HEBREWS: “A Greater Test & Rest, pt.1 (Hebrews 3:7-19)" | 9/10/23

Hebrews 3:7-19 | 9/10/23 | Will DuVal

One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been is Gilpin Lake, just outside Steamboat Springs in CO. But to GET there, you’ve got to hike 5 ½ miles OUT, through bear- and snake-infested mountains, with a 2,300 ft. elevation gain, using fallen trees to cross over rivers… and then hike another 5 miles BACK

It’s not easy - we were sore for DAYS afterward - but it was WORTH it. [I think we’ve got a picture of me and Polly…] 

It was DEFINITELY the best PB&J I’ve ever tasted, after hiking that far. 

The most refreshing SWIM I’ve ever taken… just floating there, RESTING my muscles, after all that work. 


But you don’t get to enjoy Gilpin Lake, if you’re not willing to endure hiking the 10.6 mile Zirkel Circle (truth be told: the hike is beautiful too). But you know what they say: “No pain…? [no GAIN]”.


That is essentially the author of Hebrews’ main message for his church - and for US - this morning, in chs3 & 4: that in CHRIST, God has this perfect, peaceful REST waiting for us, but in order to enjoy the REST, we must first pass the TEST. And while Jesus offers us a greater rest, He also presents us with a greater TEST, of faith. 


No pain, no gain; no test, no rest. And God, through His inspiration of the author of Hebrews, is going to give us 6 instructions this morning for passing our test of faith, and then NEXT week - yes, I decided once again, last minute, that I needed to split this sermon into 2 parts; there’s just too much here to try and cover it ALL in one morning - so NEXT week, we’ll receive 6 additional instructions for actually entering this amazing REST that God has in store for us. 


SCRIPTURE: I invite you to STAND… Hebrews 3:7-19:

“7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
    on the day of
testing in the wilderness,

9 where your fathers put me to the test
    and saw my works for forty years.

10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
    they have
not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath,
    ‘They shall
not enter my rest.’”

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

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HEBREWS: “A Greater Test & Rest, pt.2 (Hebrews 4:1-13)" | 9/17/23

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HEBREWS: “A Greater Savior (Hebrews 2:10 - 3:6)" | 9/3/23