Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2552
“Take heed, brethren, lest there is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.” Hebrews 3:12.
THIS message is not addressed to strangers far away, but to “brethren.” Paul wrote it to the Hebrews, who were his brethren according to the flesh. It was kind of him to call them by that name. He also writes it to all of us who are Believers in Christ, and we ought to receive his word with all the greater intensity of attention because he writes to us as his brethren. The term applies to all who are Brothers and Sisters in Christ—really so—those who are quickened by the one Spirit, made children of the one Father and going to the one heavenly Home. The Apostle would not have us begrudge this title to any genuine member of our Lord Jesus Christ’s true Church. It is not for us to read men’s hearts—we have not the Lamb’s Book of Life in our possession, so we cannot discover whether such-and-such a man’s name is really written in it, or not, but, in the judgment of Christian charity, all those who have joined themselves to Christ’s Church are our brethren—and the more we recognize that relationship, the better. To all of you, therefore, who bear the Christian name, this message comes with power, “Take heed, brethren, lest there is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”
There are other persons who are associated with us in our congregations who do not profess, as yet, to have passed from death unto life, although they come up with us to the House of the Lord. They swell the chorus of our praise, they bow their heads with us in prayer, they are, in many respects, our fellow worshippers and they have, apparently, a warm heart towards good things, though not yet fully one with us in the highest spiritual’sense. We will not exclude them from this message of the Apostle, for they are our brethren as men, even if they are not our brethren as Christians, and the Word of God comes to them as well as to us who are avowedly on the Lord’s side, “Take heed, brethren, lest there is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.”
You see, then, that we are, all of us, called upon to “take heed.” The word means that we are to be careful, to be watchful. True religion is not a thing that can be acquired by carelessness or neglect—we must take heed or we shall never be found in the narrow way. You may go to Hell heedlessly, but you cannot so go to Heaven. Many stumble into the bottomless Pit with their eyes shut, but no man ever yet entered into Heaven by a leap in the dark. “Take heed, brethren.” If ever there was a matter that needed all your thought, all your prudence and all your care, it is the matter of your soul’s salvation. If you trifle with anything, let it be with your wealth, or with your health, but certainly not with your eternal interests. I recommend all men to take heed to everything that has to do with this life, as well as with that which is to come, for in the little the great may be concealed—and the neglect of our estate may end in mischief to our immortal spirit. Certainly, the neglect of the body might lead to great injury to the soul, but if ever neglect deserves condemnation, it is when it concerns our higher nature! If we do not carefully see to it, that which is our greatest glory may become our most tremendous curse.
Brothers and Sisters, the watchword for every one of us is, “Take heed.” You are an old Christian, but “take heed.” You are a minister of the Gospel and there are many who look up to you with veneration—“take heed.” You have learned the Doctrines of Grace and you know them well—there is little that any human being can teach you, for you have been well instructed in the things of the Kingdom of God—but still, “take heed.” Yes, and if you were so near to
Heaven that you could hear the songs within, I would still whisper in your ear, “Take heed.” Horses fall most often at the bottom of the hill when we think that we need not hold them up any longer. And there is no condition in life which is more dangerous than that feeling of perfect security which precludes watchfulness and care. He who is quite sure of his strength to resist temptation may be also equally certain of his weakness in the hour of trial. God grant us Grace, whatever sort of “brethren” we may be, to listen to the admonition of the Apostle, “Take heed.”
Paul means not only take heed for yourself—though that is the first duty of each one of us, for every man must bear his own burden and it becomes every prudent man to look well to the matter of his own salvation—but the Apostle says, “Take heed, brethren, lest there is in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.” You are to watch over your brethren, to exhort one another daily, especially you who are officers of the Church, or who are elderly and experienced. Be upon the watch lest any of your brethren in the Church should gradually backslide, or lest any in the congregation should harden into a condition of settled unbelief and perish in their sin. He who bids you take heed to yourself would not have you settle down into a selfish care for yourself, alone, lest you should become like Cain who even dared to say to the Lord, Himself, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Nothing can be more horrible than the state of mind of a man whose talk is like that of Cain, who slew his brother. “Take heed,” therefore, you who are in the Church of God, not only to yourselves, but to those who are round about you, especially to such as are of your own family!