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Sunday, October 13th, 2024
the Week of Proper 23 / Ordinary 28
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Read the Bible

聖書日本語

ヘブライ人への手紙 3:12

12 兄弟たちよ。気をつけなさい。あなたがたの中には、あるいは、不信仰な悪い心をいだいて、生ける神から離れ去る者があるかも知れない。

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Apostasy;   Backsliders;   Procrastination;   Reprobacy;   Self-Will;   Symbols and Similitudes;   Unbelief;   Watchfulness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Apostasy;   Distrust;   Evil;   Faith-Unbelief;   Faithfulness-Unfaithfulness;   Heart;   Infidelity;   Sinful;   Unbelief;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Apostates;   Heart, Character of the Unrenewed;   Heedfulness;   Rebellion against God;   Self-Will and Stubbornness;   Unbelief;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Moses;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Apostacy;   Exodus;   Perseverance;   Type, typology;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Hardening, Hardness of Heart;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Moses;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Heart;   Hebrews;   Perseverance;   Security of the Believer;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Hebrews, Epistle to;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Faithfulness;   Guilt (2);   Heart ;   Hebrews Epistle to the;   Living;   Living (2);   Old Testament;   Perseverance;   Sin;   Unbelief;   Wicked (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Apostasy;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Mo'ses;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Heart;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Apostasy;   Hap;   Hebrews, Epistle to the;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Apostasy and Apostates from Judaism;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for December 26;  

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Take: Hebrews 2:1-3, Hebrews 12:15, Matthew 24:4, Mark 13:9, Mark 13:23, Mark 13:33, Luke 21:8, Romans 11:21, 1 Corinthians 10:12

an: Hebrews 3:10, Genesis 8:21, Jeremiah 2:13, Jeremiah 3:17, Jeremiah 7:24, Jeremiah 11:8, Jeremiah 16:12, Jeremiah 17:9, Jeremiah 18:12, Mark 7:21-23

in: Hebrews 10:38, Hebrews 12:25, Job 21:14, Job 22:17, Psalms 18:21, Proverbs 1:32, Isaiah 59:13, Jeremiah 17:5, Hosea 1:2

the: 1 Thessalonians 1:9

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 1:32 - General Deuteronomy 4:23 - heed Deuteronomy 11:16 - Take heed Deuteronomy 29:18 - among you man Deuteronomy 30:17 - heart 2 Kings 17:14 - did not believe Psalms 78:22 - General Psalms 106:24 - they believed Proverbs 14:14 - backslider Jeremiah 5:23 - a revolting Ezekiel 11:21 - whose Ezekiel 14:5 - estranged Daniel 9:5 - departing Malachi 2:8 - ye are Matthew 6:21 - there Matthew 6:30 - O ye Matthew 13:58 - General Matthew 15:8 - but Matthew 21:32 - repented John 3:19 - this John 5:44 - can John 16:9 - General John 20:25 - Except Acts 2:40 - Save Acts 13:40 - Beware Acts 14:15 - the living Romans 2:8 - but obey Romans 10:10 - For with Romans 11:20 - because 1 Timothy 3:15 - the living 1 Timothy 6:5 - men Hebrews 3:8 - Harden Hebrews 4:2 - not being Hebrews 4:11 - lest Hebrews 11:6 - without Hebrews 12:22 - of the Hebrews 13:22 - suffer 1 John 5:10 - hath made

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Take heed, brethren,.... This exhortation is grounded upon the state and case of their ancestors before given, as a warning and caution to the then present Hebrews; and whom the apostle styles "brethren", to show that he had no hard thoughts of them, and that his jealousy was a godly one, and not an evil suspicion; and may teach us that all exhortations, admonitions, and reproofs should be given in love:

lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief; or such an evil heart, in which unbelief prevails, and is predominant: there is in every man, whether a profane sinner, or an hypocritical professor, an evil heart, and an unbelieving one; and there is unbelief in regenerate persons, which when cherished and encouraged by them is a great evil, and should be avoided; and this sin is aggravated by the many instances of God's grace, and by the many declarations of it, and by the exceeding great and precious promises God has made, and by the great discoveries of his love to their souls in times past: and this sin, when it gets ahead, has a very great influence on the heart, to make it evil; and unbelief was the first sin of man, at least it very early appeared; it is the mother sin, and puts persons upon every sin; it defiles the conscience, hardens the heart, renders the word unprofitable, unfit for duty and makes men unstable, and therefore to be shunned; and especially because of the dreadful effect following:

in departing from the living God; that is, from Christ, who is the Son over his own house, and whose voice is to be heard; for of no other is the apostle speaking in the context; and who is not only the Son of the living God, but he is himself the living God; he is life in himself, and is the fountain and author of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal. This is mentioned to exalt the person of Christ, the apostle and high priest of our profession; and to discover the greatness and heinousness of the sin of such as depart from him and his Gospel, and to deter men from it: there is a final and total departure from Christ, from his Gospel and ordinances, from his people, and from a former profession of faith, which is never to be found in true believers; for they are as Mount Zion, which can never be removed; but there is a partial departure, and for a while, which they are liable to, and is attended with bad effects to them, and should be guarded against: saints should take heed of themselves, and of their hearts, and of the unbelief of them, that they do not in the least depart from Christ, by letting go their hold of him, or by a non-exercise of faith upon him; and this should be the care and concern of every individual member of the church, and at all times; unbelief is very dishonourable to God and Christ; contradicts the word and promises of God; is uncomfortable to the saints; it is a sin that very easily besets, and is very provoking to God, and is highly resented by him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Take heed, brethren - In view of the conduct of the rebellious Jews, and of their fearful doom, be on your guard lest you also be found to have had the same feelings of rebellion and unbelief. See to it, that under the new dispensation, and in the enjoyment of the privileges of the gospel, you be not found to manifest such feelings as shall exclude you from the heavenly world. The “principle” has been settled by their unbelief that they who oppose God will be excluded from his rest. That may be shown under all dispensations, and in all circumstances, and there is not less danger of it under the gospel than there was when the fathers were conducted to the promised land. You are traveling through a wilderness - the barren wilderness of this world. You are exposed to trials and temptations. You meet with many a deadly and mighty foe. You have hearts prone to apostasy and sin. You are seeking a land of promise; a land of rest. You are surrounded by the wonders of Almighty power, and by the proofs of infinite beneficence. Disobedience and rebellion in you will as certainly exclude you from heaven as their rebellion did them from the promised land; and as their great sin was unbelief, be on your guard lest you manifest the same.

An evil heart of unbelief - An evil, unbelieving heart. The word “unbelief” is used to qualify the word “heart,” by a Hebraism - a mode of speech that is common in the New Testament. An unbelieving heart was the cause of “their” apostasy, and what worked their ruin will produce ours. The root of their evil was “a want of confidence in God” - and this is what is meant here by a heart of unbelief. The great difficulty on earth everywhere is a “want of confidence in God” - and this has produced all the ills that man has ever suffered. It led to the first apostasy; and it has led to every other apostasy - and will continue to produce the same effects to the end of the world. The apostle says that this heart of unbelief is “evil.” Men often feel that it is a matter of little consequence whether they have faith or not, provided their conduct is right; and hence, they do not see or admit the propriety of what is said about the consequences of unbelief in the Scriptures. But what do they say about a want of confidence between a husband and wife?

Are there no evils in that? What husband can sleep with quietness on his pillow, if he has no confidence in the virtue of his wife? What child can have peace who has no confidence in a parent? How can there be prosperity in a community where there is no confidence in a bank, or an insurance office, or where one merchant has no confidence in another; where a neighbor has no confidence in his neighbor; where the sick have no confidence in a physician, and where in general all confidence is broken up between man and man? If I wished to produce the deepest distress in any community, and had the power, I would produce the same want of confidence between man and man which there is now between man and his Maker. I would thus take away sleep from the pillow of every husband and wife; every parent and child; and make every man wretched with the feeling that all the property which he had was insecure. Among people, nothing is seen to be productive of greater evil than a want of confidence or faith - and why should not the same evil exist in the divine administration? And if want of confidence produces such results between man and man, why should it not produce similar, or greater, miseries where it occurs in relation to God? There is not an evil that man endures which might not be alleviated or removed by confidence in God; and hence one great object of the Christian religion is, to restore to man his lost confidence in the God that made him.

In departing from the living God - Manifested in departing from him; or leading to a departure from him. The idea is, that such a heart of unbelief would be connected with apostasy from God. All apostasy first exists in the heart, and then is manifested in the life. They who indulge in unbelief in any form, or in regard to any subject, should remember that this is the great source of all alienation from God, and that if indulged it will lead to complete apostasy. They who wish to live a life of piety should keep the heart right. He that lives “by the faith of the Son of God” is safe; and none is safe but he.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hebrews 3:12. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you — Take warning by those disobedient Israelites; they were brought out of the house of bondage, and had the fullest promise of a land of prosperity and rest. By their disobedience they came short of it, and fell in the wilderness. Ye have been brought from the bondage of sin, and have a most gracious promise of an everlasting inheritance among the saints in light; through unbelief and disobedience they lost their rest, through the same ye may lose yours. An evil heart of unbelief will head away from the living God. What was possible in their case, is possible in yours. The apostle shows here five degrees of apostasy:

1. Consenting to sin, being deceived by its solicitations.

2. Hardness of heart, through giving way to sin.

3. Unbelief in consequence of this hardness which leads them to call even the truth of the Gospel in question.

4. This unbelief causing them to speak evil of the Gospel, and the provision God has made for the salvation of their souls.

5. Apostasy itself, or falling off from the living God; and thus extinguishing all the light that was in them, and finally grieving the Spirit of God, so that he takes his flight, and leaves them to a seared conscience and reprobate mind.

See Leigh. He who begins to give the least way to sin is in danger of final apostasy; the best remedy against this is to get the evil heart removed, as one murderer in the house is more to be dreaded than ten without.


 
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