The Role of the Heart

1. Hebrews 3 The Role of the Heart

2. Background: the Jewish-Christian Crisis

3. Hebrews: written to a shaken group… Background: the Jewish-Christian Crisis

4. Hebrews: written to a shaken group… • Can they accept Who God Is? • Not their butler… • Interested in all people, not only Jews… • He leads, He doesn’t follow… • Will they follow? Or will they balk? Our Background

5. Hebrews: written to a shaken group… • Can they accept Who God Is? • The Nature of Faith and Unbelief… • Faith: responding to God’s leadership… • Unbelief: unwilling to respond to God’s leadership • The confusion: • What is responding? • What is unwilling? Our Background Answer: allow God to change your heart Answer: the hardened heart… Ie. A very deep-seated, personal encounter with the power & person of God

6. Religious Unbelief: KaddeshBarnea

7. Real Faith looks like… Unbelief looks like… • Willing • Has permanence. • With substance… • At Kadesh: lots of evidence… • Joshua connected the dots • Unwilling • Temporary “faith” • Initial excitement… • Easily shaken… (Seeds Mt.13) • Emotional! • Naïve! • Junior High “Summer Camp” • (Quote that girl’s citation from the Web) The Difference Between

8. Genuine Faith Religious Unbelief Critics cite this when disproving JC • Willing • Has permanence. • A realistic decision. • Unwilling • Temporary. • An emotional reaction. The Difference Between

9. Real Faith looks like… Unbelief looks like… Critics cite this when disproving JC I recently de-converted from Christianity, the faith I have been brought up in for the past 17 years. I wanted to give an explanation as to how I came to this, and why At 16, I “gave my life to Christ” and was baptized. After that event, I was in evangelist mode. I passed out Gospel tracts, witnessed to people, read my Bible everyday, studied apologetics, etc. I was quite sincere in this, but about 5 or 6 months ago, I began to experience doubt. Part of this was due to my study of the Old Testament, which prior to this I had avoided reading. In the Old Testament I encountered a God I had not seen before. You described his behavior quite eloquently in chapter 2 of your book. I sought explanations for the cruelty of a God whom I had henceforth believed to be “loving” and “just”. None were satisfactory. • Willing • Has permanence. • A realistic decision. • Unwilling • Temporary “faith” • An emotional reaction. The Difference Between

10. A Matter of the Heart • First encounters • JC “Could not work… hardness of…heart” • I.e., it violates His character to grovel • Every step of growth • God applies His Word • God corrects you • Bad emotional habits • Compare Ga.5:17-21 • God provides for you • Loving others • Learning servanthood love

11. Calluses • Wandering in a spiritual wilderness • God’s Word becomes boring • Loss of clarity about God’s work in your life • Loss of excitement about prayer & serving • Loss of child-like, wide-eyed excitement • “You’ll get over it…” is a lie • Replaced with demands • Increased vulnerability to temptation A Matter of the Hardened Heart

12. “Take Care…” • Build deep relationships • Accepting challenges, watching God work, discussing & resolving issues. • You will be deceived if you isolate yourself… • Thoreau • (Me: “yeah, that’s right man! I’m into a diff. drummer!) • God says we are a communal people • You can see the proof of this throughout history: winners are communal, losers are loners. “Remedies for the Heart”

13. “Take Care…” • Build deep relationships • Loving with God’s authority • Not lunging, nagging • Not enabling, disregarding, writing-off • Rather: strategic, intelligent, biblical, victorious efforts to penetrate the hardened hart… • 1 John 4:xx “it is a tremendous…” “Remedies for the Heart”

14. “Take Care…” Build relationships Loving with God’s authority “Remedies for the Heart” All of God’s efforts with you is an effort to fix your heart.