Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM- Be Faithful - Hebrews 3:7-19 -Pastor Ryan Nichols

And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 3. Hebrews, chapter 3. Well, as you know, things have gotten a little crazy in the world again. I would like to stop saying that at the beginning of all of my messages, but it seems like for the past six years, I've had to be like, well. As you know, things have gotten a little crazy in the world again.

And I want to remind us of something. Yes, everything is coming together according to what the Bible said. We see all of the key players coming together in the Middle East. I noticed that, I think I saw that Putin had something to say about what we did yesterday with Iran, that he was very much against it. Which would make sense because of the position that he plays in, of the position that Russia is in.

Russia plays in all of this. But we're seeing things line up, and again, this is a time for us to remain focused. This is a time for us to remain vigilant in exactly what we're going to talk about this morning. This is a time for us to be faithful. Because as we watch the world continue to give in to the chaos that is going on around us, necessary as some of it may be, it's important that we as believers are not moved by the chaos,

but that we are solid in our faith. We are solid in our understanding of truth. And that we are solid in our position in Christ so that we can be a place of hope for a hopeless world. And so that we can be a place of peace for a world that is in chaos. And so as I did some more studying yesterday, I was reminded that this is actually one of the most pertinent messages

I can give this morning because the title of this morning's message is simply, Be Faithful. Because the Hebrew believers that the writer to the Hebrews was writing to, were struggling with that exact thing. They were struggling with remaining faithful because of the chaos that was ensuing around them. Because of the persecution that was arising around them.

And so the writer to the Hebrews, after he has told us that Jesus is so much better than Moses, he gives us our second warning. The first warning that he gave us was to beware of drifting. But the second warning that he gives us ultimately is to beware of unbelief, which is why I gave it up. I gave it a positive title, which was, Be Faithful. And so, starting in chapter 3, verse 7, it says this.

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as when they provoked me. As in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried me by testing me, and they saw my works for forty years. Therefore, I was angry with this generation and said, They always go astray in their heart. And they did not know my ways, and I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end. While it is said, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as when they provoked me.

For who provoked him when they had heard? Indeed, not all those who had came out of Egypt led by Moses. And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with all those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

Be faithful. Four things he's going to tell us that we need to do if we are to remain faithful. Four things that will help us to avoid unbelief. Number one, he tells us, Do not harden your heart. Do not harden your heart. Let me give you a little bit of background to what would have precipitated this particular statement. Remember, he is talking about Moses, and he's thinking about how faithful Moses was in all of his generation.

In the household of the Lord. We talked a little bit about this last week. And then he's going to give us a quotation from Psalm 95, verses 7 through 11. But to give us a little background on this, I want to tell you a story out of Numbers, chapters 13 and 14. As a matter of fact, to the margin of your Bible and in your notes, to go back and reference later,

you might write Numbers 13 and 14, because that's what this psalm that he quotes is going to reference. You see, God had set the children of Israel free from Egypt. He had given them the law. They had seen miraculous things that God had done, not the least of which was the parting of the Red Sea, the provision of daily food, the provision of water, victory over the Amalekites, and leading them through the wilderness with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

They had seen amazing works of the Lord, not even to mention everything that he had done to set them free from Egypt. But in Numbers, chapter 13, they come right to the edge. They come right to the edge of the promised land. And right at the edge of the promised land that God had said that he would give to them, Moses sends in 12 spies to spy out the land, right?

We all know this song. Twelve went down to spy on Canaan. Ten were bad and two were good, right? I mean, we all know this song. And so they send these spies in and they say, oh, my gosh, there's giants in the land. Oh, my gosh, there's fortified cities and they have chariots. And oh, my gosh, did we mention the giants? We were like grasshoppers in their sight.

We can never take the land. That's what the ten bad ones said, right? But then there were these two good guys named Joshua and Caleb. And Joshua and Caleb were like, they're right, giants in the land. Not going to discount the fact that there's fortified cities. We're not going to pretend that there's not armies with chariots, but God is bigger. And we can take the land.

And the ten bad guys were like, no, we can't. We are not going to be able to do this. This is a bad story. This is going to end bad for everyone. And rather than believing that the God that set them free from Egypt, rather than believing that the God that parted the Red Sea and then destroyed the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea, rather than believing that the God who spoke to them from Mount Sinai,

the God who was patient with them at Mount Sinai, the God who provided bread for them every morning, miraculously provided water for them in a place where there was no water, the God who had defeated the Amalekites before their eyes, the God who had led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, the God who had done everything that he promised to do, rather than believing him, they said, we will not do what God has called for us to do because we do not believe that God is going to keep his promises. I put it to you that sternly because this was not an accidental case of unbelief. This was a rebellious heart. A heart that said, I will not obey because I do, I will not believe that God is going to keep his promise.

I will not do what God has called for me to do because I refuse to believe that God is bigger than what's in front of me right now. So it says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as when they provoked me as in the day of the trial in the wilderness. And so because of that moment of unbelief, because they believed the ten bad spies, God said, because of this, none of you will see the promised land. You will wander in the wilderness for the next 40 years until everyone 20 years old and older dies.

Except two people. Joshua and Caleb. Why? Because Joshua and Caleb believed. They believed that God was able to keep his promise. And so as the writer to the Hebrews is thinking about how much better Jesus is than man, Moses, his mind begins to wonder on this story of the children of Israel not even believing Moses when he gave them the word of God in the wilderness.

And so he gives them this warning. He says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Do not harden your heart. Listen, there's a danger of hardening your heart against the things of the Lord. There's a danger of hearing God call you to do something, refusing to obey because you don't believe that he is able to be faithful in what he's called you to obey

and continuing to harden your heart against the things of God. He says, don't harden your heart. They always go astray in their heart. Therefore, they shall not enter my rest. See, the danger of the hard heart is eventually you drift away from the things of God. The danger of rebellion against the Lord is you eventually begin to fail to notice that it's rebellion

because it starts to become the normality in your life because of the hardness. You see how the process takes place here. Drifting has consequences. Rebellion has consequences. Disobedience has consequences because God says, if you don't want to obey, then fine, go your own way. And he's giving them this warning. Why? Because they are finding themselves in the exact same place

where they are facing difficulty, where they are facing the pressure of the world around them and they are facing the chaos of the world around them. And rather than believing that God, God is the God of the promised land who is able to deliver them, they give in to the failure of the world and fall back into what they knew was comfortable, which in this particular case is the law, is their old religion. You see, there's a danger in hardening your heart against the things of God. And that danger ultimately brings itself to unbelief.

Number one, do not harden your heart. But that brings us to the second point. Number two, beware of unbelief. Notice what it says in verse 12. He says, Take care, brethren, that there not be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. He starts off with this phrase, take care. Some of your translations may use the word beware,

which is why I use that because I prefer that translation there. The idea is to take heed constantly. To constantly be aware of a danger in our lives. The idea is to keep a watchful eye ever upon. You have to beware of these things. You have to beware of the danger that sits in front of all of us every day. And the danger that sits in front of all of us, which we'll get to in just a moment, is unbelief.

But brothers and sisters, if we are not aware of dangers in our lives, then we will fall into dangers in our lives. This is why. I always say that the most important thing you can have in your house is light, right? Because what does light provide? Light provides protection, right? So we have these two tiny dogs in our house. And these two tiny dogs like to run off into other rooms

and find a bathroom in a place that's not actually a bathroom. Now, if we keep those rooms blocked off, it's no problem. They know the right place to go. So we put this little baby gate up in between the hallway that leads into the bedrooms in our house and the living room portion of our house. Well, you kind of get used to, stepping over that gate all the time.

So every now and then, when we go to bed, we will forget to take the gate down. When I get up in the morning, it's dark. And I don't pay attention to anything because the light is not protecting me. And one morning, not so long ago, I got up early and it was dark and I'm rushing to get through the house because A, I have to go to the bathroom and B, I have to make coffee.

And both of them are very important things in my life, first thing in the morning. And I am rushing. I'm rushing through the house and I hit the gate and I, I'm so glad that I don't have any security cameras in my home because they wouldn't be used against me because of the number of times things like that happen to me. I couldn't see the gate and I should have known the gate was there, but it was early and I was not aware of the danger that stood in front of me that was the gate keeping the dogs out of the back bedrooms.

And I wiped out in the living room. It was one where I hit and rolled and got really concerned that I'd injured myself really bad. I popped up and I'm like, I'm good. My knee hurts really bad, but I'm good. If the light had been on, I would have been aware. If the light had been on, I would have seen the danger. Brothers and sisters, this is what it means to beware.

This is why we are told to walk in the light because the light keeps us aware of the dangers that are in front of us. God's word is really good about this. God's word is really good at pointing out the dangers and in revealing our heart condition when we start to see these things pop up, it's like constant checkups from the doctor. It's like constantly turning the lights on in a dark house.

And I say, oh, there's the danger that sits in front of me right now. I should beware of that. He says, take care, brethren, beware. And what are we to beware of? We are to beware of an evil heart of unbelief. Unbelief, the idea here, is not the inability to understand but the unwillingness to trust. It is actually a refusal to trust and rely upon the Lord.

There is something so much deeper here than just I have a hard time believing or I have a hard time resting or there's an actual rebellion that takes place in the heart of an individual when unbelief begins to set in. When unbelief begins to set in, this is not a, this is not a, can I really believe God can do this, Lord? Please do it even though I'm having a hard time believing you can do it. No, this is a refusal.

William Newell put it this way. He said, unbelief is not the inability to understand but an unwillingness to trust. It is a matter of the will, not a matter of the intelligence. You see, Satan knows what God's word has to say. He does not believe what God's word has to say. He knows, he knows what the truth is. He refuses to believe what the truth is. There's a difference between the two.

It's not an intellectual ascent. This is an action of the will. And the defining word there is the word that's used right before unbelieving and that's the word evil. You see, the word evil here literally means active opposition to God. Active opposition to God. And it's interesting because he tells us that we have to beware of this. And I bet you're finding yourself saying,

right now, I don't want to be actively in opposition to God. I know you don't. These things happen easily without us paying attention. It always starts in small areas of our lives, small areas of disobedience in our lives. And we refuse to believe that there are consequences for our disobedience. We refuse to believe that God meant what he said when he said, this is sin.

We refuse to believe that God meant what he said when he said, there is no other way to salvation except through faith in Jesus Christ and his finished work. When you add your rebellion of outward sin or you add your rebellion of religious works, it is unbelief against the things of God. It is active opposition against the things of God. And he says to beware of this.

Why? Because we could potentially fall away from the living God. The word fall away means to depart, to be a part of the living God. And this is one of those difficult places in the book of Hebrews, one of many, that you find yourself going, hmm, does this mean you can lose your salvation? Does this mean you can depart from your salvation?

You know what my statement on this always is? Let's not find out. Let's not find out. What I know from scripture is that when you are abiding, you are secure in your walk with Jesus Christ. When you become born again, you become a member of the family of God. Can you actively depart from the family of God? It depends on who you read on this. Some people are like, no, no, this is,

he's referring to those who maybe weren't really believers in Jesus Christ. They had made an intellectual ascension to Jesus. They had not made a real commitment to Jesus. But what does he call them? Look at the verse again. What does he call them? He calls them brethren. Beware, take care, brethren. I've never once. I've never once preached that you can lose your salvation.

I want you to know that. But this is a warning that we should pay attention to. This is something that you should take to heart. Because there's a warning about departing from the faith. Whether it's because you only made an intellectual ascension to the faith and not a real heart commitment to the faith, or whether it's you made a heart commitment to the faith,

but now you've decided to depart. Whatever it is, it's a warning for us to pay attention to. And warnings are there for a reason. And so he says, Beware, brethren, of an unbelieving heart. Of a heart that willfully turns against God and goes back to the world, or goes back to the religious things of this world. Who says, My hope is no longer in Jesus. My hope is in something else

because I have abandoned the faith. He says, Beware of these things. So number one, he tells us, Don't harden your heart. Keep your heart soft to the things of God. Keep your heart soft to the, to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Number two, Beware of this aspect of unbelief in our lives. But I want you to notice what he says in number three. Number three, he says,

Encourage one another. Encourage one another. He says, But encourage one another day, let me make sure I read that right. Yeah. Day after day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you, will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So if there's a danger that we could harden our hearts, and if there's a danger that we could fall away into unbelief,

then what do we need to do? We need to encourage one another. That word encourage is also translated exhort, and the idea of the word is to call to one's side. To call to one's side. And we've looked at this word before, and I think that, it is such an important word in the church today, that we do for each other. Because it carries with it both a positive aspect,

and a negative aspect. The negative aspect is that we warn one another. Listen, when we see sin, pop up in the lives of fellow believers, the most faithful thing we can do is warn one another. Warn one another when we see areas of sin, pop up into people's lives. When we see potential, when we see potential compromise happening in someone's life. When we see,

when we see someone slipping into a system of works, instead of the grace of God to warn one another. Hey, you need to understand like, that's nothing to play with. That's dangerous ground to play in. And you need to be aware of that. Hey, don't start looking at another place for some comfort. Stay close to the person that God gave you. Stay close to your wife.

Stay close to your family. Stay close to Jesus. There's a warning that we should give to each other. And brothers and sisters, faithful are the wounds of a friend. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Nobody likes to be corrected. Nobody enjoys someone pointing out an issue in their life. But if we can't lovingly do that with each other,

then my gosh, what are we doing here? We're just some social club that gets together every Sunday and enjoys high-fiving each other and drinking coffee, right? You can do that anywhere. We've come together to exhort and encourage one another. And the first part of that is to be willing to warn one another. Listen, it has to be done in love. If you can't speak the truth in love,

then don't speak the truth. Keep it to yourself. Discernment always begins with prayer. But that's what we're here to do is we're here to warn one another. But the second thing is the positive aspect. You have to encourage one another. You have to encourage one another. Brothers and sisters, you cannot underestimate the importance of an encouraging word. You cannot understand what that does

in the lives of each other. And we fail to do this with each other all the time. Somebody left a note on my desk here recently and it said to wait to open it. And so I waited to open it and I read it this morning and I gotta tell you, it was exactly what I needed to hear in the moment. I was like, man, praise God that that person left that note on my desk. Because we all need those encouraging words.

And I am reminded over and over and over again, that the best thing that I can do is encourage someone. The best thing I can do is tell someone that I see the growth in their life. I see what God's doing in you. I see how God's using you. I see how much you've grown. I see how much you've changed. Keep it up. Keep doing what you're doing. You have no idea how much you're encouraging me.

You have no idea how much that's important to me. And we've got to do that with each other. Why? Because there's a danger that we could harden our hearts against the things of God. There's a danger that we could slip into that evil heart of unbelief. And we are the defense for each other. We link arms with each other. We lock arms with each other and we fight together.

We don't fight against each other. We fight for each other. And that's what we're supposed to be doing as the body of Christ. That's discipleship. But it doesn't just take place in your small groups, although that's an incredibly important place for it to happen. It happens on the Sunday morning gathering. Why do we gather at church every Sunday morning? Why don't you just stay home and watch it online?

And I'm talking to you people watching online right now, too. Why don't we just stay home and watch it online? Because when you stay at home and watch it online, you cannot exhort and encourage one another. You can't. Listen, there is nothing like sitting next to somebody in church who knows your business, and when the pastor talks about it, which by the way, I have no idea.

I've had people come to me and get angry before. They're like, how dare you blast my stuff. I'm like, man, I had no idea. I was talking about somebody else, okay? They had no idea. I'm just kidding. But there's nothing like sitting there and hearing the pastor blast your business on accident because of the Holy Spirit, and the person next to you is going, hmm, that is my favorite thing to have happen.

Listen, I'm not supposed to make eye contact with y'all. They're like, don't make eye contact with people. That's who I am. I make eye contact, okay? People try to sell me drugs because of it, but the fact of the matter is, I make eye contact with people. And I love when I see somebody look over at somebody and I'm like, that's right, get them, Holy Spirit.

That can't happen when you're sitting in your jammies at home, right? You need that. You need the body of Christ, not only to hold you accountable, but to encourage you. And so, listen, I love that we have online because online is great for like when you're on vacation, or you're sick, or things like that, but that can't be your church. You need a body around you,

because that body around you sharpens you. That body around you encourages you. That body around you can fix you. That's why we gather every Sunday morning so we can be that for each other. And that brings me to a really good exhortation right now. Are you being that for each other? It's one thing for me to preach about the importance of it, it's a whole other thing for you

to live out the importance of it. love is that people stick around. I love that. I love that sometimes I have to be like, guys, I really want to eat lunch, okay? So I'm going to leave now. You stay as long as the doors are locked. When you leave, you can't get back in, but I'm leaving, okay? Because it's 1.30 and I want to go get lunch. I love that. Because that means you all are sticking around to minister to

each other. To me, a dead church is one that the sermon's over, everybody leaves. Because that means it's not a church. You may as well have watched it online at that point. But we got to live that out with each other. We have to live out that encouragement and exhortation. And listen, that carries past Sunday morning. That carries into the week. I remember I sat in an FCA training

session and he was talking about the importance of the small groups. And he said, I love in a small group of kids to tell them, okay, I want everybody to drop one word or phrase, what are you struggling with this week? He said, and it's amazing how kids are willing to be honest about that. Better than adults. I'm going to be really honest with you guys. Kids are way better at being honest about their

business than adults are. Because kids rarely have anything to hide. They don't have a front they have to put up. And he said, went around the circle and these kids dropped some bombs on me about stuff they were going through. And he said, now you all just heard that, follow up with each other. He said, and all of a sudden these kids got invested in each other's lives. Because one

person dropped the fact that they're struggling with their parents. And what I learned is that their parents are in the middle of getting a divorce. And he is absolutely distraught about what's going on with his parents. One kid said he's battling depression. And what I found out is that that kid was actually contemplating suicide because he dropped one word, depression. And so everybody else followed up with

him on it. He said, the things these kids were willing to share was amazing. So I've started doing that in my groups. I've started, we call it high-low. I'm like, I want to know one really good thing in your life. I want to know one really bad thing going on in your life. And I'm here to tell you right now, what a group of kids will drop on you is intense. My college group, I had one kid

say, my best friend got killed. Last week. And I'm telling you, it changed the whole tenor of the entire moment. And we all just ministered to that kid. Because it was hard. That's what the body does for each other. Because otherwise, we will be hardened by the sin around us. We will be hardened by the temptations to give in to sin. We will fall into unbelief if we don't constantly sharpen each other and work

those rough edges off of each other. That's what the body of Christ is for. Be the body of Christ. He says, therefore, encourage one another, listen, day after day, as long as it is still called today. Why does he say that? He means take advantage of every opportunity while you still have time. Again, brothers and sisters, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if I've learned anything in the past ten years, it's none of us is guaranteed

tomorrow. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. So listen, take advantage of today. Take advantage of today. Because today is the day when that person's sitting next to you. Don't put off until tomorrow the word of encouragement you need to give today. Don't put off until tomorrow the word of exhortation that you need to give

today. Don't put off until tomorrow the opportunity to sit with someone hurting today, because you may not have tomorrow. As long as it is called today. Why? Why do we do this? Why do we do this? Why do we do these things? So that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. I love what he calls sin there. He said, don't be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

The word deceitfulness means cleverness, delusive glamour, or sophistication. Cleverness, delusive glamour, or sophistication. In other words, sin makes itself look really, really good. And left to your own devices, left without the encouragement of brothers and sisters in Christ, we can begin to justify our sin. We can begin to justify the things that go on in our lives.

Because we don't have anybody else saying, but that's sin. But that seems like a bad idea. He says, we need to do this so that we will not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So why do we get in fellowship with each other? Because it encourages us. It encourages us. It encourages us. It warns us. And it sharpens us. So number one, he says, do not harden your heart. Number two,

he says, beware of unbelief. And then number three, he says, encourage one another. And now number four, he says, hold fast till the end. Hold fast till the end. Notice what it says in verse 14. For we have become partakers of Christ. If we hold fast, beginning of our assurance, firm until the end. While it is said, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as when they provoked me. He starts off by saying, if we have become

partakers in Christ. The idea is since we have become partakers of Christ. The idea is that we have a share in Christ. We have a share in all things that the Messiah has for us. We have partaken of the truth of who Jesus is. Because he is now a part of us through faith. And we are now a part of him through faith. That's that mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory that we're told there in the book of Philippians. And

so, or excuse me, the book of Colossians. And so, so he tells us, if you have this share in Christ, if you have become a partaker in Christ, or you have this, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance, firm to the end. He says, you have to hold firm. What do we hold? We have to hold firm. Are we holding firm? The confession of our faith. I love the way the Amplified Bible puts this. He

says, if we hold fast the confession of our newborn confidence, which originally led us to him. Our newborn confidence, which originally led us to him. There is something about the beginning of our faith. Some of you, maybe you're in the beginning stages of your faith, and you have confidence. But those of us that have walked with Jesus for a while, our confidence gets shaken

every now and then, right? Because life happens. And when life happens, you go, but wait a second, I'm a believer in Jesus. I thought everything was supposed to be perfect now. I remember my mom sharing with me that the first couple of years that she walked with the Lord, she felt invincible. She was like, oh my gosh, everything is just so great. Like my life is so changed by Jesus.

She said, and then I had my first kid, and all of a sudden I didn't feel unshakable anymore. I didn't feel, because all of a sudden I went, bad things happen to believers too. Bad things happen to Christians too. And she said, I had to learn to hold on to the confidence that I had in the beginning. That just because bad things happen doesn't mean that God's not still

good. Just because bad things happen doesn't mean that God's not still at work. I watched an amazing clip. Of a guy giving his testimony at Liberty University. He was actually one of the soldiers in Mogadishu, Somalia that was in the movie Black Hawk Down. If you watch that movie, I kind of want to go back and watch it now. There's a lot of words Jesus doesn't like, and there's a lot of violence in

that movie. So listen, don't go watch it. I think I'm going to. But he gave this testimony of kind of how God ultimately dealt with his fear of death in that moment. He said, as bullets were flying around me, and as I was in the back of a Humvee, I was in the back of a Humvee, and I was in the back of a Humvee, watching my friends die. He said, I had to decide whether or not I was going to fear death

that night. And he said, I prayed to God that he would give me confidence. And he said, in that moment, God dealt with my fear. Because I realized that my life was ultimately in God's hands. And if I survived that night, I was going to go home and be with my family in Georgia, and life was going to be amazing. Because I was going to get to see my family again. He said, but I also realized if I died

that night, I would go home to my father who had purchased me with his own precious blood. And that was okay, too. And he said, in that moment, I no longer feared. I just did my job as a soldier. And he said, when we got back, when we survived that night and got back to the base, he said, I was overwhelmed by what happened. He said, not the bullets in the blood that I saw all around me. He said, I was a soldier. I was used

to that sort of thing. He said, what overwhelmed me the most is some of the most valiant warriors on the face of the earth were coming to me the next day saying, I don't know what you had last night, but I need it. Because you had a confidence we did not have. You had a fearlessness that I do not understand. And he said, for hours, men lined up for me to tell them about this. And I said,

I don't know what you had last night. And he said, for hours, men lined up for me to tell them about Jesus. You see, that's a guy who understood what it was to hold fast to the newborn confidence that he had in his faith. Brothers and sisters, we have to understand something about who we are in Christ. Who we are in Christ is completely secure as long as we are protected by the hands of God.

Once we are protected by the hands of God, nothing comes into our life that has not first been filtered through the hands of a loving God. And if it's good, then he will use it for our good. If it's bad, then he will use it for our good. But no matter what, we can be confident. No matter what, we can hold on to that. We have to hold fast to that confidence. Now, I got to be completely

honest with you. This is the third or fourth time I feel like I've preached on this in the last three months. That makes me a little nervous. I'm like, okay, Lord, what's coming next? And in that moment of nervousness, God has to go, why? Why are you scared? Why do you get nervous? And I'm like, that's a good word. Because I can be confident in all the things of Christ. Because I can be confident in one

job. My one job is don't let go. God takes care of everything else. My one job is stay as close as I can. He takes care of everything else. And it is still by faith. It is still by faith. I believe it was David Guzik who said, faith is the root. Endurance is the fruit. Faith is the root. Endurance is the fruit. And as we put our faith in Jesus Christ, he gives us the endurance to continue to move on. The endurance to hold on

to him and hold on to what we know to be true. He says, hold fast to the end. But this does not come without warning. He says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Is when they provoked me. And he asks three questions. He says, for who provoked him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? In other words,

who provoked God to wrath? Bringing us all the way back to that section in Psalm 95, when he said, I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Who provoked him to wrath? Was it not all of those that had been delivered from Egypt? Was it not all of those who, should have known better, and yet they fell away? They departed from the faith and gave into the hardness of their heart, into the unbelief, into the deceptiveness of sin? He gives the

second question. He says, and with whom was he angry for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned whose bodies fell in the wilderness? Again, who was he angry with all of those years? Was it not all of those who gave into the deceptiveness of sin? Who gave into the hardness of heart? Who gave into the unbelief that they refused to be aware of and willfully went against God? He asks the third question. He says, and to whom did he swear

they would not enter his rest? But to those who were disobedient. And then verse 19. I have verse 19 on your line in my Bible. So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. They were not able to enter because of unbelief. They were not able to enter because they did not hold fast their confidence. So I started asking myself a question. Clearly, unbelief is a major

issue. I mean, he just spent an entire half of the chapter warning us against unbelief. Clearly, unbelief is a major issue. So I asked myself two questions, actually. Number one, what causes unbelief? Number two, how do you protect your heart? So those, as we wrap up here this morning, I want to answer those two questions the best that I know how to based on my study of scripture and my time in prayer and my time

seeking the Lord. So what causes unbelief? I don't think it's something that you just accidentally slip into. I actually think that there's a process that we go through. And again, as I was thinking about this, I was reminded of the parable of the sower. Remember when Jesus gave the parable of the sower, he said, if you don't understand this parable of the sower, you won't be able to

understand it. If you don't understand this parable, you're going to have a hard time understanding all of the other parables. Almost like this parable of the sower is foundational to your understanding of so much other of the teaching of Jesus Christ. And if you remember the parable of the sower, the sower went out to sow seed, which he interprets as the word of God, and it fell on four different types of soil. The first type of soil it fell on was the path that

was hard ground, and the birds of the air came and ate it up. The second type of soil it fell on was the soil that was the rocky ground, and it put down roots, but it didn't last for very long. It shriveled up because it didn't have a deep root system. All of the pressures of the world got too great. And then the third type of soil was the thorny soil. Again, it put down roots, but it was

choked out by the pleasures of this world. The thorns, the pleasures of this world choked it out. But then there was a fourth kind of soil, the kind of soil that was rich and deep and able to take produce a hundredfold. Now, usually we view this parable as an evangelistic sort of parable, and I think that that's a good application, but I don't think that's the only application.

I think the other application is what do you do with the truth of God? Do you hold on to it and produce fruit, or does it get choked out by unbelief? So what causes unbelief? Well, from that, I've identified a number of things. First of all, I've identified a number of things and I've identified three things that I think cause unbelief in our life. Number one is the

deception of the enemy, the deception of the enemy. We have to understand the enemy is telling us lies all day long. You know how he's telling you lies? First of all, he's telling you lies through your emotions. He's telling you lies through your feelings. He's telling you lies through the media that you take in. He's telling you lies through the teachings of the philosophy of this

world. He's telling you lies through your friends. that don't know Jesus and give you the best philosophy that they know how to. He's always telling you lies. And the lies are abundant. And the lies are very easy to give into because they have a little bit of truth mixed in with them. But at the end of the day, it's deception. And the enemy is always lying to us. That's why you have to combat all of the lies with the truth.

Anytime I deal with somebody that's battling anxiety, I say, you have to get to the root of the lie because that's what anxiety is. Anxiety tells you this is the most important thing for you to focus on, and you should stress on it all day long. Therefore, you have to say no to the lie and decide what the truth is that you need to focus on. That's how you overcome anxiety, is you believe the truth and refuse to believe the lie. But the longer that you believe the lie,

the more you give into the anxiety. And that's true in every aspect of your life because the enemy is constantly deceiving you. Which is why you have to be aware of the deception. But that's the first way I think that unbelief comes into our lives. It comes in through the deception that the enemy brings into it, into our lives. The second thing that I think causes it is the pressure of the world.

The pressure of the world. We live in a pressure cooker world right now. We really do. I mean, the news cycle alone of just things going on in the globe is more than our mind. I don't think we were ever intended to know the news cycle of the entire world 24 hours a day. I really don't. The older I get, the more I'm like, really? Much more than what happens in my day?

I can't handle a whole lot more than that, right? I mean, it's just kind of, I can't also be worried about this over here and this over here and all these different kinds of things. But we live in this pressure cooker and the pressure of the world. And the world puts so much pressure on us in so many areas of our lives. It puts pressure on how you look. It puts pressure on,

uh, your physique. It puts pressure on, uh, uh, your kids and how good your kids are and their academic success and their sports success and, and your success in your job and, and your online platform and how you look on that and what everybody's opinions of you are. And all of this pressure is on us all the time, not to mention all of the things that go on in the world that cause worry in our lives. And I'm here to tell you right now, that pressure will harden your heart. Because if you don't handle that pressure properly, you're not going to be able to

handle it properly. Do you know what we do? We either fold under it or we pretend it doesn't exist. And we don't deal with the reality of life. And we harden ourselves against everything around us. And it eventually causes unbelief because that, that pressure becomes so great in our lives. That's essentially what he talks about with that, with that rocky soil. The

pressure got too great. The roots weren't deep enough. And so it gave in. It eventually dies. So number one is the deception of the enemy. Number two is the, the pressure of the world. But then number three is the pleasures of the world. The pleasures of the world around us. I don't think we've ever lived in a time where the pleasures of the world are more abundant and more available. We have the pleasure of the world available to us in ways

that God truly never intended. And what we are watching in Western culture right now is we are watching a world die. From pleasure. We are watching a world enslaved to pleasure. Whether it be pleasure because of the sexuality of the world. Whether it be pleasure because of the, the gluttony of the world. Whether it be pleasure because of the ways that we can numb all the things of the world through alcohol

and drugs. Whether it be the pleasure of addicted to online gaming. You name it. Pleasure abounds. We have got to be the only generation that is so enslaved to pleasure. And it's ultimately killing us. But that pleasure creates a hardness of heart. You know why? Because as you get addicted to pleasure, it raises those dopamine levels. And every, every time you need a bigger hit of the pleasure. You need a little bit more of it than you did

before. The, the, the, the movie has to be more action-packed. The, the, the sexuality has to be deeper and more pleasurable. The alcohol has to be stronger. The, the drugs have to be better. The game has to be more intense. You name it. We need more and more of the dopamine. That's why we're dying from it. It's because we need more of the hits of these things. And it's creating a

hardness in the heart of believers today. I'm not talking about the world right now. I'm talking about believers. Because if that's the God that you serve, then he will eventually harden your heart. So we have to beware of these things in our lives. Because these things lead to unbelief. The deception of the enemy. The pressure of the world. The pleasure of the world.

Right? Now this is my political ad. That's what's bad. Now this is what's good. So if, if that's what causes unbelief, how do you protect your heart? Well, I've written down two things. Number one, of course, if you're going to protect your heart, you're going to have to abide in Christ. Remember what we said earlier? If you're going to beware, you have to turn the lights on.

If you're going to beware, you need to walk in the light. That's the abiding life in Jesus Christ. Listen, if the world is going to tell you lies, if Satan's going to tell you lies all day, then you need to know what the truth is so that you can identify the lie. I don't even like getting on some social media platforms right now because I can't tell what's true and what isn't anymore. Like every single thing that comes up on the Facebook machine,

I'm like, I don't even know if that's real. For instance, I may have shared this with you before, but, but when we captured Nicholas Maduro, I mean, I saw a video of Donald Trump dancing with him, and I don't even know if that was real or not. I don't know if Donald Trump was really actually doing the cha-cha slide with Nicholas Maduro. I, I'm starting to think that that was fake.

But we have such a hard time identifying the truth, and it's one thing when we go online and we go, yeah, that's probably fake. Sad, but it's probably fake. But the other lies are so much more deceptive that if you're not tied in with this, you're going to believe it. Listen, the pressures of the world are so great that you need to know what the truth is, what God says you really need to be focused on, and remind yourself that God is in control, that none of these things, you've taken God by surprise, that God's not like, right, about any of the things that have gone on in the world. I'm reminded of King Hezekiah in this moment. King Hezekiah in the

book of, I believe it was 2 Kings, Sennacherib and, and the entire Syrian army was coming against them, and, and, and they had already taken the northern kingdom, and they were on their way to Jerusalem. They camped outside of Jerusalem, and Sennacherib sent this letter to King Hezekiah, and he said, you can't stop me. No God's ever been able to stop me. I'm coming at you with all the force of the army that has destroyed every army in front of me. You may as well just get

yourself ready. Either surrender or die. And the problem was, Sennacherib was right. No other God had been able to stop him. As a matter of fact, God had already turned the northern kingdom over to them, and Hezekiah found himself in a fearful place. And if it weren't for an abiding relationship with the living God, he wouldn't have been able to stop him. And he said, I'm coming at you with

God. He would have given in. But you know what, you know what Hezekiah did in that moment? We're told that he took the letter, and he went into the temple of God, and he spread the letter out before the Lord. And he said, Lord, you know, you know these words are true, but God, our eyes are on you. Our eyes are on you. And God did a work unlike anything else that could have ever

happened when he slew an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an immense amount of the enemy army, and they fled without one soldier touching a weapon. You see, when you're in God's Word, you read stories like that, and you go, oh yeah, that's right. It's really not that big of a deal for God. None of this stuff really does catch God by surprise. And the pressures, the pressures of the world become so much less because you

realize that God is so much greater. And as you abide in Christ, you realize that the pleasures of the world are a passing fantasy, and what really matters is the eternal, because your eternal perspective on things. You need that abiding relationship with Christ. But not only, if you're going to protect your heart, do you need an abiding relationship with Christ, you also need fellowship with believers. You need the fellowship of believers.

Kids, it's more important now than ever that you not abandon the fellowship of the brethren, the gathering together of the brethren. Because as things get more intense in the world, this is your family. Let's keep making the family bigger. Let's keep making the family bigger. Don't get me wrong, but this is your family. And these are the people that we're supposed

to be able to count on. These are the people that we're supposed to be able to pour into and have pour into us. You need the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, because the fellowship of believers is the strength of the church. Amen? And so, we're told to be faithful. And so I'll give you the same exhortation. Beware of unbelief. And hold tight to the confidence that you have in Christ. Amen? Well, this morning is Communion

Sunday. So, I'm going to invite the ushers to come in. I'm going to invite the worship team to come up. In just a moment, the ushers will come forward and they'll begin to hand out the elements. But I always like to take just a moment to talk about what we do here, so that we do this the way that God intends for us to. As always, my spiel doesn't get new. The inside of these trays,

they're a couple of cups stacked together. Top cup has the juice, bottom cup has the cracker. I tell you that always, so that you don't go, he forgot the cracker. Nope, it's in there. In and of themselves, pretty mundane, pretty benign. But what they represent, what they mean for us as the church, has so much power. Because that cracker represents the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us. He took that bread and he broke it. He said, this is my body.

Which is broken for you. Take and eat. And as we partake, we are reminded that we are partakers of Christ. Jesus said, if you don't, if you don't eat my flesh, you don't have any part of me. He didn't mean cannibalism at that moment. He meant take 100% of who Jesus is in through faith. And as we do this physical act, it is a picture of the faith that we have of believing that the body of

Jesus Christ was broken for us. And on the night of the feast, he took the last piece of bread and he took the last cup, that cup of redemption. He said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood that is shed for you. So we are reminded when we partake of the cup that we are partaking of the blood of Jesus Christ that covered our sins, that did away with our sins. So we're told in scripture

to make sure that we do this in a lawful manner, to make sure that we do this in a worthy manner. And so as always, there's two main things we need to do to partake in a worthy manner. Three, really, we just did the first one. And that's understand what we're doing here. But second, you need to make sure that you're partaking of the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's what we're

part of the body of Christ. You need to ask Jesus in your heart every single week. But if you've never become a believer in Jesus Christ, then today's the day. There's no magic words that you have to say. It's the condition of your heart. You don't even need me to do anything. As they sing this last song, if you've never truly put your faith in Jesus, then it's time to

confess your sins and receive him. Ask him to be your savior. And in that moment, you will become brand new in Christ. But as a believer in Jesus Christ, it's important that our hearts are right before the Lord. That we not only understand what we're doing, but we understand the gravity of it. That we are declaring the death of Jesus. And so it's good to take a moment to clear out the heart.

If there's things that have come up between you and the Lord, to open up that line of fellowship again. If there's things that have come up between you and other believers, that you deal with that in your heart between you and the Lord. That there be no bitterness inside of you. So that we can partake in a worthy manner. So they're going to sing this last song and the ushers are

going to hand out the elements. As you receive your elements, if you would please stand and we'll partake together. Oh the joy to be. Joy when I decrease. You fill up my soul. What a joy to see. Joy to hold. It's when I decrease. Humble my heart. It's alive.

If you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. For the blood that is able to not only cover our sins, but do away with our sins. Father, I thank you for the body of Jesus that was broken for us. Wounded for our transgressions. Bruised for our inequities. The chastisement of our peace laid upon you and by your stripes were healed.

Lord, I thank you for the body of Jesus Jesus that was broken for us. I thank you for the body of Jesus Jesus that was broken for us. body of Jesus that was broken for us. And so, Lord, as we partake of this now, Father, may we know and understand that this is the one hope that we have that unites us together as a body of Christ, but also unites us to you. It is truly our communion. And so, Father, we thank and we

praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's partake. And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, be with us as we go through this week. I pray that your word would continue to speak clearly to our hearts, that your spirit would minister to our souls, and that we would live out the truth that we have learned. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.