Gods Word Ever Fresh To Our Hardened Hearts.

Today If You Hear His Voice

Bible Passage: Hebrews 3:7–11

Hebrews 3:7-11 warns believers not to harden their hearts against God's voice, drawing on the example of Israel's rebellion in the wilderness, emphasizing the importance of listening and responding to God in faith.

This passage encourages Christians to remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit's voice and prompts them to cultivate a heart that is receptive to God's guidance and correction, thereby preventing spiritual apathy and rebellion that can lead to separation from God's promises.

This passage teaches us the necessity of being attentive to God’s voice and the dangers of a hardened heart, reminding the audience that faith requires a responsive and open heart towards God's word.

In the context of Hebrews, Christ is presented as the ultimate answer to the problem of a hardened heart. He is the one who provides a new covenant, empowering believers to respond to God’s voice through the Holy Spirit, illustrating that Jesus fulfills the promises God made to His people despite their past disobedience.

Big Idea: A sensitive heart is essential for receiving God’s fresh word, and obedience is crucial for entering into the promised rest that Christ offers.

Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

1. Heed and Hear Today

Hebrews 3:7–8 ESV

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

Though we are made of the same stuff as the Moses generation, we’ve been given a new heart and a he has put his Spirit within us.

2. Heartfelt Trials and Trust

Hebrews 3:9 ESV

where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.

There are times we have tested God by doubting His goodness or faithfulness. These tests reveal what's really in our hearts, as they did with Israel. Christ paves a new way for us, helping us to trust amidst trials by His example of obedience and steadfastness. We need to see trials are opportunities to deepen our trust in God.

3. Holistic Rest in Christ

Hebrews 3:10–11 ESV

Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”

There is an eternal rest that is not found in perfection on this side of glory. What we have now is the rest of faith. We find ourselves in and out of this rest. This is where we need to reaffirm our faith in Christ. remaining in that rest.

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

There are enemies to that rest. The biggest one being the hardness of our own hearts. This is what we are being warned against in these verses.

Isaiah 30:15–16 ESV

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”But you were unwilling, and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.

Psalm 95:7–11 ESV

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”