Hebrews 3:10-11 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
The exodus generation did not go into the promised land because they lacked faith and lived in fear. They did not trust God enough to go into the promised land of Canaan. This was not simply passive but they always went astray. This was a sin problem. Often behind a lack of faith is sin. In fact, a lack of faith is another form of sin. God’s response to their lack of faith was anger and keeping them from experience God’s promises to them. Behind all of these problems is that the people did not know God’s ways. They were not innocent of this. They saw many miracles and knew the power of God. They had witnessed the mighty acts of God like no other people in all of history, such as the parting of the Red Sea, water from a dry rock, and manna from heaven. The author uses this quotation from Psalm 95 to get the attention of his readers. They too were in the same place of danger. If they did not move forward in their faith and embrace the full gospel of full salvation, they could experience God’s anger and judgment. They would miss out on what God had promised them. We today face the same type of decision. Many have heard of the gospel in one form or another and have not acted in faith to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. There are people even in churches who live like the Egyptians (the world) and want to go back to Egypt. They have let sin control their lives and begin to blow out their light. Perhaps this is also out of fear. Their faith is weak because they do not know God well. Their knowledge is all in the head and not in the heart. Their knowledge has not grown in to faith. God’s words to Cain are a good reminder and warning: “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). We must take the step of faith, the step of dedication and consecration to Jesus as our Lord.
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