The Evil Within

The Evil Within
Hebrews 3:12
October 14, 2018

Philippians 1:2 (ESV) 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 3:12(ESV) 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Is there anything that would cause you to question the love that God has for you?

We live in a world of broken relationships, and we get used to them being broken around us. So why no God. However, God never breaks His relationship with us, instead we break our relationship with Him.

Why?

Isaiah 55:8(ESV) 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

But whose thoughts are ways are better, yours or God’s? We may be quick to answer God’s ways are better, but be careful. Then why would we rebel against God?

Well, there is something in this world that we attach ourselves. So the author of the Hebrews encourages the believers to Take Care, lest anything if I may summarize would lead you to fall away from the living God.

Would there be anything that would cause us to leave the living God? Be careful how you answer. While we think that nothing can shake the faith that God has given to us, we do have some areas of our lives that are more sensitive than others, because our ways are not always God’s ways. Consider the following passage of God’s Word.

When Jacob in the Old Testament says to God:

Genesis 28:22(ESV) 22b… And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Ooops I mentioned the Money word in church and even worse the tithe that is a tenth or 10 percent. Our hearts may start to harden, why? Something we value very much is at stake. Some people may even leave the church, why because we are attached to the things of this world instead of the living God. That is why the author of the book of Hebrews notes

Hebrews 3:12(ESV) 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

The author know that even though we are Christians, this is why he used the word brothers, to incorporate himself in the discussion, the author also knows that as Christians we are still stained with sin, and that sin is evil.

St. Paul puts it this way:

Romans 7:18–19(ESV) 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Our world is trying to teach us that that the evil is out there somewhere. But the real struggle is actually with our own flesh.

The author of Hebrews quotes from the Psalms

Psalm 95:7–8(ESV) 7… Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah

Ahhh remember Meribah…

Meribah, where the people of God rebelled. God was caring for the people as they traveled in the wilderness, the people started to complain. Why would they complain, their flesh, their ways are not God’s ways.

Exodus 17:7(ESV) 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Even Moses was who also struggled with a human flesh

Deuteronomy 32:51–52(ESV) 51 because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”

Moses did not treat God as Holy.

The First Commandment

You shall have no other gods.

What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

1st Commandment, I’ve got this no you don’t.Remember Meribah!!!! What was their complaint, water. So what is your complaint to God? Money, life, success. The same God who cared for the people of Israel is caring for you.

Psalm 32:10(ESV) 10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

So we continue to fear love and trust in God above all things. The Psalmist focuses us to God and His word, to put our trust and worship knowing that He will care for us,

Psalm 95:6–7(ESV) 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. What beautiful words, and you have heard the next line.

Today, if you hear his voice,

8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,

So we continue to trust in God, we continue to study His word, we continue to come into His presence for strength and forgiveness, why, because we know that the evil is within us and we remember Meribah, and we remember we have a God who cares for us.

In His Name Amen.

Philippians 4:7(ESV) 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.