BELEAGUERED BOOK: BENIGN OR BECKONING
#494 BELEAGUERED BOOK: BENIGN OR BECKONING
Scripture Hebrews 3:7-19; 4:1-2, NIV Orig. 5/5/1968
Rewr. 1/4/1991
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Passage: Hebrews 3:7-19 7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”[a]
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”[b]
16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Hebrews 4:1-2 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.[a]
Purpose: To share a word with my people encouraging them about the place of God’s Word in our lives for this new year.
Keywords: Bible Word of God Truth
Timeline/Series: New Year, Other
Introduction
In a final word relative to the just passed Christmas season, Martin Luther, in his writings, attributed to the Bible an additional title of “Manger of Christ.” In fact, the reformer stated that in the very same way that the shepherds and wisemen encountered God’s incarnate Word, His living, expressive Word, so are we to do. They journeyed to a Bethlehem stable to see the baby Jesus, but if they saw the incarnate Word, they did so through the eyes of faith.
Luther says so can we encounter this incarnate Word. The difference by his definition was that they (shepherds and wise men), encountered the Word upon a “manger of straw.” We encounter Him in a manger of paper and print that is called The Holy Bible.
The Bible is one of three things to every American today. Either, it is to be believed as the Word of God, or, it is a book of myth and is subject to disbelief, even ridicule.
I suppose it boils down to one simple question: When was the last time you opened the Bible for the Word of God to speak to you about the way you are living your life? If we are serious about our faith, we are committed to this Word regularly addressing the way we live our lives. We are not talking about the Daily Bible Reading here, we are talking about the impact of the revealed word upon the way we live. So, our text teaches us.
I. The Message of the Bible is First [a Confirmation] of Sin. V12, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”
It has been man’s most definitive struggle. Many have changed from the creation myth to the evolution myth to get away from the Adam myth. Myth, by the way, does not mean untruth, it means unproven, what is legendary. The Psalmist reminds us that there is no escape. Psalm 53:2 “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back, . . . there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” The cry of the prophets has been the same in every age. Isaiah 59:2, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God.”
The New Testament defines this struggle in relation to Jesus. John 1:10, “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” John 3:19, “This is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light.” This verse expresses our contempt. We choose to say “better than light,” as if we enjoyed a polarity of good and evil. We do not walk a line between good and evil. Without God’s intervention, the very best we can do is evil, sin.
II. The Bible then Brings Us to the Declaration of Personal Guilt. V13, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
Clearly, it was the primal struggle as presented throughout the Old Testament. The Bible is the gradual unveiling of divine mysteries to carnal minds. For early man, so much was beyond him that gods were necessary, even those of his own making. For contemporary man, so much is beneath us, that these derived gods only complicate our lives.
I listened to debate about AIDS research. Why?? More is spent on this because of the homosexual lobby. Other needs more pressing. AIDS can be cleared up in one generation by obedience to God’s laws, standards, about human sexuality.
The word for evil, v12, is the origin of our pornography. It derives from the noun, ponos, meaning labor, pain, sorrow.
We are impelled in this struggle with personal guilt to help one-another. Interestingly, the word “exhort” is used. Exhorting to many of us is preaching. And, we don’t want to be preached to. We want to be consoled, not confronted. Some of you are in such a position of trust with others that you can exhort. It’s to share positive faith. It’s to call to mind a choice not taken. This is the verb form of the word designation given by Jesus to the Holy Spirit. John 14:16, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.”
It is imperative that we take the Bible message seriously. Sin is more than a humanity thing, it is a people thing, a personal thing. I am to let it speak to me about my life. I am to be willing to let others draw from me wisdom if they will. [Overheard]: Customer “Why are you wearing that large cross?” Carhop “You think it’s pretty?” Customer: “Do you know what it means?” Carhop: “Well, no!” Customer: “2,000 years ago a man named Jesus died.” Carhop: “Huh! . . . I saw it and I liked it!”
III. The Bible Affirms Forgiveness as a Human Right. V7, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.”
To whatever degree we have rebelled, repentance is an option. Not a derived right of time, place, position. A delegated right of mercy. To whatever degree we turn, exactly in that same degree we must return. The prodigal went to the far country, it was from the far country he turned. It was to his fishing that Simon went after crucifixion, from it he turned. What ever it is that we have taken up to leave Christ behind, we must put away.
A girl of about nine with small brother boarded a bus. “Two tickets to Hamilton and two to come back,” she said. The driver bantered, “So, you want to come back?” “Yes,” she said, “we want to come back!” “Then, why are you going away?” he asked as he punched her ticket.
Most of us want to come back, but many never make it.
We cannot read this book without that affirmation of forgiveness ringing out of every distress. I don’t remember whether it was Charlie Brown or Linus. It probably wasn’t Lucy. “We were singing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ when all of a sudden it hit me, Jesus loves ME, completely worthless ol’ me.”
IV. We Come Finally, then, to the Verification of Personal Salvation. V14, “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end . . . . Today . . . harden not your hearts.”
The difference in the lives of people in this room is at the point of personal faith. For Charlie Brown? The sudden discovery. The realization that we have left behind what is most important. We want it back.
Luther’s realization that he was holding in his hands the certification of the very BEING of God. Sure, it can be abused. The chances are far greater, that the real abuse comes in dispelling this book. Take it seriously, for a change. Read chapters 3 and 4 [of Hebrews] daily. Meditate an hour every Saturday or Sunday.
This book wants us to know that we can be at peace with God. If it doesn’t do that for you, find out why. If it does, share it with others: exhort.
Conclusion
The poet, John Masefield, does some exhorting in the poem, The Everlasting Mercy, about a simple Quaker girl who brings the gospel into a pub and shares it with a drunken poacher named Saul Kane. Masefield describes what next takes place in Kane’s new world. “O glory of the lighted mind. How dead I’d been, how dumb, how blind. The station brook to my new eyes, Was bubbling out of paradise; The waters rushing from the rain Were singing Christ is risen again. I thought all earthly creatures knelt From rapture of the joy I felt.”
Links:
Masefield: http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/john_masefield/poems/15268.html