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Hebrews 3:12-14: The Warning Issued

Hebrews 3:12-14 Perseverance of the Saints

Pastor Martin expounds Hebrews 3:12-14, issuing a solemn warning against apostasy. He defines apostasy as 'falling away from the living God,' which is ultimately rooted in 'an evil heart of unbelief.' Martin emphasizes that this warning is directed to all professing believers, urging constant, conscious, mental, and spiritual watchfulness. He concludes with two exhortations: to diligently use every means to strengthen faith in God's revelation through Christ and to determinedly avoid anything that weakens faith, no matter how innocent it may seem.

3 illustrations in this sermon

The Warning Issued: Objects of the Warning
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Everybody's Job is Nobody's Job

In this part of the sermon: Verse 12 presents a warning issued to 'brethren,' meaning all professing, visible saints, emphasizing that it applies to 'any one of you' to prevent indifference.

The saying 'Everybody's job is nobody's job' is used to explain why the warning is directed to 'any one of you,' to prevent individuals from thinking it doesn't apply to them, just as assigning yard work generally leads to no one doing it.

Take heed, brethren, lest happily there shall be in any one of you. We have a little saying. Everybody's job is nobody's job. What do we mean by that?

15:16 - 15:29 Read in full sermon
The Warning Issued: Nature of the Warning
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Man in the Iron Cage (Pilgrim's Progress)

Driving home: The nature of this warning is a command to constant, conscious, mental, and spiritual watchfulness.

Christian's encounter with the Man in the Iron Cage from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress illustrates the tragic consequence of ceasing to watch, showing how a once 'fair and flourishing professor' can fall into despair through neglect of watchfulness.

As I was preparing, my mind turned again to the immortal pilgrim's progress. And I thought of that sad, doleful, frightening character described in the house of the interpreter as the man in the iron cage. Do you remember the incident?

21:11 - 21:26 Read in full sermon
Illustration of Unbelief and Application
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Dreading Cancer but Smoking

The point: If you profess the name of Christ and dread apostasy, you must dread what leads to it: the slightest question over anything God says is reality.

The analogy of a man who dreads cancer but smokes three packs a day illustrates the insincerity of professing to dread apostasy while not avoiding the 'intermediate evil' of unbelief that leads to it.

Do I meet a man who's all the time reading the latest medical journals on the ravages of that dread disease, cancer? Every time I meet him, he tells me his latest insight, and he's constantly almost blanched white with fear lest someone will discover cancer in him. He's talking all the time, oh, I dread that disease, dread that disease. And I see him sucking in three packs of cigarettes a day.

37:00 - 37:21 Read in full sermon
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