Dr. Pothana's Teaching

1. Chapter-3-4:1-11

2. Can One Disappoint God?
Hebrews 3:7, 8
“Today if you will
hear his voice, do
not harden your
hearts as in the
rebellion……”

3. • Deliberators - “to fix the mind upon.”
it’s a planned
contemplative
ac
t

4. • Jesus – God’s
Apostle and the
believer’s High
Priest.
they were making a grave
mistake in being tempted to
give him up over Moses.

5. Two Great Examples of
Faithfulness
Moses
(a)He identified himself with those
he led standing up for his own
(Exod. 2:11, 12).
(b)He was capable of making
difficult choices (Heb. 11:23-29).
(c)He exhibited a humble spirit
(Numb. 12:3).
(d)He believed in the message, not
himself.
(e)He took responsibility seriously.

6. Their Difference:
Moses was a servant of the house, Jesus was the son, the owner.
Moses labored in a house he did not build, Christ in the house he built, his
own house.
Moses did not lead the people into the Promised Land; Christ leads the
people into glory.
Moses was sinful, Christ is sinless (Deuteronomy 32:51, 52; Hebrews
4:15).
Moses brought only the patterns of things to come, Christ the realities.
Moses delivered from physical bondage, Christ from the spiritual bondage
of sin.
Moses gave bread from heaven to sustain physical life, Christ bread from
heaven that gives and sustains eternal life.
Moses' mission pertained only to Israel, Christ's, ultimately, to the "whole
creation" (Mark 16:15).
Moses was only a man; Christ was and is both God and man.
Moses' body was buried and saw corruption; Christ's was spared that by
means of the resurrection.
Moses was not a high priest; Christ is the eternal High Priest. (Coffman
Commentaries)
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7. Duties of the Preacher to the
Faithful
• V. 7 – HEAR
• V. 8 – BELIEVE
• V. 9 – RESPOND
• V. 10 – OBEY
• V. 11 - UNDERSTAND
REVEAL how God Works vs. 7-11
The terms may be different between the
covenants but the procedure is the same!

8. Duties of the Preacher to the
Faithful
REPROVE the sinful v. 12
“Pathway to Rebellion”
• Failure to hear
• Harden heart
• Sin
• Not obey
• Unbelief
• Rebel

9. Duties of the Preacher to the
Faithful
REASSURE the believer vs. 13, 14
The Hebrews did not need to be
trapped by the masses who questioned Jesus
they needed to be reassured that they were
following the will of God.

10. Duties of the Preacher to the
Faithful
REPEAT telling the story vs. 15-18
• Five times he brings up the rebellion of Israel in
this book – Did he think they did not know or
were unable to remember?

11. Chapter-4:1-11

12. FALLING BEHIND
• The message is clear there needs to be a sense of fear of
loss if one keeps putting off that which needs to be done

13. An Observation About Falling
Behind in Church Growth

14. An Observation About Falling
Behind in Church Growth
Possessors

15. An Observation About Falling
Behind in Church Growth
• Settlers

16. An Observation About Falling
Behind
in Church Growth
• Industrialists

17. “Let Us”
• Fear (4:1; 12:28); Diligence (4:11); Cling (4:14);
Courage (4:16); Mature (6:1); Finish (10:23);
Inspire (10:24); Remove (12:1); Follow (13:13);
Sacrifice (13:15).

18. “Gospel Preached”
Psalm 95
The gospel taught them Who God Is to man – LORD (I AM
– the eternal all existent one); Rock (a shelter to stand under); King
(ruler of universe); Maker (the creator of all things).
The gospel taught them What man is to God – We are his Sheep (in
need of constant care); We are his Choir (joyful participants of his
blessing) We are his Grandeur (notice the term “his hands.” Though the
sea and the deep are in his hands it is his people who are under his
gaze, the sheep held in his hands).
The gospel taught them the Hardship of Rebellion – It is here the Hebrew writer
drives his point home. When they failed to listen today they failed in tomorrow.
That failure to listen today led them to being sifted by a grieved God because
they refused to know his ways.

19. Can One Disappoint God?
Hebrews 3:7, 8
“Today if you will
hear his voice, do
not harden your
hearts as in the
rebellion……”

20. “The Rest”
• The rest in the Psalm
95:11 appears to
address the physical
promise however the
Hebrew author makes
it a point to direct his
audience to the future
– the heavenly.

21. “Be Diligent”
• There is no “accidental
slippage into heaven.”

22. God’s Word is:
• The word is emphasized 12 times in this book. It
upholds the universe (1:3); is steadfast (2:2);
was preached (4:2); always active (4:12); is
balanced like a diet (5:13, 14); is pleasant to
work with (6:5); secures vows (7:28); built and
designed the universe (11:3); elicits great fear
(12:19); tears down and builds up (12:27);
respectable (13:7) and afflicts the conscience
(13:22).
V. 12 That which is God breathed, inspired.

23. God’s Word is:
• Alive – it breathes life
into anyone who will
accept its truth. Man is
dead without God (Eph.
2:1).
It is relevant.
Alterations to it destroys
its vitality – it abides
forever and is the
everlasting gospel (Psa.
119:160; 1 Pet 1:25; Heb.
13:20).
•
•

24. God’s Word is:
• Powerful – it energizes
for production not
destruction of the
human race.
Not only can it revive
the mind it can revive
the spirit. Why else
would your preacher
recommend one to read
their Bible daily?
It is explosive (Rom.
1:16; Jn. 1:12; Heb. 1:3).
•
•

25. God’s Word is:
• Sharp “The word of God
has an incisive and
penetrating quality. It lays
bare self-delusions and
moral sophisms.” Vincent
(Eph. 6:17). Only the
word can accurately
remove that which is
abscessed in our life.
Being “double mouthed”
or two-edged give it the
authority to be yielded for
its intended purpose
which ever direction it is
pointed. Its dual nature
signifies it a defensive
and offensive weapon of
choice.

26. God’s Word is:
• Piercing – It Penetrates
any barrier and strikes
the nerve of the heart.
Truth penetrates just as
light pierces the
darkness. Regardless of
the amount evil in the
world, the word can
penetrate the darkness
and liberate.

27. God’s Word is:
• Dividing The form of
expression is poetical,
and signifies that the
word penetrates to the
inmost recesses of our
spiritual being as a sword
cuts through the joints
and marrow of the body.
The separation is not of
one part from another,
but operates in each
department of the
spiritual nature. The
judgment scene in
Matthew 25 shows its
power of separation.

28. God’s Word is:
• Discerner - it
possesses a
judgment involving
the sifting out and
analysis of evidence.
The ideas of
discrimination and
judgment are
blended. Ananias and
Sapphira could not
resist the Probing
power of the word
(Acts 5).

29. The Heart
The spiritual heart has three components:
1) Intellectual – one can think with it (Prov.
23:7).
2)Volitional – one can decide with it (Rom. 6:17).
3)Emotional – one may feel with it (1 Pet.
1:22).
The heart is the target of the word of God. One
cannot love the Lord with all their heart (Matt.
22:37) without loving the word. It is not merely
studied, sermonized, or memorialized in stone,
it is written on the heart and mind leading one
to perfect love and worship.

30. God’s Word:
• V. 13 - Unmasks - The
inspired word unmasks and
makes clear our faithfulness or
unbelief. Nothing is hidden
from the Creator whose
scrutiny encompasses all of
creation. God sees and knows
all, and we stand accountable
for our response to the divine
word (Psa. 139).
• The term "laid bare" comes
from the verb "to grip in a neck-
hold," an image that
conveys vulnerability and peril.
This stress on our exposure
and accountability provides a
solemn warning for all of us
who hear the word of God.
Jesus reminds us in John 5:24-
30 how important
listening to him can be thus the
word is inescapable in that we
will meet up with it in judgment