Let us continue to the end of chapter three. This is really just a continuation of the last post.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Bear with me, I have a new copy of the King James Bible in my word processor, and I have not yet cleaned it up.
The preacher is giving the apostate Jewish Christians a warning here, but it also applies to us today. God doesn’t condemn us for any commission of sin. It isn’t our deeds that send people to hell. It is the rejection of the grace of God that will keep you out of Heaven. Joshua, son of Nun, was not a perfectly sinless man. His righteousness stems from his acceptance of and adherence to the promises of God. Just like Abraham, Joshua believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness.
There were many people among the Hebrew tribes in the desert who had more claim to personal righteousness than did Joshua or Caleb, they did not enter into Canaan. They refused to believe that God told the truth about their victory over the inhabitants of the land. Similarly, there are many people in the world today who live good lives in right standing with society. They who do not believe God, no matter how good they are, will not enter into His rest. It isn’t that they’re not good enough, none of us are, but that they do not accept and trust in God’s perfect plan for redemption.
Now I am not talking about anyone who has not had opportunity to hear and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ. Saint Paul assures us in another place that they shall be judged by what they know. No I am talking about the people who have listened to the Gospel, weighed the message in their hearts, and rejected it out of any reason, but especially out of a sense of self-righteousness. Jesus said only the sick need a physician. God does not force Himself on anyone.
So what is the conclusion of chapter three? Don’t turn your back on God. You can’t get into the promised land by murmuring against God, His plan, or His people. Only heartfelt trust and obedience to the promises God has given in the person of Jesus Christ will bring us to salvation, justification by His atoning sacrifice, sanctification by the work of the Holy Spirit, and finally glorification (or as we in the Eastern Orthodox Church call it deification). This is the way that Jesus spoke of. We can’t get there if we don’t follow the road.
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