sermon: What Do We Do at the End of an Age?

David C. Grabbe
Given 13-Dec-25; Sermon #1850; 72 minutes

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There can be no doubt that we are living at the end of an age.

I am not necessarily talking about the end of the age, when Christ returns and establishes His Kingdom. Instead, I am talking about the age that consists of the current political, economic, and cultural order. I am talking about this time and the circumstances within it.

Conditions around us have reached a breaking point—and things are breaking. All advanced economies, especially the United States, are entering into a debt crisis, with governments facing increasing challenges to pay their bills. In addition, trust in institutions, such as the government, higher education, and the media, is almost non-existent. The social fabric is being shredded, and the political parties are in a shambles. Each day brings us closer to proving the law stated by economist Herbert Stein, which says, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”

Several prominent historians and economists have independently identified different cycles in history that all point to the present crisis peaking within the next handful of years. I don’t want to spend time on the specifics, because we have more important things to look at. But the bottom line is that these researchers—and these are not influencers just trying to get clicks; these are serious people—all forecast significant upheaval through the end of this decade based on repeating patterns they have identified in history. Their models unanimously suggest that if the republic is to survive, the nation will have to radically transform itself to the point that it will be almost unrecognizable. Think of life during the 1930s and early 40s compared to life after World War II, or life before and after the Civil War, or life before and after the American Revolution.

But even without understanding the nuances of historical cycles, we all feel the pressure, the tearing, the unravelling. Many are wondering how much longer this age can last, and whether the nation will change to survive or end in a smoldering heap.

The forecasters don’t even consider more important factors, such as national immorality. But above all of this is God’s sovereignty, and God’s special interest in His nations, both physical and spiritual. Ultimately, God decides the fate of nations. And because He is sovereign, He also determines how circumstances—even to the point of national collapse—affect us individually. So, even though everything points to significant turmoil ahead, we are not facing this on our own.

In His providence, God has given us a book that parallels our circumstances in various ways. It was written to an audience with long experience in the truth. These people were undergoing the pressure and instability of the end of an age, but the crisis had not yet reached its peak. And yet, instead of rising to the occasion by drawing on the spiritual strength available to them, the people were sliding into apathy, and even regressing spiritually.

The approaching end of their age was not firing them up to put everything into a strong finish. They were on the verge of crumbling because they had been neglecting their spiritual preparation. They were like out-of-shape, former athletes who could no longer perform because they had stopped training to focus on other things. Similarly, as the pressure was growing, their spiritual strength was revealed to be inadequate for what they were facing.

The book I am describing is the book of Hebrews. Today we will be covering a section of Hebrews to be reminded of God’s urgent message to these people in the last handful of years before their world turned upside down and their age ended.

The book of Hebrews was a perfect message to reorient the audience back to Christ, so they could have the right footing for what lay just ahead. Even though they were under the New Covenant, the removal of the Temple and the priesthood, not to mention the upcoming geographical scattering (if they were in Judea), would come as a great shock for those with a Jewish heritage if they had not let go of their attachments. To whatever degree they were holding onto the Temple system and the city of Jerusalem, they were about to undergo a massive readjustment when it was removed.

Thus, the audience of Hebrews was approaching the end of an age, just as we are. And though the specifics of what the Hebrews were facing are not exactly like what we are facing, we can still find ample wisdom in the admonitions given to the Hebrews.

We will begin in Hebrews 2:

Hebrews 2:1-4 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

As you are probably aware, Hebrews is dedicated to showing the supremacy of Jesus Christ over every being and institution except the Father. The previous chapter establishes Christ’s role as the Son of the Highest, and thus a divine Messenger who is superior to all the prophets and all the angels. So, the author begins by reminding the audience of the overwhelming significance of this Messenger, and thus, His message. That’s what leads up to this “therefore” statement in verse 1.

In other words, because of the overarching significance of Jesus Christ and His gospel message, the author says we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so we don’t drift away from it. Here is an early hint that the pressure at the end of an age can lead to drifting, which is something for us to watch out for. As the intensity of the times increases, we can either use it to draw closer to God and grow stronger now, or we can drift, and end up spiritually out of shape and unprepared for when things really get tough.

Starting in verse 2, the author adds some weight to his admonition by using a contrast. “The word spoken through angels” is a reference to the covenant with Israel, in which angels played a key role (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; see Deuteronomy 33:2). He points out that God backed up fully everything that was delivered to Israel through these lesser messengers.

Then he takes it one step further and asks rhetorically that if the previous things were binding, how can we expect to escape fitting retribution if we neglect, as it says, so great a salvation. He identifies the salvation as first being announced by the Lord, meaning the gospel of the Kingdom. He goes on to say that this message was confirmed by those who heard Christ, and the Father Himself also bore witness to His Messenger and His message in various ways. In other words, if what was spoken to Israel was backed-up, and covenant-breaking was dealt with decisively, we dare not think that God will let us off the hook if we let this far greater opportunity slip out of our hands.

This passage about neglecting salvation teaches that salvation is not limited just to having our sins forgiven. This world’s Christianity tends to view salvation quite narrowly, as relating only to Christ’s blood paying for our sins in the past. When combined with the pestiferous belief in “once saved, always saved,” the general approach within much of Protestantism is that Jesus either has done or will do it all for us, so we just have to vaguely “believe,” claim the blood, and then live life pretty much as we want because His grace is so great.

Yet notice that God’s word says salvation can be neglected or ignored, with the implication that doing so will have devastating consequences. That flies in the face of the idea of one’s salvation being eternally secure. And there are even stronger and more direct warnings later in this book.

There is a significant event in Israel’s history that the author may have had in mind, based on his rhetorical question about escaping. Please turn with me to Ezekiel 17. This is about King Mattaniah, who was renamed Zedekiah.

Ezekiel 17:11-18 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Say now to the rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Indeed the king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and took its king and princes, and led them with him to Babylon. And he took the king’s offspring, made a covenant with him, and put him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land, that the kingdom might be brought low and not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered? ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke—with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. Nor will Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company do anything in the war, when they heap up a siege mound and build a wall to cut off many persons. Since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and in fact gave his hand and still did all these things, he shall not escape.’”

This is about when Nebuchadnezzar took the upper echelons of the kingdom of Judah into captivity in Babylon. However, God granted a sort of salvation to a remnant of Judah: They were allowed to remain in the land, and Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as the king. A covenant was made, and Zedekiah was put under oath, such that he and the kingdom had to remain subservient. It could not be lifted up.

But instead of gratitude for the salvation that allowed the nation to continue, Zedekiah broke the agreement by trying to throw off the yoke. He had made a pledge to get through the immediate crisis because he really didn’t have any other option, but after that crisis had passed, he tried to do his own thing. It seems he could not accept that God had him and the nation right where He wanted them because of their spiritual condition. Even though Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, in reality, the rebellion was against God because Nebuchadnezzar was God’s agent in this. But it was easier to agitate against the human representative than admit to, and deal with, the true reason for the circumstances.

God asks rhetorically in verse 15, “Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered?” This was not even a covenant with God—it was an agreement between men. But God answers His own question in verse 18. He says, “Since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and in fact gave his hand [meaning, in a pledge] and still did all these things, he shall not escape.”

In this light, we can see some similarities between our lives and what is written in Hebrews. We have been given a salvation—one far greater than the one given to the remnant of Judah and the salvation given to the exodus generation. God offered a covenant to us, and it is the very best covenant that has ever been made available by God. We made a pledge at baptism. But the covenant requires absolute loyalty and subservience to God. Our lives are entirely in His hands because He paid for us. We owe Him everything. And the author asks rhetorically, “How shall we escape if we neglect [or ignore] so great a salvation…?”

God answers the question. The exodus generation who made the covenant at Sinai did not escape, and neither did the individual, Zedekiah, escape after going back on what he had agreed to. If we despise, neglect, or ignore the pledge we made, we also shall not escape. God says in verse 19 here that He will recompense, meaning inflict or repay on the person’s head. Clearly, God takes these things very seriously, and we should as well.

Please turn back to Hebrews 2. We’re going to explore the salvation the author is talking about. As mentioned, the scope of this passage teaches that salvation is not limited to just the initial forgiveness of our sins. The salvation here describes something that is ongoing. That’s why it can be neglected or ignored.

If salvation were only a past event that is over and done with, then there would be nothing more to do. That’s how nominal Christianity views salvation—it happened in the past, and then one is eternally secure. But the author here does not support that notion at all. Instead, he strongly urges his audience not to neglect their salvation. This means it is not yet complete. It also implies that there will be grave consequences for neglecting it. So, the salvation in Hebrews 2 is the salvation process that was started when we were justified by Christ’s blood, but which now requires that we continually attend to it. It is something that needs to be nurtured with God rather than neglected.

It says the salvation was “at the first began to be spoken by the Lord.” It’s talking about the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Christ began His ministry by calling for repentance while preaching the good news of the Kingdom. It was not a political salvation like the Jews were expecting, but a spiritual dominion, with the Savior as the King and His law as its basic operating principle. It was and is an opportunity to know the Father and the Son, and to have Their law of liberty, which Paul calls holy and just and good, written into our very being.

But this deliverance from the power of darkness and conveyance into Christ’s kingdom puts us under tremendous obligation. It touches every corner of our lives. Christ’s intent is to fully redeem us, not just from past sins, but from the corrupt nature within that is the source of sin. This requires continual cooperation with Him by yielding to His work in our lives.

But if we despise our oath by an illegal end-run around the constraints God places on us, we risk our salvation. Zedekiah went back on his pledge, and his salvation was taken away. His end was horrible. Israel likewise failed. So, the author asks rhetorically how we could possibly escape if we neglect an even greater salvation that is based on a superior covenant.

The book of Hebrews is somewhat infamous for its warnings against falling away and willful sin. Hebrews 6:4-6 says that for those who have been enlightened (and so forth) and yet fall away, it is impossible to restore them again. And Hebrews 10:26-31 says there is no sacrifice for willful sin, and it promises vengeance against those who count the blood of the covenant a common, unholy thing.

But chapter 2 shows the beginning of the path that leads to that fiery end. The verses here do not speak of outright rejection, but rather of drifting and neglect. It is a subtle process that involves regularly prioritizing things of lesser importance above the opportunity that has been opened to us. In time, and with a continual focus on lesser things, faith begins to wane and one’s spiritual strength is sapped. A callous forms on the heart, such that God’s word can no longer get through.

The falling away and willful sin, then, are the late-stage result of a person routinely prioritizing something—anything—above God and His message. Through his or her own training, the person becomes essentially unable to make the right choices, and willful sin is the result. The heart becomes so calloused that it no longer cares what God says or thinks. But it begins with drifting and neglect.

Thus, it is imperative for us to identify what things in our lives—even very good things—could cause us to devalue our calling, our sanctification, our salvation—what things occupy our minds more than God and His word and His way.

Hebrews is organized around a series of takedowns of lesser things, if I can put it that way. However, none of the things that are taken down are bad—in fact, they are all things created by, ordained by, or instituted by God Himself. They are not evil things at all. They are just not as great as Christ. The problem is one of degrees of focus and priorities.

We won’t look at each one in detail, but the book essentially opens with proving the Son of God is greater than angels. Angels were very highly regarded by the Jews, and God still uses them today. The author does not denigrate angels at all—he only points out that they are less important than Christ.

Other parts of the book show that Christ is also greater than Moses, who was a towering personality for the Jews. Christ is greater than Abraham, and Levi, and all the prophets. His sacrifice was superior to every sacrifice and offering. It was perfect and so valuable and effective, it only had to happen once. His priesthood is superior to the priesthood of Aaron. Hebrews has been called the Leviticus of the New Testament, and at every turn, it shows that the Anointed One is the reality after which all these other things were patterned.

Now, our circumstances are different. Most of us are not coming out of Judaism. The greatest theological threat facing the church seems to be certain tenets of Protestantism, though there are any number of other ideas and philosophies that also make inroads.

But part of the reason false teaching can gain traction is because the truth, in its fullness, is being neglected, and that neglect stems from giving attention to lesser things. The things pulling at us may come in different forms than what affected first century Christians, but the essence of what the author warns about still applies to us. In other words, the things that might incline us to neglect God and His word and His way will be different for us, but the overall danger remains of neglect and drifting in the face of pressure.

For the Hebrews, the author went through and gently knocked down various things that were skewing their worldview and causing them to overlook what was most important. The author didn’t destroy the personalities and institutions, but he put them all in their correct place relative to Christ, meaning under Christ. Christ is greater than them all. So, that’s what we need to do as well. We need to identify those things that contribute to our worldview and approach to life, and make sure they are supporting our relationship with God rather than overshadowing it.

What life consists of will differ from person to person, but we will go through some common areas to get us thinking.

As mentioned, the nations are going through a period of crises, and so national conditions and what should be done about them are on our minds as we try to keep up with and adjust to the rapid rate of change, along with being dismayed or even outraged at how things are unravelling. This channel of the national scene is always on because we are always connected, and yet this channel can impart no faith, hope, or love to us. It can sap spiritual strength, but it cannot build it. This is not to suggest that we bury our heads, but just to recognize the limited usefulness of watching the passing scene as it relates to our great goal, which should be to take on the image of God and be ready to inherit His Kingdom.

Our employment is another major part of our lives. When this is coupled with the technology that allows us to be always reached, the old model of working 9-5, five days a week, is quaint and archaic. Our work takes up an increasing amount of our mental capacity, and with that comes the reality that we think far more about things under the sun than above the sun.

Now, the solution is not necessarily to quiet-quit our jobs, let alone rage-quit. Some in Thessalonica stopped working, and Paul took them to task for idleness and then bothering others. God made us to be productive. Yet there is wisdom in evaluating how we view our jobs, and whether they are in the right proportion relative to our great salvation.

We should ask ourselves how often God is squeezed out because of a business activity that probably won’t matter much when we reach the end of our race—and we have no idea when that will be. As God says in the parable, “[You] Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” Our jobs are important, but not more important than our connection and walk with God. So, we should ponder whether our occupations are a means to an end—and the right end—or whether they have become an end unto themselves. Or worse yet, whether they could become our end.

Another area that is both very important and yet which can become larger than God in our minds is a church organization and the leaders thereof. This was a factor in the Worldwide Church of God, and anecdotes suggest it is still happening in some quarters. In short, our relationship with God is individual. We have direct access to Him—that is explained in this book. There should be no one between God and us except our High Priest. Yet an organization could have greater gravity than God Himself, which is idolatry.

Of course, there is the other extreme as well, where one finds fault with every organization and every leader, and ends up forsaking the assembly because nobody can live up to the individual’s superior level of spirituality. That is addressed in this book as well.

But the point of our exercise is to really think about what our lives consist of, and compare that with how much the Messenger and His message are in our thoughts; to evaluate how we are responding to Him and striving to walk with Him, or if there are things that are interfering with hearing Him such that we inadvertently neglect this great salvation.

We will continue to look at Hebrews as it applies to this time of instability, and we will pick it up in the next chapter. In the first six verses of chapter 3, the author handles the matter of Moses, showing that Christ is greater than Moses. Even though Moses was faithful in God’s house, Christ was the One who built the house, and indeed, is over the house.

Hebrews 3:6 is key. It says that we are Christ’s house, which is a great encouragement. But the verse also contains a conditional statement: We must hold fast. We often stop there, maybe envisioning white-knuckle endurance. And there are times that is needed. But notice what it is we must hang on to: the confidence—the boldness—and the rejoicing of the hope. That “rejoicing” of the hope can even indicate boasting—not a proud boasting, but the kind of confident assurance found in the sheep in Psalm 23:1, who proclaims, “The LORD is my shepherd.” He rejoices in being owned by Christ. Our hope in Christ gives confident assurance in life to the degree that we believe it.

Again, the audience here had grown weary, apathetic, and spiritually careless, weighed down by the pressures, and they were losing sight of what they had been given. They weren’t living the gospel with confidence because the things around them—the things they could see—loomed larger in their minds than their Savior.

This verse gives us something else to test ourselves on: If we are having trouble rejoicing, even in the midst of the trials we all have, it may indicate that our focus, too, has slipped from the divine reality that exists above the sun. We may have lost sight of that life-giving Kingdom, and have been pulled away by the increasing and sometimes overwhelming cares of this life. If we find we cannot rejoice, we have lost sight of Who and What God is, and our place in His house is at risk. That’s what the conditional statement indicates.

Consider the example of the apostles in the book of Acts. In Acts 5:40-42, after testifying of Jesus Christ, the apostles were brought before the council of Jewish elders. They were not only verbally admonished to no longer speak in the name of Christ, but they were also beaten. And because of what they valued most highly, after the beating, the apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

Later, in Acts 16:22-25, Paul and Silas were imprisoned after also being beaten. (We really don’t have much to complain about.) The account says that at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. They were in the stocks in prison, with stripes on their bodies from the beating. Yet they had confidence in the Messenger and His message, and were willing to suffer for it. They could rejoice because they knew their faith was genuine and in the right thing. The Hebrews needed some of that same confidence in God and zeal that the apostles had, and we may need it as well. If we find ourselves at midnight, and we are doomscrolling—which is like prison—and depressed or anxious, then something is clouding our vision of what we have been called to, and what has been opened to us, and Who is with us always, even in our darkest hour.

Beginning in verse 7, the author begins a long section on Israel’s failure, and he uses it as an admonition to his audience not to allow themselves to fail like Israel did. This calls for deep self-examination because there are dangers here that we may not recognize.

Hebrews 3:7-11 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

This is a quotation of Psalm 95, which the Jews identified as a Sabbath psalm because the first 6 ¾ verses are about coming together and praising God. But then it ends with this very strong exhortation. So, the “today” in verse 7 can be applied in different ways. Given that it is a Sabbath psalm, it applies especially well for the Sabbath as a weekly reminder to take stock of our walk with God. But “today” can also apply more generally to the time of God’s calling. If we are able to hear God’s voice, spiritually speaking, this applies to us.

Following on that, the word “today” carries with it a sense of immediacy, meaning this is something to consider right now. This is not something that we can put off until a more convenient time—maybe after our upcoming vacation, or after the next promotion, or after the kids leave the house, or after we retire. What the author is urging us toward cannot wait—it must be considered today, and even sooner and more so if we recognize aspects of ourselves in this message to the Hebrews.

So, the primary warning here is against having our hearts hardened. God, through the psalmist, says that Israel’s heart was hardened. Our minds tend to latch onto the incident in Numbers 14, when Israel refused to enter the Promised Land after being in the wilderness for two years. But notice that God mentions 40 years, and not just the incident with the scouts. The whole time in the wilderness was Israel’s “day” of trial and rebellion. For 40 years, they tested and challenged the God who gave them one deliverance after another.

In the phrase, “do not harden your hearts,” the Greek word for “harden” is skleruno (Strong’s #4645). It is the origin of our medical term “sclerosis,” which can help make these words very real for us. There are different types of sclerosis, but they are all very serious conditions where soft tissues, such as nerves, skin, or blood vessels, become hardened to the point that they no longer function normally.

Lou Gehrig’s disease—ALS—is where the motor neurons become sclerotic, meaning hardened and no longer functional. As the motor neurons stop working properly, the body stops functioning, resulting in death. Another form of sclerosis is scleroderma, which is an autoimmune condition where the skin becomes thickened and no longer pliable.

A more common condition is atherosclerosis, better known as “hardening of the arteries.” It is caused by deposits of fatty material, such as cholesterol, in the blood vessels. Unlike many other sclerotic conditions, there are not outward symptoms until the arteries are really in bad shape and the blood can barely get through.

Jesus describes what we might call spiritual sclerosis in Matthew 13:15. He quotes Isaiah 6:9 and applies it to the multitudes of His time. He says, “For the hearts of this people have grown dull [which could mean “fat” or “calloused”]. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed . . ..” Their hearts, well as their other senses, had become insensitive so they were unable to receive what Christ was saying to them.

That’s what the author of Hebrews is warning against—a gradual hardening of the heart, a sclerosis, that causes spiritual impairment that will ultimately be fatal because the word of God no longer has any effect.

Now, the hardening of the heart does not have to do with human feelings. That is, the author is not warning against becoming sociopaths, devoid of empathy. One can be good-natured, warm, kind, and forgiving on a human level and yet still be hard-hearted in spiritual matters.

This phrase is not talking about one’s disposition toward other people, but instead whether one is disposed to hear God and respond. Of course, if one truly is responding to God, then there is a much greater chance that one’s other relationships will be good as well. But being sensitive to others is not always a good gauge of one’s sensitivity to the things of God.

In hardening of the arteries, the danger stems from the accumulation of stuff that doesn’t belong, and which makes the arteries less able to circulate our life-sustaining blood, and thus, less effective. So, the danger is one of gradualism. It happens slowly and without symptoms until suddenly you have chest pain and shortness of breath. It doesn’t develop from a single helping of French fries. But if you’re eating a doughnut, oozing the trans-fat, three times a day, there’s going to be a problem. That’s just how it works—it’s natural law. The deposits and the hardening develop over time through what is taken in on a regular basis. And this applies spiritually as much as it does physically, and the ramifications are far more serious.

What we put in our minds on a regular basis accumulates and can cause sclerosis where God is concerned. Spiritual sclerosis is a heart that is clogged with ideas, priorities and habits that make it harder to run our race because our spiritual capabilities have degraded.

Along these lines, we will jump ahead to some powerful statements in chapter 12. Hold your place here and turn with me to chapter 12. What we will see is that the author keeps coming back to his main themes but from different angles.

In Hebrews 12:1, he says, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Notice that it is not just sin that we lay aside. That should be obvious. But he also says to throw off anything that weighs us down and interferes with our spiritual race. Our race is against our own nature rather than against someone else. We are our own most formidable opponent. “Laying aside every weight” takes careful evaluation of each aspect of our lives, as we touched on, to see whether it is helping us in our calling or holding us back.

Another echo of what we saw in Hebrews 2 is found in Hebrews 12:25, which says, “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.” That’s what spiritual sclerosis does—it causes us to refuse Him who speaks. That refusal probably won’t be one of outright defiance until the condition is far advanced, when it turns into willful sin for which there is no remedy.

But long before that, hardening begins with drifting, neglect, and inattention to the things of God. It develops from being more tuned in to voices from this world than to God.

We tend to follow those who align with our worldview or interests, whether podcasters, influencers, commentators, analysts, industry experts, and even musical artists. Something they say or do makes sense to us, or attracts us in some way, and so we subscribe or follow. One danger is that even as our worldview overlaps theirs in some way (or else we wouldn’t be interested), in time, we will probably adopt bits of their worldview as well, not all of which agrees with God. Yet even in the areas that are true and good, their words still cannot compare with the message from our King and what He is offering us. In time, the truth of God can barely squeeze through because our vessels have become coated with all these (hopefully) reasonable but less important things. And if we refuse Him who speaks because His words no longer sink in, we will not escape.

Back to chapter 3:

Hebrews 3:12-15 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

This section contains two more mentions of sclerosis, and there is another one in the next chapter. The author keeps coming back to this quotation and the warning against allowing ourselves to become insensitive to what God has said and is saying to us.

Verse 12 brings in another principle, which is that unbelief leads to departing from God. Throughout Hebrews, belief is basically synonymous with obedience, and unbelief or disbelief is interchangeable with disobedience. You see, what we truly believe will always show up in how we behave—in what we do.

The critical issue of belief isn’t whether one believes that God exists, or even that Jesus died for sin. The Israelites had daily proof of God’s existence, and the Hebrews were well-aware of Christ’s sacrifice. The relevant question is whether God is believed—whether what He says is believed, and whether His character and nature, in their fullness, affect how we live. If we believe God, then His message—His word—becomes the ultimate guide for our lives. If we don’t belief Him, we may call Him “Lord” and yet not do the things He says (Matthew 7:21-22).

That’s what happened to the Israelites. They saw countless and dramatic proofs, not only of God’s existence, but also of His willingness to provide and to protect. And yet they continually disobeyed Him. All His proof wouldn’t break through their hardened hearts.

The author then uses this as an admonition for the Hebrews, not because there was blatant sin in their midst like in Corinth, but because their trajectory of neglect and apathy would undermine their belief of God, which would lead to departing from Him altogether.

Hebrews 3:13 again brings in urgency by focusing on “today.” Guarding against spiritual sclerosis, against a degraded sensitivity to what God says, must be a daily effort. Unbelief can progress in a way that the one losing his or her belief may not be aware it is happening, like a silent buildup in the arteries. So, the author keeps urging us to take stock of our life and our spiritual condition all the time to keep something fatal from developing.

Verse 13 also mentions being hardened, but this time the cause is identified as “the deceitfulness of sin.” It can also be translated as, “sin’s deceitfulness” and “sin’s deception.”

There are several aspects to this. The primary one, going back to Adam and Eve, is that what sin advertises and what sin actually delivers over a lifetime are completely different. Sin promises that this deviation, this infraction—whatever it happens to be—will make things better than holding to God’s standards. It assures greater fulfillment, or more excitement, or generally something better for the self than what God says. But it is a lie.

Granted, there may be excitement for a time, and the self may be pleased for a time, but ultimately, sin always fails to bring about a better outcome. It always produces misery, whether for us or for others. But sin makes it seem like it will be better to ignore what God says because sin never lets us see the full scope of the effects and regret ahead of time.

We also rarely see fiery judgment like with Sodom and Gomorrah, or Nadab and Abihu. We don’t see people drop dead mere minutes after lying, like what happened with Ananias and Sapphira. This is not to suggest that God does not judge sin, because He does. But it is rare to see the dots of sin and judgment connected so closely and so dramatically.

When it appears that someone is getting away with it—which they are not, by the way—that can introduce some doubt. That is, if this other person is sinning and hasn’t been hit by lightning, maybe God isn’t serious about it. Maybe it’s not a big deal, and God really does not care. Maybe our understanding is incorrect, and we should loosen our standards.

But notice how that thinking process begins to harden the heart. We become accustomed to sin in our environment as it continues, seemingly without judgment. So, if we use what we see in those around us as a guide for life instead of continually going back to what God says, sin becomes normalized and we become insensitive to what God thinks.

In Ezekiel 9, those who sigh and cry over abominations are marked for divine protection. Their consciences have not become hardened to what God thinks. On the other hand, through Jeremiah, God says twice that Judah lost her ability to blush regarding abominations. There was no longer shame or embarrassment over sin. Judah’s sclerosis was terminal and she was flatlining. God’s prophets couldn’t get through to soften her heart toward God. Similarly, when second-, third-, fourth-generation Christians today shrug at things God identifies as abominations, there is sclerosis in our midst as well.

Now, let’s go through another exercise. If this one offends you, please come find me and we’ll talk about it. Maybe we could grab something to eat—just, please, not doughnuts.

Back in the 1990s, this nation had a president who tarnished the office of the Presidency because of his infamous scandals, and especially his affairs. The country was appalled by the immorality of the one in the highest office in the land—his promiscuity, his lying, his shady deals, his narcissism, and so forth.

What was also shocking to many was how the president’s supporters tried to spin things. They justified his behavior with bizarre ideas, like “what a man does in his private life doesn’t affect his public life,” as though character can be compartmentalized. One commentator explained why the president continued to have widespread support by saying that he made us comfortable with our own sins.

Some in the church of God speculated that that presidency marked the beginning of the end of the nation. With such immorality and such obvious lack of character at the top, this nation was ripe for God’s judgment. And I believe that is still a true principle. But as we can see, the nation has not fallen. So far.

Now, the question is, are we still shocked and outraged at the same immorality and character problems in the national leadership today, even though a different political party is involved? This is an aspect of what Austin talked about in his sermonette last week. We know that we are supposed to be apolitical because of our heavenly citizenship. But if we have fallen into factionalism or party spirit, which is a work of the flesh, then God’s standards will mean less when one of our party is under consideration. It is respect of persons rather than a respect of God and His standards. So, we need to consider whether we have adjusted to the point that promiscuity, lying, shady deals, and narcissism aren’t as bad to us if committed by one with whom we identify. If we are consistent, character and morality will be the most important considerations in leadership, regardless of the party.

(As an aside, Richard nailed down this matter in the Bible study he gave on “Character and Leadership,” if you would like to think about this subject some more.)

Truly, the question is not whether we have adjusted to the immorality around us, because I submit that every one of us has. The odds are very much against us, which is why God gives these warnings. The better questions are how much we have adjusted and in what areas—and further, what we are willing to do to reverse it.

Unlike medical sclerosis, spiritual sclerosis can be contagious. We tend to take on the attitudes and practices—the worldview—of those around us, including the media we ingest, the influencers who influence us, as well as people within the church. Our environment can incline us to be less sensitive to the things of God.

This is exactly what Christ warns of in the Olivet Prophecy: that an environment of lawlessness—of ignoring God’s standards; of sclerosis—causes God’s love to grow cold. And so, there is a constant need to look to our spiritual health to ensure that we are not becoming hardened to the things of God, and thus, influencing others to be as well. This is part of why Hebrews 3:13 mentions exhorting one another: so the church can be an environment that is more inclined to the things of God than the things of the world.

There is an example of sclerosis found in the record of Elijah in I Kings 19, if you would turn there. Martin went through this in his recent sermon, so we will look at just a couple of things. I Kings 19 opens with Elijah fleeing for his life from Jezebel after his showdown with the prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel.

In verse 9, Elijah encounters God at the mountain of Horeb. God asks him what he is doing there—because God had not told him to flee—and Elijah says, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life” (I Kings 19:10). That was a repetition of what he proclaimed on Mount Carmel during his showdown there. Now, it was true that Israel had forsaken the covenant, but Elijah had gotten stuck on the part about being the only godly one left. He believed he was the only one left who could do God’s will, and his life was now seriously threatened by Jezebel.

So, after a series of dramatic acts, and then a very subtle act, in verse 13, God again asks Elijah what he is doing there. Elijah responds with the same line. His worldview had hardened. He could not see the circumstance any other way. Just as with Israel, even being in God’s presence and witnessing God’s works didn’t break through. Elijah had a touch of sclerosis.

What is interesting is that God did not perform an angioplasty to clean out what was keeping Elijah from being more useful to God. Instead, God took Elijah’s words as Elijah’s choice. We have a saying that “opportunity knocks, and then it moves on.” Well, God is more generous. He knocked twice, but when He got the same response, then He moved on. God told Elijah to go anoint three other men, including one to take his place as prophet (I Kings 19:15-18).

In doing this, God showed that He is never limited. He always has resources for accomplishing His will. But because of his mindset, Elijah lost out on being used by God as he had been. This episode of despondency, of self-focus and self-pity, demonstrated an area of unbelief in the great God. His lack of faith in God’s capabilities resulted in his being less useful to God. He didn’t fall away, but his sclerosis made him miss out. He left God out of His thinking, and the result was that God left him out of what He did next.

God wasn’t limited—Elijah was, and all because he wouldn’t get over himself (as we say today). He didn’t wholeheartedly seek God’s perspective. Instead, he stuck with and acted on his own. It’s not that Elijah stopped believing God existed, but that he let his circumstances cloud his view of God. It was a type of unbelief that Hebrews warns against.

Please turn to Hebrews 4:

Hebrews 4:1-2 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

It is very simple: Israel failed because they did not believe. They would not live by faith. They heard the gospel, but they did not believe it enough to trust God by yielding the entirety of their lives to Him. They missed out because they did not believe, and their unbelief manifested in disobedience throughout their journey. And as we saw, even Elijah had some unbelief that caused him to stumble rather than yield to God.

The author’s concern is that this can happen to us as well—that we can become insensitive to the things of God through focusing on the wrong things. The concern is that, in time, the message of God, including all that He has offered us, means less to us than the equivalent of a bowl of stew, which can represent anything under the sun.

Some translations try to soften or even leave out the word “fear” in verse 1, but it really is there. One translation says, “Let us be terrified.” What has been offered to us is beyond comparison. Even so, through the course of our lives, and the pressures, distractions, and deceptions—the hardening of our hearts to the things of God—we may choose to let it slip by, no longer believing the promises or the One who made them. That should terrify us.

Now, the next section in Hebrews 4:3-10 on God’s rest is a fascinating contrast to the author’s approach elsewhere in the book. The author takes down other things a notch to bring Christ more clearly into focus. Yet when it comes to the Sabbath, the author does not do any sort of take-down. This does not mean the Sabbath is more important than Christ—far from it. Yet the seventh-day Sabbath forms the foundation of his argument in this section as something still being observed and something to pay attention to. There is no implication that they should pay less attention to the Sabbath so they could see Christ more clearly.

A number of translations hide the plain wording of the Greek in verse 9. It contains the Greek word sabbatismos (Strong’s #4520). It is not talking about rest in general, but Sabbath-keeping. The Greek literally says, “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” For his authority, the author does not draw on the covenant with Israel, but on God’s example when He made the seventh-day holy at creation. And while the weekly Sabbath is not an end unto itself but points toward something greater, it only points to the greater rest for the ones who observe it. This was written some 35 years after Christ’s death, and the author uses the Sabbath as an institution that still has a current application and great relevance. The author does not take down the Sabbath; he builds on it.

The Sabbath example fits into the overall warning of Hebrews perfectly because the Sabbath is frequently an area where spiritual hardening starts to show up. We may notice symptoms such as carelessness with the holy time, and taking more liberties than God allows. Sabbath-breaking was a significant part of Israel’s apostasy, as well as the apostasy of the ‘80s and ‘90s. The author’s use of the Sabbath suggests the Hebrews’ approach to the Sabbath may have been part of what was deteriorating. He thus brings in the Sabbath as part of the solution. The Sabbath is one of God’s gifts to help us strengthen our relationship with Him, which helps keep us from becoming sclerotic.

As the test commandment, whether we keep the Sabbath holy can be an early warning of spiritual sclerosis. Sabbath-breaking probably won’t begin with going into the office on Saturday, but with finding ways to justify doing what we want to do with God’s holy time, rather than wholeheartedly seeking His perspective. And that seeking of His perspective begins by studying into what He has already said on the matter, as well as related principles, so that we do hear Him who speaks from heaven.

Our Sabbath-keeping shows whether we are willing to sacrifice our valuable things—our time and interests and pleasures—for the sake of sanctification, spending time with God, and learning from Him. It is core to our relationship with Him. It’s a whole day He set apart for us to pursue Him, if we are willing to make use of it.

Years ago, I talked with a man who knew that the Sabbath was Saturday. His response, though, was, “If it is important, God will show me.” But he wouldn’t do the study that would reveal whether it is important to God. This man wanted a direct message from God before he would believe it. On a human level, he was a great guy, but his heart was hardened in this area and didn’t want to change—didn’t want to sacrifice. So, he tried to make God responsible by requiring that God personally confirm the Sabbath before he would keep it. It’s an example of refusing Him who speaks by declining to look at what He already said.

Hebrews 4:12 gives a concluding statement:

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

As we have seen, chapters 2, 3, and 4 keep on coming back to the heart, whether directly or indirectly. Drifting and spiritual neglect are matters of the heart. Spiritual sclerosis is a condition of a clogged heart. And here the author makes a connection with the word of God. This is a large part of what he is urging the audience to get back to, because, like Sabbath-keeping, focused study in the word of God is another area that starts to slip when the pressure builds. But it is also how we hear Him who speaks from heaven.

We have all struggled with making time to study when everything else seems more pressing and we may not discern an immediate benefit. But the reality is that God and His word are exactly what we need. His word is a vital part of how we connect with the One who can actually carry us through what we are facing, both today and when times really get tough. He is the one who can give wisdom and discernment. He is the one who can provide and protect. He is the one who is sovereign over the nations and over the church. He is the one who started this salvation process, and who will complete it if we don’t refuse Him. But He wants to see if we value this salvation enough to prioritize it above everything else.

If we are willing to use it and live by it, the word of God will show us where we are out of alignment, so we can ask for God’s help to get back into alignment. We can ask to have Him create a clean, uncalloused heart, clear of sclerosis. But we must be willing to accept what His word shows us. We must be willing to be corrected rather than hardened and defensive of our worldview when God’s word shows something different.

So, when we find ourselves weighed down, and facing the end of an age, the solution from Hebrews is to get back to prioritizing the relationship with God above everything else, because that relationship is salvation.