Our passage begins (3:7-19) with a vivid reminder of the unbelief and hardness of the Israelites in contrast to the faithfulness of Jesus and Moses, as described in the previous paragraph (3:1-6). Israel's rebellion provoked God to anger, the result of which was that God condemned them to wander in the wilderness for a total of 40 years and barred them from entering the promised rest in Canaan.
The analogy is drawn between two households: God’s household of the Israelites and God’s household of the church (3:5-6). The condition of being in God’s household of the church is perseverance in faith to the end: “We are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast” (3:6). The inference is that there might be some Hebrews who might not “hold on” to the end; ultimately, they might not be faithful and obedient.
The subject in our passage is: “The danger of an unbelieving heart.” And the theological truth that we learn is that there is no eternal rest for those who turn away from God in unbelief. There is an historical precedent to what was potentially happening among the Hebrews that...
I. Disbelief Leads To Rebellion (3:7-11)
A. Israel Provoked God (3:7-9).
Psalm 95 is quoted to undergird and emphasize the author's warning: “7a Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “7b Today, if you hear his voice, 8a do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (3:7-8a). Hearing God’s voice is not to be taken for granted. The writer does not assume that all the Hebrew believers were truly born again, nor that they would necessarily be attentive to and aware of God’s voice. Notice the condition here: “... if you hear his voice.” There is a direct connection between hearing and obeying God's voice on the one hand, and the response of your heart on the other. Whenever God speaks you will respond in one of the following ways: You will either believe God or disbelieve God; you will either trust him or distrust him; you will either be obedient or disobedient; you will either submit to him or rebel against him. The exhortation here is to respond in obedience and faith, not disobedience and rebellion. To “hear his voice” is to believe and obey what God by the Holy Spirit says.
The response that the writer urges here is that, if you do truly hear God speak, you must respond to him without delay: “Today.” When you are challenged by God’s word and you delay responding to it, sadly our feeble, sinful human nature often causes us to forget it or to ignore it completely. Sometimes we sin and, when we do, if we do not immediately get right with God through repentance and confession (1 John 1:9) we are more than likely to forget about it. Immediacy in judging sin is a vital part of living uprightly before God.
When you refuse to obey what God is saying by his Spirit and through his word, there is a strong likelihood, if you respond this way repeatedly, that your heart will become hardened to the voice of God, to the point where you may not hear him at all. The command expressed here is to not “harden your hearts.” Don’t let Satan gain an advantage over you through hardening your heart. That’s what the devil wants more than anything, that you harden your heart and close your ears, such that your conscience becomes seared as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2) and you no longer are aware of or sensitive to the voice of the Spirit of God. When God speaks, either you will obey his voice or you will rebel against him by hardening your heart. This is solemn to think about and profoundly true. To “harden your hearts” is to become stubborn, obstinate, consciously and positively refusing to obey God's word.
The counsel is: “8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested me, tried me, and saw my works for forty years” (3:8-9). “The rebellion” and “the day of testing” taken together seem to describe the entire 40 years in the wilderness when God tested the Israelites’ faith, during which time they also tested God’s patience. No sooner had they arrived safely on the wilderness side of the Red Sea than they began to complain about the lack of food (Exodus 16:2-3), then at Marah because of the bitter water (Exodus 15:22-27), at Meribah because there was no water (Exodus 17:1-7), and again at Kadesh where they rejected the advice of Caleb and Joshua, choosing instead to rebel against God and Moses by refusing to enter the land of Canaan that God had promised them (Numbers 13:26-14:22).
Rebellion against God and testing God really characterized the entire wilderness experience. To rebel means to conspire against God (cf. Numbers 14:35), to turn against the one who had so powerfully delivered them from slavery, so miraculously brought them through the Red Sea (Exodus 14), so graciously protected them, and so bountifully provided for their needs, despite their complaints against God and Moses (e.g. Exodus 16:1-10). They had fully experienced God’s works on their behalf - the plagues in Egypt but not in Goshen, the Passover slaying of the firstborn in Egyptian houses but not in Israelite homes (Exodus 11:4-7), the exodus from Egypt and their deliverance at the Red Sea where they walked across on dry land but the Egyptian soldiers drowned (Exodus 13:17-14:31), the cloud to provide shelter from the sun by day and the fire to provide heat and protection by night (Exodus 13:21), the bitter waters made sweet (Exodus 15:22-26), the daily supply of manna and quail (Exodus 16:4, 8). For 40 years the Israelites were tested by God as to their trust in his sufficiency and reliability and for 40 years they tested God's patience through their rebellion and stubbornness and complaints, despite God's supernatural actions on their behalf and despite God's judgements on those who rebelled (Numbers 14:11-38; 16:1-50). Yet, despite experiencing and benefitting from these works of God all that time, they complained, revolted, and distrusted God’s power and trustworthiness, proving that they really didn’t believe or trust God at all.
The quotation in our passage from Psalm 95 (3:7-11, 15) is surely designed to impress on the Hebrews to whom this is written that the evil, hardened human heart of unbelief that was present in the Israelites was or could be present among them as well, just as it is sometimes present among us today. We lean on our own understanding rather than God’s omniscience. We trust our own resources rather than God’s omnipotence. And all this despite having experienced the love and provision and protection of God throughout our lifetimes. We have been called by God out of spiritual darkness into the marvelous light of the gospel (1 Peter 2:9). Like the Israelites, we have been delivered from slavery to sin, self, and Satan and have been brought into the freedom that we have in Christ (Galatians 5:1). Like them, we too often react negatively to our circumstances and, despite having been so abundantly blessed by God, we begin to distrust God and make a way forward by ourselves, coming up with our own solutions rather than waiting on God’s guidance and provision and protection. May the lesson learned from the account of the Israelites be a warning to us, just as it was to the Hebrews.
In the case of the Israelites, they made no secret of their utter contempt for God, ultimately refusing to enter the land that God had promised them for their possession. In so doing, they provoked God to anger. Consequently...
B. God Punished Israel (3:10-11).
“Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts and they have not known my ways” (3:10). God was provoked by their ungrateful, contemptuous, irreverent behavior. It was in fact a heart issue – straying hearts that betrayed fidelity to God, their deliverer and redeemer. Hardened hearts that produced unbelief and rebellion. Their behavior followed a persistent pattern of disobedience. Furthermore, they didn't know God’s heart nor his purposes nor his character: “... they have not known my ways.” They did not respond to his kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and grace. They had no conscience about their rebellion against him. “So I swore in my anger, ‘They will not enter my rest’” (3:11). God barred them from entering the rest and delights of Canaan. Instead they were consigned to wander in Kadesh for a further 38 years - so close and yet so far - until the entire generation of adult men had died, except Caleb and Joshua.
This lesson from Israel’s history, that “Disbelief Leads To Rebellion” (3:7-11), is now followed by the warning…
II. Consider The Future (3:12-4:11)
In fact, there are two specific warnings given here about the consequences of unbelief and unfaithfulness. The first warning is…
A. Check Your Heart (3:12-19).
A1. An admonition (3:12): “Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (3:12). Beware! Be on your guard! Take heed! Listen! The author warns and appeals to the Hebrews. Don't follow the example of the unbelieving Israelites. “Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you…”. The danger is that what had happened to the Israelites could happen to them. This warning expresses the writer’s pastoral concern for the congregation as a whole (“brothers and sisters”) and for each member individually (“any of you”). There may have been some there who weren't believers at all or who were on the edge, thinking about turning away from God, turning back to their old lifestyle. The purpose of this warning is to prevent that from happening: “…so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart.”
The “heart” in Scripture is the innermost part of our being, the center of our thoughts and choices. An “evil” heart is one that has been penetrated by Satan’s influences, causing the person to make sinful choices, adopt a sinful lifestyle, and accept wrong beliefs. “An evil, unbelieving heart” is not just a passive neglect or lack of trust, but an outright, willful rejection of God in order to pursue the person’s own sinful desires and plans. It speaks of disobedience to God, the refusal to submit to God or to follow God's purposes. An evil, unbelieving heart is the root of the problem, which, if left unjudged, ends in a turning away from “the living God,” the ultimate proof of the wicked condition of their sinful hearts.
Unbelief is expressed in turning away from God. In the case of one who has known the truth by being among the people of God, this is called apostasy. To apostasize is to turn away from all that you know and once professed about Christ. Such a person was never born again in the first place. Departure from the living God is the outward evidence of an inward evil heart of unbelief. In the case of the Hebrews, turning away from the living God was to turn away from Christ and revert back to Judaism, denouncing Christ as Messiah. Anyone who has known the truth and turns away from “the living God” has “an evil, unbelieving heart.” Caleb and Joshua warned the people not to turn away (Numbers 14:9), not to apostasize, not to turn their backs on God. But they did anyway; they turned away from the one true God even though they had heard and seen him act.
Be sure of this, we have to do with “the living God.” He sees what we do, hears what we say, and discerns the thoughts of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12-13). He judges our unbelief and rebellion, just as he did the Israelites. They preferred a lifeless idol (Exodus 32) to the living God and as a result they fell under his judgement. Be sure of this: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). The Israelites rejected the one who had given them life and redemption and instead treated him with contempt.
Clearly the recipients of this letter were liable to the same act of apostasy, and so are we. There may be some among us who have an evil heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. Like the wilderness generation, the Hebrews had experienced the goodness and grace of God, but they didn't trust God’s sufficiency for their circumstances. They needed to follow the example of Moses and Christ who were faithful (Hebrews 3:5-6) and not the example of the unbelieving generation of Israelites. And the same warning applies to us. You may attend church regularly. You may profess to be a Christian. You may have benefitted from the fruits of Christianity through your association with Christians. But if you fully and finally turn away from God, you prove that you are not a Christian at all. So, beware! Take heed!
First, an admonition (3:12) and then…
A2. An Exhortation (3:13-15): “But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception” (3:13). The antidote for an evil, unbelieving heart is to encourage one another, to care for one another, to admonish one another, to warn one another, to come alongside one another, to help one another avoid falling into the trap of unbelief, as the Israelites did. This is how to counteract the work of Satan by exhorting one another and so preventing a hardening of the heart through unbelief.
This is a continuous occupation: “Encourage each other daily.” The “today” of the psalmist’s appeal to God's ancient people is now the “today” of these Hebrews. Through the ancient Psalm, the voice of God through the Holy Spirit still speaks. This is a continuous occupation and...
This is an urgent matter. Encourage each other daily, “while it is still called today.” This window of opportunity isn't permanent. “Today” is only as long as the day of God's grace (2 Corinthians 6:2). The purpose of this continual, mutual encouragement is “… so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.” An evil heart is the same as a hardened heart, the cause of which is “sin’s deception.” Sin is a deceitful power, which, when left unjudged, will harden the heart, generating in you unbelief, which ultimately can drive you away from God.
That's what sin did to Adam. It deceived him and hardened his heart against God, causing him to disbelieve God’s integrity and God's sufficiency. This is what sin does if we do not confess it and repent of it - it produces an evil, unbelieving heart. Remember our thesis: There is no eternal rest for those who turn away from God in unbelief. What sin did to Adam it can do to you. If you allow sin to gain an entrance into the door of your life, it will harden your heart causing you to say, “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1), and, ultimately, if you don't deal with it before God and change your thinking and your ways, it will turn you away from God. That's what Satan wants and that's why we need to meticulously keep short accounts with God - continuously judge sin, carefully examine our hearts (Proverbs 4:23), and constantly confess our sin to God (1 John 1:9).
You can't deal with sin on a delayed payment plan. You can't spread it out over 36 months like car payments. You can't gradually deal with it bit-by-bit. It's all or nothing. It has to go or it will grab you by the heart and squeeze the life out of you until you have no life left in you and you turn away from God completely. This begs the question: How do you know if you or someone else is a genuine Christian?
To be a genuine Christian is to “…become participants in Christ” (3:14a). Genuine Christians partake in his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). The benefits of his death and resurrection are imputed to us. We have the present possession of eternal life (John 5:24). We partake in “every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ,” such as election, predestination, redemption, and the inheritance of his heavenly kingdom (Ephesians 1:3-14).. But the condition is: “…if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start (3:14b). That's how we know that we are genuine Christians and not apostates. Apostates give up, turn back, throw their faith overboard, rebel against God, deny his word, and reject Christ. Genuine Christians persevere in faith in Christ to the end. There may be times of doubt and discouragement, but true believers don’t let go of the truth, don’t depart from the reality and conviction of the gospel that they had at the beginning of their Christian life. They don’t depart from that; they hold it steadfast. Notice that this is a condition of being “participants in Christ.” Our participation in the nature of Christ and the benefits of all that he is and has done is conditional upon our continuing relationship with him, “if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.”
For a genuine believer, what you believed concerning the gospel of Christ at the beginning of your life of faith will be true at the end. In 3:6. the exhortation is to “hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.” Here in 3:14, the exhortation is “to hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start,” to hold fast to the end the faith, assurance, and conviction that you had at the beginning, to not waiver in the simplicity of the one true gospel, “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). So, the exhortation is: Don't turn away from what you initially embraced when you trusted Christ. Don't give up Christ or the gospel of Christ. Hold on firmly to the assurance of faith so that it cannot be wrestled away from you.
The contrast here is between turning away from the living God because of the deceitfulness of sin which hardens your heart into unbelief, and holding steadfast to what you believe until the end of the Christian life or until Christ comes. So, don't let it go! Don't let sin deceive you into thinking that the word of God is not reliable, that what you once believed is no longer true, that the Bible contradicts science etc.
The exhortation is, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (3:15). The rebellion of the Israelites against God and his leader, Moses, is still what the author resorts to as the basis of his argument. Make sure of your confidence in Christ while it is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). There is an urgency to make sure that you are a “participant in Christ,” that you have part and parcel with him, that your life is bound up in him and he in you, that you are abiding in him (John 15:4-7; Colossians 1:27; 1 John 2:6, 27-28; 3:6, 24; 4:13, 15).
Having reminded the Hebrews again of truth and reality of Psalm 95:7-11, the author underscores his admonition and exhortation with...
A3. A clarification (3:16-19). Three specific questions are now asked of the text concerning the unbelief of the Israelites (3:16-18)…
First question: “For who heard and rebelled? (3:16a). About whom was the Holy Spirit speaking when he said, “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion?” (3:15). With the exception of Caleb and Joshua, the answer is: “Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses” (3:16b), those who had heard God's word, those who had received God’s promise that he would give them the land of Canaan, those who had seen God act on their behalf.
Despite the evidence of lush fruit in Canaan, they all turned away from God and his Word out of fear of the giants in the land (Exodus 13-14). They had experienced and benefitted from God's deliverance and provision multiple times, but they were, in the final analysis, unbelievers. They disbelieved God's sufficiency and trustworthiness. In rebelling they had rejected God's word entirely - didn't believe it, didn't want it. In spite of all that they had experienced of God, they rejected God's power, rejected God's grace, rejected God's leader Moses (Numbers 16:12-14), and rejected God's deliverance from slavery. The warning is implicit: Make sure you don't do the same!
Second question: “With whom was God angry for forty years?” (3:17a). The answer is: “Wasn’t it those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?” (3:17b). Yes! The very people who saw God at work and who benefitted from God's mighty power, were the very people who for 40 years tested God by doubting him and refusing to obey him. They said they preferred Egypt and wanted to go back rather than enter the promised land of Canaan (Numbers 14:4).
And God said: “For forty years I was disgusted with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray; they do not know my ways’” (Psalm 95:10). So, God gave them what they asked for. They didn't enter the promised land and they died in the wilderness (Numbers 14:33) as a result of their sinful act of rebellion.
The warning is implicit: You will get from God what you ask for and deserve if you reject his grace and mercy. That’s the message of the gospel. Those who believe are assured of his saving grace and the eternal security of their souls (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:38-39; Ephesians 1:13-14). But those who do not believe will receive eternal judgement (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:12-15).
Third question: “And to whom did God swear that they would not enter his rest? (3:18a). The answer? “To those who disobeyed (3:18b). Again, the warning is implicit: The root cause of sin is a hardened heart of unbelief which is expressed in disobedience to God. Disobedience first brought sin into the world (Romans 5:12). Disobedience caused the deaths of the Israelites as they wandered for 40 years (Numbers 14; 32:8-11; Exodus 32). The expression of sin is disobedience to God and disbelief in God. That's what started it in the Garden of Eden. That’s the root flaw in human nature.
Conclusion: “So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” (3:19). This is both the introduction (3:12) and the conclusion (3:19). Because of unbelief the Israelites could not enter the promised land; they were not able. They tried to enter on their own strength without God but were soundly defeated (Numbers 14:39-45). They could not enter without repenting and getting right with God. And they could not repent because, though they had known the truth, had outwardly followed God, and had experienced God’s blessings they ended up rejecting him.
Warning #1 to “check your heart” is followed by warning #2…
B. Don’t Fall Short (4:1-11).
This second warning in 4:1-11 emphasizes (1) the need to fear the possibility of not entering God’s eternal rest, and (2) the need to strive to enter by persevering in faith - not giving up, not turning away, not falling short. The implicit warning is that if you do not fear God, you will despise the promise of eternal rest and at the judgement be found to have missed out, to have fallen short.
“Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us fear that none of you be found to have fallen short” (4:1). The warning now advances from “watch out” (3:12) to “fear” (4:1) and the consequence advances from “turning away from the living God” (3:12) to “falling short” (4:1) of God’s rest. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, as the saying goes. To experience a healthy fear of God serves to heighten our awareness of spiritual danger and spur us on to persevere toward God’s promised rest which is still before us. The Israelites did not enter into the rest that God had promised them, but be assured that the promise still remains for us. That should motivate us to persevere towards it. Evidently, the author of this epistle is burdened to continue holding out this warning because of the very real danger that some among the Hebrews might not be the beneficiaries of this promise - they may not ultimately enter God’s rest on the final judgement day because they did fall short, they did not remain faithful to the end.
Just like the wilderness Israelites, the Hebrews (and Christians today by extension) heard the gospel, the good news of the promised rest for those who believe. “For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it (4:2). For the wilderness generation, the good news was the promise of Canaan rest (see Gen. 12:1-3; 13:14-17), but sadly that promise “did not benefit them” because, although they heard the word of the gospel, they did not believe it – they lacked faith. Scripture says that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). They had the word of God but the missing ingredient was faith in God’s word. They heard and knew the promise but they didn't receive it by faith. Hearing the word of promise and knowing it does not grant you access to the reality of the promise itself.
The warning obviously is that the Hebrews were in danger of doing the same thing as the Israelites, and so are we. Hearing must be “mixed with faith” in order for its promises to be of benefit to the hearers. The wilderness generation knew the promise - viz. deliverance from Egypt would lead to rest in Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey - but they didn't believe it, didn't receive it. Even though they had seen and experienced the proof that God's promises are true, they rejected the promise, preferring to stay in Egypt rather than Canaan. In order for the gospel to benefit you, you must receive it by faith. And genuine faith is evident by persevering in it to the end, not turning away from God.
Here’s the summary of the argument – there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that God’s promise of eternal rest still remains for those who believe. The bad news is that the fate of those who do not believe also still remains: “3 For we who have believed enter the rest, in keeping with that he has said,‘So I swore in my anger, They will not enter my rest,’ even though his works have been finished since the foundation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way: ‘And on the seventh day God rested from all his works.’5 Again, in that passage he says, ‘They will never enter my rest.’” (4:3-5). Those who, having heard the gospel, ultimately reject God’s promise of eternal life will “never enter [God’s] rest.” By contrast, “we who have believed” will certainly enter that eternal, final and still future rest in the eschaton, when God ushers in his eternal kingdom (4:1, 6, 9). This is our hope, our final reward at the consummation. Canaan rest looked forward to a future, final rest of God.
“6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, 7 he again specifies a certain day – today. He specified this speaking through David after such a long time: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (4:6-7). God will fulfill his promise, believers will finally enter God's rest. The unbelief of previous generations did not annul or change God's promise - it still stands. Thus, long after the wilderness generation were barred from God's rest, a new day (“today”) was set when his rest would be a reality for believers. <“Today” refers to the present opportunity to repent, believe, and persevere in hope of the future rest. Thus, Psalm 95, written long after the failure of the wilderness generation to enter Canaan and long after Joshua entered, indicates clearly that the day of God's rest was and still is future.
“For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day” (4:8). Just as Psalm 95 did not refer to the wilderness generation under Moses’ leadership, so also it could not have been referring to the generation under Joshua’s leadership, for they actually entered Canaan and their descendants were living there when Psalm 95 was written. If Canaan was the “rest” referred to, then Psalm 95 makes no sense. Why exhort people to enter into what they had already entered? For then “God would not have spoken later about another day” (4:8) - there would not have been a future rest still in view. Granted they did achieve a measure of rest under Joshua but obviously that was not the rest being referred to here. The rest of Psalm 95 was still a future rest of which Canaan rest was a foretaste. It was still attainable “today” - i.e. at the time when David wrote Psalm 95.
A summary statement (4:9-11). In drawing his argument of this passage to a close, the author states his concluding proposition: “9 Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. 10 For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his” (4:9-10). It’s as though, just in case you didn’t get the point of the entire passage, the author states one more time, succinctly and clearly, that there is a glorious future, eternal rest for God’s people, when all believers will “rest from their own works, just as God did from his,” when we will collectively celebrate in the new Jerusalem (cf. Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 14:13) the culmination of our works done in the service of Christ, just as God rested from his works when his creation work was complete.
This proposition follows the warning of the passage, and is itself followed by a final exhortation: “11 Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience” (4:11), indicating the need for present striving towards this future event. The entrance into that rest depends on and is a conclusion to “[making] every effort.” A positive response today (4:7) points to a reward in the future - the rest that remains. So, with this prospect in view, let us persevere now in faith. Let us make every effort, strive with diligence, zeal, and purpose, to enter our future resting place, so that we do not fall into the same trap of disobedience, of “turning away from the living God” (3:12), as the Israelites did. Thus 3:12 and 4:11 frame the whole section - the warning (3:12-19) and the promise (4:1-11).
Final Remarks
The rest for the Israelites was settling into Canaan (cf. Joshua 21:44; 22:4). This rest in Hebrews 3-4 looks on to our rest, God’s rest, eternity, heaven (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:7 re: our future rest when Christ comes).
So, let’s learn from the lesson from history that “Disbelief Leads To Rebellion” (3:7-11). And let us heed the warning to “Consider the Future” (3:12-19) by checking our hearts (3:12-19) and not falling short (4:1-11).
Disbelief starts in a heart that becomes hardened by sin (3:12). “The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). One sin committed by one man in the Garden of Eden has led to the worldwide pervasion of sin to every human being (Romans 5:12). The only cure for this condition is to be “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). And this is the very solution that the sinful human heart does not want. We are by nature and by practice sinners (Romans 3:23), “alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions” (Colossians 1:21).
When the heart becomes hardened against Christ in unbelief and the mind becomes darkened through futile thoughts and spiritually darkened understanding, then such a person is “excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more (Ephesians 4:17-19). This is the pattern of unredeemed persons.
But, thank God there is hope in Christ, for the apostle continues: “That is not how you came to know Christ, assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth” (Ephesians 4:20-24). This is the only antidote for an evil, unbelieving heart that is hardened by sin and unbelief. For there is no other escape from the judgement of God, as we learned in the first article in this series, “how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).
So, let us be warned: There are consequences to sin, disobedience, and unfaithfulness to God. Don't make the same mistake as the Israelites. Remember our thesis: There is no eternal rest for those who turn away from God in unbelief. Instead of turning away from God, persevere in faith so that you enter God’s rest (4:1-13).
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