 and through 19, especially looking at what has been referred to as the sin of unbelief. And so as we get into the study, hopefully, we'll be able to see what that really does mean, the sin of unbelief. Beginning at verse 7 and reading to verse 19, the writer writes, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. In the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me, proved me, and saw my works forty years, therefore I was angry with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Now, with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. And so the writer is now developing something for us that he had begun earlier in the chapter. I want to pick up, as I normally do in verse six, the verse prior to what we're going to be looking at, and want to remind you of a few things, because in verse six here in chapter three, he had just spoken concerning a genuine conversion experience. He had said in verse six, Christ as the Son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. He's speaking about somebody who's actually saved, a genuine conversion experience. And he was saying that we have a relationship with God. We're now the temple of God. If we receive Christ and have a permanent change of heart. He speaks concerning holding fast there. To hold fast means to keep secured, to keep firm possession of something. And so he's writing about a genuine born-again experience. And so he's warning them, even as he's about to here in verse seven, pick up and develop that, he's warning them to make sure that they are truly saved. You see, they need to check their own hearts. And I think that's a good practice by the way, and it's something that every believer ought to be sensitive to do. Because we need to check our own hearts to see whether or not we have been born-again in the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 13, verse five. Paul said, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified? And there is this point, I believe, of soul searching. Has Christ really taken residence in my heart? Am I born-again or do I think that I'm saved because I've begun to go to church? Do I think that I'm saved because I've gone through a religious experience like baptism or something of that nature? Do I think I'm saved because I've inherited from my mom and my dad certain morals and all? Does that make me a Christian? Well, Paul would say examine your heart to see whether or not you are in the faith. In the Old Testament book of Lamentations in chapter three, verse 40, the Bible says let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord. And so there are people who attend church services and always will be people who attend your services who attend but are not born-again. Jesus actually spoke concerning this in the Gospel of Matthew and made the point that there would be many people going to church in the latter days who haven't really been saved. I want to point that to you by turning you to Matthew chapter 13 for a moment. Would you turn that with me please? Matthew chapter 13. And I want to show you this in one of the parables that Jesus gave which is called the parable of the wheat and tares. You see, in the New Testament book of Matthew Jesus gives us in chapter 13 eight parables. One of those parables is found in verse 24 following and that has been referred to as a parable of the wheat and tares. I'm not going to give you the entire parable teaching tonight but gleaned from it something to make the point that in the last days there will be many people who go to church who aren't even saved. Here in Matthew chapter 13 verse 24 it says, another parable he put forth to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while man slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? He said to them, an enemy has done this. The servant said to him, do you want us then to go and gather them up? He said, no, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, first gather together the tares, bind them in bundles, burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Jesus has given a simple parable here, the wheat and the tares. The tares look identical to the wheat until they come to full maturation. They look the same as they're growing up as they're sprouting until the very end. And then the tares, which is Darnell, which is a weed, is differentiated from the wheat. But as it's growing up together with the wheat you can't tell the difference. And in the church there are going to be those that would be referred to as wheat and there are those who are going to be referred to as tares, the tares alongside of the wheat. You can't tell the difference until the very end. You see in verse 36 it says, Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. His disciples came to him saying, explain to us the parable of the tares of the field. And he answered and said, he who sows the good seeds, the son of man, the field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. The tares are the sons of the wicked one. So even within the body of Christ in terms of the visible church, even within the church services, you will have those that Jesus would refer to as wheat. They're genuine, born-again believers, love the Lord. Many of others that have the appearance of being Christians but they are in reality tares. And so it's a very good thing for us as we turn back to Hebrews. It's a very good thing for us to be checking out our own heart. Whether or not I'm walking with Christ, whether or not I've been born-again, whether or not I've been genuinely converted because a phony often will be scattered amongst the genuine. You see a genuinely converted person can be tempted to return to the old way of life. Every born-again believer in this room runs that risk. I know I have been tempted many times over the last many years that I've been walking with the Lord to return to the old life many times. I have found myself in positions where I could make a choice. Do I want to return? Do I want to go back to what I was? Or do I want to remain faithful to Christ? Every one of us in this room has an opportunity, one time or another, probably multitudes of times in the course of a lifetime of making that choice. Do I want to return to what I was? Do I want to go back to where I was? Or do I want to continue following the Lord? The fact is a new creation remains with the Lord Jesus Christ. They will not return. They remain committed to Christ. And you see this throughout the scriptures. If you take notes, John chapter 8, verses 31 and 32, then Jesus said to the Jews that believed on him, if you continue in my word, you are my disciples indeed. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. John 15, 4, abide in me, I and you, as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abides in the vine, no more can you, except you abide in me. 1 Timothy 4, 16, take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them for in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. 1 John 2, 24, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you will remain in the Son and in the Father. There is a continuation. There's an abiding. There is a moving on in the things of the Lord. It is possible for you to be tempted and the temptation comes in a variety of ways, but it comes. It may come through disappointment. It may come through friends. It may come through a broken relationship. It may come through a disappointment in a job that you wanted to get and didn't get. It can come in a variety of ways when people are gonna be saying to you or spiritually you're gonna just have a strong urgency to move away from the Lord and move back to what you used to have. And that's a possibility and it does happen. And if I were to ask people in this room, how many of you have experienced that? I'm supposing every one of us has gone through that. Every one of us has gotten to the point where the Lord says, do you also wanna go away? That's a very common thing for that question to be given to believers. Do you also wanna go away? Am I, Jesus could say, am I turning out to be different than what you thought I was? Are you disappointed in how I'm working in your life? Did you think that when you got saved that you'd end up with that guy that you really wanted to have now that you're a Christian? Do you think that when you got saved that everything would become just perfect on the job and there'd be no more pressure now that you're a believer? Did you think that? There are so many ways that question comes. The bottom line is, is we'll hear the question but we don't respond by saying, yes I wanna go away and yes I will go away. That's the difference between the genuine and the counterfeit. The counterfeit has no root in Christ. The counterfeit has a relationship with him and therefore when pressure comes and all they succumb to it and they return to their old life. It's like the dog that returns to its vomit or the pig that returns to the mud that had been washed from. The dog returns to the vomit because by nature a dog is a dog. But a born again believer may wanna return to that mud that we used to roll around in but we can't stay there and the reason is because by nature we're no longer a pig. By nature we're no longer a dog. By nature we're new creations. And though we have disappointments and sometimes we might even succumb to temptation ultimately we will wake up to it and say, why am I here? Why am I doing this? I gotta get out of this as fast as possible and return to the Lord because God has done a work in your life. And that's how it works. And so yes it's possible for a genuinely converted person to be tempted to return to the old life. They might even go back in taste of the gutter water that they were drinking at one time thinking it was good. But they'll realize, no this isn't the way it is. I have so much more in the Lord and they won't return. And so he is saying here in verse six Christ the son of his own house whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. So it continues now in verse seven by saying therefore as the Holy Spirit says today if you will hear his voice do not harden your heart hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness where your father's tested me and proved me and saw my works 40 years. Therefore I was angry with that generation said they always go astray in their heart and they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest. And so as we begin I want to point something very briefly out to you but it's really actually very important. I want you to see verse seven how he says this. Therefore as the Holy Spirit says today if you'll hear his voice couple of things I want to point out. One is he is ascribing personhood to the spirit of God. Now that may not mean anything to you right now but the fact is is we are what are called Trinitarians. We believe in one God manifested in three persons. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity. So you have father Jesus the son and the Holy Spirit. There are those who would say that the Holy Spirit is not a person. There are some non-Christian cults that will claim that they are Christian but when asked is the Holy Spirit a person they will say no he's an energy. Jehovah's Witnesses will tell you that he is not a person but he's an energy or he's like the wind. And yet I want you to see what verse seven says it says as the Holy Spirit says now I've heard of the whispering wind but the wind really doesn't speak. The Holy Spirit does speak because the Holy Spirit is a person. A person speaks energy cannot and you see this in scripture more than once I could I could give you many scriptural incidents of this but let me give you a couple. Acts 829 the Spirit said to Philip go near and overtake this chariot or Acts chapter 10 verse 19 while Peter thought about the vision the Spirit said to him behold three men are seeking you or Acts chapter 13 verse 2 as they ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Spirit said now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So the Holy Spirit speaks the point that he's making here is that it was the Holy Spirit who inspired the psalm that is being spoken of right here. You see in verse 7 he is actually quoting Psalm 95 later on in the next chapter in chapter 4 he actually ascribes Psalm 95 to David yet he doesn't say in verse 7 therefore as King David wrote what he says is therefore as the Holy Spirit says and then he says what the Spirit had prompted David to write today if you will hear his voice do not harden your heart as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness and so the Bible the word of God is not a work of man's ingenuity it's inspired by God. In 2 Samuel 23 2 the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me his word was on my tongue. 2 Peter 1 2021 above all you must understand that no prophecy is scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation prophecy never had its origin in the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. And so he's pointing out to us that David wasn't the one who wrote that psalm David was inspired by the Spirit of God and the Spirit was speaking as David was writing and so the Holy Spirit was speaking concerning the Jewish nation and what the Holy Spirit had to say to the Israelites a thousand years earlier still applied at that time. Now notice what the Spirit said the Spirit said if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts notice how he says if you will hear his voice in other words you have the ability to hear and respond if you will hear his voice speaks about a decision of the will when the Holy Spirit speaks to me through his word I can say yes to what he's saying or I can ignore him. You know God wants to speak to us and he does so through the Bible and so even as David had been inspired by the Spirit of God to write even so the people who are reading this passage when they were reading it originally you know a thousand years after David had written it are still being addressed by God and the point he's making is you need to incline your heart towards God so that when God speaks you can receive what he has to say. You know I have four kids and as they were growing up there were times when I and I know this will surprise you when I lectured them I know that you don't think that happened but of course it did often as a matter of fact I lectured them so much it became basically just the way it was I used to take an offering after it but anyway we would speak to them I would speak to them and I would lecture them and you know just like I was with my father my kids were with me and to this day still are even as adults you know I can know when the lights are on nobody's home I know when I'm talking to them and they're not listening I know that they can nod at me and say yes and listen and all of that when in reality they're not hearing there are times when you can hear and there are times when you refuse to hear there are times when my dad would give me the lecture that he would give me when he once in a while would catch up with me and I would know when to nod my head I would know when to look sad like boy I really messed up I would know when to agree with him but I wasn't listening to a thing he was saying I was watching his mouth move like some of you are doing right now to me I would watch his mouth move but I wasn't listening and my father you know was wise enough to pick up on that and so I know that when I'm speaking to my kids there are times when I will actually say to them if you will listen you will be blessed if you're willing to hear what your father has to say I can help you because guess what I've been there I've done that I've learned and I can give you some wisdom if you're willing to hear much of the time they don't they want to forge their own testimony they want to go their own way they want to make their own mistakes from my perspective I've never seen the reasonableness of that since I got saved and since I got hold of the word of God and since I began to realize that wisdom is in multitude of counselors and sometimes God wants to instruct us if we simply would listen and that's what's taking place here he says you need to listen to what God says today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tested me proved me saw my works forty years therefore I was angry with that generation said they always go astray in their heart they have not known my ways so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest and so he uses the children of Israel as an example of those who didn't listen when God would speak they continually tested him this is what he's saying for forty years while they wandered in the wilderness you see they had been in bondage in Egypt and as they had been in bondage God had raised up to them or for them a deliverer a man by the name of Moses and God used this deliverer this Moses in a miraculous way and you know the story how that he brought through Moses ten plagues on the nation of Egypt and ultimately those plagues each one of them individually being a judgment on one of the gods the Egyptians worshiped ultimately even the death of the firstborn which resulted in the release of the nation of Israel and so after they left they began to wander and as they began to move out of the of that experience of bondage they came to a place where they were thirsty God provided water from a rock God then began to provide for them manna from heaven so that they were not hungry and he sustained them as a matter of fact he completely cared for them as they were out there in a way that they had never been cared for before Deuteronomy 295 says during the 40 years that I led you through the desert your clothes didn't wear out nor did the sandals on your feet I cared for you in every way, shape, and form that's possible and as you read that as you read how God delivered them you see that God went before them he met with them in the tabernacle he gave them his law he defeated their enemies he preserved them in every way possible yet in spite of that the history of the nation of Israel is one of continuous rebellion against God and you see it over and over and over again when it was time to bring them into the promised land once again they rebelled against him and that's when God finally judged them and dealt with them severely Numbers 14 tells us in verses 21 through 23 as surely as I live in as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers no one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it you see they got concerned because in the book of Numbers chapter 13 God had said send twelve spies one representing each of the twelve tribes of Israel send them out there into the land let them spy it from the south to the north and everywhere in between and let them come back and bring to you a testimony of what they've seen well they did they went and they spent some time there they spied it out they even brought back a cluster of grapes that was so huge that it took two men and they carried it on a on a pole and they brought it back and they said the place is incredible it is so lush and so beautiful it is unbelievable but there's a problem well what's the problem well the problem is is there are giants and we are as grasshoppers in our own sight before them they are so huge we are like grasshoppers if we go into this land and try and take it we're going to be slaughtered there's absolutely no way that we can take this land well Joshua and Caleb stand up and say listen let's take it God is on our side there's no reason why we can't take it if God goes before us who's going to stand before us we can do it but they were so upset at Joshua and Caleb they even wanted to kill him for even suggesting that they ought to trust the Lord and that's why God got so upset and he said listen you guys are afraid that your children are going to be slaughtered and die well let me tell you what's going to actually happen everyone 20 years of age and under are going to enter into the promised land the ones that you're so concerned about and everyone above that age is going to end up dying in the wilderness and they tested God rebelled against God and ultimately didn't enter into the promise because of the sin of unbelief so that's what he means in verse 11 when he says so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest well contrary to today's mentality God does not ignore unbelief and God doesn't ignore resistance God's grief at the continued disobedience became wrath at their hardness of heart and because of this he excluded them from the promised rest and therefore they did not have a permanent and safe dwelling place he said because of their unbelief they hardened themselves they're not going to enter in hardening yourself but when you harden your heart it's like a soft heart becoming as tough as beef jerky and God doesn't have entrance because we've become hardened towards him and that's why he's saying in verse 8 don't harden your hearts and he goes on in verse 9 where your father's testing me proved we saw my works for 40 years and therefore I was angry with that generation they always go astray in their heart they have not known my ways they've known the works they've seen the manner they've seen the quail they have seen the way God has gone before them protected them and provided for them in every way but they didn't know his ways and there was always going to be a difference between knowing the works of God and the ways of God the person who knows the works of God is able to recite things they've read in the Bible how that Jesus did certain works how he walked on water fed the 5,000 cast out demons healed the sick raised the dead you can speak concerning those things because you've read them in the Bible there are people who are able to speak in that way and say well I've read the scriptures and it says thus and so there are others who are not only able to speak concerning what he did but they're also able to explain why he did that and there's a difference between only being able to say well I know what he did and knowing why he did what he did as I've shared with you so many times my wife can tell you what I did but she can also tell you why I did that where many people can say well I saw Pastor Dave did this my wife can say and this is the reason why because she knows not only my works she knows my ways and there's a difference between knowing works alone and knowing the ways of God and some people are able to talk about Jesus Christ but they don't have fellowship with him and don't know the way that he really does work and why he does what he does so he goes on in verse 12 and says beware beware brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end well it is said today if you hear his voice if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion so notice this exhortation in verse 12 beware brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God remain faithful to Christ at this point don't follow the example of the faithless Israelites who died in the wilderness and didn't trust the Lord notice he speaks in verse 12 of an evil heart of unbelief that word evil speaks of that simply which is bad or wicked unbelief speaks of an absence of faith so he's saying falling away from God is a result of a sinful, unbelieving heart and he's issuing a warning against rejecting what they know is truth and as he's speaking to them he's saying listen you need to know that the things that are being spoken to you are absolutely true therefore embrace them by faith and live by them on a daily basis now if you know that the word of God is true then obey its revelation especially as it reveals to us who Jesus Christ is you see Jesus said we could actually put his word if you will to the test and discover the truthfulness of it in John 7 16 and 17 Jesus said my teaching is not my own it comes from him who sent me if anyone chooses to do God's will he'll find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own if you simply do it I'll reveal myself to you if you obey it I'll manifest myself to you there's a difference between knowing and doing you know it's not just saying the Lord Jesus Christ it's considering him to be my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ it's not the one who says it's the one who says and the one who does because the action demonstrates the truthfulness of the statement and so if I say Jesus Christ is Lord then I'm gonna live as if he is so to know what is true and to walk away from it is to forfeit the gift that God wants to give you the gift of salvation and these Hebrews who are aware of the claims of the gospel are being exhorted not to have unbelief I was talking to somebody and I've used this trip here so many times in the past but I was speaking to somebody recently and you know in churches like this if you teach long enough you can talk to the people and you can say were you here when this particular Bible study was done and then they'll answer yes I was and then I can say then do you remember when I was teaching the passage and how I was teaching this and that happens quite often in this fellowship now and so I'm able to point to previous studies or I've even gone so far as not that not that long ago I asked somebody were you in church today yes I was did you hear the message that I gave today yes I did okay then this reminds me of what Jesus said in John chapter 13 when Jesus made a simple statement found in verse 17 he said if you know these things then blessed are you if you do them it's not enough for us to simply know it's a putting into practice what God has to say and as you do that it's demonstrating a trusted the Lord and beyond that God begins to manifest himself to you through the obedience turn with me to John 14 for a moment want to show you something John chapter 14 I can still remember as a young believer one of the things that people told me that would be a necessary thing for me as a Christian as a matter of fact the day I got saved was that I should share with somebody what God had done in my life and you know I actually did that I've been doing that ever since I got saved the day I got saved I mean when I got saved I went home and actually I had I pulled up in front of my parents' house and because the day I got saved I actually had had plans to go with a friend of mine to smoke some pot and my friend lived across the street from me I pulled up at my parents' house and prior to entering into their home I actually crossed the street and went to the house of my friends because these were the people I was going to go get loaded with they were receiving a kilo a shipment from Thailand and they used to at that time ship the marijuana in stuffed animals and that was before they had dogs sniffing through everything and started catching people that way and all and so you would actually we actually would receive shipments from Thailand in stuffed animals it just would stuff the animal with a kilo of pot and they were receiving a kilo and had just received it it was December 27th and I thought that I would have a belated Christmas experience by smoking some dope and that's what I was going to do but I ended up going to a Maranatha concert and hearing the gospel and getting saved and the guy who did the follow-up was sharing with me and said to me you need to read the word of God you need to pray you need to establish relationships with Christians and you need to tell somebody what God did in your life today and he really emphasized that and so when I got home I remember pulling up there to the side of my parents' house and I climbed out of my car and I crossed the street and went up the street a couple of houses and knocked on the door and the mother of the house opened the door and I said are the kids home and she said no they're gone right now David and I knew basically where they were they were out smoking some dope and so I said well can I come in? She said yes and she had a few of the other kids who were there she had nine children and some of the other kids were there and so I walked into the house she said how are you? I said I'm fine and I began to share with the mother and I shared with the kids who would listen that this is what happened to me today and I told them Jesus Christ came into my life and all my sins had been forgiven and I'm brand new I don't really know how it works yet but I want you to know that God has done something in my life and I was amazed because I was afraid I was afraid I was very shy and very to myself and religious faith was something that you basically kept to yourself and within yourself and to actually share something like that was very hard for me to do because I'd never done something like that before and then I went across the street and I opened up the door the side door there and my parents' home and I walked towards the den and I stood at the entrance of the den well mom dad and my two sisters were watching television and that's when I said mom dad and I spoke to my sisters and I said I love you praise the Lord and I walked out and my mom freaks out and you know the rest of the story how ultimately I led them to Christ a few weeks later but my sister Madeline got saved that day and so I began to discover something about the promises of God and you see it here in John 14 verse 21 when it says he who has my commandments and keeps them it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him Judas not as scary it said to him Lord how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him I will manifest myself to him and I will abide within him listen one of the things you need to know is when you through obedience simply trust the Lord he manifests himself to you and it's just the obedience to what he says there's so many times we're afraid to step out in faith and to do what God says and it's really an unbelieving spirit that keeps us from moving forward to seeing what God wants to do you might think within yourself but there are so many other people who are so much more qualified they're smarter than I they're more eloquent than I they're better their knowledge of the Bible is better than mine it's much deeper or what happens if I begin to open my mouth and I begin to share and as I do so they ask me a question that I can't answer and I'm stumped and I make God I may make God look bad and all of that I'll tell you I was a brand new Christian I was only three years old in the Lord I'm going to a secular college and I had those doubts also but every once in a while not always not every class and not in every class but once in a while the Holy Spirit would work within me and say you need to open your mouth you need to be a witness you need to share you need to say something on my behalf and I used to just be seated there just hoping somebody else would speak and nobody else would there was just nobody else in the class would say anything and I knew that somebody has to speak somebody has to say something nobody else is and then I would just I'd take that deep breath and I would pray and then I'd say God use me you said if I open my mouth you'll fill it you said it's the Spirit of your Father who speaks in me and therefore Lord here it goes and I have to tell you there were so many times and I'd open up and I'd say this is what the Bible says or this is what Jesus Christ promised and I would say it not in Christian college in secular college and I would say this is what God's word says and as I did that you know they didn't all stand up and say praise him praise him hallelujah how can I be saved I mean they sometimes would mock sometimes they'd say things you know sometimes they'd give each other sidelong glances and make me feel stupid but I knew somebody has to stand up somebody has to trust the Lord somebody has to speak forth and I ultimately simply said well Lord if if it's not going to be somebody else then perhaps it's because it's supposed to be me and you want to know what happened guys I did not want to have a wicked heart of unbelief I wanted to speak and see what God would do I encourage you to do the same thing some of you have friends and some of you have family members who are not saved and you're not saying anything to them you're thinking well if I'm just a nice person let me tell you something if you run around as a nice person in front of your mom and your dad they're basically going to simply think they did a good job of raising you they're just going to think I did a good job it turned out to be good because I did that my mom told me one time she said you know she said something about people think that I did a good job in raising you and I said you know the Lord Jesus Christ has done a good job in changing me and that's the truth my mom poured as much goodness as she could in me but until Jesus grabbed hold of my heart none of that was going to work until the Lord grabs all of you and so when I got home I shared with my mom I shared with my dad you know I thought well even if they reject me so what? so what? their souls are worth the possible conflict and if they kick me out of the house so what? you know I'll find a place to live because I need them to know Jesus Christ and when I began to open my mouth and share Jesus manifested himself in ways to me that well to this very day he continues to do that I encourage you in the same way you see don't be caught up simply knowing what the Bible says do what it says and watch God move and you're going to start coming up after services in the morning and say to me I want you to know I opened my mouth and God used me how incredibly blessed I feel because I was able to share with my dad or my mom or my boss or a friend you know about Jesus Christ listen some of you have friends who are making decisions that are going to affect their life for the rest of their life some of you have friends that you could be counseling and sharing with and loving and helping if you would just open your mouth and tell them what God can do and they'll come up to you later on and they're going to tell you you know what I got a venereal disease I was with somebody or they're going to come up to you and they're going to say I got pregnant or I got my girlfriend pregnant or I got some girl pregnant and all along you could have spoken to them and said listen that's not the way to go you ought to be stepping away from that and walking close to God come to church listen to the word of God get right with God because there's so many of us if I were to ask you this question there are so many of us who have friends who don't know the Lord if I asked you how many of you have friends who don't know the Lord we all raise our hands I've got several people I love with all of my heart who don't know Jesus Christ and so take the chance and open your heart and share what God does and live a testimony before them and you may be surprised how God manifests himself and so he's warning them and he's saying listen don't have an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin some will think well sin isn't that serious and Jesus isn't necessary well no matter how close somebody is to come into Christ if they refuse to do so they're exhibiting an evil rebellious heart because sin deceives us into thinking we are fine without God in Proverbs 16 25 it says there is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof are the ways of death Proverbs 28 26 says he who trusts in his own hearts a fool whoever walks wisely shall be delivered now notice in verse 13 how he speaks concerning in departing he says in departing from verse 12 rather in departing from the living God he's speaking of standing off or standing aloof it speaks of rejecting Christ or having nothing to do with him and so finally in verse 14 and to the end he says we've become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end while it is said today if you hear his voice don't harden your hearts as in the rebellion for who having heard rebelled indeed was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses now with whom was he angry 40 years was it not with those who sinned whose corpses fell in the wilderness and to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who did not obey so we see they could not enter in because of unbelief the greatest proof of salvation is a continuing walk with Jesus Christ because only believers who maintain unwavering faith in Jesus are genuine notice how he says God became angry God became angry with those who left Egypt but Egypt never left them the reason their corpses littered the wilderness is because they were unbelievers and in spite of all he had done on their behalf they continued in rebellion against him unbelief one last thought about it on one occasion Jesus was ministering he took his three of his men up into a mountain and was transfigured before them and as he went up into this mountain and was transfigured before he left the others behind and they were there at the base of the hill as they were at the base of this hill Jesus and his men come down and as they come down there are some religious leaders who are actually causing problems with his disciples and so Jesus approaches them and confronts them for doing that and as he begins to deal with them a man approaches Christ and begins to speak to him and he says listen he says master I brought my son to your men my son who is severely demon possessed he says who throws himself into the water and throws himself into the fire and in other words he's being driven to death and I asked your men if they could or would deliver him and they could do nothing and so I'm coming to you now and I'm asking for you if you can do anything would you please do something on my behalf and Jesus' response to him was well if you can believe all things are possible to the one who believes and the man says Lord I do believe but help thou mine unbelief now I think that's an honest prayer I do believe it's not the things that I cling to you see unbelief is a specific religious sin I know these things but I'm not clinging to them I do have certain beliefs but it's the areas of unbelief it's the areas of not trusting you that I'm greater concerned about and therefore I'm asking you to do a work I'm asking you to do something because it's not the things I believe that bother me it's the things that I will not refuse to believe those are the things that are hurting me right now what is it in your life that God has been trying to teach you where he says when are you going to trust me in this when are you going to just release it to me and allow me to show you what I can do when it's in my possession how long are you going to hand it to me and then a couple minutes later walk up and say can I see it again and take it back how long is that going to happen when are you going to get to the point of simply saying I can do nothing I'm going to trust you and see what you will do if I yield it to you I believe very strongly that the Lord wants us to walk in faith but through that walk of faith we have many challenges the children of Israel simply refused to believe and in doing so would not trust God though he had proven himself over and over therefore God said I was tired of this I let them die because of what they said they're not going to trust me then I'll let you die now the others they clung to me they held fast to me and therefore I deliver them and so we all have options do I want to or do I want not to trust the Lord from my perspective every day I wake up and I say God help me today help me to trust you today because yesterday is gone today's the new day help me to trust you today help me to believe you today help me to hold fast to you today because I want to walk faithfully until the day comes that I see you face to face may I walk in faith every day