Setting – Learning from Israel’s disobedience while in the wilderness
Content – Verse 8 is the theme of the chapter (NLT) “Don't harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested God's patience in the wilderness.” Furthermore, (v. 9 NLT) “There your ancestors tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years” and (v. 10 NLT) “So I was angry with them, and I said, `Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.'”
So we should take their example and not do the same thing (v. 12 NLT) “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.” We must exhort each believer to veer from sin (v. 13 ESV) “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”
Concluding, we want to avoid what Israel did in the wilderness (v. 17-18 NLT) “And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he vowed that they would never enter his place of rest? He was speaking to those who disobeyed him.” They didn’t enter God’s rest (v. 19 NLT) “they were not allowed to enter his rest because of their unbelief”
Application – We can learn from Israel and how God dealt with their sin and unbelief. This is the same situation in the New Testament. You can follow Jesus and enter His Promise Land (heaven) or walk in your sin and don’t believe what Jesus said and die in the desert (hell).
For believers, Christ is entrusted with all believers as Moses was entrusted with Israel (v. 5 NASB) “Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant” and (v. 6 NASB) “Christ {was faithful} as a Son over His house--whose house we are”
Content – Verse 8 is the theme of the chapter (NLT) “Don't harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested God's patience in the wilderness.” Furthermore, (v. 9 NLT) “There your ancestors tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years” and (v. 10 NLT) “So I was angry with them, and I said, `Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.'”
So we should take their example and not do the same thing (v. 12 NLT) “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.” We must exhort each believer to veer from sin (v. 13 ESV) “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”
Concluding, we want to avoid what Israel did in the wilderness (v. 17-18 NLT) “And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he vowed that they would never enter his place of rest? He was speaking to those who disobeyed him.” They didn’t enter God’s rest (v. 19 NLT) “they were not allowed to enter his rest because of their unbelief”
Application – We can learn from Israel and how God dealt with their sin and unbelief. This is the same situation in the New Testament. You can follow Jesus and enter His Promise Land (heaven) or walk in your sin and don’t believe what Jesus said and die in the desert (hell).
For believers, Christ is entrusted with all believers as Moses was entrusted with Israel (v. 5 NASB) “Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant” and (v. 6 NASB) “Christ {was faithful} as a Son over His house--whose house we are”
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