Hebrews 3:18-19

 

 

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Hebrews 3:18  And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? (NASB: Lockman)

Greek: tisin de omosen (3SAAI) me eiseleusesthai (FMN) eis ten katapausin autou ei me tois apeithesasin (AAPMPD)
Amplified: And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed [who had not listened to His word and who refused to be compliant or be persuaded]?
(Amplified Bible - Lockman)
KJV: And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
NET: And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient?
 (NET Bible)
NLT:  And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? (
NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: And to whom did God swear that they should never enter his rest? Was it not these very men who refused to trust him? (
Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest: And to whom did He swear that they should not enter into His rest but to those who were nonpersuasible?  (
Eerdmans
Young's Literal: And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?

References

Don Anderson
Albert Barnes
Brian Bell
Jim Bomcamp
John Calvin

Rich Cathers
Rich Cathers
Adam Clarke
Steven Cole
Thomas Constable
Explore the Bible
Explore the Bible
Dan Fortner
Dan Fortner
Dan Fortner
Scott Grant

Dave Guzik
Hebrews Project
Matthew Henry
F B Hole
Jamieson, F, B
S Lewis Johnson
William Kelly

John MacArthur
J Vernon McGee
F B Meyer
Phil Newton
A W Pink
A W Pink
John Piper
John Piper
A T Robertson
Gil Rugh
C H Spurgeon
C H Spurgeon
C H Spurgeon
Ray Stedman
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Today in the Word
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Precept Ministries

Hebrews Study Guide
Hebrews 3
Hebrews 3
Hebrews 3
Hebrews 3
Hebrews 3:6-15  Hebrews 3:1-19 Hebrews 3:7-19
Hebrews 3:14-19
Hebrews 3
Hebrews 3:12-19 Persevering in Faith

Hebrews 3
Hebrews 3:1-15 Remain True
Hebrews 3:16-19; 4:1-7,9-13 Be Obedient

Hebrews 3:1-19 Consider Christ
Hebrews 3:6-14 We Are, If
Hebrews 3:7-19 The Issue Is Unbelief

Hebrews 3:7-19 Encouragement for Faith
Hebrews 3
Hebrews 3:7-4:13
Hebrews 3
Hebrews Commentary Notes
Hebrews 3
Hebrews 3:7-19 Evil Heart of Unbelief - Audio Mp3
Hebrews 1-6 Commentary
Hebrews 3:7-19 Harden Not Your Hearts
Hebrews 3:10-13 Mp3 Thru the Bible Commentary
Hebrews 3:12: A Warning Against Unbelief
Hebrews 3:7-19 Finishing Well 

Hebrews 3:7-12 Christ Superior to Moses
Hebrews 3:13-19 Christ Superior to Moses
Hebrews 3:7-19 Do not harden your heart

Hebrews 3:12-19 Eternal security

Hebrews 3 Word Pictures
Hebrews 3:7-19 Do Not Harden Your Hearts
Hebrews 3:12 Take Heed, Brethren - Pdf
Hebrews 3:13 The Deceitfulness of Sin - Pdf
Hebrews 3:13 A Warning Against Hardness of Heart - Pdf

Hebrews 3:1-19 Greater Than Moses - Book
Hebrews 3:12-19 Don't Miss Your Opportunity - Book
Hebrews 3:1- 4:13 Living out of Rest - Sermon

Hebrews 3:7-19; Hebrews 3:7-19; Hebrews 3:13
Commentary on Hebrews
Hebrews 3: Word Studies
Hebrews 3:7-19 He Who Stands Firm To The End
Hebrews Inductive Study Pt 1

AND TO WHOM DID HE SWEAR THAT THEY SHOULD NOT ENTER HIS REST: tisin de omosen (3SAAI)  me eiseleusesthai (FMN) eis ten katapausin autou: (He 3:11; Nu 14:30; Deut 1:34,35)

Swear (3660) (Omnuo) means to affirm the truth of a statement by calling on a divine being to execute sanctions against a person if the statement in question is not true (in the case of a deity taking an oath, his divine being is regarded as validating the statement). In this case God's Own Divine being is regarded as validating the statement.

Omnuo is repeated in this middle section of Hebrews...

Hebrews 3:11 (note) As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"

Hebrews 3:18 (note) And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?

Hebrews 4:3 (note) For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Hebrews 6:13 (note) For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

Hebrews 6:16 (note) For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

Hebrews 7:21 (note) (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him, "The Lord has sworn And will not change His mind, 'Thou art a priest forever' ")

This verb omnuo is used in the Septuagint (LXX) of God swearing to keep His covenant to bring Israel into the land (Dt 1:8, 35, 2:14, 4:21, 31, 6:10, 18, 23, 7:8, 12, 13, 8:1, 18, etc > 30x in Deut.)

See discussion of Rest in Hebrews 4

Rest (2663) (katapausis [word study] from katá = intensifies meaning, "down" ~ permanency + paúo = make to cease) means to desist from one activity, give oneself to wholly new enterprise but has  no reference whatsoever to sleep or slumber.

English rest and Greek katapausis have similar meanings. The basic idea = ceasing from work or from any kind of action--stop doing what you are doing. Action, labor, or exertion is over. Applied to God's rest = no more self-effort as far as salvation is concerned. End of trying to please God by feeble, fleshly works (End of rebelling against His clearly revealed will like {Israel did in wilderness). God's perfect rest = rest in grace of His indwelling, transforming power

That wonderful place where we desist from our futile fleshly efforts to please God and submit willingly and wholly to His Spirit's control/filling, finding our adoption and acceptance in the Beloved (Ep 1:6-
note).

BUT TO THOSE WHO WERE DISOBEDIENT: tois apeithesasin (AAPMPD): (Numbers 14:11; 20:12; Deut 1:26-32; 9:23; Ps 106:24, 25, 26)

In Hebrews 3:17 the writer uses the verb "sinned" which parallels the verbs were disobedient (He 3:18) and unbelief (He 3:19). Sinned speaks of the action which results in the divine retribution. Disobedient and unbelief speak of the "root" that leads to the rotten fruit of commission of sins.
 

As Spurgeon said

 

Obedience is the hallmark of faith. Believing and obeying always run side by side.  Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God, obeys God.

To those who were disobedient...were not able to enter because of unbelief - The martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."
 

A W Tozer a "modern prophet" of sorts well stated that...

 

The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The two are opposite sides of the same coin.

Alexander Maclaren comments on the relationship between disobedience and unbelief writing that...

Important lessons are given by this alternation of the two ideas of faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience. Disobedience is the root of unbelief. Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience.

Faith is voluntary submission within a person’s own power. If faith is not exercised, the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual reasons. It lies in the moral aversion of human will and in the pride of independence, which says, “who is Lord over us? Why should we have to depend on Jesus Christ?” As faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, but unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion.

With dreadful reciprocity of influence, the less one trusts, the more he disobeys; the more he disobeys, the less he trusts...

Trust brings rest because it sweeps away, as the north wind does the banded clouds on the horizon, all the deepest causes of unrest.

A W Pink writes that...

Having reminded the Hebrews in the previous verse that sin was the cause of Israel’s destruction of old, he now specifies the character of that sin, Unbelief. The order is terribly significant: they harkened not to God’s voice; in consequence, their hearts were hardened; unbelief was the result; destruction, the issue. How unspeakably solemn! The Greek word here rendered "believed not" may, with equal propriety, be rendered "obeyed not"; it is so translated in Ro 2:8; Ro 10:21. It amounts to the same thing, differing only according to the angle of view-point: looked at from the mind or heart, it is "unbelief"; looked at from the will, it is "disobedience." In either case it is the sure consequence of refusal to heed God’s voice. (Hebrews 3:13-19 Christ Superior to Moses)

Disobedient (544) (apeitheo [word study] from a = without + peítho = persuade) literally describes one who refuses to be persuaded and who disbelieves willfully and perversely. The idea is that there is a refusal to hear the voice of God accompanied by a stiff necked, hard hearted, obstinate refusal to act in response to God's clarion commands. As someone has said "Disobedience is not merely a lack of obedience; rather it is a refusal to obey."

Apeitheo means not to allow oneself to be persuaded; not to comply with and  to refuse or withhold belief (in the truth, but elsewhere in Christ, in the gospel)

Apeitheo speaks of a stubborn, stiff-necked attitude. It speaks of disbelief manifesting itself in disobedience. It is opposed to pisteuo, the verb translated "believe".

In studying apeitheo it is important to understand that the stem peith- (pith-, poith-) has the basic meaning of trust (cf. Latin fido, fides). Trust can refer to a statement, so that it has the meaning to put faith in, to let oneself be convinced, or to a demand, so that it gets the meaning of obey, be persuaded. The active meaning of the verb stem peith- then is to convince and persuade and is especially characteristic of Greek thought. In secular Greek it interesting to note that "Peitho" (art of persuading) was even regarded as a goddess! (see Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan))

Marvin Vincent in discussing apeitheo in John 3:36 writes that..

"Disbelief is regarded in its active manifestation, disobedience. The verb peitho means to persuade, to cause belief, to induce one to do something by persuading, and so runs into the meaning of to obey, properly as the result of persuasion...Obedience, however, includes faith. (Ed Note: See discussion of phrase "obedience of faith" at Ro 1:5-note)." (Vincent, M. R. Word studies in the New Testament Vol. 2, Page 1-109)

From the above comments, it should not surprise you to discover that in the New Testament the word group translated disobey, disobedience, etc (apeitheo and related words) does not stand in contrast with obedience but in contrast with faith!

Disobedience equates with unbelief in the next verse (Hebrews 3:19) and vice versa.

They were of that non-persuasible type that will not listen to reason, stiff-necked, obstinate. (See these parallel Scriptures: Nu 14:30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35: note who gets to go in and in Nu 14:33 "unfaithfulness". Nu 14:11, 20:12, Dt 9:23; Ps 106:24,25)

But surely most of those who came out of Egypt were not lost? See what God says about the behavior of His beloved in Ezekiel 23:8 “She did not forsake her harlotries from the time in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her."

Barnes writes that...

That did not confide in God. Deut 1:32:

Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God." In consequence of this want of faith, God solemnly sware unto them that they should not enter into the promised land.

Deut 1:34,35:

And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, save Caleb, etc.

The distinct reason, therefore, assigned by—Moses, why they did not enter the promised land, was a want of faith; and this accords directly with the design of the apostle here. He is exhorting those whom he addresses to beware of an evil heart of unbelief, Hebrews 3:12. He says that it was such a heart that excluded the Hebrews from the promised land. The same thing, says he, must exclude you from heaven-the promised home of the believer; and if that firm confidence in God and His promises which He requires is wanting, you will be excluded from the world of eternal rest.

In Romans Paul writes...

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? (See note Romans 6:16)

><> ><> ><>

Disobedience and Unbelief - Important lessons are given by this alternation of the two ideas of faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience. Disobedience is the root of unbelief. Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience. Faith is voluntary submission within a person’s own power. If faith is not exercised, the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual reasons. It lies in the moral aversion of human will and in the pride of independence, which says, “who is Lord over us? Why should we have to depend on Jesus Christ?” As faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, but unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion. With dreadful reciprocity of influence, the less one trusts, the more he disobeys; the more he disobeys, the less he trusts. (Alexander Maclaren)

 

Hebrews 3:19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief  (NASB: Lockman)

Greek: kai blepomen (1PPAI) hoti ouk edunethesan (3PAPI) eiselthein (AAN) di apistian
Amplified: So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest], because of their unwillingness to adhere to and trust in and rely on God [unbelief had shut them out]. 
(Amplified Bible - Lockman)
KJV:  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
NET:  So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
 (NET Bible)
NLT:  So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest. (
NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: Yes, it is all too plain that it was refusal to trust God that prevented these men from entering his rest. (
Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest:  So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.  (
Eerdmans
Young's Literal: And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

AND SO WE SEE THAT THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO ENTER BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF: kai blepomen (1PPAI) hoti ouk edunethesan (3PAPI) eiselthein (AAN) di apistian: (Mark 16:16; John 3:18,36; 2 Thessalonians 2:12; 1 John 5:10; Jude 1:5)

We see (blepo) is in the present tense, indicating that this picture is continually before the writer's (and our) eyes (as it rightly should be for it serves as a powerful warning sign to those who would tip toe on the edges of the pure waters of faith leading to eternal rest in Christ.)

Not (ou) - absolute negation! No faith, no entrance.

Disobedience in Hebrews 3:18 parallels unbelief in Hebrews 3:19. Instead of focusing on Israel's repeated rebellion, backbiting, complaining, grumbling, murmuring, and defiance which fill the Old Testament record of Israel's wilderness experience, the writer hones down on the source of these sins - the problem was deep down, for underneath all the rotten fruit, was the root of refusal to believe God.

Simon J. Kistemaker writes that...

Unbelief is the root of the sin of provoking God. Unbelief robs God of his glory and robs the unbeliever of the privilege of God's blessings. Because of unbelief, rebellious man is denied entrance into the rest that God provides for the members of his household. (Baker New Testament Commentary - Exposition of Thessalonians, the Pastorals, and Hebrews)

Unbelief (570)  (apistia from a = without + pistós = believing, faithful) (Click word study on apistia) means literally not believing = faithlessness, distrust, lack of belief. It describes an unwillingness to commit oneself to another or respond positively to the other’s words or actions.

Apistia is found 11 times in the NAS - Matt 13:58; Mark 6:6; 9:24; 16:14; Rom 3:3; 4:20; 11:20, 23; 1 Tim 1:13; Heb 3:12, 19 and is not  found in the non-apocryphal Septuagint (LXX).

Here are some representative uses...

And He did not do many miracles there (His hometown, Nazareth) because of their unbelief. (Mt 13:58)

Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, "I do believe; help my unbelief." (Mark 9:24)

And afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. (Mark 16:14)

yet, with respect to the promise of God (he would have a male heir), he (Abraham) did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, (see note Romans 4:20)

Quite right, they (Jewish branches were broken off, and the Gentiles were grafted in) were broken off for their unbelief (Gentiles were grafted in because of the unbelief of Israel and not because the Gentiles had any merit or claim on God), but you (Gentiles) stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear (Standing before God is based on faith, so feelings of superiority are out of place) (see note Romans 11:20)...And they (Jews) also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able (key phrase = He is able = He has grafted wild branches -- Gentiles -- into the cultivated olive, He is able to graft Jews in) to graft them in again. (see note Romans 11:23)

Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. (Hebrews 3:12)

And so we seen here in Hebrews 3:19 that their disobedience was a consequence of their unbelief or lack of faith. At the root of all sin is unbelief. Lack of faith in God’s Word is never purely an intellectual thing. At its most basic level it is the love of sin that comes from all men being born in Adam and with his sin nature (Ro 5:12, Ps 51:5).

In sum, disobedience equates with unbelief  and vice versa.

John Butler...

The condition for partaking of Christ is faith. The prohibiting of the unbelieving Israelites from the promised land is a picture of the prohibiting of unbelievers from heaven. Faith is the key to salvation (heaven). Unbelief keeps man from the greatest of blessings. (Analytical Bible Expositor -Hebrews to Revelation)

Although some like Zane Hodges (Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., et al: The Bible Knowledge Commentary. 1985. Victor) and Thomas Constable (Expository Notes) contend these habitually sinning Israelites were genuinely saved, I strongly disagree. As an aside one needs to be very cautious when reading expositions by Zane Hodges who in my humble opinion appears to portray a "type" of belief that makes me very uncomfortable when I read passages like Mt 7:21, 22, 23. On the other hand, I tend to agree with conservative commentators such as Ray Stedman who writes...

The rhetorical questions of verses 16–18 show how an outward facade of belief can be maintained while the heart is still unrepentant, and there fore unredeemed. It is possible to participate in and benefit from the great miracles of God, as the Israelites did who came out of Egypt with Moses (He 3:16). Yet, despite such evidence, the heart can remain unchanged for a lifetime. God sees that inner hardness and warns continually against it until he is forced to judge it (He 3:17). Note the growing stages of unbelief: general rebellion (He 3:16); sin, punished by physical death (He 3:17); and disobedience (Gk “being unpersuadable”—He 3:18). The cause of this recalcitrance lies deeper than a wrong attitude or wrong behavior; it lies in a disobedient will. Therefore, the loss of promised blessing is traceable only and solely to long-continued unbelief (He 3:19). This word (apistian, “disbelief”) is the platform upon which the writer’s more positive explanation of rest is founded. He gives us the other side of disbelief in chapter 4. (Hebrews 3:12-19 Don't Miss Your Opportunity) (Bolding added)

Leon Morris in the Expositor's Bible Commentary agrees with Stedman noting that...

Sin is self-defeating and prevents people from entering God's rest. This is not an arbitrary penalty imposed by a despotic God. It is the inevitable outcome of "unbelief." The warning to the people of the writer's day is clear. To slip back from their Christian profession into unbelief would be fatal. (Gaebelein, F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary 6-Volume New Testament. Zondervan Publishing) (Bolding added) (Ed: In other words a profession of faith in Christ is not the same as a possession of faith in Christ. The difference has eternal significance/consequences!)

The well known, highly respected expositor John MacArthur also agrees with Stedman writing...

Many say, “I can’t believe. I have a pragmatic, empirical mind that has to see the facts, weigh all the evidence.” But everyone lives by faith. We live by faith when we go into a restaurant and eat the food without questioning its safety. When driving down the highway, we are not in constant fear that around the next bend the road will lead us into a river where there is no bridge. We trust the people who made the highways and the people who have traveled over them before us. We live by faith almost constantly. If we can put our faith in the highway department and the people who prepare our food, we surely can put our faith in the God of the universe. Not to trust in Him is fatal." (MacArthur, John: Hebrews. Moody Press )

Matthew Henry offers a similar conclusion on this section writing that...

"(1.) Though the majority of hearers provoked God by unbelief, yet some there were who believed the report. (2.) Though the hearing of the word be the ordinary means of salvation, yet, if it be not hearkened to, it will expose men more to the anger of God. (3.) God will have a remnant that shall be obedient to His voice, and he will take care of such and make mention of them with honour. (4.) If these should fall in a common calamity, yet they shall partake of eternal salvation, while disobedient hearers perish for ever." (Bolding added)

Adam Clarke comments...

It was no decree of God that prevented them, it was no want of necessary strength to enable them, it was through no deficiency of Divine counsel to instruct them; all these they had in abundance: but they chose to sin, and would not believe. Unbelief produced disobedience, and disobedience produced hardness of heart and blindness of mind; and all these drew down the judgments of God, and wrath came upon them to the uttermost.

Phillip Hughes comments that...

The juxtaposition of unbelief and disobedience indicates the close connection between the two. As Westcott says, "unbelief passed into action." (Ed: I would slightly alter that as "unbelief passed into inaction"!) And this is always the case. It is what happened when man first fell from God; it was repeated in the wilderness; and the same disastrous sequence was now threatening the community to whom this letter was sent. The rest from which Adam and Eve were excluded was that of fellowship with God in Eden; the rest forfeited by the rebellious Israelites was that of the promised land; and the rest denied to apostates from the Christian faith is that of the eternal Sabbath of the new heaven and the new earth (Rev. 2:6; 22:1ff).

Furthermore, it was their own unbelief which rendered the people unable to enjoy God's rest. They disqualified themselves. Their incapacitation was self-induced. How could it be otherwise when the whole basis of the promised rest is that of trust and security in God?

 Unbelief engenders unrest.

The unbeliever excludes himself from rest (cf. Rev. 22:15); and if this was true of the "rest" of Canaan, how much more is it true of the "rest" of eternity! In the moral structure of the renewed creation there cannot possibly be a place for unbelief or for the unrest which flows from it. True rest is the enjoyment by the creature of perfect harmony with his Creator, and it can therefore only be rest in God. As such, it is totally incompatible with unbelief and disobedience toward God. Hence the inability of the rebellious Israelites to enter into God's rest. (A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews)

Arthur Pink...

"The apostle does not single out the sin of making and worshipping the golden calf; he does not bring before us the flagrant transgressions into which they fell at Beth-peor. Many much more striking and to our mind more fearful sins could have been pointed out, but God thinks the one sin greater than all is unbelief. We are saved by faith; we are lost through unbelief. The heart is purified by faith; the heart is hardened by unbelief. Faith brings us nigh to God; unbelief is departure from God" (Saphir). There is no sin so great but it may be pardoned, if the sinner believe; but "he that believeth not shall be damned."

The application of the whole of this passage to the case of the sorely-tried and wavering Hebrews was most pertinent and solemn. Twice over the apostle reminded them (He 3:9, He 3:17) that the unbelief of their fathers had been continued for "forty years." Almost that very interval had now elapsed since the Son had died, risen again, and ascended to heaven. In Scripture, forty is the number of probation. The season of Israel’s testing was almost over; in A.D. 70 their final dispersion would occur. And God changeth not. He who had been provoked of old by Israel’s hardness of heart, would destroy again those who persisted in their unbelief. Then let them beware, and heed the solemn warning, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." May God grant us hearts to heed the same admonitory warning.

Barnes...

So we see, etc. We see, from the direct testimony of the Old Testament, that unbelief was the reason why they were excluded from the promised land. Let us learn, in view of the reasoning and exhortations here—

(1.) The evil of unbelief.

It excluded that whole generation, consisting of many hundred thousand souls, from the land of promise-the land to which they had looked with ardent hopes, and with warm desires. It will exclude countless millions from heaven. A want of confidence in God is the great source of evil in this world, and will be the cause of wretchedness to all eternity of unnumbered hosts. But surely that was not a small or unimportant thing which strewed the desert with the bones of that whole generation whom God had, in so remarkable a manner, rescued from Egyptian servitude. And that cannot be a small matter which wile cause multitudes to sink down to infinite wretchedness and despair.

(2.) Let us, who are professed Christians, be cautious against indulging unbelief in our hearts.

Our difficulties all begin there. We lose confidence in God. We doubt his promises, his oaths, his threatenings. In dark and trying times we begin to have doubts about the wisdom of his dealings, and about his goodness. Unbelief once admitted into the heart is the beginning of many woes. When a man loses confidence in God, he is on a shoreless ocean that is full of whirlpools, and rocks, and quicksands, and where it is impossible to find a secure anchorage. There is nothing to which he may moor his driven bark; and he will never find safety or peace till he comes back to God.

(3.) Let us live a life of faith.

Let us so live that we may say with Paul, "The life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." So living, we shall have peace. The mind will be at rest. Storms and tempests may blow, but we shall be secure. Others may be troubled in the vicissitudes of life, but our minds will be at peace.

(4.) Let us live expecting the future "rest" that remains for us.

Let us keep our eye fixed upon it. To us there is a rest promised, as there was to the Hebrews whom God had delivered from the land of oppression; and we may by faith attain to that, "rest," as they might have reached the land of Canaan.

(5.) Let us persevere to the end.

He that draws back must be lost. He that does not endure to the end of life, in the ways of religion, can never have been a Christian. There is nothing which will furnish certain evidence of religion, unless our piety is such as to lead us to persevere till death. The man who enters on the professed Christian life expecting to fall away, or who can look upon the possibility of falling away without concern, has never known anything of the nature of true religion, he cannot be a Christian. He may have had raptures and visions; he may be a loud professor, and a noisy and zealous partisan, but he has no evidence that he has ever known anything about religion. That religion which is not connected with a firm and determined purpose, by the grace of God, to persevere to the end of life, is no true religion; and a man who expects to fall away and go back again to the world, or who can look at such an idea without alarm, should regard it as a settled matter that he has no true knowledge of God.

(6.) No man should delay the work of salvation to a future time.

To-day is the accepted time; to-day the only time of which we have any security. God speaks to-day, and to-day his voice should be heard. No man on any subject should defer till to-morrow what ought to be done to-clay. He who defers religion till a future time neglects his own best interest; violates most solemn obligations; and endangers his immortal soul. What security can any one have that he will live to see another day? What evidence has he that he will be any more disposed to attend to his salvation then than he is now? What evidence can he have that he will not provoke God by this course, and bring condemnation on his soul? Of all delusions, that is the most wonderful by which dying men are led to defer attention to the concerns of the soul to a future period of life. Nowhere has Satan such advantage as in keeping this delusion before the mind; and if in respect to anything the voice of warning and alarm should be lifted loud and long, it is in reference to this. Oh, why will not men be wise to-day? Why will they not embrace the offer of salvation now? Why will they not at once make sure of eternal happiness? And why, amidst the changes and trials of this life, will they not so secure the everlasting inheritance as to feel that that is safe-that there is one thing at least that cannot be shaken and disturbed by commercial embarrassment and distress; one thing secure, though friends and kindred are torn away from them; one thing safe when their own health fads, and they lie down on the bed where they will bid adieu to all earthly comforts, and from which they will never rise.


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Last updated: 01/01/11.

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