SIN'S DECEITFULNESS

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SIN'S DECEITFULNESS 02.19.06

(Hebrews 3:7-19)

Two weeks ago in Hebrews 3 we considered how context brings words to life.
– One of the contexts for the Jews of the first century was how Moses for them held a place which was utterly unique;
… he was the one with whom God had spoken directly to face to face;
… the direct recipient of the Ten Commandments, the very Law of God; the greatest thing in all the world for the Jew was the Law, and Moses and the Law were one and the same thing. Moses was “the man.”
… to the Jew it was impossible to imagine anyone closer to God than Moses;
… yet the writer of Hebrews is telling them that there is someone closer and greater than Moses, and how that someone is Jesus.

In Hebrews 3:1 the Jews are told to take a good hard look at Jesus / fix their thoughts on Jesus / consider Jesus.
– He goes on to tell them why… because Moses was only a servant in the house of God (i.e. in the world amongst God’s people), whereas Jesus, as the creator of the house of God, was in charge of the house, not merely a servant (i.e. the builder of the house is greater than the house).
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With the superiority of Jesus having been established, the author goes on:

7 That is why the Holy Spirit says, "Today you must listen to his voice. 8 Don't harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested God's patience in the wilderness. 9 There your ancestors tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years. 10 So I was angry with them, and I said, `Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.' 11 So in my anger I made a vow: `They will never enter my place of rest.'"

12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 YOU MUST WARN EACH OTHER EVERY DAY, AS LONG AS IT IS CALLED "TODAY," SO THAT NONE OF YOU WILL BE DECEIVED BY SIN AND HARDENED AGAINST GOD. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.

15 But never forget the warning: "Today you must listen to his voice. Don't harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled." 16 And who were those people who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Weren't they the ones Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when he vowed that they would never enter his place of rest? He was speaking to those who disobeyed him. 19 So we see that they were not allowed to enter his rest because of their unbelief. Hebrews 3:7-19 NLT
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Have I shared with you about how I was questioned in a murder investigation when I was in college?
– During the second semester of my junior year the dean of students’ secretary’s (Melinda) husband (Dave) was bludgeoned to death in his bed. The initial story that came out was that “two black men broke into their duplex to steal Dave’s keys to the bank where he worked.”
… However, Melinda, the wife and secretary, wound up being a co-conspirator along with the student body president (Mark) in her husband’s death. The story was that she and Mark were “involved.”
… However, because of lack of evidence, no one was convicted; it became a “cold case.”
– I was a Resident Assistant (RA) in one of the men’s dorms at the time, and as such was under the authority and supervision of the dean of students. Because of this close association with the dean’s office and thus with Melinda his secretary, many of the RA’s were questioned.

I tell you this story because it’s fresh in my mind. You see, just last Monday, Mark confessed to second-degree murder in the February 28th, 1982 killing; 24 years after it happened. And, Melinda was already convicted last May of first-degree murder.

Remember from last time…

“Context brings words to life.”

– All this soap opera like stuff occurred in the context of the small liberal arts college, MidAmerica Nazarene University, where I attended.
… Mark, the student body president, was one of the spiritual leaders on campus.
… Dave and Melinda, the victim and his secretary wife, were very involved in their local Nazarene church.

How could something like this happen, especially in a Christian context like I’ve just described?

According to the Kansas City Star last Tuesday (2.14.06) …

“In the spring of 1981, Melinda and Mark began to have romantic feelings toward each other. Late that summer and early that fall, Mark began talking about “what might have been” if the two had met before Melinda’s marriage.

“In late fall and early winter, Mark began talking about the possibility of something happening to Dave. At first, he talked of Dave losing his life in an auto accident.

“Then Mark came up with a scenario in which intruders would break into the couple’s duplex and kill Dave in bed.

“All you would have to do is lie,” Mark told Melinda….”

“Melinda felt conflicted between her loyalty to her husband and her infatuation with Mark. However, she did not want the stigma of a divorce. After the home-invasion plan was discussed several times, Melinda agreed to participate.”
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Just yesterday in The Olathe News (2.18.06) …

"After realizing the horror of what had actually happened, Melinda became completely uninterested in pursuing a relationship with Mark…. The two had no other contact after the funeral.”
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The New York Times (2.15.06) last Wednesday reported these words from the Johnson County (Kansas) district attorney:
"I don't think most people are capable of killing others," said the DA, who went to the murder scene as a young assistant prosecutor and recalled it as one of the bloodiest he had visited in his two decades in law enforcement. "But this does stand for how some humans can seal off horrible things and bury them. I don't think everyone can. But these two could."
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How could Mark and Melinda stray so far from their spiritual roots, to the point that they would not only sin against God by becoming “involved” with one another, but then plan to murder someone?
– I know, because Scripture explains it perfectly:

12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, as long as it is called "today," so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. Hebrews 3:12-13 NLT

“What are the steps taken along the road to hardness? Since we are not born hardened, how do we reach the state where tears no longer flow and conscience is seldom troubled? The ultimate answer is found in the word sin, and sin in this letter is unbelief. The sin of unbelief hardens the heart.” ~ God’s Final Answer, Harold Helms

The world's sin is unbelief in me.
John 16:9 NLT

A deceived, hardened heart doesn’t feel; not because it will not, but because it cannot. The ability to process life according to God’s law (to love God and others ~ see Luke 10:27), is gone.

“Sin offers a false argument. The devil is a liar. He tells you there is no way that you can live for God and still find fulfillment in this life. He lies! He says that you have far too much to give up by becoming a Christian. He lies! God Almighty will never, in your entire Christian experience, ask you to give up anything that is good for you.”
God’s Final Answer, Harold Helms
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The past couple days I’ve been in Salem for our district’s board of ministry meetings.
– At these meetings we interview men and women who are in the process of working toward ordination in the Church of the Nazarene.
– We also deal with issues of restoration where people who have been ordained, but have fallen into moral failure and had to give up their ordination credential, are now seeking to be restored to ministry.

Two incidents at these meetings stand out to me:
1. The pastor who had an affair with someone in the church, and was seeking to be restored to ministry.
2. The ordination candidate’s answer when asked what he thought was a great need in the lives of our church’s youth.

Regarding the pastor, he represents so many pastors I’ve known who have fallen morally. And, it scares me when I consider these men, and I think, “If they failed, what chance do I have?”
– I believe it comes down to verses 12 and 13 of our text:
… Not believing that God’s ways are right and best, and
… Being deceived and hardened by sin.

Regarding the ordination candidate when asked about our church’s youth need, he said something to the effect:
“I believe our kids need to get ‘unsaved’ so that they can then be truly saved.”
– What he was saying applies to every person who calls themselves a Christian;
… People think they’re saved because they go to church, were raised in a Christian home, follow a set of rules, don’t do big sins like murder, robbing banks, etc.

The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 "Go down to the shop where clay pots and jars are made. I will speak to you while you are there." 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so the potter squashed the jar into a lump of clay and started again. 5 Then the LORD gave me this message: 6 "O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand. Jeremiah 18:1-6 NLT

Stand and bow your heads with me.
– Ask God if you have been deceived and hardened by sin.
… For most of us the hardening will not be in the area of adultery leading up to murder;
… But remember, sin is unbelief that God’s ways are right and best.
… Do we believe Him when He says to seek first the kingdom of God, and He’ll take care of our every need?
… If we do believe this, then we’ll not disobey Him when it comes to giving our tithes and offerings; we’ll not disobey Him when He says to make sure you’re in fellowship with other believers; etc.

So What?
1. Ask God throughout this next week to reveal areas in your life that may be hardening to Him.
2. Be willing to be broken from the clay pot you currently are, and are comfortable with, and reshaped by God into the vessel that He wants you to be.