Hebrews 3:7-19
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
SCRIPTURE MEMORY
SCRIPTURE MEMORY
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Pepper Rodgers coached the UCLA college football team in the early 70’s.
1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 823: Breaking Wishbone Faith
Alumni and fans made his life miserable the year his Bruins got off to a horrible start. Nobody in Southern California would hang out with him. Rodgers recalled: “My dog was my only true friend.”
He said: “I told my wife that every man needs at least two good friends. She bought me another dog.”
But Rodgers was tough in the face of adversity. His players at UCLA were having difficulty adapting to the wishbone offense he had installed. The school’s alumni demanded that he adopt another system, but Rodgers didn’t budge. “The wishbone is like Christianity,” he said. “If you believe in it only until something goes wrong, you didn’t believe in it in the first place.”
It’s like the seed that fell on rocky soil...
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
Life was not easy for the first century Jewish Christians, and they seemed bent on abandoning the new covenant and going back to the old.
In other words: The wishbone offense was just too hard.
Hebrews is written to remind these Christians that what they turned TO is far greater than what they turned FROM.
The author of this book is making a case for Christ and urging his audience not to walk away from the faith.
Jesus is greater than the angels, the greater high priest, the mediator of a greater covenant, and the captain of a great salvation.
The first six verses of chapter 3 addressed the superiority of Jesus over Moses. Both were faithful, but, where Moses was a servant IN the house of God, Jesus is the builder OF the house and the son OVER God’s house.
This passage concluded with this...
And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Now let me read verses 7-19 to you...
SCRIPTURE READING
SCRIPTURE READING
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Pray.
EXPOSITION
EXPOSITION
I’ve broken this passage of Scripture into three sections:
A Hardened Heart
An Unbelieving Heart
A Disobedient Heart
A HARDENED HEART
A HARDENED HEART
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
The Hebrews writer is quoting from Psalm 95, which is concerned with worship and priestly activity.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 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.”
It all starts with TODAY
3:7 TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE
3:7 TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,
[Faithlife Study Bible] Today The Greek term sēmeron, used frequently in ch. 3 and 7 (vv. 7, 13, 15; 4:7), emphasizes the urgency or immediacy of this message. God’s people need to act in accordance with God today.
Spurgeon makes this comment...
The CSB Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes Chapter 3
Every command of Christ bears today’s date. If a thing is right, it should be done at once. If it is wrong, stop it immediately. There is an immediateness about the calls of Christ. Whatever he bids us to do, we must not delay to do. Duties that are put off tend to harden the heart.
Today, hear his voice!
Hear (akouo) = doesn’t just mean that the words went into our ears; it goes deeper to the point of understanding those words, and obeying them.
The Holy Spirit of God is reminding us all that if we hear God’s voice, we must not delay in taking action.
What is that action in this chapter?
3:8 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS
3:8 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,
Harden = make spiritually stubborn, obstinate, unbelieving
New Dictionary of Biblical Theology Introduction
To be ‘hard’ is to be insensitive to God, his word, and his work. The ‘hardened’ person is unable to respond to God and thus cannot enter into a saving relationship with God.
The voice of God is urging these people to guard their hearts against hardness and now reminds them - and us - of the Hebrew people who were rescued from Egypt.
Listen to how this played out in the rebellion referred to...
This rebellion took place in Exodus 17...
All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
It was there in the wilderness where a generation of Hebrews put God to the test even though they had a front row seat to God’s mighty works.
3:9 GOD WAS PUT TO THE TEST
3:9 GOD WAS PUT TO THE TEST
This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
What was the result of this rebellion?
3:10 GOD PROVOKED
3:10 GOD PROVOKED
Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’
You certainly can’t blame God for being angry. Consider alone the miracles it took just to get the Israelites OUT of Egypt.
Yet the hearts of his people were prone to wander. They are no different than we are.
Isaiah declares...
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
And in his wrath, God determined that that generation would not enter his rest.
3:11 NO REST
3:11 NO REST
What rest is God referring to? Historically, the Israelites sought rest by entering the Promised Land, but their sin prevented them from achieving it.
The Joshua (Yeshua) who led Israel into Canaan could not grant them true rest; only Jesus, the “Jeshua of the New Testament,” could accomplish this.
Access to this rest requires obedience grounded in faith.
The Israelites, over time, allowed their hearts to become hardened, which led to grumbling. And God would have none of it.
The warning continues...
AN UNBELIEVING HEART
AN UNBELIEVING HEART
3:12 TAKE CARE BROTHERS
3:12 TAKE CARE BROTHERS
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
Stephen, in his final sermon, spoke of the Israelites falling away in wilderness...
“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’
This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,
All these things give us clues into why the book of Hebrews was written. The author is concerned for those Jewish Christians who appear to be on the verge of giving up. Living this Christian life was causing them such hardship.
Hebrews Don’t Miss Your Opportunity (3:12–19)
FF Bruce puts it powerfully, “a relapse from Christianity into Judaism would be comparable to the action of the Israelites when they ‘turned back in their hearts unto Egypt’ (
The warning is clear: brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t let this same thing happen to you!
Take care that there not be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God!
How do we guard against this?
3:13 EXHORT ONE ANOTHER
3:13 EXHORT ONE ANOTHER
13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Exhort (parakaleo) = urge, implore, come alongside (like the Holy Spirit who is the Helper)
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
This is the first time in Hebrews that corporate faith is recognized with the words “exhort one another daily, as long as it is called Today.”
It will be reaffirmed in Heb10:24-25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Thomas A Kempis wrote...
300 Quotations for Preachers from the Medieval Church Adversity Shows What a Person Is
There is no man without fault, no man without burden, no man sufficient to himself nor wise enough. Hence we must support one another, console one another, mutually help, counsel, and advise, for the measure of every man’s virtue is best revealed in time of adversity—adversity that does not weaken a man but rather shows what he is. ~ Thomas A Kempis
The first warning of this book from chapter two dealt with the danger of drifting past truth; this one warns of the danger of failing to deal with a grumbling and complaining spirit.
What do we encourage and exhort one another with...
3:14 SHARE IN CHRIST
3:14 SHARE IN CHRIST
14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Share (metochoi) = partake, participate
We share in Christ. He is the bread of life, the manna from heaven, he is the living water and he is our rest.
Our confidence is not in our own ability, but it’s in Christ’s. Hold fast to him.
We’ve talked about the hardened heart, then the unbelieving heart, let’s move into the third section...a disobedient heart.
A DISOBEDIENT HEART
A DISOBEDIENT HEART
3:15 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS
3:15 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS
15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Just in case anyone missed the urgency to listening to and obeying the voice of the Lord, the author repeats it here.
The next three verses contain three questions:
Who were those who heard and yet rebelled?
With whom was He provoked for 40 years?
To whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest?
3:16 WHO HEARD BUT REBELLED?
3:16 WHO HEARD BUT REBELLED?
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?
These weren’t just some random group of people. These were the very ones whom God led out of Egypt through Moses.
They witnessed the plagues, they saw God’s mighty hand take down the powerful Pharaoh.
And yet, when the going got tough, they rebelled against their Deliverer.
3:17 WITH WHOM WAS HE PROVOKED?
3:17 WITH WHOM WAS HE PROVOKED?
17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
Just because they were God’s chosen people doesn’t mean they were free from God’s wrath.
The consequence of their sinful grumbling? They died in the wilderness.
It wasn’t God’s plan to rescue them from slavery in Egypt to only let them die on the way to the promised land.
Let this be a wake up call to all of us - God takes sin seriously!
Last question...
3:18 TO WHOM DID HE SWEAR NO REST
3:18 TO WHOM DID HE SWEAR NO REST
18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
The ultimate result of their rebellion was God determining that they would not enter the land promised to Abraham.
A promise they would have all known about from the covenant that God made with their faith Abraham.
Imagine their excitement when leaving Egypt knowing that they were finally returning to the land of Canaan.
But an entire generation would see none of it.
And the author’s conclusion?
3:19 UNBELIEF
3:19 UNBELIEF
19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
This portion of the letter is more than a history lesson, it’s a warning to the first century Jewish Christians who were in danger of following the same path as the wilderness Hebrews.
And it’s a warning for us today.
A hard heart develops when OUR expectations are not met, we feel like God is letting us down, so we turn to sin to satisfy our longings.
A hard heart leads to an unbelieving heart, where seeds of truth bounce off the concrete of our hearts.
An unbelieving heart then leads to a disobedient heart where we don’t care about God’s will; we will do what we want, when we want to.
Hebrews: Verse by Verse The Three Questions (3:16–19)
The warning to the Jewish Christians of these churches is also perfectly clear. If they continue to react to their own hardships with the same unbelief and rebellion as the wilderness people, they will suffer the same penalty. This will come up several more times in this letter (chapters 6, 10, 12), and they had better heed the admonition while there is still time.
APPLICATION
APPLICATION
Church, we know from 2 Timothy...
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
This warning given to the early Jewish Christians is the same warning for us today.
It’s time for a heart check up. What is the health of your heart? Do you find yourself grumbling more and more these days?
Where does that grumbling come from? From the heart. If left unchecked, it will cause your heart to get hard.
Do not harden your hearts.
Or perhaps you find you are doubting God and his word more and more. Is unbelief creeping into your life?
Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart.
Or maybe your heart is to the point of outright disobedience to God and his will. He’s calling you to do something - maybe something that seems insignificant or something that seems daunting and difficult - and you are ignoring his will.
Today is the day for action. Don’t wait until tomorrow. If the voice of God is speaking to you today, turn to Him in repentance and receive the truth of his word by faith.
Commit yourselves to this fellowship and fellowship with other Christians where we can encourage and be encouraged.
CLOSING
CLOSING
I want to close with the story of John Wesley Powell. I learned about him through an short information film at the Grand Canyon. He was the first to navigate and survey the mighty Colorado River.
On May 24, 1869, one-armed Captain John Wesley Powell and nine other men set out from Green River City, Wyoming to explore the Colorado River and its canyons.
August 13 Diary entry: “We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown…"
August 27, 28 Diary entry: "Should we continue? Three of the men leave to walk out of the canyon – they are never heard from again."
What a picture of our journey with Christ. It’s difficult at times. We don’t know what’s around the next bend or what enemies we will face.
But we must press on. It may be tempting to walk out of the canyon because we feel we can’t go on.
Don’t give up! Let this be an encouragement to you today!
And if you see someone who appears to be ready to throw in the towel, don’t delay. Encourage them.
REFLECTION
REFLECTION
CLOSING SONG
CLOSING SONG
God is Faithful (Psalm 114)
BENEDICTION
BENEDICTION
