In a cute way, that story reminds us of the importance of holding fast to something, sticking to it no matter what. In our Epistle lesson for today, the author of Hebrews addressed that same issue in regards to our Christian faith. Like a magnet sticking firmly to a refrigerator, he encourages us to cling steadfastly to Christ by the gift of faith given to us in our Baptism. And the reason that’s so important is because our own sinful flesh, as well as Satan and the corrupt world around us are constantly trying to pull us away from God. Or as the author of Hebrews puts it in our text: "TAKE CARE, BROTHERS, LEST THERE BE IN ANY OF YOU AN EVIL, UNBELIEVING HEART, LEADING YOU TO FALL AWAY FROM THE LIVING GOD."

Now, the background of that statement comes from the time of the Exodus. After God had so graciously delivered the Israelites from the cruel tyranny of slavery at the hands of the Egyptians, He led them safely through the wilderness and provided for all their needs on the way to the promised land of milk and honey. And yet, when they were faced with hardships and tribulations, trials and testings, many of them began to turn away from God and doubt His merciful care. For example, of the 600,000 men who stood victoriously on the shores of the Red Sea at the beginning of the Exodus, only two, Joshua and Caleb, finally entered into the Promised Land. As our text describes it, there were ‘those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness.’

In other words, by their fearful doubts and grumbling complaints against God, they demonstrated a lack of faith in His gracious deliverance. As a result, they didn’t make it into God’s promised rest in Canaan. Instead, they fell in the desert. And by way of exhortation, the author of Hebrews encourages us not to let the same thing happen to us. You see, often times in our lives, when we are faced with hardships and tribulations like illness or death, when we are faced with trials and testings in our relationships, we may be tempted to doubt God’s love or to abandon our faith. But as the author of Hebrews points out, to fall away from the living God is a deadly thing.

As a matter of fact, the verb ‘fall away’ is the Greek word apostasia, from which we get our term apostasy. It can be translated as ‘a defection or a revolt,’ and the word was also used for writing a certificate of divorce. Which means that when we sin deliberately, intentionally doing something we know is wrong, we quench the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives. Likewise, when we have no contrition and sorrow over our sin, or refuse to repent and receive God’s free forgiveness, then like the Israelites in the wilderness we are committing a revolt against God. Or to put it another way, living in impenitence and unconfessed sin is like a defection from God’s camp, for which He has every right to divorce us from His presence, and condemn us to hell. And the only thing that can rescue us from that is God’s gracious gift of saving faith in Jesus Christ, whose atoning merits make up for all our sin!

My friends, that’s why the false teaching of ‘once saved, always saved,’ the idea that we can never lose our faith is so dangerous – because it leads to a false sense of security. Our eternal security lies not in ourselves and our own works, but only in the power of the Holy Spirit, who is constantly working to convict us of our sin, bring us to repentance, and strengthen our faith in Christ. But the false teaching of ‘once saved, always saved,’ misleads and seduces us into thinking that, because of God’s grace we can do whatever we want. We can sin against His Word and will, without any negative effects. When in reality, such intentional, impenitent sin does deadly damage to our faith, chipping and gnawing away at our confidence in Christ, and without that we are lost.

That’s what the author of Hebrews was getting at, when he said: "EXHORT ONE ANOTHER EVERY DAY, AS LONG AS IT IS CALLED ‘TODAY,’ THAT NONE OF YOU MAY BE HARDENED BY THE DECEIFULNESS OF SIN." Now is the day of salvation! Tomorrow may be too late. That’s why we need to constantly exhort one another to repentance and faith. We need to constantly encourage each other to come to worship and the Means of Grace, so that we don’t lose our faith through the deceitfulness of sin. Interestingly enough, that word ‘deceit’ is the word for a fraud, who tries to outwit you and cheat you out of your possessions. And such is the work of our arch-enemy, Satan. His deceitful character is that he not only tempts us to sin, but then tries to keep us from repentance. And he does that, so that he can hound us with his recriminating guilt and accusations, leading us to despair of God’s love and forgiveness. That way, he can steal away our most prized possession – the free gift of life and salvation through faith in Jesus’ name.

You’ll notice that our text describes this as being ‘hardened’ by sin. I remember years ago, when Beth and I first got married, my parents gave us a 1974 Plymouth Duster, that served us quite well. Unfortunately, those of you who know me know that I am not particularly mechanically gifted. My wife sometimes says I’m too heavenly minded to be any earthly good. At any rate, I got into the bad habit of not checking the oil frequently enough. To make matters worse, when the fuse for the trouble lights went out, I didn’t bother to replace it. And so, the ‘check oil’ light never came on. As a result, one Sunday we were returning from a preaching engagement, when the car began to shake and there was a loud clanging of the motor and the car died. As you may have guessed, the engine froze up tighter than a drum. It had run out of oil, and that’s what happens. It hardened the engine completely. Consequently, there was nothing to do other than replace the engine or get a new car. Fortunately, for us my parents graciously helped with the loan for a new vehicle.

In a way, that’s what the author of Hebrews is warning us about in our text. You see, like an engine our heart and soul also need oil – the oil of the Holy Spirit, working in the Word and Sacraments, to keep our faith strong. That’s why it’s so critical that we daily read and study the Scriptures, and weekly come to God’s House for worship and Bible study, frequently partaking of the Lord’s Supper, and daily remembering our Baptism in repentance and faith. Otherwise, our heart and soul can harden up and we could lose our faith altogether.

Fortunately for us, God doesn’t want that to happen, and He is working with all His might to prevent it. After all, He doesn’t just loan us His precious blessings. Instead, in His grace He freely paid for our forgiveness and salvation by Jesus’ saving death on the tree. That’s the real Exodus that Scripture talks about, because an exodus is a way out, a way of escape. And that’s exactly what Jesus provided for us by His sacrifice on Calvary. He gave us a way out of our sin, an escape from death and hell, by delivering us from the cruel tyranny of our slavery to guilt and iniquity at the hands of Satan. In the words of our text, we get to enter into His perfect rest, which means rest from our guilty conscience, rest from our sin and shame, rest from having to work to make ourselves pleasing to Him, for by His grace we are already well-pleasing in His sight. Best of all, because of that, we get to enter into the real Promised Land of heaven, where we will enjoy the milk and honey of His heavenly feast. And we get a foretaste of that right here and now in the Lord’s Supper, where we feast on His body and blood with the bread and wine, which makes us one with Him, joined together in a mystical union with our Savior and His righteousness that blots out all our sins.

That’s what the author of Hebrews was talking about, when he said: "FOR WE SHARE IN CHRIST, IF INDEED WE HOLD OUR ORIGINAL CONFIDENCE FIRM TO THE END." The beauty of the Gospel is that we share in Christ, because He gives us Himself and His holiness to cover up our sin and shame. In fact, the word ‘share’ is the same word used to describe Peter, James and John as fishing partners. It means: ‘to hold something in common with someone, to partake together.’ And it’s the promise that because God chose us before the foundation of the world to be His own, and sent Jesus to make it so, and then sent the Holy Spirit in our Baptism to claim us as His precious, redeemed Sons and Daughters – because of that we get to partake of all of the benefits of comfort and peace, pardon and remission of our sins, as well as everlasting life with Him in paradise. We get to hold in common with Him all the treasures of eternity.

Dear friends, that is indeed the only way that you and I can hold onto our faith firm to the end – by letting Jesus hold onto us. As a matter of fact, the verb ‘to hold’ literally means: ‘to hold down, to hold fast or to be bound.’ And that’s precisely what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. He binds us to Himself with His cords of lovingkindess, and holds us firmly in the palm of His hands so that we will not fall or be lost. As He Himself said: "MY SHEEP LISTEN TO MY VOICE; I KNOW THEM AND THEY FOLLOW ME. I GIVE THEM ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH; AND NO ONE CAN SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY HAND." To be sure, we can choose to jump out of His protective hand, but no one and nothing can snatch us away. And He is working with all His might in the Word and Sacraments to keep us safely in that faith all the days of our life. May that encourage us to daily confess our sins to Him and receive His sweet forgiveness, and to exhort one another to regularly immerse ourselves in the Means of Grace, that we can be made firm in our faith unto the end. For His name’s sake. Amen.