Incredulity Separates Us From God, Faith Draws Us Closer and Rewards Us

Study: # 657 – Church in the House From: October 26 to November 1,2010

TOPIC: "Incredulity Separates Us From God, Faith Draws Us Closer and Rewards Us" Hebrew 3:10-18

Hebrew 4:1-3

In the Bible the author of the Book of Hebrews lets us see the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. The author lets us see that Jesus is exclusively great. Let it be clear that we owe the Lord Jesus Christ complete confidence and total obedience. If our heart becomes hardened and we deny giving him the obedience and the confidence that we owe Him, the consequences will only be terrible. The distrust and disobedience that overcame the nation of Israel did not allow them to enjoy the blessings of God. When we distrust God there are no blessings. The blessings arrive thru faith. When faith is lost the life in God is lost and one perishes along the way. Without faith it is impossible to have blessings; if the faith runs out nothing is achieved, absolutely nothing. Let us exercise the faith, we should never lack faith. Israel is the nation with promises, they are the chosen, but they did not believe. For not believing nothing is obtained and, therefore, there is no obedience towards God. When there is disbelief many blessings are lost. When there is disbelief the hearts are always going astray, and God’s ways are not known. God is not known, then the individual is lost and wandering and is soon to abort the subject concerning God. It is to seek the Lord and his ways thru the branches and not thru the trunk. They live in a valley of incredulity suffering torrents, without faith and lost far away from God. If there is no faith there is a bad heart of incredulity. That town of Israel did not believe God and they quarreled with Moses because they wanted water. What they needed was only to believe, not to raise rebellion. They only needed to believe and not rise in rebellion. But they were easily deceived by their sin. People become hardened, they do not believe, they are incredulous. That is why they leave; there is distrust and disobedience towards God in their lives. May this not happen to you. Brother, we must give God the confidence and the obedience He is entitled to. Do it today while alive, while you have the opportunity. Give God the submission we owe Him. Do it before the day ends. For not believing the Israelites were deprived of the blessings of the Promised Land. For us, if we do not believe either, we can lose the blessings of a life with God that is incalculably better than a life without Him. You must understand that there are warnings in this road, that you are going to obtain the blessings, but first it is necessary to give God the confidence and the obedience. We have to be willing to live a life that depends on His promises. Obedience is the first thing in any sphere of life. Success depends on the obedience to the word of an expert, whether a sport coach, a professor, etc. In the spiritual case, God is the expert for your life and for your true happiness. It all depends on whether you obey. Those who did not enter the Promised Land were the ones who did not obey. They could not enter on account of their incredulity. God’s offering has a limit that is the durability of life. The Israelites were buried in the desert. Where will you be buried if you do not want to obey and believe? Half way thru the road? We can easily speak of tomorrow, but that day may not arrive for us if we doubt God and of His loving treatment towards us. The only thing we have is today, this very moment. The righteous will live by faith. Galatians 3: 11 The heart becomes hardened and although one is alive, one is really dead for God. Someone has said: "We should live each day as if that day was all our life." That trust and obedience should be given to the Lord today because we cannot be sure if there will be a tomorrow. God offers to give his rest to those who are willing to believe Him, to give them a perfect confidence and total obedience. His gift must be accepted right now or else it can be too late. When the Word is heard and is not accompanied by faith, everything becomes neutralized, all is lost. Let us be firm in the faith. 1 Corinthians 16: 13 Don’t be excluded from that rest that God offers you. What was preached to those Israelites concerning faith did them no good. We must be careful not to fall in similar distrust and incredulity. When there is no room for the Word it is because you have not made the decision to live by means of the faith in the Son of God. God rested on the sixth day of the creation. For the nation of

Israel their rest was the Promised Land; for you and for me our rest is Christ, He is our peace. Ephesians 2: 14 The cowardly follow the evil advice of those who are surrounded by fear, just like the ten spies who Moses sent to observe the land of Canaan. We must be careful not to have the entrance to rest and the peace that God offers us today to be closed as a consequence of our disobedience and lack of faith. God offers us a blessing so great like that of the saints of the past and tells us that if we do what He asks we will be like the heroes of the faith of the past. Our God is as great as He has always been. Do not lose the promises because of the incredulity, because you have lacked faith. A word, although it may be very powerful, is useless unless it becomes part of the person that hears it. There are many ways to hear; to either listen with interest and receive the word with joy paying attention or, on the contrary, to be indifferent to the words, to show disinterest, attack with criticism, with skepticism, or act later cynically, etc. The hearing we care for today is that of those who know how to listen with interest to believe and to put in action the word that was received. Because it is important not only to know how to hear but also to act upon what was heard. The Lord’s Word is composed of promises which fulfill our lives with good things. The author warns us to be careful to not lose those promises like Israel did. Let us be fearful, so much that we submit our flesh that wants to dominate us in a big and real effort to not lose that of God, which is really worthwhile. Amen.