Thoughts on Hebrews - Day 9

                        
                                                  Hebrews 3:16 - 4:3

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷ And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?
¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ² For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. ³ Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

          This passage has always stuck out to me as the passage against "saying the prayer" and you are "in". After all, how many people do you know of that went forward at a revival, Billy Graham crusade, Judgement House, VBS, or some evangelistic event, and years later they aren't following the Lord? When I did youth group, I had a number of these kids. In fact studies show that at least 70% of youth group kids will leave the church after graduation. Will we see them all in Heaven, though? This passage says no. It says that the Israelites, though they put blood on the doorposts (trusted in Christ's blood for salvation), went through the Red Sea (were baptized), traveled with the Israelites under the cloud and fire (were part of the youth group), fed on manna (read their Bible) - they never really believed deep down and therefore never made it to the promised land (Heaven). Just like the parable of the wheat and tares, there are Christians and non-Christians coexisting in the Church and we can't tell who is who.

           What is it that demonstrates which are believers, those with faith, and which are unbelievers, those without faith who, although they said the prayer, went forward, got baptized, never were truly saved? Verse 2 says "obedience", those with faith obeyed. We tend to shy away from this because we don't want the grace issue to be confused - every false religion in the world teaches that obedience is the way to salvation. We as Christians know that we obey out of love for God and it honors Him who we are already in a relationship with through salvation. The fact remains that obedience is a big part of the Christian life - we are saved to obey. Paul says in Romans 1:5

"Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake..."

 It is almost as if we are saved to obey. Why would that be? I would think it is because it glorifies God. To live a life representative of His ways and His morality in a world that values self gratification is a counter-cultural lifestyle where people stop and take note of it. To remain a virgin until marriage is a rarity and dumb-founding to the world. To give up your vacation time to go on a mission trip that you are paying for is shocking. You would not believe the number of medical people that have said they wanted to go with me on a mission trip but when they count that cost, they don't. To drive a run down car so you can support an orphanage is not what the innumerable car commercials are telling you to do. To attend church every week instead of sleeping in or going to the lake is weird to the world around us. To stand up for God when it could cost you your job, position, friends glorifies God as an act of obedience to Him. I was reminded of an incident at an 8th grade Beta convention trip to Nashville where in a hotel room full of 8th grade boys, they came upon a pornographic channel. My son Brett said, "We shouldn't be watching this", and walked out. Another boy followed him. At graduation, 4 years later, the dad of the boy who followed Brett, came up to us and thanked us for raising a boy like Brett because he said his son wouldn't have had the courage to leave the room if not for Brett.

         You see, the world notices obedience and it glorifies God. Obedience is the sign that we have identified with God and left the world behind. Obedience is the sign that we have true, not fake faith. Obedience is the characteristic of wheat not tares. If you are living a life of disobedience then there is a good chance that you are identifying with the Israelites that did not make the promised land.