Antonym

(Hebrews 3:19) "So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief."

Let us look at a few antonyms this morning; faith’s opposite is unbelief, obedience’s flip is disobedience, hot is dissimilar to cold and love is contrary to hate. If we were to put these on a graph they would be on opposite ends. However it is their root that concerns me. The root nourishes and supplies the body with supplements that a plant would need to survive. Faith’s root is full of nourishment and its root is good as it comes from God. Faith is a gift of the spirit and therefore is from God. In fact without it we cannot please God. Unbelief on the other hand is not from God but its root resonates with the enemy. Unbelief is a destroyer of faith and its fruit will cause a believer to walk in disobedience. Let us now look to scripture to prove that.

“So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” We are taught to look to the children of Israel in the wilderness as an example so that we can learn not to make the same mistakes. I know we often blunder, I know I do. But the point we must draw from there example is to learn not to slip-up. Or let me say to make less and less errors. We must walk in faith and not unbelief. As soon as we walk as they did we are in danger of not entering into the Promised Land. So let us look at what they did to keep them from God’s promise. (Hebrews 3:7-8) Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness.” We will be tested and this is only proved through familiarity, interestingly tested antonym is green. Green speaks of fruit that is not yet ripe. Green tells us that it is not suitable for consumption and is not yet ready for ones palate. I recall as a youngster eating a lot of green apricots from a tree in our back garden. They left me feeling terrible and sick with indigestion. We will and must be tested if we are to be of any benefit to others, testing will ripen our fruit so others may freely eat and be nurtured. However we must not always mutter against the trial. Their murmurings lead to unbelief and ultimately keep them out of the Promised Land.

(Hebrews 3:12) “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” You see it is evil unbelieving hearts that lead them to fall away from the living God. So what will help evade us from falling into the same trap? “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” We must resolve to encourage one another, pick up the phone and make the call, encourage someone even if you think they do not need it, we all need encouragement. Every day we must exhort one another that is our instruction. It will help us not to be hardened by sins deceitfulness. “And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?” So disobedience will keep us from entering His rest; this is an interesting point. The word rest implies a place of relaxation; I visualize myself on sofa with a book or sitting by a stream listening to nature echo songs of praise to an Almighty Creator. Whatever rest may mean to you it will be some form of respite. Let us call on our memories to highlight a point that I will now make. When we are walking in obedience and making melody in our hearts, I think it would be fair to say we are restful in our souls and others enjoy our company. Yet when we find that complaining is all we do, we are anxious and not restful and therefore we are disobedient and are tricked into believing lies which in turn cause unbelief and sin is then the fruit of our lives.

“So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” No matter what our trail may be we must look to our hope, we must look to the reward of the Lord Jesus and heaven. The children of Israel in the Wilderness got so lost in their journey that sin enters and unbelief robbed them of the hope that would be theirs. We must not be robbed by sin and unbelief we must look to our Saviour the author and finisher of our faith. He is coming again and He will come to reward all those who remain faithful unto the end. We will receive glorified bodies, and they will be like His resurrected glorified body. We will be called the son’s of God and God will be our God and Father. The enemy, the Devil will always try and get us to sin and at times will succeed, however we must not look to our failures, but rather to our hope and walk in faith which in turn will keep us from sin. This war will rage on from day today, but there is a day coming when we will enter into His rest. May our hope reverberate in our minds throughout today and well into tonight!

Signing off

Tyrone