The Gathering Surf City

Whooo! It's one of those
kind of mornings.

I came in with a wooo this morning
because I tell you what,

it's been a good week.

God's doing some cool things,

and we get to enjoy what God does.

And that song just kind
of points it out,

talks about who God is
and what he's done.

And so we're in hebrews,

chapter three.

We're still considering the topic,

the object of our faith,

and. And the object of our faith
is just simply Jesus.

We focus and prioritize and elevate,

and actually what the Bible teaches
us is lift high the name of Jesus.

And so that's the goal
of our morning,

and that's why we gather,

is to lift high the name of Jesus.

We're in the book of Hebrews.

The book of Hebrews is
all about Jesus,

as is the rest of the Bible.

ActuallY, the book of hebrews just ties
the Old Testament and the new

Testament together.

And really what we've seen through
these first couple of chapters of

Hebrews is really about
who Christ is,

that God has spoken,

and in these days,

God has spoken through
his son Jesus,

and we should pay attention.

Okay? And so Today's message is
really one of the warnings.

There are four warnings throughout
the book of Hebrews,

and this is one of the warnings.

How many of you enjoy warnings?

Right? I'm going to tell you one,

that you're not supposed
to get you ready.

You know,

when you're driving too fast down the
highway and approaching traffic,

flashes their lights at you.

They ain't supposed to do that.

They're not supposed to let you know
there's a cop sitting over the hill

with a radar,

right? But when we're driving too fast
and somebody flashes their lights

at us,

what do we do?

Slow down.

Right?

We like that warning.

It what keeps us out of trouble.

So when we see the warnings
of the Book of HebRews,

there's one in chapter two,

and now here's,

there's one in chapter three.

And the warning of God
to his people,

because we know that God has spoken.

God has SpokEn through his SOn JeSuS.

And God is inspired,

the writer of Hebrews,

which we don't know who it is,

but we understand that
as he's writing,

he is writing from the inspiration
of God by his spirit.

Therefore, when we start
verse seven,

it says this very specifically,

therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

all right,

that should be enough to go.

I should pay attention to
what God's about to say.

I should stop and pay attention
to what God wants us to hear.

So as we progress in this.

I titled this just a hard caution,

because this is what
God's giving us.

It goes like this.

Therefore, as the Holy
Spirit says today,

if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.

As in the rebellion on the day
of testing in the wilderness,

where your ancestors tested me,

tried me and saw my works
for 40 years.

Therefore, I was provoked to anger
with that generation and said,

they always go astray
in their hearts,

and they have not known my ways.

So I swore in my anger,

they will not enter my rest.

Watch out,

brothers and sisters,

so that there won't be in
any of you an evil,

unbelieving heart that turns
away from the living God,

but encourage each other daily.

Why it is still called today,

so that none of you is hardened
by sin's deception.

For we have become participants in Christ
if we hold firmly until the end

the reality that we
had at the start.

As it is said today,

if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts,

as in the rebellion.

For who heard and rebelled,

wasn't it all who came out
of Egypt under Moses?

With whom was God angry for 40 years?

Wasn't it with those who sinned,

whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

And to whom did he swear that they
would not enter his rest,

if not those who disobeyed?

So we see that they were unable
to enter because of unbelief.

Let's pray.

We need it.

God, we thank you.

Thank you for a day that
we have to gather,

to worship,

to sing.

And, God,

as we gather,

worship, and sing,

God, we know you are reminding
us of who you are.

God, you're reminding us
of what you've said.

But even beyond that,

God, you're letting us know again
what it is that you've done.

And so,

God, we gather here with
a purpose today.

We gather here this morning to stop,

to pay attention,

God, to pay attention to your words,

but also to pay attention to the warnings
that your word offers us,

to the cautions,

God, help us to pay attention.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. So will came in this morning,

he says.

Big crowd.

So I guess the parking lot
is getting fuller.

Some of you might have been 925 folks
and decided to come at 810.

Welcome. Glad you're here.

It's going to be better
if you come at 810.

Parking started this week.

Did you all know that?

Paid parking.

If you park in the city's
parking lots,

you have to either have a permit
or you have to pay with the app.

However, in these two blocks,

they do not start patrolling
until noon.

So we have a special dispensation
from the town council.

They will not patrol the parking
lots around the churches,

these two block areas.

So you can park at the beach,

walk over.

But starting at noon,

they start patrolling again.

So leave before noon.

But we are encouraging this 810 crowd
to park on this side of the

building, because at 09:00
on Easter Sunday,

our friends will be here across
the corner there,

and they will want all the
parking they can get.

So we just park there first.

Okay. All right,

second thing.

Easter is coming.

Easter is in this month.

It's March 31,

the last day of the month,

and we're going to have a great
big Easter celebration.

We start it on the Sunday before,

on the 24th,

when we celebrate the Lord's supper.

In all four gatherings that morning,

we'll be celebrating Lord's
supper together.

And then on Easter Sunday,

we're going to do sunrise right across
there at the beach behind the fire

department over there.

And that'll be at 630.

Then we'll do our 810,

925, 1040,

1150 worship hours here.

And so we'll have a big time
of celebration on Easter.

And during that 1150 worship hour,

right at 12:00 kids are going
to scarf up Easter eggs,

just so you know.

And then coming in May,

May 19,

we don't have all the details
ready to highlight this,

but our first outdoor
worship of the year,

where we put all the gatherings
together,

will be on May the 19th.

So just giving you the
heads up for that.

How many warnings do we see?

See warning signs?

I mean,

if you're driving down the road,

like, I'm driving a lot,

you all know I'm driving a lot,

right?

So I'm driving down the highway,

and all of a sudden you see this sign
that says left lane closed ahead,

right? What does that tell you?

Don't drive in the left
lane for a little bit.

Now, I could be obstinate,

hard headed,

and drive in the left lane and potentially
find myself in a ditch or off

a bridge or running into the back
of one of them cushion trucks.

You all know what I'm talking about.

They got the little bumper
thing on the back of it,

right? I could take the warning,

say left lane closed ahead and into.

I'll get closer to where
it's closed,

and they got cones sort of trying
to veer me into the right lane,

right. The first warning I
should pay attention to.

The second warning,

I definitely should
pay attention to,

right?

Because if I want to be obstinate and
hard headed about it and ignore the

warning. Guess what?

I get the consequences.

See? So I want you to notice
what we're looking at here.

We are expected to read these verses
from the book of Hebrews from an

author that we're not quite
sure who it is,

whether it's Paul,

Apollos, Barnabas,

or some committee of all
of them together,

maybe, we don't know,

written to people who are
Christ followers,

people who have surrendered their lives
to Jesus and are following Jesus.

And yet God is giving the instruction
that the Old Testament was about

the proclamation of the Messiah.

The New Testament is the revelation
of the Messiah.

And so these things tie together to tell
us God's plan and progression of

redemption. God is saying,

pay attention.

Pay attention to what I've done.

Pay attention to what I've said.

Pay attention to what I've
provided you today.

If you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.

As in the rebellion on the day
of testing in the wilderness,

where your ancestors tested me,

tried me and saw my
works for 40 years.

Therefore, I was provoked anger
with that generation and said,

they always go astray
in their hearts,

and they have not known my ways.

So I swore my anger.

They will not enter my rest.

See, this comes from psalm 95.

I marked it.

Listen to psalm 95.

Come, let us shout joyfully
to the Lord.

Shout triumphantly to the
rock of our salvation.

Let us enter his presence
with thanksgiving.

Let us shout triumphantly
to him in song.

For the Lord is a great God,

a great king above all gods.

The depths of the earth
are in his hand,

and the mountain peaks are his.

The sea is his.

He made it.

His hands form the dry land.

Come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord,

our maker,

for he is our God,

and we are the people
of his pasture,

the sheep under his care.

Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.

As at Meribah,

as on that day at Massa
in the wilderness,

where your fathers tested me,

they tried me,

though they had seen what
I did for 40 years.

I was disgusted.

Boy, that's pretty strong.

I was disgusted with
that generation.

I said,

they are a people whose
hearts go astray.

They do not know my ways.

So I swore my anger.

They will not enter my rest.

Those are called the enthronement
Psalms 95 and 93,

and couple in that area.

Basically what they're doing is they're
acknowledging who God is and what

God has done and calling God's
people to worship,

to bow,

to surrender before him.

Can I just go ahead and
say pretty flippantly,

it's understood not to ignore God.

And yet we live in a culture,

and at a time when people
just want to ignore God,

they want to discredit God.

What is the reasoning in psalm 95 that
says it's best to pay attention to

God, who is the king above all gods,

who actually holds all of creation
in the palm of his hand?

If there's no other reason to honor
God and to worship God and to bow

before God,

then it is the fact that he created it
all and he holds it and sustains

it. See,

that's the warning he said.

And yet your ancestors rebelled.

Do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion.

And then in psalm 95,

it mentions the Meribah
and the Massah.

That's where they turned
against God.

That's where they ignored who
he was and what he had done.

Now, this word rebellion,

it's interesting.

It's not just casual disobedience.

Okay, so let's ask ourselves
the question.

What is rebellion?

What's rebellion?

You ready?

All right.

Is it rebellion?

No. Let's see.

I don't see many kids.

Well, a couple back there.

Yeah. All right.

Good to see you.

All right,

so is it rebellion to
disobey your parents?

I'm not going to answer
the question.

I'll let you all answer
for yourself.

Is it rebellion to drive
56 on highway 17?

No, of course not.

Is it rebellion?

Right. You see,

that's the question I want us
to consider this morning,

because that's what God
is saying right here.

It says,

do not harden your hearts,

as in the rebellion.

Now, this word rebellion,

and you got to understand
the context.

Remember, I've told you,

translation is an art form,

not a science.

And so this word rebellion communicates
in English the sentiment of what

God wants us to understand.

But in the Hebrew,

it actually means rebellion with
the intent to provoke anger.

That's why God says,

down a little farther,

he says,

they provoked me to anger,

therefore I was provoked to anger.

So their rebellious intent
was in defiance of God,

not just a casual disobedience.

Like I'm going to ignore it.

Today. I got a meeting in Hampstead.

I'm going to drive 57 down 17.

Right?

No, it's not just a casual
disobedience.

It's an intent,

a defiance of who God is,

that it's referring to that.

So when it says,

do not harden your hearts,

as in the day of rebellion,

on the day of testing
in the wilderness,

where your ancestors tested me,

tried me,

and saw my works for 40 years.

They saw what I had done,

they knew who I was,

and they defiantly.

Right.

We're not going to listen to you.

We're not going to obey you.

You see?

Get mad if you want to.

We're going to do our own thing.

That's what this is referring to.

And God's saying,

hear the warning.

And then he goes on so
far as to say this,

watch out,

brothers and sisters,

so that there won't be in
any of you an evil,

unbelieving heart.

Evil, unbelieving heart.

Now, can I just be honest?

56 and a 55.

Evil and unbelieving.

I'm not sure of that.

But it is defiant,

right? I mean,

he's not here in this hour.

He comes at the 925 hours.

But we do have a highway patrolman
that attends the gathering.

I was driving down 17 one day and
he went by me like a shot.

A little bit later,

he texted me and said,

he said,

that's what a particular
speed looks like on 17.

He was after somebody,

right? But he can do that.

I can't.

So let's think about the subtleties
of hearing God's warning.

What is it that God
has called us to?

What is it that God has said for
us in order to be his children,

his people,

his followers of Jesus acknowledging
who he is and what he's done on our

behalf, our salvation,

our redemption,

the trust that we've placed in him,

the fact that we make the confession
because it comes in here,

this idea of if we hold
on to our confession,

our confession that Jesus is Lord,

Jesus is master,

Jesus is the very center of
my identity and my being.

You see,

if that's my confession,

then I should obey the principles of
that confession that I bow and

surrender to Jesus,

my Lord.

I don't go out and live defiantly.

Just my selfish intentions.

I don't go out there and go,

I don't care that you died
on the cross for me,

I'm going to do what I want to see,

that's the picture of the rebellion that
the writer of Hebrews is talking

about. I don't care that you love
me the most and the best,

right? There was a time in my life when
God was dealing with me in some

issues. There became a prayer of mine
during that time in which I would

just pray and tell Jesus,

Jesus, I love you more
than I love my sin.

Jesus, I love you more
than I love myself.

See, God was dealing with
me on some things.

Some selfishness,

some self serving.

Just. I don't care that you told me to
take up my cross daily and die to

myself.

Remember my childish stance.

I want what I want when I want it.

That is the admonition of our
culture and our society.

See, this idea of evil,

unbelieving heart to avoid
a hard heart that says,

I want what I want.

I don't care what you want.

I don't care about your
instructions.

I particularly don't care what
you've done on my behalf.

See, that's what the people in
the rebellion were doing.

God had delivered them from slavery.

God had taken them out into
a wilderness area,

taken them through the Red Sea.

God had provided for
them in every way.

And they had said,

we don't care what you've done.

We want to go back to Egypt.

We want to go back.

Even though we were slaves,

we were at least safe there.

See, a hard heart rebellion,

unbelief that turns away
from the living God.

See, that's the warning,

y'all. That's the warning.

Now we say,

oh, yeah,

I know I sin.

Oh, yeah,

I know my sin is,

on some level,

yes. Call it casual disobedience,

but on the other level,

it's rebellion.

It's the failure to surrender who we are
to who he is and what he's done.

So when I look at these things,

I'm thinking,

God has told us to avoid
this hard heart.

Be careful.

Watch out.

See, I like it that translate.

Watch out,

man. If you're walking along,

let's say you're walking down the
street and you hear somebody go,

watch out,

man.

I'm ducking.

I don't know what's coming,

but I'm ducking.

Right? Thank you for the warning.

Right.

That's kind of the picture that the
writer is portraying for us here.

And when it talks about the evil,

unbelieving heart.

And I've been saying this,

and we were talking about
it this week,

this idea of the self- centered,

selfish, self- serving,

self- whatever nature of our
culture and society,

right? Who suffers when we
only serve ourselves?

Everybody around us.

And I was talking to Megan about
children's ministry and stuff,

and the greatest suffering we see in
our society today is in children

whose parents are more about serving
themselves than they are about

taking care of their kids.

See that?

And I'm just like,

that's evil and unbelieving,

but here you go now.

All right,

good news.

Ready? But encourage
each other daily.

While it is still called today so that
none of you is hardened by sin's

deception. For we have
become participants,

partners, companions with Jesus.

We hold firmly until the end the reality
that we had at the start.

What is that reality?

Jesus is Lord.

I bow.

I surrender.

I give up myself for Jesus.

Hold on to know somebody came out with
some famous bracelets about that,

right?

What would Jesus do,

man? I mean,

anything you do,

any choice you make,

any attitude you hold,

any activity of your life,

the question is,

does it honor Jesus?

Is it bowed and surrendered
before the throne of God?

Because if it's not,

stop it.

I had people,

young people that I used to.

I was a youth pastor
for a long time.

Young people say,

I just can't help.

And I'd just sit there at my desk,

go, stop it.

They'd look at me.

They said,

but Pastor Bobby,

I go,

stop it.

Actually took it from a
video of Bob Newhart.

You want to find it?

Go YouTube.

Bob Newhart.

Stop it.

You'll see this bit that he did,

where this lady sat in front of him,

started explaining why,

how she couldn't explain
something in her life.

And he said,

okay, I'm just going
to say this to you.

She said,

well, do I need to write down?

He goes,

no, it's simple.

You can figure it out.

It's fine.

He goes,

stop it.

Right?

See, when we consider who God is,

we consider what he's done.

There is no excuse for those of us who
are companions and partners with

Christ to justify our rebellion.

Okay? There's nothing to justify it.

You can't make the case to defend yourself
because there's no defense to

justify sin.

Okay? He repeats it today.

If you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion.

Then he asks the rhetorical questions
from verse 16 through 19.

He says,

for who heard and rebelled?

Well, we know what he's
talking about.

He's speaking to jewish people,

to the christians who have
trusted Jesus as Messiah,

who are of the jewish culture,

ethnicity, faith,

all of it.

And they've recognized
Christ as Messiah.

But the challenge of the
book of Hebrews,

and we find it out in
later chapters,

is that some of them were being persecuted
and were tempted to go back to

the Judaism.

And so the writer of Hebrews is.

No, no.

Remember that Jesus died.

He is the lamb.

Not all those lambs.

It is his blood.

Not that blood that redeems you,

that forgives you.

That's what he says right there.

He says,

for who heard and rebelled?

Wasn't it all who came out
of Egypt under Moses?

And estimates are somewhere between four
and 6 million people that were

the captives in Egypt that came out on
their way to the promised land and

they rebelled.

With whom was God angry
for 40 years?

Wasn't it all those?

Wasn't it with those who sinned,

whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

Some estimates 3000 people died
when they created a gold calf.

Most commentators tell you those were
the leaders of the rebellion that

died in the wilderness.

And to whom did he swear that they would
not enter his rest if not to

those who disobeyed?

So we see that they were unable
to enter because of unbelief.

Now understand that in Christ,

I told you before and people disagree
with me and that's fine.

Unbelief. See,

I happen to be one of those people
that I don't have the power,

strength or anything to
undo what God does.

So when God saved me,

I was saved,

right?

Do I still sin?

56 is tough for me.

You see my point?

Here you go.

The rebellion,

the unbelief he's talking about is the
denial of who God is and what he's

done. The refusal to trust God is the
unbelief that is translated there

to rebel against God,

to doubt that God is God,

but more than that,

to live a life that proclaims
God is not God.

See that?

And there are people who do that.

We see it around us all the time.

We see people who just denounce God and
what he has said to us to rebel

against God.

And the failure of their
rebellion resulted.

The consequences of driving in the
left lane when the left lane is

closed. Consequences.

You don't get the rest
that God's offer.

We all know people that struggle in
their lives and go through hard

times. And we know some of those
people who don't trust Jesus.

And we say something like,

I just don't know how people
live without Jesus.

But there are some people who defiantly
shake their fist at God and say,

I will not bow.

See, watch out,

watch out.

That's the warning.

It's a hard caution for us.

Don't miss it.

Let's bow and surrender.

Pray with me.

Father, thank you for today and
for all that you have done.

God, we love you.

Thank you for every person here.

Thank you for the fact that you
knew everybody that'd be here,

even the one I met early,

and you knew where we would be,

where we would be sitting.

You knew God,

what our hearts were
prepared to hear.

And so,

God, I pray that you have prepared our
hearts to hear you and that God,

if we are in rebellion,

if we're the ones defiantly
shaking our fists,

that you,

Father, my prayer would be
that we would submit,

surrender, bow and worship
you because you are God.

If there's even one here this morning
that doesn't know Jesus.

God, that's where it starts.

We've got to bow and know Jesus.

And then we surrender.

Thank you,

God, for your love for us.

Help us to love you back.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.