[1.] There is a great deal of deceitfulness in sin; it appears fair, but is filthy; it appears pleasant, but is pernicious; it promises much, but performs nothing. [2.] The deceitfulness of sin is of a hardening nature to the soul; one sin allowed prepares for another; every act of sin confirms the habit; sinning against conscience is the way to sear the conscience; and therefore it should be the great concern of every one to exhort himself and others to beware of sin.
God was grieved forty years with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness (Hebrews 3:17).
I don't know how old you are, but what ever your age, you are known by God, because he made you. You have a relationship with him, and perhaps you are adoring of your Maker, and conversely, perhaps you are reprehensibly rude to him. Some, not all, of the ancient Israelites, were heinously, egregiously, profoundly, and willfully disobedient, and while this was grievous to God and he suffered the ingrates for an extended period of time, there came a point in time, when he would suffer them no more.
I think we are reliving history, yet again, dear one. I believe covid is the curse we brought upon ourselves, en masse, as sinners, with our cumulative decade after human debauchery decade, of wicked wantonness. God is suffering our sins no more at this point, and while he continues to be merciful in countless ways, we are experiencing a mutual comeuppance, and the evidence is mounting, how very wayward we have been, and how far from him, so many have travelled.
Listen and hear again with me, the discerning words from Matthew Henry, pertaining to the apostle Paul's rhetorical query, and straightforward answer to his own question, in Hebrews 3:17:
But with whom was he grieved forty years? With those that sinned. And to whom did he swear? etc. (we will pick-up the verse starting with And at the end of our time together). Whence observe:
(1.) God is grieved and provoked only with those of his people who sin against him, and continue to sin.
(2.) God is grieved and provoked most by sins publicly committed by the generality of a nation; when sin becomes epidemic, it is most provoking.
(3.) Though God grieves long, and bears long, when pressed with the weight of general and prevailing wickedness, yet he will at length ease himself of public offenders by public judgments.
(4.) Unbelief (with rebellion which is the consequent of it) is the great damning sin of the world, especially of those who have a revelation of the mind and will of God. This sin shuts up the heart of God, and shuts up the gate of heaven, against them; it lays them under the wrath and curse of God, and leaves them there; so that in truth and justice to himself he is obliged to cast them off for ever.
Now we pick-up the promised verse starting with the word And, along with the proceeding verses, to give us a fuller picture, Hebrews 3:17-19:
But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
(2.) God is grieved and provoked most by sins publicly committed by the generality of a nation; when sin becomes epidemic, it is most provoking.
Sin has become epidemic, and sin is publicly, shamelessly committed by the generality of not just one nation, but of all the nations, where believing in and living for, the will of God, is optional, and rather unappealing to the majority. Unbelief is the great damning sin that instigates rebellion, and this in turn, shuts up the heart of God, and dear one, shuts up the gate of heaven, against those that turn and twist, away from him.
God is just, and he does, despite the desire of most to believe otherwise, cast off the insulant, forever. There is no room in heaven for an unbelieving, reprobate, that denies God's right to sovereign reign and rule, over his creation and creatures. The put on pandemic was prime time perfect. The people were ready to display their unbelief in God, in fact, there is an epidemic of unbelief in Jesus as Saviour and God as Almighty, and we are living the consequences of amassed sin...
God is easing himself of public offenders by public judgments.
If you have been in the dark and are now seeing glimmers of light, recognizing that the heavy hood that was thrown over head to blind you, must be removed, then I pray you comprehend in your very soul, that God if merciful toward those that have rebelled against him (and this, we have all done at one point or another), when they repent, and soulfully plead for forgiveness, knowing that Jesus Christ is the one that paid the price for their sins.
An epidemic of sin, dear one, leads the masses astray, and you can break away from the pack, and walk toward the One, that with open arms, waits to embrace you, and welcome you home.
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