Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)
First,
let us note, who is to be believed. The apostle Paul declared (II Timothy 1:12)
“For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed:
for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto him against that day. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
person that Paul had believed, unto the saving of his soul: as is apparent from
verses 10, 11 and 13.
Second
we may know what is to be believed. The Apostle was persuaded that Jesus Christ
was able to keep that which he had committed unto him against the Day of
Judgment. The Apostle believed that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. The Apostle
Peter preached to the people of Israel on the day of Pentecost “Therefore Let
all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ”(Acts 2:36).
By
this acknowledged truth is our obedience to God to be weighed. For in this day
of the dispensation of the Spirit, our obedience to God is manifest in our
obedience of the gospel (II Thessalonians 1:8 [the good news]). Our obedience
of the gospel, is our belief of the gospel; that is, that the seed of woman has
come into the world, and has destroyed the works of the devil; Genesis 3:15;
Hebrews 2:14; I John 3:8.
Now
with this truth as the foundation of our faith, let us inquire what is meant by
the Apostle’s statement in the subject verse. “Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”
Oh
our most glorious God, if you will, by your Holy Spirit; be to us a Spirit of
wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus
our Lord; Amen.
The
Hebrews, to whom our subject verse was addressed; sought after righteousness in
the eyes of God, (Romans 9:31) for they had a zeal for God (Romans 10:2-4)but
were not able to attain that state of righteousness (or justification)which
they sought because they sought it not by faith (the obedience of the gospel) but
as it were by the works of the law (Romans 9: 32); for they stumbled at the
stumbling stone, and that stumbling stone is Jesus of Nazareth the Lord and
Christ; Isaiah 28:16; 8:14-20; Matthew 21:42; I Corinthians 1:23; I Peter 2:8. Now
because they rejected the Chief Corner Stone, and to them; Jesus of Nazareth
was a Rock of Offence; it is impossible (at least at the present time) to renew
them again to repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God
afresh, and put him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6) This is speaking
nationally, for Paul saith; “Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. (Romans
11:1-5).
All
and every one without exception to whom Jesus of Nazareth is a Stone of
Stumbling and a Rock of Offence must be held in everlasting contempt by a
thrice Holy God of truth; because they did not honor the only begotten Son of
God. All and everyone who refuse to believe on the Lord Jesus as the only
complete savior of sinners must suffer eternal ruin to all eternity because
they have done despite to the spirit of grace. Many have sent a message after
him, saying we will not have this man reign over us, (Luke 19:14).
The
Hebrews had sought a justifying righteousness before God through their outward
obedience to the Law of God. They had trusted their own good works to bring
justification in the sight of God, that is, they thought their works of
righteousness (which was their self supposed, obedience of the law) should be
accepted of God as good enough to justify them in his sight and to set them as
righteous before God. This is what the Apostle Paul has taught in Philippians 3:3-9
please read the text. The problem with this way of thinking is that; First, God
saves sinners by Jesus Christ, through his blood and righteousness, Second, the
scriptures (including the law, both moral and ceremonial) testify of Christ
Jesus (John 5:39, 40) in type, promise, prophesy, ceremonies and in shadows.
The proud heart of the Hebrews seeking to fulfill the precepts of the Law of
God by personnel obedience to the Law, had missed seeing Christ in the Law and
Prophets, they had not seen Christ as presented in the types, shadows,
ceremonies, promises, and prophesies of the Old Testament scriptures. The
Hebrews saw the letter of the Law, which killeth (II Corinthians 3:6) and not
Christ who is the life of his people, (Colossians 3: 4).
By
failing to believe on Christ their Messiah, and Savior, (THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS, Jeremiah 23:6) and by “going about to establish their own
righteousness” (Romans 10:3) and seeking to approach God the Father on the
ground of their own personal obedience to His Law, they have “not submitted
themselves to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3) and therefore are without
the Mediator that God the Father has appointed and promised, the Hebrews have
departed from the living God. They have departed from Christ who is God in
human flesh, and who is “the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father but by me” (John 14:6) Christians worship God in his trinity of
persons in Christ; “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the God-head (God
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) bodily.”(Colossians 2:9) All who depart from Christ
by disbelieving the doctrine of Christ, depart from the living God, (II John
9-11) and in them is an evil heart of unbelief.
How very ironic,
that the Jews, who sought after righteousness in the sight of God, in order to
be accepted of God, have rejected the righteousness of God, by rejecting Jesus
the crucified Lord of Glory, (I Corinthians 2:8). If anyone will be accepted of
God the Father he must be “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6) who is
(Jesus, the Christ of God), for our very best performances of our spiritual
duty is marred by indwelling sin, and polluted by the inward corruption of our
own heart, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags:” (Isaiah 64:6)
Reader I would
ask you this question; when you think of the hereafter, of God the judge of
all, of the final and great assize, of eternal bliss or torments, what is your
ground of hope? If it is that you have made a decision for Christ, is that
Christ? Is that your hope? Or, is that your decision? If you think your
decision makes the difference between saved or lost, listen to the apostle
Paul, “But we preach Christ crucified” (I Corinthians 1:23). Is it the force of
your supposed free will? If you think
it is by the force or power of your pretended free will consider the following
scriptures; “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that sheweth mercy.” (Romans 9:16) “not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:13) Is it you proper
response to the gospel call? If that is your ground of hope, then your ground
of hope is a response and not Christ. Is your ground of hope something or
anything you do or ever did, if that is your ground of hope, then you are
trusting in something that you do or have done, and if that be so, then you are
trusting in yourself, in your doings or not doing. Is it some event that took
place in the far distant past? If that is your ground of hope then you are
trusting and event and not Christ. Is it your faith or your repentance that is
the ground of your hope? If your hope is
in your subjective faith or repentance then you are trusting in your faith and
your repentance, and not Christ.
Christ alone is
the only object of justifying faith. We must have faith, but faith is not the
end, faith is unto righteousness, (Romans 10:10) faith has an object, that
object is Christ. Christians do not have faith in their subjective faith, but
in Christ the object of faith. It was not my faith nor my repentance, nor my
conversion, nor my regeneration, nor my decision, nor my will, nor my doings or
not doing, that died in my place at Golgotha, but Christ Jesus my Lord. It was
Christ Jesus my lord who loved me and washed me from my sins in his own blood,
(Revelation 1:5). His people are justified by his blood, (Romans 5:9) not their
acceptance of him, for their acceptance of him is his free grace gift to them.
Have you trusted yourself or have you trusted Christ, are you hoping in
something you did or in something Christ did? Do not depart from the living
God, with an evil heart of unbelief , by trusting in something you have done.
Look away from self and look to Christ, “For by one offering he
hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”(Hebrews 10:14)
A.J.Ison
No comments:
Post a Comment