Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Hebrews 3:12-19 - Can Christians Lose Salvation?

Transcript

Hebrews 3:12-19 - Can Christians Lose Salvation? · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Good morning, faithful listener, is This is Jen
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: with the Bible Explained Podcast. Today. We're in the Book
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of Hebrews and we're specifically in Hebrews chapter three, finishing
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: out this chapter. We've been in this chapter for a
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: few days now, for about a week, and one of
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the things that I alluded to last week was Hebrews
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: potentially teaching that you can lose your salvation. So I'm
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: going to get more into why I don't believe that
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Hebrews teaches that in today's episode. And if so, if
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Hebrews is not teaching that you can lose your salvation,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: what is Hebrew's teaching here. We'll get into it in
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: a second, but before we do, here's a quick word
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: from a sponsor. Speaking of sponsored ads. You guys might
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: not know that on Fridays, I do a completely ad
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: free podcast episode and it's just like my normal episodes,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: except we are going through through the Book of the Psalms.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: And also I have my old music instead of the
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: new music that you guys have gotten used to recently,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: which I don't know if that's any appeal to you
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: guys or not. I did have a few people complain
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: about the new music. They just did not like it.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Whatever floats your guys's boat. I personally like the new music,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: but I digress. The Friday Podcast episodes are available to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: those who become members over on my coffee page. So
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: if you'd like to gain access to the ad free
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Friday Podcast episodes, then go over to my kofe. You'll
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: find that linked in the description of this episode and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: upgrade from being a faithful listener to a faithful member.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: All right, let's go ahead and read Hebrews three twelve
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: through nineteen. I'm very much looking forward to talking about
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: this episode because I think a lot of people really
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: misunderstand what's being said here, myself included. Actually, I have
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: a note taking Bible that I've had since twenty eighteen.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: It's my favorite Bible on the planet, and I use
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: it all the time, and I have many notes in it.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: And if you go back and read my old notes
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: from Hebrews that I was writing down way back in
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, whatever it was, you'll see that
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: I used to believe Hebrew's taught that you can lose
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: your salvation because it's kind of what it sounds like.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: So let's get into this belief today and read Hebrews
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: three twelve through nineteen together as usual, faithful listeners, I'll
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: be reading from the web. Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: might be any one of you an evil heart of
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: unbelief in falling away from the Living God. But exhort
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: one another day by day, so long as it is
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: called today, lest any one of you be hardened by
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: If we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the end. While it is said today, if you will
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: hear his voice, don't harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: For who, when they heard rebelled? Wasn't it all of
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: those who came out of Egypt led by Moses, with
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: whom was he displeased for forty years? Wasn't it those
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness, to whom
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: did he swear that they wouldn't enter into his rest?
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: But to those who were disobedient, we see that they
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: weren't able to enter in because of unbelief. If you
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: did not get a chance to listen to the first
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: portions of Hebrews three. I do recommend listening to those
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: before you delve into today's episode only because it'll give
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: you a little bit more context as to what we
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: are talking about today. But last Thursday we discussed Hebrews
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: three seven through thirteen and how it talks about the
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit actually getting angry at the people in the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: wilderness to the point where he said, they are not
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: going to enter into my rest now. At that time,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: the rest was talking about the Promised Land, and if
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you go back and read the account of the Israelites
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: in the World Wilderness, the first generation did not enter
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: into the Promised Land because of their deep unbelief in God,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: even though they were seeing his miracles take place for
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: forty years, they just refused to believe. They didn't really
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: want any part of God. They wanted things to go
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: exactly the way that they wanted, and not to truly
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: follow what God wanted for them, even though that was
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: the better plan in the long run. And we can
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: see that now, but the people at the time they
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: couldn't see it. They could only see the problems that
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: were laying right before them, rather than seeing the full
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: picture like God could. And now we can because the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: scriptures documented everything that took place in the wilderness and beyond,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: but the people, because of their unbelief, did not enter
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: into the Holy Spirit's rest. And so now the author
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: of Hebrews is taking that story and applying it to
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the church today. He says in verse twelve, beware, brothers,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: less perhaps there might be in any one of you
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: an evil heart of unbelief falling away from the Living God.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: So first and foremost he mentions the word brothers here,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: so that means that the author is talking to the church,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: the people who live the Christian life. And he continues,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: lest perhaps there might be in any one of you
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Living God. But exhort one another day by day, so
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: long as it is called today, lest any one of
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Now we
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: talked about these two verses on Thursday as well, But
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: essentially what the author is saying is that you need
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: to change your heart today, as long as it is
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: called today, because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: You do not know what the next second is going
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: to hold, let alone tomorrow. So right now at this
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: very minute, change your heart from a heart of unbelief
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: to a heart of belief. It's an urgent call to
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: every single person that says that they are a Christian.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: And then he continues in verse fourteen, for we have
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: our confidence firm to the end. While it is said today,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: as in the rebellion. So that is where a lot
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: of people are like, oh, you can definitely lose your salvation,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: because he's clearly talking to Christians here. He's clearly saying
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: that the only way you can truly become saved is
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: if you hold your confidence of Jesus to the very end.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: So if your confidence shakes at any point in time
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: on who Jesus is, that means that you lose your salvation.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: But I'm going to argue that the author of Hebrews
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: here was not writing all this down to scare true
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: believers or to make them doubt their faith or question
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: their status as a child of God. I don't believe
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: that at all, because there's too many verses in scripture
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: that say, once we become a Christian, we are always
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: a Christian. For example, here's what Jesus himself says in
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: John chapter ten, verses twenty three through thirty. It was
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: winter and Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: The Jews therefore came around him and said to him,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: how long will you hold us in suspense? If you
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: are the Christ? Tell us plainly, Jesus answered them, I
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: told you, and you don't believe the works that I
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: do in my father's name. These testify about me, But
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: you don't believe because you are not of my sheep.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: As I told you, my sheep hear my voice, and
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: life to them. They will never perish, and no one
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: will snatch them out of my hand. My father, who
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: has given them to me, is greater than all. No
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I and the Father are one. And then immediately after this,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: if he keep reading, it says the Jews tried to
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: stone him. So anybody that says that Jesus did not
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: claim himself to be God have never read the Gospels.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I mean that was very clearly Jesus saying I am God.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Anybody that says that I and the Father are one,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: you would know without a shadow of a doubt that
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: person is saying I am God. So yes, Jesus did
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: in fact call himself God. Okay, But going back to
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the original point, Jesus told the Jews that he was
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: the good Shepherd and that those who believed in him
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: were his sheep. And these sheep knew his voice, and
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Jesus knew the sheep. And he also says, right here,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: I give eternal life to these sheep. They will never perish,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: My father, who has given them to me, is greater
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: than all. No one is able to snatch them out
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: of my father's hand. I and the Father are one.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: So these people who believe in Jesus, he says, they
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: have eternal life and no one is able to snatch
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: them out of my hand. That right there proves, and
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I mean this is Jesus himself speaking. Jesus told us,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: once you become saved, you cannot become unsaved. No one,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: not even yourself, can snatch yourself out of God's hand.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Like you're always gonna be part of that sheep fold
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: when you become saved. And there's other verses that prove
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: this as well. For example, first Peter one three through five.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Here's what Peter says, the main disciple of Jesus, blessed
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: who according to his great mercy, caused us to be
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: born again to a living hope through the resurrection of
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ from the dead, to an incorruptible and undefiled
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: inheritance that doesn't fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: who by the power of God are guarded through faith
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: So that's another verse that shows that this salvation we
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: inherit is incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Anybody who has faith in Jesus, true faith in Jesus,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: has this salvation. We become part of that sheep fold
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: that Jesus was talking about. And we know that the
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Bible does not contradict itself, It never contradicts itself. So
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: then what is Hebrews three talking about here? Well, in
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: order to understand that a little bit better. We actually
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: have to move a few chapters over to Hebrews six
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: and read verses four through six. Here's what this says
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: for concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and tasted the good work of God and the powers
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: of the age to come, and then fell away, it
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: is impossible to renew them again to repentance, seeing that
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: they crucify the Son of God for themselves again and
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: put him to open shame. And at this point you
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: might be like, jen, how does that prove that people
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: don't lose their salvation? Because it sounds like it's clearly
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: talking about people losing their salvation there. But let's read
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: it again and see the verbiage that the author uses here.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: He says concerning those who are once enlightened and tasted
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit and tasted the good work of God and
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: the powers of the age to come. The author is
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: not using language there that denotes a true salvation. He
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: keeps using words like you tasted the heavenly gift, you
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: tasted the good work of God. Or you partook of
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. Those words indicate dip your toes in
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: the water, but not fully getting into the water. Basically,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: somebody who goes to church kind of partakes of everything
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: you know, understands the message of the Gospel, might even
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: believe that Jesus exists, might believe that God exists, but
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: never truly come to that moment of surrender and faith
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: in who Jesus is, That is who this verse in
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Hebrews is talking about here people who dip their toes
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: in but never fully get into the water. In fact,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Jesus himself talks about these exact same people in three
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: parables back to back Matthew thirteen twenty four through thirty three.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I'll start with the first parable here. In verse twenty four,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: he or Jesus set another parable before them, saying, the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: seed in his field, but while people slept, his enemy
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: came and sowed darnal weeds among the wheat, and then
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: went away. But when the blade sprang up and produced grain,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: then the darnal weeds appeared. Also, the servants of the
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: householder came and said to him sir, didn't you sow
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: good seed in your field? Where did these darnal weeds
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: come from? He said to them, an enemy has done this.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: The servants asked him, do you want us to go
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: and gather them up? But he said no, less, perhaps
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: while you gather up the darnal weeds, you root up
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: the wheat with them. Let them both grow up together
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: until the harvest. And in the harvest time, I will
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: tell the reapers, first, go and gather up the darnal
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: weeds and bind them in bundles and burn them. But
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: gather the wheat into my barn. That is a story
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: of what the church is kind of like. The true
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Christians symbolize the wheat the darnal weeds, which, by the way,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: darnal weeds looked a lot like wheat, but they're useless
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: and garbage. Those weeds symbolize the people who go to
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: church have an out appearance of Christianity, might say all
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the right things, but internally they don't actually have the
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: salvation because they never truly took hold of it. They're
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: the people that Hebrew six talks about who they just
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: go to church and they dip their toes in they
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: partake of certain things. They taste of the things of God,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: but they never truly jump into the water. And what's
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: to say in the parable, Well, Jesus is going to
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: actually allow these weeds to grow up with the wheat,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: he says, because if he doesn't, the wheat might actually
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: get uprooted with the weeds when they go and you know,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: pol out all those weeds, some of the wheat will
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: also come up with it. And Jesus wants to make
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: sure that his own are not uprooted. And he might
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: be like, how is that a good thing? Though? You know,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: because Jesus is allowing these I guess evil people into
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the church. They look a lot like Christians, but they're
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: not truly Christians. Why is it that Jesus is allowing
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: these people to flourish along with the wheat. I think
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: the short and easy answer to that is it's better
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: to allow these people to be shown for who they
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: truly are, rather than immediately removing them from the church.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: I actually have an example of this from my own
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: experience years ago. In one of the ministries that my
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: husband and I are involved in. We had some leaders
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: that worked side by side with us, and these people
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: seemed fantastic, They seemed really on fire for God. They
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: seemed to feed into a lot of people at our church.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: But then a day came where somebody in our church
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: made a mistake and I use the word mistake, not sin,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: because there was no malicious intent behind this mistake. But unfortunately,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: this mistake suddenly started leaking out to every single church
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: member in our church. Not only that, there were suddenly
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: people from other churches that knew about this mistake. It
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: got spread so wide and so far it became gossip
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: and even slanderous at times, based upon a mistake that
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: really should have only been kept between two families and
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: not leaked to our entire church. But it got leaked,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: and we found out, unfortunately who leaked it, and it
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: was that same couple who was serving with us in
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: that ministry. So my husband and the pastor actually ended
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: up confronting the couple over this gossip that took place
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: that spread this so far and so wide, And when confronted,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: this couple actually left the church, and not just left
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: the church, but started spreading gossip about the church and
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: completely abandoned every person that they had previously fed into.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Like I'm talking full on ghosting these people. And the
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: reason I tell this story is because I believe it
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: connects very deeply to this parable in Matthew, and also
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: what Hebrews three and Hebrews six is talking about here.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: And knowing more about this couple that left our church,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I believe they qualify as these weeds that Jesus is
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: talking about here. But you can imagine if God had
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: removed them before their true colors are really shown, you know,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: when they were really feeding into a lot of people
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: at this church. If God would have removed them, how
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: the wheat would have also been affected by that because
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: they would have been like, oh my gosh, you know,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: this couple was so nice to me, they were so kind,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: and now they left the church, and God punished these
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: really good people because they can't see the heart. Only
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: God can see the heart. And that is why God
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: waits until the true colors are really shown before he
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: judges these people, because he doesn't want the wheat to
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: also be affected by this. But going back to Hebrews
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: chapter three, our passage for today, I believe the weeds
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: is who Hebrews three is discussed here. He says in
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: verse twelve, beware brothers, Lest perhaps there might be in
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: falling away from the Living God. But exhort one another
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: day by day, so long as it is called today,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: So don't just dip your toes in and then take
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: them back out, But hold fast to that faith you
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: initially partook of. While it is said verse fifteen, today,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: as in the rebellion verse sixteen. For who when they
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: heard rebelled, wasn't it all those who came out of
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Egypt led by Moses. So that verse right there ties
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: in perfectly to Deuteronomy twenty nine eighteen through twenty one.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: You know, God led his own people out of Egypt
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and into the wilderness, and it was those people, the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: people God called his own, that turned their backs on
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: him and rebelled against him. Starting in verse eighteen, lest
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: there should be among you, man, woman, family, or tribe
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: go and serve the gods of those nations, lest there
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: should be any among you a root that produces a
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: bitter poison. And it happened when he hears the words
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: of this curse, that he blessed himself in his heart, saying,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I still have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: of my heart to destroy the moist with the dry.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Yahweh will not pardon him. But then Yahwe's anger and
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: curse that is written in this book will fall on him,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Yahweh will set him apart for evil, out of all
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: the Covenant written in the Book of the Law. So
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: it is not enough to just call yourself a Christian.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: The Israelites believe they were good if they just called
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: themselves Israelites, if they said, oh, yeah, I'm a child
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: of God. They believed that that was enough to get
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: them into Heaven. But it is not enough to just
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: be a Christian in name only, because what happens to
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the Israelites who did the exact same thing here. It
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: says in verse nineteen that they were blessing themselves in
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: their hearts, and they were saying, I have peace though
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: I walk in the stubbornness of my heart. But it
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: says in verse twenty that God is not going to
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: pardon those people. It didn't matter if they were Israelites,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: if they called themselves children of God. What mattered was
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: their hearts. And that's the same thing for Christians today.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if you call yourself a Christian. That
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: means absolutely nothing. It's what your heart truly believes. Are
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: you going to be a weed that Jesus talks about
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: in that parable that springs up among all the beautiful
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: wheat and you look like a piece of wheat, you
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: act like a piece of wheat, but deep down inside
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: you're actually a weed because you don't believe the words
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: of Jesus. Don't be those people. That is what Hebrew's
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: chapter three is talking about here. Don't be a weed.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: In fact, going back to Hebrews three, verse sixteen, for
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: who when they heard rebelled, wasn't it those who came
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: out of Egypt led by Moses? With whom was he
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: displeased for forty years. Wasn't it those who sinned whose
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: bodies fell in the wilderness, to whom did he swear
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: that they wouldn't enter into his rest? But those who
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: are disobedient, we see that they weren't able to enter
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: in because of unbelief. So this is not talking about
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the Christians. This is talking about the people who claim
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Christianity but do not actually believe in Jesus. They might
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: be going to church, they might be saying all the
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: right things, they might even be doing great things in
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Jesus's name, leading ministries, teaching people what the Bible says,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: but deep down inside, all they're doing is tasting the
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: good things of Jesus, not actually jumping in. And that
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: is who Hebrews is warning here the people who are
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: the weeds. Don't be a weed. Don't be somebody that's
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: just going to church because you think that's the right
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: thing to do. Change your heart today. Don't wait, you
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen a second from now.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Change your heart while you still have time. Become part
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: of that sheep fold and not just a fake imitation.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Now on Thursday, we're going to jump into Hebrews chapter four,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: and Hebrews four talks a little bit more about this topic. Actually,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: So on Thursday, what I'd really like to discuss with
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: you guys is how you know if you're truly saved,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: because there's probably a lot of people out there that
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: think kind of like the Israelites did in the wilderness,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: where they're like, oh, I'm good because I do such
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: and such, or because I claim to be a child
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: of God, or because you know, I do all of
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: these good things. So we're gonna talk about how do
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: you truly know that you are a Christian? So we're
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: gonna delve into that topic on Thursday, and I hope
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: that you guys tune in to discuss it because I
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: think it's a really important thing for all of us
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: who claim to be Christians to discuss and to think about.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: So we're gonna get into that on Thursday. But faithful listeners,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: before I end today's episode, here is another word from
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: a sponsor. Okay, as you guys can tell, I'm very
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: passionate about the Book of Hebrews, but we're also really
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: cooking in the Old Testament as well, and tomorrow we're
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: gonna be discussing Hezekiah, King Hezekiah and how he goes
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: through this illness that almost takes his life. We're gonna
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: see how God responds to Hezekiah's prayer and what Hezekiah
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: does after he prays to God. And unfortunately, Hezekia does
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: not do the right thing. Shocker, because none of the
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: kings in the history of Judah, it seems like, ever
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: do the right thing. But we're going to delve into that.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: So there's good things happening in the Old Testament as well.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: So I hope to see all of you guys tomorrow
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: six am or whenever you choose to wake up and listen.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: So faithful listeners, I hope you all have a wonderful,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: wonderful rest of your day until tomorrow, happy listening, and
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: God bless. I just want to take a second to
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: go to lifeudio dot com, you'll find dozens of other
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.