Perseverance (Heb. 3:14-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-20-03

 

My Worship Time:                                                                Focus: Perseverance

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Hebrews 3:14-15

 

            1.  Message of the verse:  “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.’”  (NKJV)  “For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.  But never forget the warning:  ‘Today you must listen to His voice.  Don’t harden your hearts against Him as Israel did when they rebelled.’”  (NLT)

              The writer repeats the exhortation of that in verse six.  The theme of perseverance is also repeated.  In verse fifteen the writer again quotes from Psalm 95:7-8.  The first time he used these verses he had his emphasize on the word “today” but now he has his emphasize on the word rebellion and is presenting the theme of obedience by using the opposite of that term, disobedience.  The history of this quotation is about those who died in the wilderness because of unbelief, and that means they were rebellious. 

 

            2.  Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I would guess that you could say that the theme, or at least one of the themes of Hebrews in unbelief, or a lack of faith.  Whenever I sin it is rebellion against God and it also evolves a lack of faith or unbelief.  I could say it another way and that is that I do not trust God and that is sin in and of itself. The Lord seems to be making this point more and more clear to me as I study this wonderful letter to the Hebrews.

 

The Word of God brought conviction to my heart today.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I need God’s wonderful grace to get me through this day as I work with Sandy on Dave’s room.

 

Memory verse for the week:  Romans 12:5

 

…so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Partakers of Christ (Heb. 3:14-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-18-03

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  Partakers of Christ

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                Reference:  Hebrews 3:14-15

 

            1.  Message of the verse:  “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.’”  (NKJV)  For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.  But never forget the warning:  ‘Today you must listen to his voice.  Don’t harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled.’”  (NLT)

            I believe that the writer is again talking about the rest that the people of Israel missed because they did not enter into the promised land, and if you look at that spiritually for believers in the NT you will see that we will miss the rest of walking closely with the Lord if we do not believe like those given as an example here.  The NLT shows this more clearly.  It must be noted again that the people that the writer is writing to were Jewish believers who were tempted to go back to Judaism, which is similar to those who died in the wilderness, and wanted to go back to Egypt, but God would not allow it.  Verse 15 is again a quote from Psalm 95: 7 & 8, (I believe verse 16, is from Psalm 95:8).  In this section the writer emphasizes the word rebellion (verses 15-16) while the first time he quoted this he was emphasizing the word “today.”  He presents the theme of obedience by using the opposite words to begin this theme.  The opposite of obedience is rebellion.

 

2. Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As a believer in Jesus Christ I need to learn about the warnings that the writer of this book is explaining so that I do not follow the bad examples that the infant nation of Israel followed by disobeying the Lord after the wonderful miracles that He did for them to get them out of bondage.  He did an even greater miracle to get me out of the bondage of sin, therefore I must live my life for the cause of Christ because of the great love that He has for me.

 

The Word of God brought needed teaching to me and was a wonderful learning experience.

 

 

 

Memory verse for the week:  Ehp 2:10 & Mark 12:30

 

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which He prepared in advance for us to do.

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

 

Encourage One Another (Heb. 3:13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-17-03

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: Encourage One Another

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Hebrews 3:13

 

1.      Message of the verse:  “but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”  (NKJV)  “You must warn each other every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.”  (NLT)  The writer encourages the readers of this letter to encourage and exhort one another both in their daily lives and also in their corporate worship when they met together with other church members.  The needed to exhort each other because of the persecution and also because of their temptation to go back into Judaism.  One of the reasons he was encouraging them to exhort each other was so that they would not have their hearts become hardened because of the deceitfulness of sin which he point out in the latter part of the verse.

 

2.      Spiritual meaning for my life today.  As the writer points out sin is very deceitful and if I allow myself become continually involved in sin then it will get control of my life and I will not be able to live a life for the Lord Jesus Christ and His cause.

 

The Word of God did bring conviction to my heart today.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the Lord for His success for our Bible study and also for the way Dave’s room turns out.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Ehp. 2:10 & Mark 12:30

 

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

 

 

The Heart of every problem is the problem with the Heart (Heb. 3:12)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-16-03

 

My Worship Time      Focus:  The heart of every problem is the problem with the heart.

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Hebrews 3:12

 

            1.  Message of the verse:  “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (NKJV)  “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.”  (NLT)

            I do not think that the writer is talking to unbelievers, because of using the term brothers when he starts this verse.  The picture of not entering into the rest spoken of in verse eleven, was a picture of that generation that came out of Egypt and never entered into the rest of Canaan.  There are others who would say that the writer was speaking of unbelievers.  I think that what Paul said in one of his letters about checking and making sure that you are in the faith would go along with this verse. (Last verse in 2 Cor,)  One of the reasons for this letter was to encourage these believers to continue in the faith and not go back into Judaism, as some of them were thinking about doing.  It kind of describes the generation that came out of Egypt and saw all of the miracles that God did and then when some hardships came up did not believe that God would continue to take care of them and thus they decided that they wanted to go back to Egypt.  If they did that they certainly would never have entered the rest of Canaan, and as it turned out they were not permitted to go into the promise land because of their unbelief thus missing the rest of Canaan.

 

            2.  Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The writer talks about the sin that so easily ensnares us in chapter twelve and verse one, and I believe that sin is unbelief, or lack of faith in believing that God knows what is the best for you even though it does not seem so at the time.  This is what the writer is speaking about in this verse that I have looked at today and that is what is important for me to remember that I need to continue to have faith in God that He knows what is best for me and thus trust Him completely with my life.  I must say that I fail doing that many, many times.

 

The Word of God did bring conviction to my life today.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To know that God always things in my life that are for my best interest, and that will conform me to the image of His Son.  I am to act on this faith and believe it in all of life’s events both good and bad.  (Romans 8:28)

 

Memory verses for the week:  Ephesians 2:10 & Mark 12:20

 

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

 

 

     

                                                                       

 

 

 

Do Not Harden Your Hearts (Heb. 3:7-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-15-03

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Do Not Harden Your Hearts

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Hebrews 3:7-11

 

            1.  Message of the verses:  “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, tried 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.'" (NKJV)  “This is why the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today you must listen to his voice.  Don’t harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested God’s patience in the wilderness, There your ancestors tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years.  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 in my anger I made a vow: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”  (NLT)

            I want to start out by saying that this section of Hebrews has always been very hard for me to understand, but after reading “Be Confident” by Warren W. Wiersbe, I am beginning to understand this section of Hebrews.  The section goes from 3:7 to 4:13, and he has entitled it, “Christ is greater in the rest He gives.”

            This section of verses from 3:7-3:10 are a quotation from Psalm 95:7-11 and the writer of Hebrews does right in attributing this passage to the Holy Spirit, as he begins this section.  In order to understand this section I must understand the geography of the nation of Israel at the time of their exodus from Egypt as described in the first five books of the OT. One of the key things that must be understood is the application of the word “rest” and what the writer is talking about in this section.  As I studied this section before I had always thought that the rest that the writer was speaking of is my salvation, and this is partly true, but there are four rests that he is speaking of in this section.  The NT says in a couple of different places that the things that are written in the OT are for our benefit and that they do have wonderful spiritual applications to the lives of NT believers, and this is surely an example of that.  The picture of Israel being in bondage in Egypt is a picture of man in the bondage of sin and there is no rest in sin.  The picture of Moses delivering the people of Israel out of this bondage of Egypt (he did this by the power of God) is a person being saved from their sins.  The children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt by the blood of a lamb, and a person today is saved from his sin by the blood of The Lamb: Jesus Christ.  This is the rest of salvation and all believers have this rest.  However the picture of Israel going into Canaan is a picture of submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ and having rest in the promises that He has made to His children.  God became angry with all of the generation that came out of Egypt except Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, for they were the only ones who believed that God would defeat the enemies of Canaan. 

Past                                                     Present                                                Future

God’s Sabbath rest                               Salvation                                              Heaven

Israel’s Canaan rest                              Submission rest

                                                            (Victory in Christ)

This little chart is from Dr. Wiersbe’s book, “Be Confident” and helps explain the rests described in this section.

 

            2.  Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at this passage and remember all of the times that, in my mind I have been hard on the generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt because that had seen all of the great miracles that God had done for them, and I wondered why they did not trust the Lord to take them all into Canaan.  I too have had an even larger miracle done for me, and that is the salvation of my soul which was done at the expense of Jesus Christ’s painful death on the cross where He suffered not only the physical pain of that awful death, but He also suffered becoming sin for me and suffered the separation from His Father, which He never experienced before.  Yes this was a far greater miracle that those that happened in the presence of the young nation of Israel.  The point of all of this is that I too have displayed many times where I lacked faith and trust in the Lord to provide that going over into Canaan type of faith and trust in the Lord.  If He has taken care of my biggest problem then it is true that He will take care of all of the things that come into my life, and will see me safely into His heaven one day.

 

The Word of God has been refreshing, convicting and challenging to me today.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I want to continue to learn from God’s Word, and I want to trust the Lord to make me a doer of the Word and not only a hearer of His Word.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Ephesians 2:10 & Mark 12:20 (NIV)

 

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. 

Moses Was Faithful as a Servant (Heb. 3:5)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-13-03

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Moses was Faithful as a Servant

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Hebrews 3:5

 

            1.  Message of the verse:  “And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,” (NKJV) “Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house, but only as a servant.  His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later.”  (NLT) 

            This verse says that Moses was faithful as a servant, and this is the only time that this Greek word is used in the NT.  Strongs gives this explanation of the word:  “V-servant 1) an attendant, servant: of God 1a) spoken of Moses discharging the duties committed to him by God.”  Dr. MacArthur says, “The term for ‘servant’ implies a position of dignity and freedom, not slavery.  However even as the highest-ranking servant, Moses could never hold the position of Son, which is Christ’s along.”  John 8:35 sheds light on this, “And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.” The last part of the verse says, “of those things which would be spoken afterward.”  This is speaking about a testimony to that which was to come in Christ.  John 5:46 says, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.”  One of the purposes for the OT was to show the way of the Messiah and tell about Him, and in some cases there are “types” of Christ in the OT.  I think it could be said that Moses was a type of Christ for he lead his people out of bondage and into the Promised Land just as Jesus Christ lead His people out of the bondage of sin and will lead all of them into the promised land of heaven one day.

 

            2.  Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is an example for me to follow as seen here in the life of Moses and that is to be a faithful servant just as he was.  All of God’s children are special to Him and He has work for them to do, so I too have a special job to do for the cause of Christ, and by God’s grace I will accomplish it for Him.

 

The Word of God was refreshing to me today, and it also brought a challenge to me as well.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To trust the Lord to do the things that He would have me to do today for His glory.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Ephesians 2:10; Mark 12:30 (NIV)

 

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 

 

 

Jesus Christ is Superior to Moses (Heb. 3:3-4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-11-03

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Jesus Christ is superior to Moses

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Hebrews 3:3 & 4

 

            1.  Message of the verse:  “For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.  For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.”  (NKJV)  “But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a fine house deserves more praise than the house itself.  For every house has a builder, but God is the one who made everything.”  (NLT)

            In order to understand this verse one must understand the use of the word “house.”  In 2Samuel seven the story is told of how David wants to build a temple (house) for the Lord, but the Lord would not allow him to do this.  He then tells David that He will build a house for David, and that is the Davidic Covenant, the line of people where Jesus Christ would come into the world.  Thus we can see the meaning of this word house in this passage.  Jesus Christ is the builder of the house, whereas Moses is just part of the household and thus Jesus Christ receives more glory than Moses just as a builder of the house receives more glory than the house itself.  In verse four we learn that God is the builder of all things, and in an earlier chapter the writer says that God did this through Jesus Christ.

 

            2.  Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can say as the song says that I’m so glade that I’m apart of the family of God.  I think the writer of the song is speaking of the household of God just as Moses is apart of the household of God so am I.  The reason is that I am apart of the family of God is because I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood.  This makes me joint heirs with Jesus while I travel this sod, because I’m part of the family, the family of God.

 

The Word of God was refreshing to me as I studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  It is hard on my IBS to travel with others in the van, so I trust the Lord to get me through this day of traveling with Sandy, Kim, and Tim as we go to visit Irene.  I trust the Lord will give use all safety, for Sharlotte and mom and Kathy and their families are going too.  I trust the Lord will give us a good visit with Irene and solve any problems that may come up.

 

Memory verse for the week:  Colossians 4:5

 

Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.