Jim Van Gelderen: Hebrews chapter number 3 and chapter number 4 is where we're going to spend a few moments here tonight. It is a delight to see you here. I know some of you have come at a decent distance.

There's the group from Montana here. I'd like to see if they're here. Okay, great.

It's wonderful to have you folks. When I saw Montana, I couldn't believe it. Did you drive?

You did drive. Okay. I don't know what we need to do, but maybe we need to pray for these dear folks, that they'll stay awake during the message tonight.

But it's a delight to have someone. I think we have them from New York City to Montana. So we've got almost the whole spread of the country, and it is a delight to have many of you here probably before the time is over.

I'd like to find out where you're all from here, but for time's sake we'll dive right into the message. But we are looking forward to a wonderful time together. And I want you to know, young people, that we're here to be a help.

If there are any of you that perhaps you get stirred, the Lord works in your heart, I want you to know that Oriole would be glad to talk to you, myself, any of the speakers. You're going to hear from different young men with revival testimonies any of the staff of Falls Baptist Church or Baptist College of Ministry, we're honestly here for you. And please let us know.

We'll do all we can to try to open God's Word and encourage you and help you with whatever the spiritual struggle is that you may be in. Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 is a passage that has enamored me for years, and I have been drawn back to it in recent days.

Since this evening, I want to deal with just something very quickly here and just want to kind of lay something out, and then we're going to park on one particular point here at the end of Hebrews chapter 3 and 4. We're going to begin reading by reading verse number 1 of chapter number 4, which will serve as our text tonight. And we'll have a word of prayer and dive into a simple message here.

So let's begin at the reading and admonition here in Hebrews in chapter number 4. Look at verse number 1. It says, Let us therefore fear.

Now, therefore refers back to chapter number 3, which pretty much outlines the historical unbelief of the nation of Israel at Kadesh Barnea.

and as a result of that example of unbelief we find some strong admonition as chapter 3 progresses and then as he winds down here and starts into chapter number 4 he refers back to chapter 3 as a result of the example of the unbelief at Kadesh Barnea of God's people which we'll refer to in just a moment he said let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it I've got a

simple question for you.

Do you fear a promise being left of entering into his rest, coming short of that promise? Do you fear that? Because God is admonishing you to do so.

Let's pray. Lord, would you be with us? Would you encourage us and help us?

And Lord, we do ask that the Spirit of God would take the Word of God and would make application to our hearts. Lord, we're weak. It is only you that can impact and change our lives, as we just heard testimony of what you can do.

So we're looking you to do it, expecting you to do it because your word teaches us truth. And I know that if we believe in appropriate, you'll do what only you can do. We thank you in Jesus name.

Amen. God uses a lot of different pictures, often in the Bible, to illustrate one event. You know, when we think of salvation, there's many pictures God uses to teach us how to be saved.

There's the picture of redemption. God goes into the slave market of sin and redeems the hopeless slave. That's one picture.

There's the picture of justification going into the courtroom. There's the picture even of salvation, one of rescue when someone is in unimpending peril. There's the picture of adoption.

There's many different pictures that God gives us of one event, the event of salvation. Now, the same is true when it comes to revival or sanctification or the Christian life. There are many pictures that God gives us of one dynamic.

One, in this case, it's not an event, a process. The Christian pilgrimage, the Christian walk. We have the wonderful picture of abiding in the vine.

That's a picture of the Christian life. There's a picture of being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians chapter 5. There's the picture in Galatians chapter 5 of walking.

That's a picture of the Christian life, walking in the Spirit. And tonight, I want us to deal with a picture of revival that is a picture that we often overlook. It's the picture, hang on, of rest.

Now, God is urging us here to fear. Lest the promise of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it. Let me just say this.

When a Christian comes short of all that God has for him, it's tragic. And he's saying we ought fear, we ought be concerned that we miss out on all that God has for us. See, the picture of rest, as we're going to see in a moment, is really a picture of the reviving presence of God in a life.

It is the picture of a believer who is really experiencing all that God has for him. So God says we ought to fear, we ought to be concerned lest we come short of all the promises he's given us about this issue. Now, as a result of that, we'll look tonight at just three things.

First of all, what is rest? Because I think we need to understand what it is. Secondly, how do we enter into rest?

And really where we're going to preach for tonight is why don't we enter in? Okay, first of all, the simple picture is what is rest? Okay, let me just note a few things.

Number one, it's important. I mean, after all, if God says you ought to fear lest you don't enter in, it must be not only important, it is essential. Okay, so whatever this rest is, it's essential.

It's not only essential, hang on, it is not automatic. It's not inevitable. In other words, there are some Christians who don't enter into rest.

As tragic as it is, it's not inevitable. You know, some theological systems say it's inevitable, but God tells us there's some that don't and there's some that do. So we see that it's not inevitable.

It's important, young person. You recognize it. this evening.

Thirdly, it's supernatural. Notice it says his rest, talking about God's rest. Folks, what we're talking about here is not human rest.

Okay, we know what human rest is. Some of us are really looking forward to it. In fact, some of you are saying, okay, when are you going to be done?

Okay, because you're looking forward to human rest. Okay, we're not talking about human rest here. We are talking about his rest, entering into God's rest.

So I want you to see that whatever we're talking about here is supernatural. It is that which cannot be explained except you enter God into the equation. Seems like this, folks.

There's two ways to live the Christian life. You can live a Christian life that unsaved people can look at your life and they can explain it. Or you can live a Christian life that unsaved people look at your life and they cannot explain it unless you enter God into the equation.

See, that's what we're talking about here. Okay, now, fourthly, this is where we'll spend a few moments. Hang on, this rest is not inactivity.

Okay, we kind of think it would be. In other words, think about this. Now, this is a picture.

We have to understand this is a picture of the nation of Israel. Now, for those of you that are not up on Hebrew history, the nation of Israel is a picture of the pilgrimage of one New Testament believer. So the whole nation is an illustration of God working in the life of a believer.

Now, it is not an illustration of the church. It's the illustration of one New Testament believer. So when someone gets saved, that's the picture of the children of Israel.

When they came out of Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea. They came out of Egypt. And when they came out of Egypt, Egypt's a picture of the world.

That was salvation. Are you with me? Okay, then the pilgrimage continues.

And it teaches us principles about the Christian life. Okay, now, so the children of Israel came to Kadesh Barnea, and it was there they had an opportunity to enter this land of rest. And Hebrews chapter 3 tells us of the tragedy when God's people did not believe God, and they drew back at that point and wandered for 40 years.

Most of us are familiar with that. Then, of course, then at Jericho there, they crossed the Jordan River, And when they did so, they entered into rest. Now, think about this for a moment, folks.

The children of Israel, when they crossed the Jordan River, okay, God called that rest. Now, when we think of rest, we would probably have the idea that the children of Israel set up their hammocks and began to sip on non-alcoholic pina coladas. I mean, that would be our picture.

But that's not what happened. You know, it was not a place. It was not a vacation.

You ever think about the land of rest? You'll miss this, folks. The land of rest was a land of battles.

It was a land of pressure. It was a land of opposition. It was a land of sweat.

It was a land of difficulty. You say, how in the world could it be a land of rest? Now, folks, think about this for a moment.

It was the land of rest because victory was certain. Now think about this folks when they cross the Jordan River God had already said I've given you that land. We're going to deal with that in just a moment So victory was certain now i'm going to use an analogy.

I almost hesitate to use this analogy because it's um It's not perfect And certainly it is one in which god would never do when i'm going to use an analogy Okay, so I hesitate to do it for but for lack of a better illustration. I'll do this Let's just imagine that you played on a major league baseball team.

Now again god would not do this But let's imagine you played on a major league baseball team and god came to your baseball team and he said You are going to win the world series Now the very beginning let's say in spring training. Hey kid, you're going to win the world series Well, again, god wouldn't do this. Hopefully you're making the analogy here to the children of israel You know that'd be exciting baseball season wouldn't it?

But you'd still get out there and swing the bat you'd still get out there and pitch hard You'd still get out there and try to steal second you'd still get out there and you try to do the squeeze play you do everything that you normally do, even though you are sure that you're going to win the World Series. But here's the thing I want you to see. You and your heart would be at rest.

When you lost five games in a row, you'd still be at rest. If you really believe God, wouldn't you be? We're going to win this thing.

Hey, if you went on a stretch where your team wasn't doing that well, maybe you slid in the standings. If you really believe God, you wouldn't be worried about it, would you? You'd still be at rest.

Why? We're going to win the World Series. Okay, let's imagine you get in the World Series.

and I know World Series and Milwaukee aren't very synonymous, but nonetheless, maybe this year. But, you know, let's imagine here you are, you get in the World Series and let's imagine it's the seventh game of the World Series. It's the ninth inning and you're coming up the bat and you're down 10 to nothing.

Now, what would be the attitude of that team down 10 to nothing and they had confidence in their heart that they were going to win the World Series. God told them they're going to win the World Series. Okay, when you came up to bat, I want to ask you, would there be depression in the dugout?

No. I mean, guys would be looking at each other, smiling, thinking, man, this is going to be great. We're going to score 10 runs or more.

But you know, they'd still get up to the plate. They'd swing their bat hard. They'd beat it out down to first base.

They'd try to steal second. You see my point, friends. the thing that made it land the idea of a season of rest, it would not be that they didn't sweat.

Sure, they'd sweat. It would not mean that they didn't faint of opposition or even failure or even difficulty or problems. The issue is that baseball team would be at rest.

Why? We're going to win the World Series. And no matter what happened, they'd always fall back on it.

We're going to win the World Series. And they would know it was not wishful thinking. God says we're going to win it.

Now, again, it's a poor analogy. But at least it gets us thinking. the thing that made the land of the promised land a land of rest was that victory was assured folks there was opposition there was difficulty there was even failure we heard about that tonight but it was still a land of promise it was a land of rest because victory was assured now folks Let's just think about this for a moment.

That simply means that when you and I get discouraged, we're not in the land of rest. When we get frustrated, we're not in the land of rest. When we get irritated, we're not in the land of rest.

When we get upset, we're not in the land of rest. The land of rest is a place of assured victory that you are appropriating. So see what the land of rest is in our picture here.

Now that brings us a wonderful thing. There's so much more could be said there, and we're going to develop the land of rest, which really is revival. Now that brings us to a simple question.

How do you enter in? Now, I don't know about you, the land of rest sounds pretty encouraging, doesn't it? You know, folks, the thing we're going to see in just a moment is God has a provision.

He can meet any problem we face, even if the problem is us. See, he's not shocked by any problem that comes our way, even if it comes through our failure. So how do we enter in?

Well, let's look at a few things here. Look, if you would, please, at verse number three. Yeah, let's just look there first.

It says, for we which have believed do enter into rest. So I'm going to ask you a simple question. It's a big audience here tonight.

I want you to go ahead and answer back like we were in a Sunday school classroom. Okay. How do you enter in?

By what? Okay, that's about maybe a fourth of you. Let's see if the rest of you can.

Let's read the verse again. Verse number three. For we which have believed do enter into rest.

As he said. Okay, so here it is. How do you enter into rest?

By what? By believing God. By faith, by dependence.

See, the children of Israel, we're going to see in a moment that their faith was evidenced by some things that are quite remarkable. But when they crossed into the Jordan land, they believed God. In fact, we're going to see when they faced their first battle at Jericho, the Bible said, By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down.

Now, there's a couple of things I want you to see. This faith, this dependence, this believing, this resting in God. In a certain sense, folks, what the land of rest is, is realizing that every threat, every pressure, every difficulty, even every failure, that God's big enough to meet it.

You can run to Him. You can trust Him. You can rest in Him for those difficulties.

It's faith. Now, how is that evidenced? Okay, I want you to see two things that are not here in the text but are in Hebrew history, in the book of Joshua.

And when the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River and they faced their first battle in the promised land, how do we know they believed God? Well, we know they believed God because God told us, but there's another reason we know they believed God. And that is, don't miss this, because they obeyed God.

Now think about this for just a moment, folks. Imagine here you are, you cross the Jordan River. Joshua, the general, gets you all together and says, listen, I have just got orders from heaven.

God's told us how the walls of Jericho are going to be taken care of. Boy, you'd sit there with anticipation. And he says, okay, here's first day of military strategy.

He said, we're going to take men, women, children, the whole camp, and we're going to walk around Jericho one time. Do you think they were hitting each other and say, hey, Abraham, did you hear that? Wow, what a strategy.

Now, they were probably beginning to wonder what happened to their general. You know, where did he go to school? I mean, this is different.

and then he says day number two maybe oh maybe it gets better hey we're gonna everybody man women we're gonna walk around it one more time day three day four where do you think they see you know i don't know five six where do you think they begin to wonder about it then day seven we're gonna do something different you go oh here it is here's something different yeah we're gonna get up and walk around it seven times and then here it is folks this is

the thing that's gonna do it we're gonna blow trumpets and we're gonna scream and yell and the walls are gonna fall down now think about it folks this was i'll be honest with you one of israel's finest hours you say well richard what do they do i mean i mean after all what do they do i mean those are unusual military strategy what do they do this this may sound you know we know what they did but the point is they did it and it's interesting

to me the reason they could walk around jericho 13 times in those seven days with utter confidence was because God had said to Joshua, he had said, see, the city I have given into thine hand and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor.

Now notice what God had said to Joshua. He didn't say, I'm going to give the city. He said, I've already given you the city.

So Joshua comes, I love this. They march around 13 times and then he says to the people, shout. for the Lord hath given the city unto you.

You say, well, preacher, what did they do? Now, folks, I want you to understand. When Joshua said, shout for the Lord has given the city unto you, the people were looking at walls that were still there.

They hadn't even been under crack yet. So you say, preacher, what did they do? They shouted.

Why? Because they believed that God had already given them the city. And the moment they shouted, after obeying God, the walls fell down.

Now, which brings me to point number two, the first evidence of this kind of faith, the rest of faith, a dependence of faith, a dependence on the victory that God has given us, first results in obedience. Second, it results in thanksgiving. Folks, a thankless Christian is a defeated Christian.

A praising Christian is a victorious Christian. And the amazing thing was they shouted, why? Because God had already given the city And they were praising God for what he'd already done.

Now, folks, there are often I'm convinced that in our prayer life, we pray and God is honestly displeased with our prayer. For instance, we say, oh, God, make your grace sufficient. His grace already is sufficient.

Oh, God, overcome the world. He says, I already have. Oh, God, make me dead to sin.

He says, you are in me. You see, friends, there's sometimes we need to stop asking and start praising. Why?

Because He's already done it. And the land of rest is a land where you believe that He's overcome the world. You believe that you're dead to sin in Christ and alive unto God in Christ.

You believe that His grace is more than enough. It's sufficient. You believe what already is.

So, that's how we enter in. Now, you say, well, that's wonderful. I mean, that's where I want to live.

Now, again, we need to recognize the land of rest is not a land of perfection. It's not that you enter in and you never have any trouble, even as Oriel mentioned a moment before. It is simply a land where there is someone who can meet every problem you face, even yourself, even your own problems, even your own sin.

Which brings us to a second point here on how we enter in. You say, okay, yeah, Brother Evangelion, yeah, that's why I don't live. I want to live in that land of rest.

Boy, I don't want to. I'm afraid sometimes we cross the Jordan River, then we cross back. You ever done that?

So, yeah, I want to. Okay, how do we do that? I really want to do that.

Okay, well, let's look at a couple of things here that might be a help. Look if we could, please, over here to verse number 10 of chapter number 4. Again, we're not able to deal with the whole passage, but it says, For he that is entered into his rest, he also ceased from his own works as God is from his.

See, it's a land where we cease from flesh dependence, as Oriel gave testimony. And we now switch to God dependence. It's a land where we stop.

It's not our righteousness. It's his righteousness being fleshed out through our dependent obedience. Hey, our righteousness is this filthy rags.

His righteousness pleases God. See, we cease from our own works. It's not flesh.

It's not us pleasing God. It's God through our dependent obedience, fleshing out his righteousness. Okay, so continuing on, look at verse number 11.

He says, let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest. Now, that seems strange, doesn't it? Let us labor to enter into rest?

Boy, that's a paradox. The word labor actually has the idea of giving diligence. So the idea here is God is saying, listen, I want you to give diligence to enter into that rest.

Now notice the second part of the verse. It says why. And we're laying a foundation.

We're going somewhere. So hang with me. It says, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

He's saying, listen, you better give diligence about this thing. You better give diligence about getting into this land of rest. Because if you don't, you're going to fall after the same example of unbelief.

In other words, you're going to do the same thing that your children of Israel did. He's warning them. Now friends, I want to ask you a simple question How do you enter in?

How do you enter in? By believing, by faith Okay, so God says give diligence to entering in So what are we giving diligence to nurturing?

Don't miss this We're giving diligence to nurturing our faith That's what we're nurturing That's what we're giving diligence to Because it's not our works that enter us in It's our faith in Him who works that enters us in so uh so the diligence is not to doing better the diligence is to nurturing our faith you say oh yeah see that preacher i mean i don't want to follow the same example i don't want to be like the children of israel at kadish barnea here they were

came out of egypt and here god wanted to enter them right in and they didn't believe god and they wandered for 40 years and by the way when they wandered for 40 years god took care of them their shoes didn't wear out their clothes didn't get holes in them.

You know, I imagine Walmart in the wilderness didn't do so well. Probably shut up, you know. They probably had to close down.

Why? They didn't need it any. You know, it just kept going.

You know, God takes care of Christians who are in the wilderness. They're still Christian. They're still His children.

So they wandered for 40 years, folks. But at Kadesh Bar and Hia, they had a wonderful opportunity that was passed by. So God's warning is saying, listen, nurture your faith.

this is important you say okay well preacher how do i do that i mean i want to give diligence and yeah i want to nurture a faith and i want to i want to enter the land of rest i want to be a person who lives in that place of victory and lives where where christ is real and where he's doing miracles and folks i want to tell you the land of rest is a place of miracles it's a place of supernatural doings it's a place

where god is at work i want to tell you you read joshua i mean we're talking about the longest day in the history of mankind.

God makes the sun stand still. We're talking of hailstones coming down and knocking the enemy out. We're talking about God supernaturally enabling his people.

Listen, God's fingerprints are all over Joshua. That's the land of rest. That's the land of revival.

That's the land that God at work. That's the land that you cannot explain it unless you put God in the equation. Listen, when Rahab talked to those two men who came there from Israel, She didn't talk about the nation of Israel.

She talked about God. Why? Because those people knew you better.

The problem is not the children of Israel. The problem is their God. Their God's more powerful than we are.

And I want to tell you, friends, the land of rest, the land of revival, is that kind of land. When you look at that person and you say, you can't explain that except God. Okay, you see why it's so important?

He's warning us. Don't miss out on this. Nurture your faith, young person.

Give diligence to entering in. You say, oh yeah, okay, I see it. I've got to enter in by faith.

I've got to nurture our faith. Oh, how are we going to do it? How do we nurture our faith?

Well, let's just see what the next verse says. Maybe it will help. Let's look at verse number 12.

For the… What is it? Word of God.

And we're going to see two dynamics that God has given us to nurture our faith. And I will tell you, young people, If you do not spend time getting into the Word of God, you will not enter into the land of rest. Because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by?

The Word of God. And when you begin to put God's Word in your heart, and you begin to say, I've got to have God's Word, and you begin to seek God through His Word, and you begin to spend time in the Word that's alive, it's powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, and we could preach a whole message here on how important it is. It divides asunder soul and spirit.

It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I want to tell you, friends, it's a sword that splits down. It shows us that which hinders revival.

And it shows us that which helps revival. It's absolutely essential. So the Word of God.

No more could be said, but for time, let's continue on. Many of these themes are going to be touched on. But you know, it's not the only dynamic that God gives us.

There's another dynamic that God gives us that nurtures faith. Look at verse number 14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, lest hold fast our profession.

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. You see, the first dynamic that nurtures our faith is the Word of God. And the second dynamic that nurtures our faith is the Word of God.

The Word was made flesh and in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word. I want to tell you, friends, inside of you is the author of this book. And he is called the Word.

And he's alive. And the Bible says he's a great high priest. He was tempted at all points, just like we are, yet without sin.

I want to tell you something, friends. Jesus Christ was tempted to frustration. He was tempted to get irritated.

He was tempted to unbelief. He was tempted to have wrong thoughts. He was tempted.

But I will tell you something, friends. He never sinned. He was God.

But he was tempted. It says in all points, just like you are. And teenager, I want to tell you that the Lord Jesus in heaven, the high priest, sitting at the right hand, He understands when you're tempted because he was tempted.

Now, he didn't sin, but he understands temptation. Now, you say, why is that so significant? Now, friends, this is what I want us to see here because I think we get hung up on this.

We get all excited about the land of rest. And some of you enter in. You believe God.

God begins to do in your work in your life. And all of a sudden, you know what happens? AI.

You know, everybody who enters the land of rest sooner or later is going to have an AI. You know, it's interesting to me. Joshua, you know, they lose 36 men.

He goes, he flings himself on the floor with the elders. He cries out, so God, we should have stayed on the other side of Jordan. Wasn't that a statement of unbelief?

Lord, the Canaanites are going to hear about it. They're going to wipe us out. We're done.

You know, you hear me. Joshua was discouraged. I want to ask you a question.

Do not answer it out loud. Have you ever sinned and gotten discouraged? Well, that's exactly it.

Now, I want you to understand, this is a land of promise. This is in the land of rest. And here's Joshua flat on his face in total unbelief.

And he's saying, God, we're in trouble. It's over. It's done.

And you know what? God says, I love this. He comes and he says, get thee up.

Israel has sinned. And friends, you know what he basically says? He says, get up and deal with your sin and find my mercy.

Get up and deal with you. Sanctify yourselves. Deal with your sin.

And this is what I want us to see, folks. You have a great high priest. What do the high priests do, folks?

The day of atonement. You see, what I want us to see, friends, is when the land of rest, we come to understand that we have such a great high priest. Oh, he's grieved when we sin, but he's not shocked by it.

he has a provision to take care of it you know what satan wants you to do to get discouraged listen if you sin and get discouraged i will tell you discouragement is never from god you know what god wants you to do when you sin make a beeline for the cross and anytime you get discouraged anytime you fail and get discouraged and you say oh i'm worthless god can't use me i'm done i will tell you that does not come from god because the bible says

if we confess our sins, He is faithful.

Now, I'm not minimizing sin, friend. I'm simply telling you that there's a provision. But I put it this way, we're the messer-uppers and He's the fixer-upper.

Notice what it says there in verse number 16 because it says, based on these truths, let us therefore come boldly into the throne of grace that we may obtain what? The very idea of mercy means that mercy only is needed when we sin.

this is the wonderful thing folks in the land of rest we get on the thing that nurtures our faith to get us in the land of rest is the word of god and is also an understanding that we have a great high priest who understands our infirmities and he's got a provision for him and god says let us come boldly to the throne of grace then we may obtain mercy he is a restorer friend and there's some teenager out here tonight and you're thinking preacher you

can preach all you want god can't help me.

I seem so far from God. You don't know what I've done. I've done so many wicked things and you may have but I will tell you the Bible says his mercy is everlasting.

And Satan wants you to think that you're so far from God you can never get back. I don't care who you are in this room. You're five minutes from being right with God.

Because you have a great high priest. There's mercy. There's grace to help in time of need.

So i'll tell you what nurtures our faith friends is when we begin to study the word of god And we begin in this word of god to find out what a great word of god we have in our hearts the incarnate word jesus christ our great high priest now Understanding that we saw first of all what is rest not inactivity It's ceasing from our own works. Maybe put it this way.

Sometimes people have called what i'm preaching passivity It is only passivity if you believe god is passive because if you're yielding to God and expecting him to enable you, and you say, well, yeah, if I do that, nothing's going to happen, who are you inferring is going to do nothing? You with me? May I say this?

What this is teaching is not no activity. It's teaching Christ activity. It's God in action through me.

And it's a total misconception, folks. Rest is God at work. That's why it's rest.

It's Christ activity through me. Okay, we cease from our own works. So he can work.

Okay, now, we saw what is rest. We saw how we can enter in, but now I preach the whole message for this. Why do we fail to enter in?

Well, I think we all understand the problem is, look at verse number 19, so we see that they could not enter in because of, please say it together, unbelief, verse 19 of chapter 3. I got ahead of some of you probably. But I want you to go back now to chapter number 3 because chapter number 3 gives us the bad news.

It's what I call Romans 7. Chapter number 4 is Romans 8. But I want you to note, if you would please, here in chapter number 3, look at verse number 12.

It says, take heed. What's that third word? Who's he talking to, saved or lost?

Saved. He says, take heed, brethren, lest there be in any view an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. He just quotes from the book of Psalms.

He outlines Kadesh Barnea. He, of course, warns. He said, the Holy Spirit saith, today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.

And He warns the Hebrew Christians not to do what their forefathers had done. And at that moment of faith, when God's Holy Spirit was saying, go, when God was telling them, take that step of faith, believe God, deal with your sin, find that mercy of the Lord. And they harden their hearts.

He's warning them, brethren, don't do that. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. And I will tell you, friend, what a tragedy is when God's people depart from a God who's alive.

You know, sometimes God, in some ways, lets us see how alive He is. On October 8, 2005, God showed me how alive He was.

some of you may recognize that date Oral O'Gorman was in a van right behind me with Sam Keene who I believe is in the building and our trailer lost control and we were a 35 foot trailer going down a hill in Wyoming it began to wag back and forth at a 180 degree angle if you can imagine a trailer going like this a 35 foot trailer all you could hear was squealing tires because tires aren't made to go sideways I'm sure there's semi-circles on the road

you know pushed us on that median That traitor somehow, I don't know how, but the lock came unlocked.

It popped off the ball and turned over. People who've heard this story said, I have never heard of a traitor wreck where the tow vehicle did not turn over. Our tow vehicle stayed upright.

That traitor went over and it did cartwheel. It was going so fast it did a cartwheel. It was backwards when we came to the wreckage.

Some of you have seen the pictures. It looked like a hurricane hit the thing. Now, I want to tell you something, friends.

God showed me that day he's alive.

there's so many miracles in the following days i've chronicled them because i don't want to forget the miracles how god showed me he was alive you know when you're in a situation like that maybe you've been in a situation like that you just discombobrate i couldn't do anything i couldn't think i couldn't make decisions i could do nothing but shake and think of what could have happened i'll never forget i'm thinking what am i supposed to do you know what am i supposed to do where

am i supposed to go you know everything i mean i don't have a trailer anymore i'm just thinking everything i'll never forget i went into rawlings wyoming there to get a u-haul trailer and figured i'll throw my stuff on the u-haul trailer you know that's something i can do and while i'm there a phone call comes in from a guy i haven't seen in years went to college with him mike holmes he works with baptist youth mission out there in wyoming he said brother jim heard

about your wreck and he said uh i got a place over got a couple rooms for you i got a hot meal for you so i got a trailer for you.

And I thought, man, alive, God is meeting my need before I could even ask. I couldn't ask at that point. I was so, so I just couldn't, I could hardly think.

And I will tell you friends, that was just the beginning of a string of God doing what only he can do. I will tell you friends, why depart from the God who is alive? He's living.

And I will tell you young people, one of the most exciting things about being in the center of God's will is a simple opportunity to see the God who is living show how alive he is. Boy, with answered prayer, with me, I feel sorry for you kids who jam out on junk. I feel sorry for you sneaking on the internet.

I feel sorry for some of you sneaking dirty movies and dirty. I feel sorry for you because you don't see God's alive. You don't see him answer prayer.

You don't see the miracles. You don't see kids get saved through your ministry. You know, I, at 23 years of preaching into lost teenagers, it never gets old.

Boy, it's a thrill to preach the gospel out there, see tears welling up in their eyes. I said, hallelujah, this is good stuff. I remember old dad's day I'm preaching.

I'm looking out there when old dad tears are streaming down his face. I said, boy, that's good stuff. The gospel hadn't lost its power.

Our God is alive. And there are a lot of people today think the Holy Spirit shut up shop and God's out of business. I want to tell you some of the friends, he's just alive as he's ever been.

He's a living God. And when the tragedy is, When you and I, and I say I because I find myself often doubting God, when we doubt God, we are departing from the living God. You know what we're saying?

I need something other than God. What an insult. But friends, I'm going to be honest with you, although that's an important part of what we're doing with, it brings me to the final point, and that is verse number 13.

He says, you better take heed. You better not fall after the same example of unbelief. You better not do like the children of Israel did.

This is big stuff. Don't miss out on God's best. Don't harden your heart.

or there's something he says, and I preach the whole message for these final moments. Look, if you would please, at verse number 13. It says, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you, notice this, be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Now, I want you to see that that is passive in voice, which means it's not so much you hardening your heart, it's the deceitfulness of sin hardening your heart. And the thing I want us to see in conclusion, If there's some dear people out here, dear young people out here, the reason you're not in the land of rest is not because you've not heard it preached. Listen, I'm talking to some young people from Ann Arbor Baptist Church.

I'm talking to some young people from Falls Baptist Church. I'm talking to some young people from Juniata Baptist Church. I'm talking to some young people from Grace Baptist Church in Moline.

I'm talking to some young people from other good churches around this country. You've heard it preached often from the pulpit that if you believe God, God will do something in your life. He'll move in your life.

He'll work. He'll change your life. He's a miraculous God.

The problem with your defeated Christian life is not lack of knowledge. The problem is sin has deceived you and hardened your heart. And that's why you hear great preaching.

And that's why your youth pastor preaches on revival. And you sit there and you do not get it. It's because sin has deceived you and it's hardened your heart.

And the very thing I want you to get as you walk out the door is to understand this. the reason some of you do not live in a revival, the reason some of you, when Oriel gave his testimony, it was a foreign language. The reason is, is because you have allowed sin to deceive you.

And when it deceives you, it hardens you. Listen, I'm talking to some young people. You got on that internet.

You begin to look at junk. And you begin to be deceived by sin. And you believe the lie of the devil.

And I will tell you, it has hardened your heart. So that when God's Holy Spirit shows up in a service, and God convicts you, and God works, You harden your heart. Why?

Because it's already hard. I'm talking to some of you. You've never seen an answer to prayer.

It's been a long time since you've seen the miraculous hand of God. It's been a long time since you knew what it was to live a life without anxiety, without worry, without manipulation, without hassle, without anger, without being upset, without frustration. It's a long time.

I'll tell you why. Because somewhere along the line, sin has deceived you and it's hardened you. You believed a lie.

I'm talking to young people out here You believed a lie Some of you out here You're looking at junk You're looking at crud You've thrown in the DVDs Your mom and dad may think you're an angel And you've got all kinds of junk going on in your life And my friends Sin is deceiving you And it's hardening your heart And that's why you may be in some of the best churches in America And it doesn't do you a lick of good Why?

Because sin has deceived you And it's hardened you And I want to tell you friends God's warning you tonight He is warning you He's saying listen Harden not your hearts Do you see this? This is important, friends. You can be in the best church that the United States of America has to offer.

And it won't do you a lick of good if you've allowed sin to deceive you and harden you. The Holy Spirit shows up on a service. You sit there checked out.

You miss the whole thing. And I'm talking to dear young people in this room. You're saved.

You're on your way to heaven. God takes care of you. Just like He did the children of Israel.

But you're way outside of God's best because of sin compromises in your life. The little compromises. Oh, mom and dad don't need to know about that.

Oh, mom and dad are a little too strict. It's not that big a deal. I want to tell you, friends, it is a big deal.

You've been deceived by sin and you don't even realize that you're getting hardened. I beg, friends, moms, dads, so many philosophies of this world. Literally, I think we could, I won't do it, could preach another hour on the deceptiveness of the wicked one.

I want to tell you, we're living in a day when young people are constantly bombarded about treat your parents like dirt. And I'm talking to dear young people in this room. Every single day of your life, you treat your parents in a manner that would have gotten you executed in the Old Testament.

It doesn't even bother you. You treat them like dirt. You roll your eyes.

You hassle them. You talk behind their back. You don't like what they're doing.

You complain about them. I want to tell you something, friends. You've been deceived.

Sin has deceived you. And it's hardening you. That's why you don't understand this revival rest thing.

It doesn't make any sense to you. Friends, I want you to understand when you let sin deceive you. And friends, we know sin deceives.

And every time we sin, mark it down. We've been deceived. And it hardens you.

Every time you hassle your parents. Every time you think they're too strict. Every time you don't like what they tell you what to do.

Every time you roll your eyes or roll your eyes in your inside. Every time you chafe at your parents. I don't care who you are a teenager.

You're deceived and you're hardening your heart or actually sin is hardening you. Oh, there's so many other things. Tomorrow we're going to hear a message on purity.

There's such a pragmatic approach today as far as mate finding. And we're living in a day when people say, you know, well, you know, you know, they'll kind of date around with this one and they'll date this one and they'll date this one and they'll date with this one, date this one, you know, figured out that God knows if you're compatible or not?

You know, I think God's big enough to lead you to the right one, the right time, the right way, without scars, broken relationships, and regrets. Don't you think He's big enough to do that? You don't need to have 15 million ex-girlfriends.

You don't need to have any. Well, you know, in fact, we're living a day when you say, well, you've got to see if you're physically compatible. You know, you've got to do some of this physical, see if you're physically compatible.

I want to tell you something, friends, that kind of stuff is destroying young people.

you know the very first some of you know this but the very first time that I kissed my wife was when the preacher said you may kiss the bride now I'll be honest with you some of you say well you know how you know if you're going to be able to kiss and all this kind of stuff well I'll be honest with you the first kiss was a little rough I had to kind of learn on the approach and all that kind of stuff but I

will tell you this I will tell you this about kissing five minutes in the reception buddy we had it down I mean we had it down no problems ever since you say we're preaching how are we going to know we're compatible it's called by faith brother trust in god he'll lead you the right one at the right time he won't make a mistake we live in a world that's absolutely messed up and some of you buying it you know it makes no sense to me here's

a guy and a girl they start going together you know and then all of a sudden something happens they break up then they find this you know guy finds somebody else gives his heart to that girl they break up goes out finds another girl gives his heart to that girl breaks up goes out gives you know five six seven down the one finally marries i want to ask you a question do you think that's helpful to building a solid foundation for faithfulness doesn't sound like it

to me sounds like he's practicing divorce we're living in a very pragmatic day and some of you young people have fallen for listen some of you guys are a girl crazy always looking for a girl trying to sneak behind your parents back i want to tell you something friends you do that kind of stuff and sin will deceive you but it will harden you and when it comes to revival preaching you're just going to miss it friend and when god's holy spirit shows up and he

says listen get right with me Believe me, trust me, I want to use your life.

And you harden your heart. I'll tell you why you harden your heart. Because you allowed sin to deceive you.

And it hardened you. See, we don't think it's a big deal. A little compromise in the movies, a little compromise in the TV, watching things we as Christians have no business watching.

You say, well, preacher, you know, it's amazing to me. You know, we come up with this Christian rating system. But God tells us what his rating system is.

It's in Psalm 101, verse 3. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. That sounds pretty clear, doesn't it?

You say, well, preacher, how many cuss words? Well, I think no is pretty clear, don't you? You know, how many bed scenes?

I think no is pretty clear, don't you think? And I'm talking to young people out here. You compromise here.

You watch something you shouldn't watch. You watch some immodesty. You watch some provocation.

You watch some junk. And I want to tell you, let sin deceive you. You may justify it, say it's not that big a deal.

And sin hardened you. And I'm telling you, friends, I'm burdened tonight because I believe there's young people from some great churches and great youth groups. You have pastors who walk with God.

They preach on what we're talking about this day. But you're going to sit here for two days and you're going to just absolutely walk out as hard. Why?

Because you've got sin in your life. It's deceived you and you may not even realize it. It's hardened you.

You say, well, preacher, what do I got to do? I'll tell you what to do. As soon as the Spirit of God begins to move, as soon as He begins to convict, as soon as He begins to deal with you, don't harden your heart.

Make a beeline for God and then go to those you need to get right with, whether it's mom or dad. If you've got to make a long distance, call home, do it. If you've got to sit down with your youth pastor, do it.

I want to tell you, friend, it's not worth it. Because I will tell you, sin always hardens your heart. And I will tell you, friends, at Kadesh Barnea, it didn't happen overnight.

It didn't happen overnight. Those people, somewhere along the line, they got used to sin a little bit. They got used to harboring a little bit of junk on their life.

They got used to harboring some wrong attitudes. They got used to harboring some things. And I want to tell you something, friends, their hearts became hardened.

And so when the Holy Spirit come along and says, go into the land, I can take care of those giants. I want to tell you when Caleb and Joshua stood up and they proclaimed the truth. We got a big God.

He can take care of those giants. We can take that land. And God's Holy Spirit was speaking through them.

They hardened their hearts. Why? Because sin had deceived them.

And they'd already let their hearts become hardened. Hey friends, some of you on the video games and you're on the dark side. You're on that stuff.

I'm telling you these video games today. All this fantasy world. And I want to tell you Satan's got his fingerprints all over that stuff.

And some of you are so fooled by it, living in these fantasy worlds. I'm talking to young people right now. I want to tell you, we talk about revival, and you're sitting there thinking about your fantasy game.

And I will tell you, young person, you're in huge trouble. What you need to do tonight is come get right with God about looking at junk and getting involved in the dark side, that which Satan is obviously the magic and the fantasy and all that, that the Bible clearly condemns and the wizardry and all that. Come and get right with God about it.

And I want to tell you, friends, as we take a step toward dealing with our sin, He softens our heart. I want to tell you, friends, it doesn't matter if you're older, it doesn't matter if you're younger, sin is so deceitful. And it's those little compromises.

There's those little things watching something we shouldn't watch or listen to something we shouldn't listen to or going somewhere we should not go. And it grieves the heart of God. Oh, my friend, that's when we're in a crisis.

We can either say, oh, it's not that big a deal. We can shove it off. Yeah, so-and-so does it.

Yeah, it's not that big a deal. Or we can, my friend, do what we talked about a moment ago. Find mercy with the Lord.

So how do we enter in? We enter in by faith. How do we fail to enter in?

Oh, unbelief and disobedience. It's interesting that the word unbelief in the last part of chapter number three is that word unbelief that also has the idea of disobedience. God wants these days, I'm convinced, to do a reviving work in many hearts.

There are young people out here who may be, I mean, you've got the wrong kind of music. You've got junk in your life. You're so far from God, you can't see straight.

I'm here to tell you that exactly what God did in Oral Gorman's life, He can do in yours because He's the same God. But it's not going to happen until you deal with your sin. It's not going to happen until you say, You know, I've been treating my parents like dirt.

Oh, God, it's sin. And go to Mom and Dad, Mom and Dad, would you forgive me? And go on to Mom and Dad and say, I've been watching stuff I shouldn't watch.

or getting on your knees before Almighty God and dealing with those secret sins of the mind. It's the idea of, my friend, going to mom and dad and confessing some of the music you're listening to you know they don't want you to listen to. That's the idea, friend.

And I will tell you, if you unload the whole truck, if you deal with your sin, He will meet with you. So God wants to do a reviving work. You know, I love to read missionary biographies.

I love to read biographies of men and women who have greatly been used of God. I was reflecting on this truth and the one that came to mind was a man by the name of Hudson Taylor. You know, Hudson Taylor's ministry was moving forward, but he was frustrated in his own life.

He seemed like up one day down the next. He couldn't get a hold of it. My friend, it is the truth that we're dealing with here in Hebrews 3 and 4 that God illuminated the mind of that young man and God did more in Hudson Taylor's life than is humanly.

He can't comprehend it. Hudson Taylor was struggling with the fact he'd get frustrated. He'd get irritated.

in the heat of the day. He'd say unkind things and he wondered where victory was. It seemed so far, he came finally to realize that he knew the way in was faith.

So he sought to have faith. He strove after faith. He tried to believe God.

He tried to keep his eyes on the Lord Jesus and he found himself failing. And one day, God used the line of a friend by the name of McCarthy, a fellow missionary, who simply wrote these words, not by striving after faith, but by resting in the faithful one.

and God opened his eyes and I will tell you friends he did not enter a land of perfection but he entered a new understanding that the Lord Jesus the faithful one was all sufficient for every threat for every opposition for every problem for every trial for every difficulty yes and for every failure and he began to live in the land of rest and I will tell you friends when you read the life of Hudson Taylor You cannot explain this without God. It's remarkable. It's supernatural.

And I'm here to tell you, it does not matter who you are in this room, that's where God wants us all to live. Let us therefore fear. Let us the promise of entering into his rest.

any of you should seem to come short of it. Can I ask every head bowed please and every eye closed. I know we've, tonight we've packed a lot into the service.

We did it on purpose. We wanted to really hit several themes from different angles.

our burden is that God will do a reviving work in our midst that is our burden really at this point I'm going to ask the Lord for leadership what to do in the invitation we certainly want to do all that God wants us to do let's pray Lord would you guide us we do pray for wisdom so that the services to be finished would be finished according to your will we look to you to do it thank you for these dear people would you work on

hearts we pray we ask it in your name heads bowed and eyes are closed