You to be angered and have to discipline us. God, keep us in the center of Your will, happy in Christ, rejoicing evermore. Help us to have the godly discipline, not to have loose lips that sink ships. Help us dear Jesus to speak positive about one another always. If we don't have a good word to say, we shouldn't say it at all. Help us to lift up one another, to encourage one another daily. Help us to lean on Your processes, such that if there's a grievance, go to that person and tell them their fault and work towards reconciliation between the two of them and not be grumblers and murmurs and gossips. Help us to protect the unity of the dear church and not cause You to have to punish us. Lord, keep us in the center of Your will. Help us to not work against the church, but for it and with it to push everything here. Lord, I know not of anything happening right now within our own fold, but I preach this by faith as a warning to our church as we are simply systematically going through the book of Hebrews and doing my best to communicate the intention of the text with the heart of the text, the hermeneutic of the text, Your heart towards Your people, Lord, as a warning not to harden our hearts, not to be like the stubborn Israelites, but to be moldable and humble and continuously conforming to Your word, disciplined in our words and disciplined in our character, honoring to You always. God help us to shine. Lord, help us to be bright lights for You. We don't wanna anger You, and we don't wanna be unlearned and unknowingly do these things, and we don't wanna react in the flesh. We want to be disciplined to act specifically to share the gospel and to make disciples. Thank you, dear Jesus, for this text, and I pray that You would help us all not to harden our hearts. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.