Village Schools of the Bible

Reviewing the Warnings on the Way

Hello, my friend. Well, it's quite a stretch of time since we began our study of this great letter to the Hebrews (begun in June 5, 2001) and I thank the Lord for the privilege of having dug into the Book together with you. I want to especially thank those of you who have responded from time to time and whose encouragement has spurred this old teacher on to continue on the journey of seeking God together with you. I know that for many of you, it has not been possible to keep up regularly but just to have your name on the list of E-LINKERS and to be able to pray for you individually from time to time has been a huge privilege for me and I thank you from my heart for the fellowship.

As we come to this last E-LINK in our Hebrews study, I found it useful to check out the warning "road-signs" on life's road. We have commented on them all before but it is valuable to remind ourselves of where we can become sidetracked on the journey.

1. NEGLECT (2:1-4) "We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away." Neglect can be as devastating as direct refusal to respond to the Word, since it is so subtle, so seemingly benign, yet so insidious.
2. UNBELIEF (3:7-19) "So we see they were unable to enter, because of their unbelief." This is a hugely valuable passage of Scripture because, as we saw in E-LINK #8 belief is always accompanied by action; to believe is to obey. So important.
3. DISOBEDIENCE (4:11-13) "Let us make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience" And how do we do that? As we see, by dwelling in the Word and at the Throne (verses 12-16)
4. IMMATURITY (5:11-6:20) I suppose my greatest disappointment is to see students who come with obvious gifts but as life progresses never mature them to great usefulness. "When by the time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's Word all over again." What we share we keep, what we neglect we forever will lose!
5. WILLFUL SIN (10:26-31) What a solemn section of Scripture, reminding us that other than Christ's atonement there is no other sacrifice for sin. And continued sinning is an outrage to God's gift of Grace. "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
6. APOSTASY (12:14-17) To become accustomed to Christian behavior, without deep inward holiness is to be "filled with a bitter root that grows up to cause trouble and to defile many." Fellowship with Christ brings peace and joy. To fail to live the truth of His Word brings guilt, pain and grief. As He is so are we in the world.
7. REFUSAL TO LISTEN (12:25-29) "Do not refuse Him who speaks." It's joy to be able to hear God's Word. What a tragedy to hear it and yet refuse to allow it to dwell in us richly (Col.3:16-17). Let's be a world fellowship, dear E-LINKER, of pilgrims who have become sources of living water to a world in tragic need. (John 17:38).

I thank God on every thought of you, my friend!

Cheerio. Monty.