Satan Is Cunning

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 26th of February, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

This coming Wednesday we step into the Christian season of Lent.  This period is intended to prepare us for observing the last days of our Lord’s life on this earth.  But it also reminds us of the time, at the very start of Jesus’ ministry, when He was led by God’s Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tried by the devil.  For forty days, our Lord resisted Satan’s temptations.

We could never have succeeded at that, but God could.  We could not have resisted because Satan is cunning.  His traps are clever.  His temptations hit us where we are weakest.  And when I say “we”, I mean all of mankind, going all the way back to the very first man and woman.  Listen and follow along as I read from the Book of Genesis, chapter 3, verses 1 through 13, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 

3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 

9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 

10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 

11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 

12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 

13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” 

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

--Genesis 3:1-13 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, we are not trying to hide from you now.  We know we have sinned, and our very souls lie open and naked to Your examination.  Look inside us, Father, and speak into each of us the message we need to hear.  In the loving name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


A new lawyer watches as the very first person enter his office.  He decides he should look busy, so he picks up the phone and starts talking: “Look, Harry, about that amalgamation deal, I think I better run down to the factory and handle it personally.  Yes.  No, I don’t think three million will swing it.  We better have Rogers from Seattle meet us there.  OK.  Call you back later.”  He looks up at the visitor and says, “Good morning!  How may I help you?”  And the prospective client replies, “You can’t help me at all.  I’m just here to hook up your phone.”


It sounds like this lawyer fell victim to temptation, doesn’t it?  He was brand new at his craft, but he didn’t want to appear to be inexperienced to his first potential client.  So he quickly concocts a pretense, basically a lie, just to make himself look good in front of his first visitor.  But he was quickly caught in that lie, and even though it probably didn’t hurt him professionally, I bet it sure embarrassed him, and I hope it humbled him some.  I can’t help but wonder, though, how many of us have done pretty much the same thing.


Satan is cunning, more cunning and crafty than any other of God’s creations.  He’s been at the deception business for a long time and he knows how to trap us, where to hit us, how to most easily lure us into his clutches.  He tricked Eve by playing word games.  It went something like this:

“Really?  God said not to eat any of this luscious fruit?”  “No, we can eat any of the fruit, except for what grows on that one big tree out in the middle of the garden.  If we eat it, we’ll die.”  “Oh come on now!  Do you really believe that?  God wouldn’t kill you!  He just made you.  He doesn’t want you to eat that fruit because if you do, then you’ll be just as smart and powerful as He is.  Here, go ahead - take a bite and see.  It tastes great!  You’ll love it!”

And when it was all over, the only thing Eve could say was, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”


Eve was the first victim of Satan’s trickery, but nowhere near the last.  No one is safe from his lures and temptations - not even Jesus, the Son of God.  Almost immediately after He was baptized in the River Jordan, God’s Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness for the sole purpose of submitting to Satan’s wiles.  The devil worked on Jesus for forty days, saving his best material for last.  But Jesus is God and He was able to resist everything Satan threw at Him.  Mortal man has a much more difficult time.

And although Lucifer stopped trying to tempt Jesus after that forty-day ordeal, he didn’t stop trying to influence those around Jesus – His friends as well as those who hated Him.  Listen to what the Apostle Luke says in his Gospel account about one very infamous disciple, from chapter 22, verses 1 through 6…

1 And now the Passover celebration was drawing near—the Jewish festival when only bread made without yeast was used. 2 The chief priests and other religious leaders were actively plotting Jesus’ murder, trying to find a way to kill Him without starting a riot — a possibility they greatly feared. 

3 Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, 4 and he went over to the chief priests and captains of the Temple guards to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. 5 They were, of course, delighted to know that he was ready to help them and promised him a reward. 6 So he began to look for an opportunity for them to arrest Jesus quietly when the crowds weren’t around.

--Luke 22:1-6 (TLB)

Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, took control, and set the wheels in motion that led to the cross.  Lucifer must have forgotten he was still dealing with the Son of God, for the story didn’t end there.  It continued to the empty tomb, Jesus reappearing to mankind, and His bodily ascension into heaven.  Oh, and there is one more chapter to go, when Jesus returns and cleans up the mess Satan made of things.

But remember: Judas was one of the twelve Jesus chose as His very own.  If the devil could so easily take control and turn Judas, what chance do we have?  Judas was tempted, and could not resist.  We are tempted constantly.  Some we can resist, some we can’t seem to ignore.

Temptations come in all shapes and sizes.  The big ones we can usually recognize and avoid, we that try our best to follow Jesus.  The little ones can be more insidious, they can sneak up on us, they’re often hidden in plain sight, or wrapped up in bright, shiny paper.

We all have some temptation that we struggle with.  Maybe it’s sweets, or too much food in general.  Maybe it’s juicy gossip.  Maybe it’s trying to love others that aren’t just like us.  Satan is cunning.  It’s the little traps that he sets in our path that can be the hardest to resist and avoid.

Fortunately for us, God loves us and cares about us.  He knows we’re not able to resist Satan’s temptations like Jesus could.  Jesus knew it too, which is why He included, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”, in the model prayer He taught us.

And God is not only our friend, He is our Father who listens to our prayers and looks after us.  He has given us some very good gear, the means to protect ourselves from the evil one.  Listen to what the Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10 through 12…

10 Last of all I want to remind you that your strength must come from the Lord’s mighty power within you. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand safe against all strategies and tricks of Satan. 12 For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies — the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.

--Ephesians 6:10-12 (TLB)

Our battle is against evil powers of the spiritual world, our warfare is spiritual in nature, so we need spiritual help in waging it.  What we need to fight against the devil’s charms is already within us!  Our Lord’s mighty power, in the person of God’s Holy Spirit, dwells inside of us!  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead stands ready to defend us against Satan’s cunning.

We have God’s Holy Spirit within us that we can call on any time the devil whispers in our ear.  We have God’s holy word in our Bibles, that we can reach out and read whenever Satan presses us.  We have our promise of resurrection from death and eternal salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, and Satan cannot take that away.  We just need to remain strong in our faith, and remember God’s promise to us, His covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus.  We know how this story ends, we just need to remain strong, true and faithful to the end, and we’ll share in the great victory.

Satan is cunning.  But with God’s help, we can resist him.  We don’t have to be like Eve, whom the serpent deceived.  We don’t have to follow the path of Judas, who betrayed our Lord at the devil’s bidding.  Shielded by God’s word, armed by His Holy Spirit, and saved by Jesus Christ our Lord, Satan doesn’t have a prayer.

In the blessed name of Jesus.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, since You first fashioned man from a lump of clay, Satan has been hard at work trying to take us from You.  He is cunning and crafty and pulls tricks that we just don’t see coming.  Father, You know our weaknesses, so You give us Your strength and the power of Your Holy Spirit to help us resist the devil’s schemes.  We thank You, Father, for we could not stand fast without Your help.

Please listen and hear us now, Father, as we pray silently from our hearts, repenting of our disobedience and seeking Your forgiveness, asking for Your continued help in resisting Satan’s temptations…

Lord Jesus, You have personal knowledge of just how persuasive Satan can be.  You were able to resist all his temptations, but You know we have more trouble avoiding all the snares and traps he sets for us.  Thank You for the sacrifice You made that grants us salvation.  We can use that surety in our fight against the devil, knowing that we are Yours and You will claim us as Your own before our Father God.  Please keep on helping us fight this greatest fight of all, for Your name’s sake.

This we pray in Your blessed name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.

Achieving God's Purpose

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 19th of February, 2017.  Ivan Whiteheart of The Gideons International joined us this morning and spoke for a few minutes.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Many of you know that I was a Gideon before being ordained into the ministry.  As a minister, I am no longer eligible to be a Gideon, but I still fully support them and their mission.

When I was a Gideon, I remember our motto came from Isaiah’s book of prophecy, chapter 55, verse 11.  But that one verse is surrounded by great meaning.  Listen and follow along as I read this beautiful passage from chapter 55 of Isaiah, verses 6 through 13, from the New International Version of our Holy Bible…

6 Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call on Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is My word that goes out from My mouth:
It will not return to Me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
for an everlasting sign,
that will endure forever.”

--Isaiah 55:6-13 (NIV)

Let us pray…  Father God, we earnestly seek You this morning while You are still near.  We listen for Your word, that it might bud and flourish within us.  Speak to us, Lord, that we might better hear, understand, and obey Your word.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


You’ve probably seen me do this before, and you’ll likely see it again, but let’s do a little exercise…  Let’s snap our fingers for a few moments…  [Note:  We snapped our fingers for around 30 seconds.]  OK, my arthritis says let’s stop.

Each time we snapped our fingers, somewhere in this world, 2 people died.  We snapped for around 30 seconds, so that means about 60 souls left this earthly plane in that brief time.  How many of those 60 people – men, women, children – do you think knew Jesus as their personal Savior?  How many do you think received the gift of eternal life with God and Jesus, and not eternal damnation?

A Pew Research report from 2010 estimated about 31 percent of the world’s population considered themselves Christian – less than a third.  Putting that into perspective of our little finger-snapping exercise, less than 20 of those 60 souls who died will be granted salvation through Christ Jesus.  Many more of these could have been saved had they only had the chance to learn about Jesus.  And that is a primary goal of the Gideons, to spread the Good News of Jesus by distributing God’s word across the earth.

Isaiah puts what happens next into such a wonderful context.  Think about the rain or snow – it falls down, right?  The moisture falls from the heavens to the earth, and not up from the earth back to heaven.  Yes, the moisture does evaporate and go back up as vapor, but not before nourishing the soil, making it bud and flourish, providing us the food we need to survive.  And that’s what God’s word does, too.  It comes down to us from heaven above, and it does not return there until it has fulfilled the purpose that God intends for it.

God’s word will achieve the purpose He has for it.  And because of His word, we can find joy and peace.  The mountains and hills, the trees of the field, will all rejoice and celebrate God’s purpose being achieved within us and for us.  And it’s all as an everlasting sign of God’s kingdom that will endure forever.  It’s all for the glory of God.


Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet, one who spoke for God long before Jesus became flesh and came to earth to offer us all salvation.  But that doesn’t mean that Isaiah and other of our Old Testament authors had no clue about Jesus or His importance to mankind.  Moses was given a glimpse of our Lord Jesus, as we can read in the Book of Numbers, chapter 24, verses 16 through 17…

16 The utterance of him who hears the words of God,
And has the knowledge of the Most High,
Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
Who falls down, with eyes wide open:
17 “I see Him, but not now;
I behold Him, but not near;
A Star shall come out of Jacob;
A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,
And batter the brow of Moab,
And destroy all the sons of tumult.”

--Numbers 24:16-17 (NKJV)

Moses heard the words of God and was granted a vision of Jesus.

Now we know how crucial Jesus is for us, for our own salvation.  But what about the role of Gideons like Ivan?  We already know about Jesus, but only because we have heard of Him, we have been taught about Him, we can read about and study His life in our Bibles.  But it’s like the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the church in Rome, in chapter 10, verses 14 through 17…

14 How can people have faith in the Lord and ask Him to save them, if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them? 15 And how can anyone tell them without being sent by the Lord? The Scriptures say it is a beautiful sight to see even the feet of someone coming to preach the Good News. 16 Yet not everyone has believed the message. For example, the prophet Isaiah asked, “Lord, has anyone believed what we said?”

--Romans 10:14-17 (CEV)

That is where the Gideons come in!  They do everything they can, with our help and prayers, to try to get the word of God out to the whole world for all to hear and know the Good News of Jesus.  They spread the Gospel one Bible at a time, directly from one person to another.  And oh, how beautiful these Gideons are to the ones who receive God’s word.

Ivan and the rest of the Gideons would tell you they’re just trying to do what God would have them do, trying to help Him achieve His purpose.  They’ll also tell you they pretty much can’t do it without us, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The church helps fund the costs of printing and distributing all the Bibles that end up in doctors’ offices and hotel rooms and people’s hands everywhere.  And equally important, the church prays that doors will be opened to Gideons to go into places they have not been allowed, to go and spread God’s word to people who have not heard the Good News.

And family, this is our job as much as theirs.  They are following Jesus’ command and so should we.  In chapter 16 verse 15 of the Apostle Mark’s Gospel account, Jesus instructs His disciples and us…

15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

--Mark 16:15 (NKJV)

There’s more than one way to preach.  The Gideons do it with words, with Bibles, and with personal contact.  They help provide access to the Living Water to a world dying of thirst.  They give God’s daily bread to a hungry people.  And we can “preach” the Gospel by supporting them, with our dollars, and with our prayers.

During our last hymn this morning, I’m going to ask the ushers to come forward again and we’ll take up a love offering for the Gideons.  We need to understand that Gideons are a purely volunteer organization.  No one is paid – every dollar we give goes to the printing and distribution of God’s holy word.

Please be generous in your giving, so that more people might hear God’s word, and be saved.  Please pray for them, that they may reach more of the lost of this earth.  Please help achieve God’s purpose.  In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, You are so good to us.  You send the rains from heaven to water and nourish Your creation, so that it might bud and flourish, providing food for all peoples.  You also send Your word to us, in our Holy Bibles, that we might come to know and believe in Your Son Jesus, and in our belief be saved.  And You sent us Your Word in the flesh of Jesus, because You love us so much and Your desire is that we be granted Your mercy if we put our faith in Him and heed His instructions.  Father, Your word has not returned empty, for we do believe, we do follow Your Son, we do know Jesus.  Please help us and the Gideons by opening closed doors so that more might hear and be saved.

Please listen and hear us now, Father, as we pray silently from our hearts, repenting of our wicked ways and seeking Your forgiveness, asking for Your help to achieve Your purpose…

Lord Jesus, You came to this earth to offer us salvation.  This is the very best news anyone could ever hear!  Please forgive us when we hesitate to share this Good News with other, when we fear to give our own testimony, when we forget to pray for our Father’s help in reaching out, when we fail to give as we are able so that God’s word might be heard by and Your story told to a lost world.  Help us, Please Lord, to achieve God’s purpose for each of us.

This we pray in Your blessed name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.

Oh, That We Would Listen

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 12th of February, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

We’ve been spending a lot of time the last few Sundays looking at the letter to the Hebrews.  I’ve noted that this letter speaks to us in many ways as we approach the Easter season, when our Savior suffered so much for us, even dying on the cross just so that we would have a chance at salvation.  I feel that this letter to the ancient Hebrews has so much to tell us, so much we should pay close attention to, just as do the Gospel accounts of our Lord’s last trip to Jerusalem and His final days on this earth.  The message of the cross is very clear, but we must listen to hear it, and then heed what we have heard.  This letter to the Hebrews tells us why.

Listen and follow along as I read the 3rd chapter of the Book of Hebrews, from the New English Translation of our Holy Bible…

1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest whom we confess, 2 who is faithful to the One who appointed Him, as Moses was also in God’s house. 3 For He has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! 4 For every house is built by someone, but the Builder of all things is God. 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken. 6 But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house. We are of His house, if in fact we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope we take pride in. 

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Oh, that today you would listen as He speaks! 

8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness. 

9 “There your fathers tested Me and tried Me, and they saw My works for forty years. 

10 “Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering and they have not known My ways.’ 

11 “As I swore in My anger, ‘They will never enter My rest!’” 

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God. 13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence firm until the end. 15 As it says, “Oh, that today you would listen as He speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership? 17 And against whom was God provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear they would never enter into His rest, except those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

--Hebrews 3 (NET)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come to worship You and to listen to what You would tell us.  Speak to us in Your quiet way that we might hear Your message.  Please help us to listen, to hear, to understand, and to obey.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


A story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House as President.  He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said in those lines.  One day during a reception, he decided to try a little experiment.  To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he muttered, "I killed my grandmother this morning."  The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous!  Keep up the good work.  We’re so proud of you.  God bless you, sir."  It was not until the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his comment was actually heard.  Without the slightest hint of shock, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I'm sure she had it coming."


For a San Francisco study, teenage prostitutes were interviewed and asked: "Is there anything you needed most and couldn't get?"  Their response, invariably preceded by sadness and tears, was unanimous: "What I needed most was someone to listen to me.  Someone who cared enough to listen to me."


Gen. George Marshall once gave this formula for handling people:  1. Listen to the other person's story.  2. Listen to the other person's full story.  3. Listen to the other person's full story first.


I think we can all relate to President Roosevelt’s little experience, can’t we?  How many times, when someone greets you with, “How are you doing?”, have you just wanted to say the truth and tell them you’re having a horrible day, just to see if they’re listening?  Sometimes, just like those teenagers in San Francisco, all we really need is for someone to simply take the time and care enough about us to sit down and listen to us, really listen to what we have to say, hear our story as we unburden ourselves.  General Marshall definitely had it right:  we need to listen to each other fully, attentively, and first, before glibly responding.

If we feel like no one is listening to us, no one cares enough to listen, can’t we imagine how God must feel?


In verses 7 through verse 11 of our scripture reading, the author of Hebrews seems to quote the Holy Spirit.  This passage can be found in Psalm 95, beginning at the last part of verse 7, and it may well have been said by God’s Holy Spirit since we do not know who authored it.

I’d like to read a little of this Psalm, beginning with its opening verse and then verses 6 through 11…

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

--Psalm 95:1, 6-11 (NKJV)

“Let us sing unto the Lord… let us worship and bow down… let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”  Why?  Because “He is our God and we are His people.”

Then we see what the author of Hebrews referenced to set the tone for the rest of his 3rd chapter.  We need to listen as God speaks!  We must guard our hearts from turning hard from sin.

The ancient Hebrews allowed their hearts to become hardened to God’s word, they became deaf to His voice, they gave in to temptations and sinned.  They not only did not listen to God, they disobeyed Him and rebelled against Him.

I like the way the New Kings James Version put it, as I read from Psalm 95, where God says: “For forty years I was grieved with that generation”.  And they paid a great price for causing God grief.  None of that generation made it to the promised land, not even Moses.  Because of their disobedience, they were not allowed to enter into God’s rest.  “They will never enter My rest”, is how the author of Hebrews put it.

Why is this piece of Old Testament scripture considered important enough for a New Testament author to quote from it not once but twice?  Why is it meaningful to us today to understand what happened to the Israelites thousands of years ago?  Why should we be concerned that they were not allowed to enter God’s rest?  What is God’s rest - the Promised Land?

Well, yes, in the context of the Psalmist’s scripture.  But more pertinent to the author of Hebrews and his audience of believers, and to us today, is that God’s rest is heaven.  Our ultimate rest will be in heaven.

Break down what our author says in chapter 3.  Those who do not or will not listen to God won’t know His ways.  They’ll go astray in their hearts, just as the ancient Hebrews did in the wilderness.  And they will not enter heaven, no more than those ancients entered the Promised Land.  Our promised land is heaven.  If we do not listen to God, we run the risk of Him swearing in His anger, “They will never enter My rest!”

We can’t shrug this off and think it doesn’t apply to us.  Our author makes that clear.  Look at verses 15 through 19.  He warns us to listen to God’s word and not allow our hearts to become hardened as did those ancient Jews when they rebelled against God.

Who heard His voice but still rebelled?  All those who came out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses.  They sinned and provoked God for forty years, and they eventually died and their bodies fell in the desert.  They were disobedient and were not allowed entry into the Promised Land, into God’s rest.  They could not enter His rest because of their unbelief.  They did not believe in God enough to listen to His words and obey them.


But note that our author also offers a measure of hope.  He encourages us to listen to God’s words and obey them, but he also wants to make sure we do not become discouraged by all that is going on in the world around us.  In fact, he instructs us to exhort one another, to encourage each other, so that none of us become hardened by sin’s deceptive ways.  We are to help each other every day, as long as there is a “today” to do it in.

A little further on in this book, he tells us that, whenever the world begins to get us down, we should think about what Jesus went through.  Listen to his words in chapter 12, verse 3…

3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

--Hebrews 12:3 (NASB)

If we do remember all that Jesus went through, all that He endured for our sake, we will understand that God really does love us and He wants more than anything for us to love Him back.  He wants us to love Him enough to listen for His voice, to follow His will for our lives, to obey His words and not rebel against Him.  He wants us to believe in Jesus as the Christ, His beloved Son, our Savior who gave His all for us.  And He wants us to obey His command to love God and to love one another, just as He loves us.

Take time to listen and to believe.  Help one another, encourage each other.  And one sweet day, we will enter His rest.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, we truly want to hear Your voice.  We try to stop and listen, but too often the world intrudes and throws up barriers of distraction and noise that block out what You are trying to tell us.  We open our Bibles and try to hear You in Your words but then the phone rings or the TV beckons.  You have tried to warn us that if we do not hear Your message, our hearts will go astray and we will not find our rest in You.  Please help us to hear, help us to listen, help us to obey.

Please listen and hear us now, Father, as we quietly speak our personal prayers to You straight from our hearts, repenting and seeking forgiveness of our sins, asking for Your help in our daily walk…

Lord Jesus, the author of the Book of Hebrews speaks for You and our Father God and provides a stern warning.  We need to hear this, Lord!  We need to listen and pay close attention so that we don’t go astray, so that we don’t wander so far away that we cannot find our way back to You and can find no rest at our end of days.  Forgive us, Lord, when we fail to listen to our Father’s word, when we fail to hear His voice, when we fail to follow His commands.  Help us to be more attentive, and more faithful, to You and to our heavenly Father.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.

God's Covenant

[The following is a manuscript of my Message delivered on Sunday morning, the 5th of February, 2017.  This is a shortened message as this was our 5th Sunday service of music, moved from last week due to scheduling conflicts.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

For our service this morning, Covenant Gospel Music Group is sharing their ministry of music with us.  Before we bring them back up, I’d like to talk just a little bit about covenants, because the name of this group inspired me.

The dictionary defines “covenant” as an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified, or an incidental clause in such an agreement.  It says a covenant can be a solemn agreement between the members of a church to act together in harmony with the directives and goals of the Gospel.  The dictionary also gives a more biblical definition as the conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in Scripture, such as the agreement between God and the ancient Israelites, in which God promised to protect them if they kept His law and were faithful to Him.

There are over 300 instances or uses of the word "covenant" in our Bible, and the vast majority come from the Old Testament and do indeed follow that biblical definition.  But the most meaningful to us, as followers of Jesus Christ, are found in the New Testament, one of which I repeat every time we observe Holy Communion.  What I recite comes from 1 Corinthians 11:25  from the New King James Version:  “In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”  Paul based that on what Jesus Himself said, as recorded by the Apostles Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their Gospel accounts.

But I'd like to take a moment to share with you the full import of this new covenant between God and us - mankind, His creation.  He sealed this new covenant with the blood of His own Son, Jesus.  Listen to what the author of the Book of Hebrews says about this…

1 That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth. 2 There were two rooms in that Tabernacle. In the first room were a lampstand, a table, and sacred loaves of bread on the table. This room was called the Holy Place. 3 Then there was a curtain, and behind the curtain was the second room called the Most Holy Place. 4 In that room were a gold incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant, which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail now. 

6 When these things were all in place, the priests regularly entered the first room as they performed their religious duties. 7 But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use. 

9 This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. 10 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies — physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established. 

11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With His own blood — not the blood of goats and calves — He entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. 

13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15 That is why He is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.

--Hebrews 9:1-15 (NLT)

Christ offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  By His own blood the new covenant between God and His people is sealed.  By His blood our eternal souls are washed clean.

Praise be to God.  Praise be to Jesus.  In the blessed name of Jesus.  Amen.

Let’s pray…  Father God, thank You for loving us so much that You entered into a new covenant with us, a covenant sealed by the very blood of Your only Son, our Lord Jesus.  Dearest Jesus, thank You for sacrificing Yourself just so the eternal part of us could be washed clean of our sins.  May we always remember Your sacrifice, and in remembering, obey Your word.  In Your blessed name, Jesus, we pray.  Amen.