To-Day if Ye Will Hear

Introduction: Open your Bibles this evening to the New Testament book of Hebrews chapter 3.

I would like for us to read first Hebrews chapter 3 verses 7-9, 13, 15.

Read Hebrews.

Hebrews 3:7-9 “7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.”

Hebrews 3:13 “13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

Hebrews 3:15 “15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”

I would like for you to make note of the phrase To day if ye will hear his voice.

And now flip over to Psalm 95 please.

Psalm 95 “1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is a great God, And a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: The strength of the hills is his also. 5 The sea is his, and he made it: And his hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down: Let us kneel before the Lord our maker. 7 For he is our God; And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, Proved me, and saw my work. 10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, And they have not known my ways: 11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath That they should not enter into my rest.”

Read the entire Psalm.

Let’s pray.

I want you tonight to consider simple truth that was cited by the penman of Hebrews from this Psalm.

The psalmist cited His example from the history of the children of Israel as they wandered after leaving Egypt as an example for God’s people.

I want you and I to consider this exhortation, “To Day if ye will hear His voice.” in verse 7 of Psalm 95.

It is also found in verse 7 of Hebrews 3, and verse number 15.

Would you notice with me first of all:

I. The timing of this call.

The timing of this call is marked by the phrase “To Day...”

Multiple times it is repeated in Hebrews chapter 3, stressing the urgency of the call.

At New Years, typically we begin to look in two different directions.

We look backwards.

We look backwards at all that has taken place over the past year.

We rejoice for what the Lord has done.

We evaluate what needs to be improved.

We contemplate all that has gone on in our lives, the lives of our families and the life of this local church family.

We look forward.

Then we turn our attention to what is before us.

If the Lord tarries, we will move into a new year, with new days and new opportunities before us.

It is a time when we look forward and plan and prepare for what the Lord would have us to do.

I want us to understand though, that the timing of this call is different.

It is not a call to look backwards, although the history of the nation of Israel is cited.

It is not a call to look forward although the writer of Hebrews designs for Jewish Christian to walk triumphantly in Christ.

This word, To-day really is speaking about this present moment.

As we think about this phrase, we should understand that the timing of this call is now.

The Word of God is not talking about what is going to take place tomorrow.

The Word of God is not talking about the next day, or even a week or month from now.

But in simplicity and in truth, we find an active call from God Himself…

“To-day if ye will hear his voice...”

Sometimes the Devil’s greatest word in the life of the believer is tomorrow.

We design to do this or that tomorrow, but God is presently calling us To-day.

We understand from the Scriptures and also our own lives experiences that tomorrow is always in the future and not guaranteed.

We have the capacity and ability to contemplate the future and to prepare for tomorrow and God has given that to us.

But God’s call upon our lives is today.

It is this moment.

Who will hear the Lord tomorrow if he is not willing to do so today?

Who will be obedient to Christ tomorrow if he does not make a decision to do so today?

Who will read His Word tomorrow if he will not decide to read it today?

Promises and plans for tomorrow are wonderful, but brothers and sisters let us begin at once with Today.

And so we see the timing of this call, but Secondly notice:

II. The testing of this call.

The Bible says, “To-day if ye will hear his voice...”

The testing comes to each and every one of us in the form of the word “if”…

This is the fork in road, this is the choice before each one of us…

There is a decision that must be made in the life of the individual.

This decision is not for tomorrow, but for To-day..

It is for the very moment that we sit here in this sanctuary.

It is the testing of His call.

Without going back to the passage in the book of Hebrews and reviewing all of the history of the nation of Israel who were delivered out of Egypt, we come to understand that the children of Israel had many “if” moments to hear His voice.

Suffice to say, the Word of God warns us not to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

You see the people of God according to verse 9 of Hebrews 3 “saw” God’s “works forty years...”

They gazed at the works of God in their lives and yet in the valley of decision in the time of “if” they would not hear the Lord.

The Bible says that they were missing the key of faith.

Hebrews 4:2 states this, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”

This matter of trust, belief, and confidence in God was absent.

What is going to make the difference for you in this moment of decision concerning God and His Word? It is this matter of trust, it is this matter of faith.

Example: I am reminded of the scene I have seen play out many times. A scene of which I myself have also experienced.

A father when He is teaching his child to trust him will ask him to jump off of the edge of the pool into his arms.

The child though hesitant at first finally has enough confidence in his father, at his bidding takes the leap.

After hearing for time the beckoning call of Dad, and recounting all of His fathers care for him before takes the leap.

My fellow Christian could I ask tonight, what good is hearing the Word of God without belief?

Faith does come by hearing, but in hearing we must receive the Word of the Lord.

The testing of this call is tonight, and it is a question to every child of God…will you choose to hear Him…will you trust Him?

So we see not only the timing of this call, the testing of this call but thirdly:

III. The totality of this call.

Who is this call to?

We could say without a doubt it is to the Hebrews.

The Hebrew Christian dealt with a difficulty peculiar to their national heritage.

I can’t imagine what it must have been like for a Hebrew Christian in the 1st Century.

When we look at the life of Paul we see what kind of difficulty they no doubt faced.

As we study and read the book of Hebrews, we begin to understand, at least to a point the wrestlings that they must have felt.

Nevertheless, I can say equally that the Christian of the 1st Century does not know what it is like to be an American Christian in the 21st Century.

The writer of the book of Hebrews no doubt had the Hebrew Christian in mind, but that does not mean that this letter has no application for us.

Yes, we are far removed by time and culture from the 1st Century Christian, but our wonderful Lord and Saviour is faithful and His Word applies to us today.

You see we are all men created in the image of God, we all have entered into God’s family through the doorway of faith by God’s marvelous grace.

Regardless of whether I am a Christian in the 1st century or the 21st century we have a common bond in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Colossians 3:11 “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”

The Bible says, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful…” I Corinthians 10:13a

As being part of household of faith in Jesus Christ, we too are admonished with the command, “To-day if ye will hear his voice...”

The call for us tonight is to live a life of faith.

As a Christian, we enter into the family of God through faith. And we continue to live a life of faith.

It is a life of conversing with the Lord.

It is a life that calls upon us to stop and spend our time with Him.

Mark the plural “you” that is used in the passage.

This call each and every Christian to hear Him.

The Bible says, “To-day if ye will hear his voice...”

I am so thankful to know that the Lord desires converse with each one of us.

This is not a call to the rich or the powerful or to some elite group.

This call is to each of us, those who are his children.

We should all be encouraged tonight to understand that this call is for you.

The Lord’s invitation is for you to hear his voice.

We find not only the timing of this call, the testing of this call, the totality of this call, but lastly, notice:

IV. The transcendence of this call.

The Bible says, “To-day if ye will hear his voice...”

When we speak of the transcendence of this call, it simply means something that excels beyond all normal limits.

Meaning that this call to fellowship with God, to hear His voice is marvelous beyond description.

Psalm 8:4-5“4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

Psalm 144:3 “3 Lord, what is man, that thou Takest knowledge of him! Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!”

Job 7:17 “17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?”

God is His glorious wonder and power being the transcendent one, above and outside of all that is created stoops to speak with us!

There are many voices and spirits in this world, but we are to hear His voice.

In teaching of the spiritual gift of tongues Paul made this comment in his compelling argument, I Corinthians 14:10 “There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.”

And so it is that all people and all of this world have a purpose in communication.

Even little Hazel and Julia uttering there sounds are attempting to express to us their desire to eat chocolate.

I want you to understand the we are to Hear His Voice…

He is communicating with a purpose to us today...

Oh my friend the time that you should be using to read God’s Word is no arbitrary thing… if ye will hear His Voice.

The Bible says, that in these last days, God has spoken unto us by His Son according to Hebrews 1:1-2a.

The Lord is speaking to us To-day in His Word.

The Lord is speaking to us To-day through His presence.

And the call for each one of us individually is to hear His voice.

To know his ways.

In verse 10 of Hebrews chapter 3, the Holy Spirit tells us that the children of Israel “... have not known…” His... “ways.”

The call for us tonight is for us to have Faith.

The call for us tonight is to exhort one another daily.

The call for us tonight is not to be deceived by sin.

Let me close with just few ways we can apply this tonight:

Every moment God gives us is a present invitation to hear Him.

The Bible describes a time when for the Christian things will be different. When we will see Him face to face.

I John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

There is a present struggle that every Christian faces living in a sinful world.

In our present state we wrestle against our flesh.

In our present time we have an enemy that is fighting against every step we make to bring honor to the Lord.

But this does not mean that we must wait to get to Heaven to hear Him and know His ways. This is the miracle of Christ in us the hope of glory.

Our lives can be lived in fellowship with Him.

The Word of God assures us in I John 1:7 “…if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Recognize God’s working in your life.

God uses lives situations and people to teach us and conform us to the image of His dear Son. Do you recognize God’s work in your life?

Are you seeing all that goes on in your life with biblical understanding?

We do not believe in fate… we do not believe in chance.

Our outlook on this life is biblical and we understand that the hand of our heavenly Father, Almighty God is working in our lives.

Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

If we forget this, then life appears to be meaningless, arbitrary and wasteful.

Endeavor to hear Him.

This means that you are listening.

This also means that you are willing.

I don’t think it is a bad idea at all to pray to the Lord to know Him and hear His voice.

I oftentimes will pray for His wisdom and understanding particularly of His Word.

But I think we should equally pray to hear His voice amongst all the obstacles of this life and the lesser voices of this world.

I believe one of the biggest lessons that we find in the life of Elijah is not just that God spoke to Him in a still small voice, but rather that God is speaking, the question is are we listening?…hearing Him?

I Kings 19:11-12 “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”

Know Him and His ways. —- Reading our Bibles and spending time in prayer is not a chore to be done, it is a privileged invitation to know our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I am reminded of a biblical example of this desire to know Him in the life of Peter.

Peter wore his emotions on his sleeve we might say.

Peter was impulsive—-he acted without completely thinking everything through… but Peter was transparent.

In John 21:7 we find these words, “Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.”

Can you see Peter’s eagerness to be with His Savior?

When He realized who it was on the shore after the Lord’s resurrection, it was Peter, not John that dove into the water to swim to shore...

Peter was zealous for the Savior’s company.

You and I ought to endeavor to know Him and His ways.

Where is the desire to hear his voice for you tonight?

Today, will ye hear his voice?

We have seen tonight the timing of this call, the testing of this call, the totality of this call, the transcendence in this call.

Will you realize and rejoice that Every moment God gives us is a present invitation to hear Him?

Will you Recognize God’s working in your life?

Will endeavor to hear Him?

Will you know Him and His ways….? This by necessity implies obedience to Him.

Let’s pray…