Hebrews 3:12-14: The Warning Issued

The Certainty and Necessity of Perseverance

0:04 One of the tragic but undeniable facts of life is that many who begin well the profession of attachment to Jesus Christ never make it to the end.

0:22 The Word of God is full of examples of people who apparently began the Christian race and even for a time seemed to set the pace for others, but they never made it to the finish line. We read in John 6 of multitudes of disciples who went back and walked with Christ no more. We read again in the Word of God of a man named Demas concerning whom Paul had to speak, saying, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present age. Yet the same scriptures that record the beginning but tragic end and defection of many in the world are the same scriptures that record the same scriptures that make abundantly clear that continuance in the Christian faith is both the certainty and the necessity of a true profession. For Jesus said, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. Though the scripture tells us that many begin and do not finish, the scriptures also tell us that all who truly begin shall finish. But telling us that they shall finish does not negate the fact that they must finish,

1:52 so that the certainty of their finishing and the necessity of their finishing are equally revealed in the Word of God.

2:04 You see what I'm driving at?

2:07 Many begin who do not finish, but all who truly begin shall finish, but they must finish. And I'm simply stating in turn phrases what Jesus said in his own word recorded in two of the gospel, three of the gospel records. He that endureth to the end shall be saved. And so the doctrine of the perseverance, the continuance of the saints of God as well as the preservation of the saints of God is a very fundamental and essential doctrine.

2:44 It is one that touches our own safety and happiness now and in the world to come. And today our attention will be focused upon a portion of the Word of God which is one of the richest in its yield of truth touching this great doctrine of the preservation and perseverance of the saints of God. It is rich both with theological statement and also with practical directive. And the portion to which I refer is found in Hebrews chapter 3, verses 12 through 14.

Reading the Text and Overview of Hebrews

3:19 And the Lord willing, this passage will be the focus of our study this morning, again this evening, and possibly may carry over into next Lord's Day. We'll see how far we get in our studies today. Will you follow as I read Hebrews chapter 3, verses 12 through 14. Take heed, brethren, lest happily there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in fruitless, falling away from the living God.

3:50 But exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we are become, better translated, we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. And here I suggest is one of the richest portions in all of the Word of God with reference to precise theological statement and helpful practical directive concerning the perseverance and preservation of the saints of God. Now the statements I've read to you, if you have a paragraph to Bible, obviously come to us in a connection of thought. The book of Hebrews, like much like the book of Romans, in this respect, is a closely reasoned, clearly structured, pastoral argument. The writer obviously outlined what he proposed to do long before he sat down to do it.

5:05 The book of Corinthians is not that way. Apparently the Apostle Paul had a three by five card with a few suggestive thoughts as to certain problems he ought to address himself to. And he'd say, now concerning this one, and he'd check one off, and when he was done, now concerning this one, he'd check it off. But not the book of Hebrews, nor the book of Romans.

5:22 Here is a closely reasoned argument, the development of thought in which there is a very vital connection between every individual part to what precedes and follows, and of every large part to the whole. And so for just a few moments this morning, I want to give you a brief overview of the whole epistle as to its purpose, and then a brief analysis of the immediate context, and then we shall address it. We shall address ourselves to verse 12 in our study this morning. As we try to gain a brief overview of the epistle to the Hebrews, it's essential to understand something about the recipients of this epistle, the purpose and the method of the epistle.

Recipients, Purpose, and Method of Hebrews

6:05 Now the recipients were obviously Hebrew or Jewish Christians. They were people whose background was thoroughly saturated with the worship and life of the Old Covenant, everything connected with the temple and its worship, its sacrifices, its priesthood, all of its rituals. And these people had heard the gospel. The gospel preached to them with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and having embraced the gospel and been baptized and made an open confession of their attachment to Jesus Christ, mediator of the New Covenant, they had begun to experience tremendous opposition, some of them.

6:46 But even when they faced that opposition, they followed supplied by Jesus Christ. Verse 12. Verse 12 and 13 say to me first, they remain steadfast, for the Writer can say as He does in Chapter 10 verses 32 and following, Call to remembrance the former days, in which after ye were enlightened ye endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly being made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly becoming partakers with them that were so used. For ye both had compassion on them knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.

7:23 In other words, their Christian profession had already been put to the test. There had been some public ridicule. There had been the necessity of identification with others who were already imprisoned and suffering for the name of Christ. And he says, call to remembrance the former days in which your profession of Christianity was put to the test and you came through with flying colors.

7:49 But now, under the present pressures, they are being tempted to turn aside, not only from the profession made, but from the solid evidences of what seem to be genuine fruits of grace. And so in this very tenth chapter he goes on to warn them not to draw back, verse 38, but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrink back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition, but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul. So the recipients of the letter are these Hebrew Christians who, having been put into the way of profession, having been put to the test, are now tempted to turn back from the profession made and to turn back particularly to the worship of the old Christian. To go back to the type and shadow of which Jesus Christ is the fulfillment. Well then, what was the purpose of this epistle? Well, obviously, the purpose of the epistle was to check this temptation and to encourage perseverance in the way of adherence to Christ at any cost.

9:05 And so you go right through the book, chapter 2, verse 1, he warns them, let us not let these things slip from us. Chapter 4, verse 1, let us fear. Lest there is a promise that we do not lay hold of by faith. Chapter 6, verse 1, let us press on to perfection.

9:21 Chapter 6, verse 11, chapter 10, verse 23, and the passage read in 1038. Constant exhortation. The purpose of the writer was to come in a very pastoral way to these who were sorely tempted and to encourage them to cling fast to Christ and to the blessings of the new covenant. What then was his method?

9:44 The recipients, we've looked at. The purpose, what method did he choose? Well, his method basically was this. Constantly to show the superiority of that which they had already embraced in contrast with that which they had left.

9:59 They had left the old covenant worship with its sacrifices, with its priesthood. And he's showing them, how dare you consider turning back, for you have embraced the better. Christ is better than Moses. Christ is better than the angels.

10:15 Christ's priesthood is better than the Aaronic priesthood. Christ's sacrifice is better than any sacrifice ever offered. His method is to open up the glory of the provisions of the new covenant and then, having opened up the glory of it, soberly to warn them of the tragic consequences if they do not by faith cling to that covenant and all of its provisions. And so you have this constant recurring cycle of glorious instruction, sober warning.

10:46 Glorious instruction, sober warning. Glorious instruction, sober warning. And that basically is the method of the epistle. So much for that brief overview of the entire epistle.

Immediate Context: Christ Greater Than Moses

10:58 Now come to the immediate context. In the immediate context of the portion that we will be studying for these few times together, the apostle or whoever wrote the book of Hebrews, and I'm not at all settled and I won't waste your time even going in. I'm going to go into the various theories of who might be the author. We know it's the Holy Ghost and that's what really matters.

11:22 The writer has opened up the glory of Christ as greater than Moses. And you can't appreciate what this would mean unless you were a Jew. For the name Moses stood head and shoulders above every other name in the mind of the Jew. And in chapter 3, verses 1 through 5, Christ is set before us as greater than Moses.

11:46 And having set Christ before the readers as greater than Moses, he then begins to urge them to press on in adherence to the truth that comes from Christ. And he does this in a very powerful way. Quoting from the Old Testament, he says, in essence, look, when your fathers after the flesh turned aside from the revelation of God given through Moses, what did God do to them? He overthrew them in the wilderness.

12:16 He showed his displeasure in overthrowing them and their carcasses rotted in that wilderness. Now, if God treated those thus who rejected the revelation through the lesser, Moses, what will he do with those who reject the revelation given through the greater, even Jesus, who is greater than Moses? And it's in that particular context that verses 12 to 14 come to us. They come to us.

12:47 They come to us as one of these entreaties, these warnings, these admonitions, following a body of tremendous instruction. All right? So much for the broad overview of the whole epistle. A brief word concerning the immediate setting.

The Warning Issued: Objects of the Warning

13:04 Now to the text itself. And we have in verse 12 what I am calling a warning issued. Take heed, brethren. Verse 13, we have a means, prescribed, but exhort one another.

13:20 And verse 14, a motive enforced. For we are made partakers of Christ if. This morning, just the warning that is issued. Take heed, brethren, lest happily there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God.

13:45 Notice in the first place, concerning this warning issued, the objects of the warning. And the object is the person or thing to which an action, thought, or feeling is directed. To whom is the warning directed? Who are the objects of this warning?

14:04 Well, the text is very clear. Take heed, brethren. The warning comes to those designated as brethren. Those who have taken upon themselves, the name of Christ, and have attached themselves to the visible community of God's people.

14:26 He is speaking to those who are found among the visible saints of God. They are the brethren, called in chapter 3 and verse 1, wherefore holy brethren. Holy, not speaking so much of the degree of their personal sanctification, but holiness in its class, in predominant sense, they have been set apart unto God from the world. They have professed allegiance to Christ.

14:57 They've been obedient to the confessional ordinance of baptism. They are found among the visible community of the saints of God. So the objects of the warning are the brethren professing visible saints. And notice in particular, it comes to all the brethren.

15:16 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?

15:29 Well, we mean if a general directive goes out and you say, clean the yard, and you've got three kids, you know the yard's not going to be cleaned. You just give a general directive, clean the yard. You've got to say, John, you clean the front yard. Henry, you clean the back yard.

15:44 And Pete, you clean the sides. Everybody's job is nobody's job. Well, in a very real sense, everybody's command is nobody's command. And so the author is not content simply to say, take heed, brethren.

15:59 But he says, take heed, brethren, lest there shall be in any one of you.

16:07 He knew the tendency of the human heart. A tendency that constantly regards with indifference the most sober warnings of Holy Scripture. Ah! Somebody else may need the warning, but not I.

16:24 Someone else may need that sober remonstrance, but not I. No, no. No, no. Listen.

16:32 The object of this warning is not just visible saints in general, but every particular visible saint in particular. It comes to you. Do you name the name of Jesus Christ? Would I have biblical grounds to extend my hand to you, and call you brother or sister in the rich biblical sense of that word?

16:56 Then, my brother, my sister, you are the object of this warning. I am the object of this warning. All who name that name, and it is only fools, the careless and the presumptuous, who regard with callousness and indifference what so obviously comes to all professing Christians without distinction. The objects of the warning are brethren and all of the brethren.

The Warning Issued: Nature of the Warning

17:27 Secondly, what is the nature of this warning? Look at it. Make heed, brethren. The form of the verb is a present imperative, which means this is not something you're supposed to do once in a while, do it now and forget it.

17:43 No, no. It means be ye continually doing whatever the action, whatever action is prescribed in the verb itself. The word he uses is basically the word for see or to look in the physical sense. But in the New Testament, it's one of those words that drifts over from the literal physical sense into a moral and into an ethical significance, and often this very verb translated to see or to look is also translated to take heed or to beware.

18:18 See, what do you do when you're looking at something physically? Well, when you're looking at something physically, you are taking heed, you are taking heed, you are taking heed, you are taking heed, you are taking cognizance of an object with your physical faculties. You're focusing your eyes right now and focusing it upon that microphone. And the eyes focus in this way and an image registers on the back of the retina and then a signal is sent to the brain and it says that is a microphone that has a fluted black edge and a gray wire mesh over the front of it.

18:47 I'm looking, I'm seeing, I'm perceiving.

18:51 Now, what do we do in a moral sense when we look? Well, we take cognizance of things as they really are. We're not asleep to them. We're not closing our arms to them.

19:00 We're facing them for what they really are. Hence, this word is often translated, as I've indicated, to beware or to take heed. It's translated this way in Mark 4.24.

19:11 In Mark 13.6, 1 Corinthians 3.10, let a man take heed how he builds thereon. And it's also translated even more vigorously in Philippians 3 and verse 2.

19:23 Beware of dogs. So look out for them. Now, if you're going in a neighborhood where it says beware of dogs, what's it mean? It says pay attention.

19:30 If that animal with their teeth comes near you, you better get. Pay attention. There's an ugly canine around here who's out to get you. Now, that's the word that's used.

19:40 The nature of this warning is a command to constant, conscious, mental, and spiritual watchfulness. And any lesser understanding of the word will not do justice. To that word which the Holy Ghost has given to us. The nature of the command involves constant, be continually, vigorous spiritual discipline.

20:10 Now, because of our remaining sin, every believer has an aversion and an indisposition to such activity. There is no believer who left to himself delights in one moment of true spiritual discipline. There is no watchfulness, let alone a lifetime of it.

20:32 And the writer to the Hebrews knows this. Why, later on he says, don't be sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and endurance inherited the promises. He knows that sluggishness is native to us in this present state. But regardless of that aversion in our flesh, the nature of this warning is one that brings home to our hearts this tremendous, this tremendous responsibility of continual watchfulness.

21:04 Be ye continually taking heed, brethren.

21:11 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?

21:28 And poor Christian could not understand this doleful scene. And he enters into a conversation with this man whose eyes are cast down, who's in this iron cage. And he says, what art thou? And the man answers, I am now what I once was not.

21:49 And Christian says, what wast thou once? Contemporary English, what in the world were you in the past? The man said, I was once a fair and flourishing professor. I was once one who sat with the brethren.

22:05 And when the word brother was used, I responded to that term. I was once a fair and flourishing professor. I set out in the Christian race. I was even at the front of the pack at the second lap,

22:21 both in mine own eyes and in the eyes of others. I was once, as I thought, on my way to the celestial city and even had joy at the thought that I should get there.

22:34 When we sang in glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land, this man says, my heart thrilled at the thought, maybe tears poured from his eyes at the very contemplation of Emmanuel's land. He says, that's what I once was. Christian says, well, but what art thou now? The man, I am now a man of despair.

22:57 I am shut up. As in this iron cage, I cannot get out. Oh, now I cannot. Now listen, listen.

23:05 Christian says, but how camest thou in this condition? From a fair and flourishing professor, both in your eyes and in the eyes of others, who once had great joy at the thought of attaining to the celestial city. How in God's name did you come from that to this? You know what the first part of his answer was?

23:26 You listen carefully. Bunyan was a pastor and he spoke out of pastoral experience. Listen, listen. Here's the first part of the answer.

23:36 I left off to watch. I was in the church. I was exempt from the necessity of watchfulness.

24:15 It's never the man who first sets out in the Christian ways who's guilty of this sin.

24:21 He first sets out, if he has any idea of what it means to be a Christian, he's scared to death and says, Lord, I can't make it. All my friends are against me. All of this is against me. When he's made some progress, he's begun to learn the terminology and to acclimate himself to the way of life and the lifestyle of the brethren.

24:41 He begins to be so knowledgeable in the great provisions of the gospel and the new covenant. He begins subtly to think he no longer needs to take heed.

24:52 Oh, my dear people, listen to me this morning.

24:56 This warning is issued to the brethren. It is issued to all of the brethren. And it comes in its nature as a command to continual, conscious, constant watchfulness.

25:15 I would say by way of application, you beware of any view of the Christian life that says at any point watchfulness is not necessary. Beware of any view of the Christian life that says watchfulness becomes excess baggage at any point. Be ye continually taking heed until the day comes when that concerning which we need to take heed is passed. And that won't be until we're ushered into His presence at death or at His return.

The Warning Issued: Substance of the Warning - Ultimate Evil

25:49 And you beware of any influence in your life no matter how innocent the thing in itself may be if it weakens you to the task of watchfulness. You hear me? You beware of any influence in your life no matter how innocent the thing itself may be if it weakens you to the task of watchfulness. What tends to make you less watchful?

26:19 That thing is the enemy of your soul no matter how innocent it may be in itself. Well, having looked, first of all, at the objects of the warning, the nature of the warning, now look at the substance and this will occupy us for our remaining time this morning. There are two parts to the substance of this warning. Look at the text.

26:46 Take ye, brethren, lest happily there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God. You have here an ultimate evil, and an intermediate evil. You have an evil which is the end result of another evil. So I want to start with the ultimate evil to be avoided, falling away from the living God, and then the intermediate evil to be avoided called here an evil heart of unbelief.

27:21 The ultimate evil to be avoided is described in these frightening terms, falling away from the living God. Now the word falling away is a word that in itself simply means to turn away, to forsake, or to depart. It's the word used in 2 Timothy 2.19.

27:41 Let everyone who names the name of Christ fall away from, depart from, iniquity. 1 Timothy 4.1 The Spirit says expressly, in the latter days men shall fall away from the faith. But when it's used in this sense, it is the word, from which we get our English word, apostasy.

28:06 It is speaking of apostatizing, falling away, turning away from Christ, His Word, His salvation, and His people, no matter how noble the thing in itself may be to which we turn. What were they tempted to turn away to? Old covenant worship. Well, that isn't turning away from God, is it?

28:28 Didn't He give the temple? Didn't He give the sacrifices? Didn't He give the priesthood? But He says when you turn away from Christ and the new covenant to anything else, you're falling away from the living God.

28:45 And so this is a warning, the substance of which is to avoid that ultimate evil that has come down to us in the word apostasy, a turning aside from the Christian faith, which is a turning aside, a falling, a falling away. Look at the language from the living God. Now, why does He say living God? Remember, He's writing to Hebrew Christians throughout the Old Testament again and again.

29:14 When God would address His people, He says these words, As I live, saith the Lord. And then He gives a promise or He gives a threat. Now, why does He preface it with the words, As I live? Because you see, the dead gods of the heathen could neither make their promises nor their threats.

29:34 That's good. They're dead gods. But He says, As I live, as the living God, all of the sum total of what I am and the perfection of my being and my attributes is committed to fulfill every promise and to perform every threat. And so into the ears of these Hebrew readers comes this word,

30:00 falling away from the living God. And He picks up that thread of thought in chapter 10 and says, He says in verse 31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. You brethren, you profess detachment not to an abstract set of notions, not to some detached doctrine of the new covenant. You profess detachment to Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ to the living God.

30:33 You've come by the one way to the living God. Oh, He says, Take heed. Here's the ultimate. Is it evil to be avoided?

30:41 Departing, apostatizing from that living God? Oh, that the very words would strike holy fear into our hearts. I know of no words that fill me with greater fear than these. Falling away from the living God.

The Warning Issued: Substance of the Warning - Intermediate Evil

30:59 And we're warned to avoid that ultimate evil at any cost. But if we're to avoid the ultimate evil, we must in the second place avoid the intermediate evil, the second part of the substance of this warning is the intermediate evil to be avoided. If apostasy is the great evil to be avoided, what leads to it? He describes it in these words, an evil heart of unbelief.

31:28 The heart, of course, is the seat of the whole man. Look up to verse 10. God spoke of the generation overthrown in the wilderness and He said the problem was in the heart. They do always err.

31:39 In their heart, I showed them my ways. I manifested my love. I showed them my power. Opened up the Red Sea.

31:48 Performed the perpetual miracle of the manna. Opened up a rock. I did all of this. What was their problem?

31:54 He said the problem lay in their heart. The seat of their being was perverse. The seat of the whole man. And He describes it further as a heart of unbelief.

32:05 That is the opposite of faith. It's just the word faith. Faith with the alpha privative at the front. No faith.

32:14 Not faith. A heart characterized by unbelief. Though God has made a revelation and attested that revelation with His own seal and stamp of sovereign power, you will not believe that revelation. And then He calls it evil.

32:31 And this is the very word used of the devil himself in the book of the Revelation and probably in the Lord's Prayer. Deliver us from the Pomeros. Deliver us from the evil one. A devilish heart of unbelief.

32:46 For to doubt or disbelieve the revelation God has given is nothing less than devilish wickedness. All right? The intermediate evil then is to avoid a heart that becomes characterized by wicked, cursed, devilish unbelief. As one has said, The root of all backsliding is the heart of unbelief.

33:12 The root of all backsliding, of all apostasy, whether partial or total, lies in unbelief. And oh, may God help us to get hold of this this morning. The root of all backsliding and apostasy, whether partial or total, lies in unbelief. What was the original sin of our father Adam and our mother Eve?

33:38 You turn to Genesis chapter 3 and the answer is clear. When the tempter came, it was the root of all backsliding. Now what did the work of the Lord God deliver? He said it perfectly.

33:48 For the type of the body of God of Israel was yours and his works. Then he said to the servant of the Lord God, So the hand of the Lord is, the hand of the Lord, are these words of the hand of the Swine, for now that I have driven you, to bury you in the wickedness of the people, then the hour of the day is now come. All is ready for the miracle that is upon you. What a miracle.

33:58 Now disdain the course of victory. It is time for you to do nothing for the sake of this life. I have commanded you to bow your head. There's a slander in this.

34:03 Incitness, another of themselves, a denial in love, a defect in zero, conviction that what God has said is true and is real? Is reality real? Rest in the words of God. It was a temptation to unbelieve. God said to Adam and Eve, in essence, look, the real world in which I put you is this world that you now see. It's the world in which every tree is yours to satisfy the taste buds which I've made, to satisfy the appreciation for the aesthetic and the beautiful and all the rest. But there's that one tree, that's the tree that I've marked out, not because of anything inherent in the tree itself, but that tree becomes the testing point of the knowledge of good and evil. I've called that tree. Now do not touch it, for in the day that you do, do not eat

34:51 of it. For in the day you do, you'll die. That's the world of reality. God is saying, I'm telling you what's real. I'm telling you what life is all about. I'm interpreting it to you. The devil comes and says, is that really? to be trusted? Is there not another possible interpretation to reality other than the one God has given? God says the real world is one in which you take that and you die. The devil says no, that's not the whole story. The whole story is when you take that, you become elevated to be like God, knowing good from evil. And it was unbelief that first of all infected the heart of Adam and Eve before they could either of them partake of that fruit. And unbelief lies at the root of all apostasy and declension from God. It

35:41 is refusal to act on the basis that what God says is so. Isn't that the problem here? Here God had said, I've spoken to you in the past by Moses in many ways and through many instruments, but now I've spoken to you in my son. He's the final word. He is the true priest. He has come to establish the truth. He has come to establish the truth. He has come to establish the truth. He has come to establish the truth. He has come to establish the truth. He has come to establish the truth in the living Temple by the one sacrifice of his own precious blood. Having now, the substance of the realities in the heavens. You no longer need the shadows here upon the earth. That's the world of reality. Now they're tempted to go back. And what will lead them back? they can never go back. Until first of all, they are infected with an evil heart of unbelief that says no! Reality is not what God says is true. Reality is something

36:37 else! Oh, my dear people, if we would avoid apostasy, and the word itself should fill us with holy horror, we must avoid the first actings of the wicked heart of unbelief. Let me illustrate.

Illustration of Unbelief and Application

37:00 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.

37:22 I say to him, George, wait a minute, wait a minute now. Something doesn't match here. You keep telling me you dread cancer, and yet you don't just lay the cigarette on your lip. I mean, you just do everything but inhale the fire at the end of it.

37:37 And you're sucking that into your lungs, and you've read enough to know that the case is absolutely clear. That inhaling that much poison, you are increasing the possibility of contracting some form of lung cancer. Now, would I be wrong in assuming that there's something insincere in all of his professed concern about cancer if he's not avoiding the thing that will lead to it? Huh?

38:06 Oh, I think you'd think just like I would, wouldn't you? I think the very simple illustration has carried the point. All right, listen to me now. Brethren.

38:13 Listen, listen. Do you profess the name of Christ? Do you really dread apostasy? Do you really dread that someone someday shall write of you, so-and-so has forsaken us, present age?

38:31 Do you?

38:33 Do I, as a preacher, dread having it said, as I've heard of so many preachers in the past and in my own day? Have you heard? Brother, so-and-so has gone down the Christian faith. Do I?

38:57 Do I dread what leads to it? And what leads to it? And upon me, I ask the slightest question over anything that God says. It's reality.

39:11 It's reality. Christ, mediator of the new covenant, the only one who can bring me to God, the only one whose blood is able to cleanse me from sin, the only one who can give me of his spirit, the only one who can preserve me by his intercession, the one who is worthy to be obeyed at any cost, followed at any cost. That's reality. That's reality.

39:39 And if I'm a man or a woman of faith, I'm living on that basis.

39:44 And anything that would begin to move me from that basis, to put the slightest wispy gray question mark over any of that gospel reality, I must take heed. That's the infection of an evil heart of unbelief. And if it has its way, lead me clear of the Christian faith.

40:14 Beware of it. This is the substance of his life. Warning. Lest there be an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

Exhortation 1: Diligence in Strengthening Faith

40:28 Now that's the exposition I close very briefly with two exhortations this morning. Number one, in the light of this warning, oh child of God, be diligent in the use of every means to strengthen your faith in God's revelation through Jesus Christ. The greatest antidote to an evil heart. A great antidote to an evil heart of unbelief is a joyful heart of faith.

40:57 Therefore, therefore, be diligent in the use of every means that will strengthen your faith in the revelation God has made in the person of his own dear Son. That's why we must feed upon the scriptures because we're bombarded not only from without, if all the problem was just from without. It'd be relatively easy to handle. There are messages constantly coming to our minds saying, no, the world of reality is the world of sensual indulgence.

41:28 Indulge your appetites. But the word of God says, crucify, put to death the deeds of the flesh that you may live. Our flesh says, indulge me that you may live. The world says, indulge that you may live.

41:49 Crucify the flesh that you may live. Now, who are you going to believe? My friend, you and I are obligated, solemnly obligated, to use every means to strengthen our confidence in the revelation of God. That's why we must feed upon the scriptures.

42:09 That's why we must associate with heavenly-minded men and women. I don't mean people floating around all the time singing a hymn. But I mean people who, in the midst of the most nitty-gritty responsibilities, carry with them something of the atmosphere and the fragrance. Of the world of spiritual reality.

42:30 And with feet in front of a sink and hands in a dishpan, you sense the heart is in heaven.

42:38 The affection set upon things above where Christ is at the right hand of the Father. Get around people. Find those. Mark them.

42:47 Mark them. Who, if you begin to be infected with an evil heart of unbelief, by their very presence are rebuked to you. Thank God for such people. Use every single means.

Exhortation 2: Avoid Weakening Faith

43:00 To have a clear understanding. A clearer sight of and a firmer grasp upon the truth as the truth is in Jesus. That's the greatest preventative against apostasy. But then the second and final exhortation is be determined to avoid everything which tends to weaken your faith.

43:19 If it's an evil heart of unbelief that leads ultimately to departing from the living God, then dear friends, listen. You and I must be determined to avoid everything which tends to weaken our faith. And that's the subtlety of the devil's work.

43:38 You see, many times he does not lay bare to us what his ultimate goal is. If he were to propose to us his final design, we'd be shocked and we'd recoil in horror. But he knows if he can get us involved in this intermediate area of spiritual declension, it's only a matter of time before he has us there. Now, what weakens your faith?

44:00 Many times it's things perfectly innocent in themselves.

44:04 Some of you have had your faith weakened. This very Lord's Day, because you stayed up too late last night watching television.

44:11 And you've not been able to have your heart and spirit feed upon the reality of the unseen world of the Spirit. Why? Because your body and mind have been so dull and clogged up with all the garbage, or maybe even innocent things. Maybe good ball games.

44:25 Maybe sat for two or three hours watching the ball game yesterday. Nothing wrong with the thing itself. But what's it done? It's indisposed you to be a man and woman of lively faith today.

44:36 Take heed, brethren. Unless there be in any of you...

Necessity of Perseverance and Call to Unbelievers

44:38 I give you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. For you see, it is not only certain that every true believer will persevere to the end. It is necessary that he persevere.

44:57 You say, I'm in Christ. I'm going to make it. My friend, you're not going to make it resting on your oars. If you're going to make it, you're going to make it by taking heed.

45:06 By taking heed. Lest there be in you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. And I say to those of you who are strangers to the grace of God, you know why you're an unbeliever or why you're not a Christian this morning? Simply because you're sitting in your unbelief.

45:25 You don't believe Almighty God has a controversy with you. You don't believe that hell is open and yawns and cries to consume you in your state of rebellion and impenitence. You don't believe that Christ is a willing and an able Savior. You don't believe that the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ to all who will throw themselves upon him in repentance and faith.

45:52 It's your unbelief. So I call upon you today to turn from unbelief and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. May God grant that the Holy Spirit who wrote this word to those Hebrew Christians will write it upon our hearts and God willing, tonight we shall focus our attention upon verse 13, a means prescribed. By what means can we be kept from the evil heart of unbelief?

Prayer and Concluding Remarks

46:21 Verse 13 is a beautiful description. And then verse 14, the motive by which all of this is enforced, the tremendous issues at stake. May the Lord take this portion of his word and make it profitable to each of us. Let us pray. Lord, we tremble when we read in Scripture of the many who began, but who never finished. Oh, God, if there is any here this morning so foolish is to think that he or she has what it takes in and of himself so that watchfulness is no longer necessary. Have mercy upon such a deluded mind and heart. And oh, Lord, we pray that you will write upon our hearts this sober warning and by your grace and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, that it may be effectual as part of that means.

47:30 By which the Lord Jesus preserves his own. We thank you for him who is the mediator of the new covenant, able to save to the uttermost those who come unto you by him. May he by his own spirit seal the word to our hearts and give us grace to walk in its light. And for this, we shall thank you in his worthy name.

47:53 Amen.