8 “Don’t harden your hearts the way they did at Meribah
or like that day they complained in the wilderness of Massah.
9 Your ancestors tested Me, wanted Me to prove Myself though they had seen that nothing was too great for Me.
10 For 40 years I despised that grumbling generation and said, ‘Their hearts are unfaithful; they no longer walk in My ways; though I call, they do not listen to My voice.’
11 That is why in My anger I swore, ‘They will never enter into My rest.’” [Psalm 95:7-11 / Hebrews 3:7b-11]
Something that’s heard a lot is the idea that God has changed from what He was in the Old Testament…He’s not as angry…He’s more loving…more considerate …more accommodating…more understanding …more forgiving…NO! He’s not…He’s exactly the same.
The writer of Hebrews quotes extensively from the Old Testament…wanting his readers to think about what their ancestors went through and how God dealt with them during their 40 years in the wilderness…and that He’s prepared to deal with us in the same way today because He hasn’t changed.
Verses 8-9 of chapter 3 records some of the historical events of Israel during those forty years in the wilderness…listing the times they tested God…BUT… noting that during all that time they didn’t learn from their mistakes and sins against God.
Here’s the danger…people have no idea how tragic it is to reject God’s way and hold to their own way…they have no idea in doing so results in the loss of God’s purpose for them in their life.
That’s what hardening of the heart does…it dulls the senses such that people can no longer recognize spiritual truth and reality…and the longer the hardening persists the more difficult it is for the Holy Spirit to awaken our conscience.
The writer is including this as a reminder that God has not changed and He will deal with them in the same manner…AGAIN…the idea that God no longer deals with people like He did in the Old Testament is incorrect.
How do I know if something from the O. T. is still applicable today…if it’s repeated in the New Testament. Ten Commandments are not out of date.
In [v.11] the writer reminds his listeners of the consequences that await anyone who thinks they can trifle with God’s patience:
I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’
That’s some pretty stern talk…reading this verse should make us shudder because God had pronounced this on His rebellious people…He’s not talking to unbelievers…there will be a time when God’s long-suffering patience runs out.
Just thinking about this in human terms…how many of us would be as patient as God was knowing that the miracles He performed for Israel He did for no other people on earth…and yet they still disobeyed Him:
…He rescued them from 400 years of slavery in Egypt
…no other people on earth crossed the Red Sea on dry land
…no other people were fed personally by God for forty years
…no other people were given water from a rock
What more could God do? …He wanted to give them rest…but now He swore they wouldn’t enter His rest…some people mistakenly assume that this faithless generation who died in the wilderness were denied entrance into the Promised Land because they lost their salvation.
One of the first principles of sound biblical interpretation is that scripture is its own interpreter…the Bible is not subject to our own personal opinions or private interpretations.
Before we can assign a meaning to any passage, we must search both the context of the passage as well as surrounding verses…the chapter…the book…and possibly the whole Bible itself, to see how the words are used throughout scripture.
This goes back to last week’s message and the phrase ‘if we hold fast’ used in both [3:6 &14] which implies the same result…the loss of salvation.
The conjunction “if” in… “If we hold fast!” …appears to suggest that our eternal salvation depends on ‘us’ holding fast because the statement is a Greek third-class conditional sentence implying what may or may not be true based on what we do…so the natural interpretation is that salvation depends on us.
So the natural conclusion is that both statements… “If we hold fast” [6] and they will never enter into My rest [11] … both seem to suggest the same thing…the loss of salvation…that is completely untrue.
With respect to “If we hold fast!” the meaning is possibly you never were a Christian in the first place…hence the conditional sentence implying what may or may not be true…the idea is not that their salvation was lost…it was that their conversion may or may not have been real in the first place.
In the statement…They will never enter into My rest.’…He was referring to the rest that awaited them in the promised land of Canaan after their trip from Egypt…but instead of days…it took years to accomplish.
Because of the unbelief of 10 men…an entire generation of more than a million people died and were buried in the wilderness. [Num. 14:29] …it was not salvation that was lost.
One of the biggest mistakes we make in life is forgetting how much our actions affect the people around us.
Never forget that your decisions affect the lives of other people.
The unbelief of just 10 men resulted in the death of a whole generation of Israelites who didn’t inherit what God had promised…they spent the next forty years wandering in the desert never having enjoyed the ‘rest’ the Lord had promised them…that’s why the author emphasizes the importance in remembering God’s warning from the Old Testament.
Here’s what’s so amazing about this period in Israel’s history…in all of this… they didn’t learn from their past mistakes so as not to repeat them again.
We can document the history of Israel and note not only the times during their forty years in the desert…but throughout their entire history how often they tested and tried God.
Because of unbelief they forfeited the right to live a victorious life…they chose independence over dependence on God…that all started in the Garden and is still continuing today…they lost the joy of what ‘resting’ in the Lord meant.
As we continue in our earthly struggle, we have the same choice every day on whether to rely on God…or trust in ourselves to get us by the best we can.
So what does “resting in God” look like?
Because it’s possible to enjoy Godly rest now…Godly rest comes when we spend our time being in the presence of God.
Sometimes we get so focused on what we’re accomplishing in life that we don’t think about resting and can therefore miss the signs that are telling us to slow down and reconnect with God.
Here are 3 signs that indicate we’re not resting in the presence of God:
1) Your advice doesn’t match your actions.
No matter what stage of life you’re at, someone in or out of the church is going to ask you for advice on how to live and be in a relationship with God.
If you start giving them advice that you know is right and good that you yourself are not following, that’s a sign that you need to reconnect with God.
2) You know a lot but feel far from God.
Maybe you have lots of answers about Christian life and faith and can tell people a lot about who God is.
KEY…we can have all the answers, but if we don’t have love – which comes from being in relationship with God…spending time with Him…and learning who He is…then we are nothing.
3) You feel a prodding.
God wants to be in relationship with us, and we need to respond to that nudging that calls us back. How does God do that?
First…He uses knowledge. Cut yourself off from God’s Word and you’ve cut yourself off from any hope of spiritual growth.
Second…God’s goodness is for the purpose of changing our minds about Him. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance [Rom. 2:4].
Third…God uses our sorrow for sin as a means to prod us…have you ever done something wrong and then felt bad? …that’s a good thing because guilt …or what we refer to as our conscience…is the gift God has given each person to steer them back into fellowship.
The KEY to this whole discourse between vs. 7 through 11 is in [v. 7]
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear His voice
These words were originally written by David and attributed to the Holy Spirit…the reference to the Holy Spirit is not the major point of this passage but it is important…here’s the significance…the writer of Hebrews sees the Scripture of the Old Testament as being inspired by the Holy Spirit.
These texts are not simply being quoted because they are familiar to the letter’s readers…they are being quoted as the very words of God…because there is an urgency in what he’s saying.
The phrase Today, if ye shall hear his voice…has multiple suggestions.
FIRST… “Today” is the time between yesterday and tomorrow…yesterday God sent His Son into the world to pay the price for our sins…yesterday God’s plan of salvation was made known…tomorrow is when He will make His triumphant return to earth…when all of creation will be remade complete and whole.
We live in ‘today’, the time between the act of salvation yesterday…and Jesus’ return tomorrow.
SECOND…God speaks to us every day…He speaks to every person in the world every day…the question is not, is God still speaking? …the question is, are we listening, because He’s still speaking:
(1) Through His written word;
(2) Through the preached gospel;
(3) Through our consciences;
(4) Through the events of his Providence;
(5) Through nature;
(6) Through our relatives and friends.
God speaks to us “every day” in these ways…that’s why all of these may be regarded as ‘His voice’ speaking to us.
The consequences of not listening are tragic, and because the tendency to procrastinate is universal…that action is demanded now, today.
THIRD… ‘Today’ is an appeal for action NOW
Paul emphasizes this idea in his letter to the Corinthians… [2 Cor. 6:2]
Behold now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of salvation.
Why today?
(1) There may never be a tomorrow.
(2) God has commanded obedience NOW.
(3) The impulse to respond or obey may diminish or disappear.
(4) Subsequent obedience (even if it comes) may not be as effectual and fruitful. (5) There is no better time than NOW.
This statement underlines the fact that life does not come to people a day at a time…but a moment at a time…and it demands a response today— not tomorrow but today …this is how faith works…it demands a response now.
When faith is postponed, it is no longer faith. It becomes disobedience!
King David wrote these word centuries ago when the Holy Spirit spoke to the people of his time…the author of Hebrews repeats these same words to the people of his time…as you and I read them they are being spoken to us as well
FOURTH…we are to encourage each other …as long as it is still called ‘Today’ [13]
This is the second time the author uses the word ‘today’ …here’s what’s interesting… there is no specific length of time suggested here…again… ‘today’ is the time between yesterday and tomorrow…understood to be more than a single day…right up until the second coming of Christ.
The sense of urgency is twofold…ONE…that ‘today’ will not last indefinitely …it will one day come to an end…and TWO…listen while there is still opportunity to hear God speaking…because one day you may not be able to hear His voice…that’s why the urgency on hearing today [15].
There are some intense concepts presented in Hebrews third chapter…I’ve preached two sermons on just this one chapter…the first one was about the supremacy of Jesus over Moses…and today the importance of understanding what ‘today’ involves…and really could preach a third sermon on this chapter.
In quoting this passage from the psalm, the author is saying these people forfeited the opportunity of God’s rest and unless we hold firmly to our faith in Christ, the only course in life left for us to take is the same course these people took, and that wasn’t very promising.
Today’s message is not about the loss of salvation…but rather a loss of fellowship…rewards…and our ‘spiritual inheritance’ which is the result of not trusting God…not being in fellowship…not being obedient or doubting His Word.
Through this passage we learn that because unbelief is such a strong obstacle, we see the need to encourage one another daily [13] …encourage means to inspire, to give hope, to lift up, to help strengthen one another in our faith.
All of us become discouraged in unbelief at one point or another…all of us need to encourage one another in our shared faith through words, through actions, and by our attitude…when we do…then we can rest in the Lord.