Harden Not Your Heart

Thanks. Amen. And we're so glad to have you tonight with us at Lighthouse. We're going to open in a word of prayer. And then after we pray, we just always like to do this for our Thanksgiving time of year is just give folks a chance to give thanks for maybe something God's done in your life, maybe something you're thankful for. Maybe you're having some guys coming around with a microphone and you could share a blessing, something God's done in your life. And so let's open in a word of prayer as we begin this evening. Ask Brother Aaron if you could open us in prayer tonight. I just want to give praise to the Lord. And so I'm going to start over here on my right side, but maybe you're here tonight and maybe, Ty, if you want to come over here and give, we'll just cover this kind of half over here to let these guys go first. But maybe there's something that you just want to give thanks for. I appreciate that song. Give thanks.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5-20, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, yeah, we'll start over here. I just want to say I'm very thankful that my job has given me Sundays off, that I can start coming every Sunday. I've been coming for a whole year now. And I'm able to attend like the men's conference and other activities that the church does.

So instead of just being a Wednesday night only, I've been able to come and bring my family for the whole kit and caboodle, basically. Awesome. Great. Praise God. Thank you, Ben. Awesome.

You better raise your hand, Logan. I am beyond and extremely grateful for my amazing wife. And how many weeks has it been now?

Oh, man, at least two. They're still smiling. This is good. I like it. I love these guys. I also wanted to say I'm very thankful for you, Pastor, just being patient with us and counseling us through the whole engagement and dating process. Just to thank you for that. Amen. Well, I love you guys, man. And it's just a joy seeing young hearts that are teachable.

And so we love Logan and Kristen. Something you're thankful for. I just would like to say I'm thankful for a lot of the younger moms who have younger children like I do, because we get to get together and they get to play, but we also get to talk and kind of connect and agree on things, which is nice. So, yeah, that's what I'm thankful for. Awesome. Good. I just was sick this September with a tick-borne disease and I was in the hospital and I received a lot of prayers and encouragement from the people in the church. And so I just wanted to thank the church for all those prayers and to the Lord for helping me get back to better health. Yeah. Amen. So good you're doing better, Mike.

Yeah, right down front. I first want to say I thank God Jesus for his death on the cross and him taking on all of our sins. I am also grateful for my daughter, Jalen, that has decided to surrender her life to the ministry.

She doesn't know how much that means to me. I am just forever grateful for our church. This has been a very long season for Rob and I, and whenever we've needed anything, it's always been there. I don't think that in the two years that, now two years, wow, that the Lord has been lifting us up and fighting this cancer with us. We haven't gone without a meal when we needed a meal and I have not gone without a ride when I need a ride. And I can tell you that when I say I feel prayed for, I promise you, I really mean I feel prayed for.

I just, I can feel it deep within me and I know that my church, my family, this body of Christ is interceding for me and I am just, grateful is not even a big enough word. We love you Beth and Robin. Sitting behind them there, Ken and Sue are such a blessing. He always says they're like parents to me. Yeah, yeah, you have a good mom but your dad's a little questionable back there. Y'all keep an eye on him over there.

Sorry, Rob, go ahead. I just want to second that and I couldn't have done it without the church because it's not easy and, you know, thank the Lord for his grace as well because I need lots of it. Amen.

I thank the Lord for my salvation and thank the Lord for the classes that we have here. The marriage class has been helping. First time in over 10 years that I have all three of my kids locally now. And I have a new granddaughter. Amen. Amen.

Beautiful little girl too. That's awesome. That's awesome.

Anybody else on this right side? I'm very grateful for this church and Pastor Josh and all the wonderful teaching that we receive. It's just incredible. And I'm thankful that my husband still remembers me. But the biggest thing is the absence of fear. With all that's going on in our personal lives and in the world about us, when fear creeps in, you know, there's but God.

And it just evaporates. And that peace that passes all understanding that comes only from God is just something I thank and praise him for. Amen. Thank you, Carolyn. We love you and Jerry.

Hi. First, I want to just say I'm so thankful that God's never took his hand from me, no matter how much I fail him. He's always there lifting me up. And I want to thank the church for all your prayers. It's really helped and kept me from not getting into a deep depression and not having that fear, knowing that I'm going to go I'm going to be I'm going to be OK. It's going to take time, but I'll be OK. And I'm thankful for you, Pastor. Thank you for your shepherding, teaching me how to pray and making that that I know that that's you know, that's an important part.

I've been in many churches and that was never, ever, you know, taught or made important. And I'm thankful for my family. I have sisters that they're always there, always supportive. I have friends here that are I just love deeply and they're always there for me.

And I'm like that. I can feel the prayers. So thank you all very much. Thank you, Theresa.

Better standing up. I'm not a member of this church. I've been a Christian, go to Crestview Baptist Church in Trotwood, been there since 1958. Carl is my brother and Dinah is my sister in law. But I want to thank you, Pastor.

I love you dearly. I thank this church for everything you have done for Dinah. She's had a rough physical year. She's had surgery. She's had a heart. What do you call it, Dinah?

Face maker. She's been to the doctor many times and you people have taken her. You've brought them food. You've cleaned their home. Thank you, church. That's what a church should be. And I thank you for your leadership. I thank you for your love.

And when you love them, I feel like you love me. I may not be here, but I'm part of this family. And Pastor Josh knows that we visited here for quite some time because we almost came back, came to your church because we live in Centerville now. And for us to drive to Trotwood is about a 45 minute drive.

But you know what? God is with us everywhere we go. And we're thankful for his love, his forgiveness, his mercy. And thank you for reaching out and caring for my family. I love you all. We love you too. It's good.

Everybody else over here. We keep those mics on. We don't need to mute them. Just keep them on. Thank you.

Yeah, I can't. I got a minister here to pray for my knee and my hip, but there's no pain anymore. Amen. It's good to be pain free. Everybody else over here. Raise your hand. I just want to thank the Lord because my husband went through cancer this year.

He's had 40 radiation treatments, but his levels are low now. So I want to thank the Lord for that. And I also want to thank the Lord for the Senior Center because the ladies that are there, some of them, Pam King especially. I was told telling them that I like to get to a church that's closer to home.

And she suggested this one. And I'm so thankful because it's a wonderful church. And you are too, Pastor Josh.

Thank you for your kindness. We're so glad to have you here. I'm thankful for my family and as well as this new family at this church.

Thank you, Bob. I'm also thankful for this church and the ministry outreach. All of the outreaches they have, especially as a college student to Cedarville and Central State and Wright State especially. And I know my parents are really, really thankful to when I left college to know that I would be in a Bible preaching church.

Sierra. I'm not from this area. I'm from northern Ohio and I'm just thankful for all the work that God's doing. You know, I was reading in scripture today about how he desires for the church to be one. And I listen to you guys online and I'm very active in my community. But one thing that I see this year is in my own personal life, there's been times when God has said no and I don't understand why. And this past year, he opened up an opportunity for my community and all across Ohio. It's this thing called Lifewise Academy.

I don't know if you guys have it around. But it's being able to preach the gospel in the school during school hours. And if you have questions, you can see me afterwards.

But it is legal and you're allowed to do it. And I got a degree, a master's degree in education, and God brought me home to homeschool my kids. And this past year, Lifewise kept asking me, would you please consider being a teacher?

And this year I said yes. And it's been awesome. In my classroom, I have 50% of my students who don't go to church and don't know the Lord. And it's awesome to go in every single week to share the gospel of Jesus and to pray over them. Amen. That's awesome.

Thank you. We're able to do a couple Bible studies and we launched seven in Chillicothe. And we have a couple going on here. And I know one week in Chillicothe we had over 500 public school students in a Bible study that week and just see many of us come to Christ and just some awesome opportunities for sure. Anybody else over here?

Well, thank you so much. I asked Alex if he could preach tonight. Actually, Alex, I said, which one of you guys want to preach?

And Alex was like… So he's always with the kids. And I'm so proud of Alex and he's such a blessing. He has a real heart to study the Word of God. And if you've been in his class, he's a really knowledgeable guy, really has a love for the Word, a love for people, and so looking forward to hearing him tonight. Today we are going to be in the book of Hebrews.

And if you know anything about me, that might make you laugh. I love the book of Hebrews. I taught probably 20 lessons on it in a Sunday school class. It's one of my favorite books in the entire Bible. You're going to read Hebrews chapter 3. We're going to read verse 15, but we'll actually be going from verse 7 down to 19. So we're going to read Hebrews 3.15. If you want to stand on to the Word of God, we can do that.

We'll get moving. Hebrews 3.15 says this, it says, While it is said today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the opportunity to be here tonight. Thank you, Lord, that we can rub shoulders with the saints. Thank you that we can come and gather in this house. God, we pray as we come before you today that our hearts would be open, that we wouldn't be hardening them, that we'd be open to hear what you have for us. God, I pray if there's anyone who doesn't know you today, they wouldn't hard their heart.

In Jesus' name. You may be seated. Thank you. Now, up until the last couple years, I can tell you I was not much of a reader. Growing up, I hated reading. I would purposefully look up cliff notes, spark notes, whatever you call them. Whatever got me out of reading, I was all for it. And in probably the last three or four years, I've grown to love reading quite a bit, if it's nonfiction. I still don't like fiction books.

I know I'm a weirdo. But I read a great biography about Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and I want to bring this to your attention. During December of 1849, there was an outbreak of fever at the New Market School. The school was temporarily closed, and Charles Spurgeon was sent home. It was during Christmas season. Now, according to his own testimony, he wrote in his own autobiography, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning while he was going to go to a certain place of worship, he could have missed his own salvation.

It says, I turned down a side street and came to a little primitive Methodist church. In that chapel, there were only a dozen or 15 people. Now, that day, the minister didn't even show up.

I suppose he was snowed in. And at last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, a tailor of something of that sort, went up to preach at the pulpit. It's not about me.

I know I'm thin. It's about Charles Spurgeon, anyway. So while he went in, this Charles Spurgeon is only 15 years old, and he knew he was lost. And this preacher got up, and he was obliged to stick to his text for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text came out of Isaiah 45, 22.

This is what it said. It said, Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth. You read the rest of the verse, it says, For I am God, and there is none else. Salvation may visit people when they're away from home. It may be when their pastor's not even preaching. But how will you respond if God is calling out to you?

Regardless of where you are, of what's going on, if God's voice is calling out and asking you to do something, how do you respond? Now, with that in mind, we're going to get back to Hebrews 3. Now, if you're familiar with the book of Hebrews, the theme of the book is that Christ is better. All right, say it with me. Christ is better.

That's right. Now, Christ is better than a bunch of different things, but in chapter 3, you hear specifically how Christ is better than Moses. Now, if you're talking to Hebrews, Moses is a big deal, so Christ being better than Moses is quite the claim. Now, that's how chapter 3 starts, but as you continue, there's a warning passage given to these Hebrews. There's a passage that warns them not to go down the wrong path, and that's where we start out in verse 7. Now, we will not get very far into verse 7 before we have to take a detour, but as verse 7 comes up, I want to show you something.

This, by the way, this section I call the history of unbelief for the Jewish nation. Now, the very first word is wherefore. We already have to pause. When you see the word wherefore or therefore, do you know what you need to do? You need to go back, and you need to go forward, because it connects two things. Now, knowing that, that it connects two things, that you go back, you go forward, you also need to note in Hebrews chapter 3 that everything right after that in verse 7 through 11 is in brackets.

So real quick, what I want you to do is I want you to cover that with your hand. We're going to read verse 6. We're going to read wherefore, and then we're going to read verse 12. We're not going to read what's covered in brackets yet. We are going to read it, but not yet.

Here's what it says. It says, But Christ, as a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of our hope firm unto the end, wherefore, that's verse 7, now we're jumping to 12, wherefore take heed, brethren, lest there be in you, in any of you, an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Now verse 7 through 11 is going to give the history of how that's been played out, but that's the charge. Knowing who Christ is, knowing what your faith is, what it's in, take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Now the author of Hebrews needs you to know that faith, although many people will say they have it, there are some faiths that do not save you. There are things like dead faiths, and there may be some that seem to be alive but are not. Now in a room this size, there is bound to be at least one person who does not truly know the Lord.

Maybe you know you don't know him, or maybe there's a still small voice somewhere back there saying, hey, this isn't right. In verse 7 through 11, we're going to get into how he looks at this history of unbelief. It says, wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, today if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

In the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me and proved me, and they saw my works forty years, he says, wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said they do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways, and so I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. Now if you're really familiar with this passage and with the Old Testament, you'll recognize this is almost a direct quote from Psalm 95. So if you open your Bible to Psalm 95, you'd read the first six verses, and you'd be like, okay, where's this quote at? And then you'd see verse 7 through 11, and both Hebrews and Psalm 95 are just about identical. Now in Psalm 95, the psalmist opens it up, and the chapter's telling Israel about their need to praise and worship God.

Well, that's fitting. It's Thanksgiving week. We're going to praise God.

We're going to thank him for what he does. But it doesn't stop there. It talks about seeing God's magnificence, being their God, the creator, and right before it gets into this section, it talks about God being their shepherd, the one that's leading them. And then it says the same thing that you just heard. Today, if you hear his voice, pardon not your hearts, as in the provocation.

That's what it says. Now it's interesting that that's where that goes. And his point, if you follow it the rest of the way down through verse 11, he gives this call for people to have faith in God, and this faith to be expressed in righteous attitudes and actions. He calls them not to fall into a hardened heart. Now this call of action is don't harden your heart in unbelief, or you will miss the spiritual rest. In the New Testament, do you guys know what the spiritual rest is? Who do we find rest in?

In Jesus Christ. Now if you're familiar with Hebrews 4, it's all about the Sabbath, the rest. And he plays through that to show that Jesus Christ is ultimately that rest.

But even in Jesus' own ministry while he was alive, think of Matthew 11, 28 through 30. He says this, he says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Now as you understand that this is what's going on in Psalm 95 and that Hebrews is calling back to that in some way, you also will understand that he says, pardon not your heart as in the provocation. That seems to be referring to something, right, as something that's already happened in the day of temptation in the wilderness. Now it is important to note in Hebrews 3, 8, the words provocation and temptation are Greek translations of the Hebrew Meribah and Massah, and that gives us clue-ins to go to Exodus chapter 17. We're going to go to Exodus chapter 17, starting in verse 1. It says, and all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and they pitched in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

That's what everybody's excited about. Let's go travel with no supplies. Wherefore, the people did chide with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, why chide ye with me?

Wherefore do you tempt the Lord? And it says, and the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses and said, wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? He says, and Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, what shall I do unto this people?

They be ready to stone me. Now, the Lord said unto Moses, he said, go on before the people, take with thee one of the elders of Israel, take thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take it in thine hand and go. Now, I don't know about you, if I see a rod, I don't see water.

And they don't see water, and that's why they're freaking out. And it says, behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, hit it, and there shall come water out of it, and the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

And he called the name of the place Masa and Meribah because the triting of Israel, triting of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, is the Lord among us or not? Seems like their faith was real strong, huh? Now, if you're familiar with the passage, God has just gotten them out of Egypt. They've already been given water once.

They've been given food. Mana has been falling from heaven. God has given them even quail, but they wind about. So if God said he was going to give it until it came out of their nose, who said God doesn't have a sense of humor? Now, in this point, again, they are doubting God. And, you know, it's important to note, every time we complain, we do so because we don't trust God. We don't trust that the situation we're in is what God wants, or if it is, then God doesn't really know it's best because this is terrible.

And every time we complain, we're saying, God, I don't believe you. Now, I think everybody's familiar with this passage. Everyone knows the story where they hit the rock and water comes out. Now, for there being a couple million Israelites at that point, that's quite a lot of water. I wonder how big this rock was. But the story actually goes deeper.

The story actually goes deeper. This is an example of the way they behaved the whole time they were in the wilderness. God, why did you bring us out here?

We're just going to die. It was pitiful all the time. They're just crying and whining. And you know what they should have done? The same thing Moses did.

Prayed to God, asked for it to be fulfilled, and watch how God works. But the problem, again, was that they did not have faith in God. Now, these people continually showed their attitudes and their actions that they did not have this faith. For those of you in here tonight, what do your attitudes show? Do we complain? Do we show faith or faithlessness? What about our actions?

What do those look like? There are many people who call themselves Christians, but God said by our actions, by our attitudes, by being a new creature is how we see who really is. Now, I'm not saying everybody who's complained isn't a Christian. I'm saying we need to not live in a way that makes us act like unbelievers. Now, I will tell you that God will not always bring you places that are comfortable. Sometimes, our faith is tested. I'll tell you just the other night, I was reading a story about a missionary in an Arab country who was killed for his faith.

It just happened. His family's still there. How would that affect your faith? Can you make it all the way to the end? Could you be one of those leftover family members, or would you be like, God, how dare you take my loved one?

How do we respond? Now, we have to remember Hebrews was written to convince these Jews Jesus is better, and specifically, he's better than going back to that broke-down, old Jewish system, which Moses is the face of. He's the giver of the law. He's the one they quote. He's the one they focus in on. And they were facing distressing circumstances.

It wasn't like there was nothing going on. Another passage, though, that seems to be tied to this would be the spies going into the land of Canaan. That passage goes through between numbers 13 and 14, but we're going to open up at numbers 13, 1, and 2 and just give what God told them. It says, And the Lord said unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel. And of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. Now, God had these chosen men. They were to look around the Promised Land for 40 days.

They are to be looking around the land, and they report back on the people, the food, the land, the cities, the strongholds. Now, before we talk into what they found, I want you to notice in the Bible, if you see 40, it's generally a time of testing. There's 40 days in the wilderness, or 40 days in spying out the land. There's 40 years in the wilderness after they fail the test. Spoiler alert. And then there's 40 days Jesus is tested while he's in the wilderness.

If you look and you see 40 come up, there's probably some testing going on somewhere. Now, let's first look at who went in as a spy. This might seem a little off-kilter, but if anyone's looking for some good baby names, got you covered. All right, the first one is Shemua. And if Shemua doesn't tickle your pants, how about Shafat?

It wasn't me. It's Shafat. There's Igal, there's Palti, there's Gadiel, Gaddy, Amiel, Sathur, Nabhi, Gul. And then there's two more.

These ones you might recognize. There's Oshia, or as we would call him, Joshua. And there's Caleb.

Now, Oshia means salvation, and actually it was later changed by Moses to be Jehoshua, which is the Lord of salvation. And so, you know, Moses got his number two guy's name wrong. So if Pastor doesn't remember your name, don't be offended.

Moses didn't remember either. All right, now, on top of that, there's also another guy named Caleb. Now, Caleb's the name of my best friend and the middle name of one of my kids. But it's been suggested that Caleb's family was now a part of Judah, but they originally were Gentiles that converted in. If you look through other passages talking about Caleb, they call him a Kenizzite.

And there are, by the only people who actually stayed faithful to God in this test were a converted Gentile and a Jew whose name meant the Lord is salvation. Pretty interesting. Now, before we get too far off kilter, we know the story. How many come back and say, no, go, don't do it? Ten. Ten come back and say, we can't do this. You know, we're gonna die.

Let's just go back. They decided it wasn't worth it. And ultimately, this is the reason they're kept out of the Promised Land for 40 years. This is the point where God says, look, if you won't go in, I won't give it to you.

Your kids can have it, and you can stay out here in the desert. And then they didn't like that, so they tried to go in without God's blessing, and of course, trying to do things without God's blessing always works really well. Needless to say, to some degree, this was kind of their final straw. It evidenced their lack of faith in God, and that's why the writer of Hebrews is addressing these Jewish Christians the way that he is. He needs them to understand they must have a full, a complete, a true faith in Jesus Christ, which brings us to the next point. We have a call to guard against unbelief. We have a call to guard against unbelief. This is verse 12 through 15. It says, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. It says, but exhort one another daily. While it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence, steadfast unto the end.

While it is said today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation. Now, the first thing you're going to see there is take heed. It's the Greek word. It's actually blopete, or as I want to read it, blopete.

It's probably not pronounced that way, but I like it. So it literally is a command meaning look out, be aware of something. And he says, what does he say to look out for? Lest there be an evil heart of unbelief. So he says, keep a close look at your own heart. Now, we're going to run into a problem very quickly. Jeremiah 17, 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?

Ah, drat. We're in trouble. But really what he's saying is this.

Here's his point. It's 2 Corinthians 13, 5. It's examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith.

Prove your own selves. Know not your own selves, how that Christ is in you, except you be reprobates. Now, what can cause our hearts to be deceived or hardened?

What can cause your heart to be deceived? Sin. Verse 13 notes that. As verse 13 comes up in Hebrews 3, here's what it says.

Hebrews 3, verse 13. It talks about there being the deceitfulness of sin. Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

It's absolutely vital if you are a Christian and you're constantly supposed to be removing sin and replacing it with godliness. You're supposed to be getting rid of the bad, putting in the good. And unfortunately, we have a flesh that likes to get the bad every so often, and we have to beat that and say, no, stop it, let's do the good.

Let's remove what's bad and bring in what's good. And if you are a Christian, you must repent and do so early and often. I have to repent and do so early and often. If you are not a Christian and you hear his voice calling you to faith, harden not your heart as in the days of the provocation.

Now, to some, this concept seems weird. Some people think this is talking about losing your salvation. Can someone depart from the living God? Can someone really be saved and then walk away? No.

Very, very bluntly, no. 1 John 2.19, here's what it says. It says, they went out from us, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us. It should be noted that apostasy in the Bible is not people leaving true faith. It's people having the full knowledge of who Jesus is without the faith to back it up. It is a head knowledge that they walk away from because the faith is not really there.

So let's be specific. This is not a new phrase. Hebrews is not the only book that talks about things like this. Look at how Jesus talked.

John 8, 30 through 32. As he spake these words, many believed on him. Fantastic. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Great. Yeah, they're ready to kill him by the end of the chapter. Same people. They heard something they may have agreed with.

They had the intellectual knowledge of it. They didn't have a saving faith. Paul said it. Colossians 1, 23. It says if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, he says whereof I, Paul, am made a minister.

Again, grounded, settled, not moved away. If you can be moved away, if you leave the faith, you didn't have the faith. Look what Jesus talks about in the parable of the sower. We're going to first start in verse 13, 15, 16. It says, Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing, see not, and hearing, hear not, neither do they understand, for this people's heart is waxed gross, their ears are dull of hearing, their eyes have they closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes or hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Now, as you walk through the actual parable of the sower, I'm actually going to give you the Cliff Notes version where he explains where everything is.

But watch what he says. In verses 19 through 23, Christ explains the parable of the sower. There are four types of soil. Three are worthless. One is saved, but there's three kinds of saved people.

There's the 30, the 60, and the hundredfold. Now, here's how this works. You know which is alive by which one bears fruit. The author of Hebrews knows he's addressing people with at least three of these soil types. Now, the one who obviously doesn't believe is probably not in the conversation, but the other ones are, namely the stony, the weed-infested, or the good ground.

So let's walk through that. It says, when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is the seed by the wayside. That's the first one.

That's the one that's probably really not in view here. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it, yet he hath no root in himself, but dureth for a little while, for when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. It seemed like he was saved, he came to church, he was really excited, and then he was gone in a couple months.

What happened? There wasn't a genuine salvation. He also that received the seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. And nobody in here's ever got caught up in life outside of Christianity. But see, we look at it that way, but to the Christian, everything is sacred.

Everything. But he that received the seed under the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, and he beareth with much fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Now this last soil, the good ground, note the difference in how he's described from the other ones. He heareth the gospel and he understandeth it. It's not just that he heard it, because they all heard it. But interestingly enough, the Greek word for hearing can also be the same word for understanding. Did you know that? Okay, they don't use that Greek word in understanding in this paragraph.

They use a different one. So he's being very clear, all of them heard it, only the last one understood it. And the word that's translated understand here is sinemi. The word identifies one that sets or joins together two things in their mind. In other words, it's one who puts together the knowledge with something of an application of it. They heard the good news of the gospel, and they took it to heart.

They truly became a new creature. Now this word is also one that can be translated as be wise. Like I said, there's an application of what is knowledge. And it can also be an idiom for a good and upright man or one having the knowledge of those things which pertain to salvation.

So in case anyone ever wondered, is this really the only one? Well, it's the only one that understands, and that means he's the only one who puts to practice the things that he'd heard. There's an application to that salvation. So again, the writer of Hebrews is calling those reading this epistle to look out for the deceitfulness of sin that will cause many to abandon their profession, not their actual faith, but their profession, whether it is vices or worldly lust, the damage is done. But today, if you hear God calling you, regardless of if your profession wasn't real the first time, maybe the ground is now softer. Maybe you're ready to truly know the Lord. Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. Deal with it today. Final section, and I'm almost done.

I know I might be pushing my time limit. Hebrews 3, 16 through 19, it says, For some, when they heard, did provoke, albeit not all, that came out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Now, some did provoke. In the day of provocation, some provoked God by their lack of consistent faith, but this wasn't the case with everyone. It was the two people that showed that they truly believed God with the spies. Joshua and Caleb. Man, they believed God. They said, you know what, we are well able to take that land.

Let's go do it. But again, who was he grieved with? It was the same ones that he said, you can't enter. It was the same ones that believed not.

It's the same ones he said, you don't get to enter into my rest. Now, don't get me wrong. It's simple, but it's not always an easy practice. The Jews were going into the promised land, but they had to fight for the territory. They were going to fight people with probably better weapons, better defenses, and for all intents, better warriors.

If you were only looking at it from a human point of view, this does not look good. It seemed reasonable enough. They were worried about their families, their kids, their own lives. But you know what? They weren't counting on God to be the one to get them through it. That was their problem. Now, before anyone gets too fired up and they say, you know what, I would have done it.

I would have been a Caleb and a Joshua. Look, most people in here, and I'm just being honest, most people aren't even willing to go talk to your neighbor and tell them about Jesus. If you won't talk to your neighbor about Jesus, are you really going to go stand down an army?

Let's be honest with ourselves. We need to grow even in our faith. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief, and God did judge those who he killed in the wilderness, those who refused to trust God the whole way, and especially at the time with the spies. But my question for you is, what is God calling you today? What is he saying to you? Is he telling you you need to be saved? Is he telling you, you know what, you are saved, but I have a work for you. I've asked you to do this. I want you to go. I want you to commit yourself to this. If God's voice is calling out to you, if he's telling you, there's something I want you to do or something I want you to stop doing, are you ready to listen today? I'm just about done.

In conclusion, those that are told they do not get entered under arrest then and now are those who refuse to believe. Don't remain faithless, but leave here tonight believing. Tonight I want to finish up just with a quick giving of the gospel because I didn't get it in the passage, so I want to give it to you now. Mark 1.15, when Jesus was on the earth, here's what he said.

The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now, we didn't cover this in total here because the passage didn't always go directly into it, but the whole world is guilty of sin.

Many of you guys probably already know that. If you've said under pastor, there's no way you haven't heard this before. Romans 3.19 and 20, it says, Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world would become guilty before God. Therefore the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. I'm not justified on my own. Pastor's not.

Nobody here is. Here's what it says, though. For by the law is the knowledge of sin, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are separated from God because of our sin.

Yet God was not willing to leave us in a helpless estate. God became a man. That is to say, he put on flesh. He didn't give up his divinity.

He lived the perfect life. He lived the upright life that God required, and then he died in our place to pay for our sins. God accepts this sacrifice, and Christ is risen from the dead.

Romans 5, 8 through 10 talks about this. It says, but God commendeth, or proved his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life. Today, you are not a Christian. You must repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ. He lived for you, he died for you, and he rose again for your salvation. Today, Christ payment can be applied to you, but I'll leave you this one final thing.

If you hear his voice, pardon, not your heart. I don't know if we're doing any kind of invitation or anything like that, but if you feel, whether it's salvation, whether you just need to get something right with the Lord, if you need to pray, I invite you to come up. You can come to the altar and you can pray right now. If you need to be saved, we will gladly take you in a room to the side and we will talk with you. Well, thank you for that message, Alex. Wasn't that a blessing tonight, amen? And let's give the Lord a hand for his word. It's a blessing seeing these guys grow and their ability to deliver the word of God and their knowledge of the truth and we're so proud of Alex, appreciate him.

I remember when I came to Xenia, I was walking down the street. We didn't have anybody at the church, so you're out sharing the gospel in the street wherever you can and I saw two teenagers walking down the street and one was Alex and one was his buddy named Dylan. And so I said, hey, you guys got a minute?

And I sort of jogging toward them and I could tell they were wanting to run and Alex could have outran me, believe me. And I think his buddy at that time, didn't Dylan make a profession of faith at that point? And so that created a connection where his family were able to come out here and we saw several of his family members through the years come to Christ and so proud of him, appreciate him. So let's pray and we'll be dismissed. Father, thank you for this opportunity just to gather. We truly give thanks because it was your grace that introduced the gospel to our hearts. You brought salvation to us and we thank you for the men and the women in our lives who you used as human agents to deliver that weighty reality and the glory of the gospel. Thank you for just giving us hearts to believe. I pray that you would keep hearts from being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, worldly temptations. I pray you give all these families wonderful weeks with their families this week. Help us to be lights. I pray that you blessed food and the nourishment we'll have tonight and the fellowship together. We ask it all in Christ's name and God's people said, Amen.