It's All About the Heart - Hebrews 3:7-19

Introduction

We took a pause on this series for the month of December so we could focus on Jesus coming in the flesh as a little baby.

Interesting, because that is where we left off in the book of Hebrews. I know it has been a few weeks, so I want to give a breakdown of the book of Hebrews to this point.

Jesus is Superior

Background of the Book of Hebrews- A church under fire

Jesus is Superior- He is the voice we must listen to (Hebrews 1:1-4)

Jesus is Superior to the Angels (Hebrews 1:4-14)

A Warning Against Drifting (Hebrews 2:1-4)

The Superior Jesus Made Himself Human (Hebrews 2:5-18) Christmas Story!!! In part...

Jesus is Superior to Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6)

We left off looking at Jesus as being superior to Moses.

We saw that Moses was a faithful servant in God’s household

But we see that Jesus is faithful OVER God’s household.

We emphasized the faithfulness of Jesus and this leads directly into our topic today.

If Jesus is faithful, we look at today’s passage and see an exhortation for the audience of Hebrew Christians to be faithful.

Read today’s passage Hebrews 3:7-19

Hebrews 3:7–19 NIV

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

PRAY

Topic

As we break down today’s passage, we will find that there are three segments to our passage today.

In the first segment, the author of Hebrews makes a statement (exhortation).

In the second segment, the author then says the same thing in a different way.

In the third segment, the author says the same thing in a third way.

All of which makes preaching this passage pretty simple. I really only need to say one thing three times.

Hebrews 3:7 (NIV)

So, as the Holy Spirit says:

I want to start here. The author of Hebrews is going to point us back to a passage from Psalms 95. He will directly quote from that passage in the first five verses of our passage.

But rather than saying, “So as David says:”, he attributes this passage to another author.

We can go back into the Psalms and see that the 95th Psalm was attributed to David.

But the author here is saying something much deeper about the OT Scriptures.

We will find that this author is very aware of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of believers, in His church and in our world.

He will go on at the end of Hebrews 4 to say that the Word of God is living and active, and he goes on to describe beautifully the work of the Scriptures in our lives.

The author is now going to quote from Psalm 95.

The Psalms were poems or songs, and they were written for a purpose.

Some were to praise and worship God

Others, were to pour our our hearts and struggle to God

Today’s passage is a reminder to remember.

Psalm 95 is a reminder of the failures of the people of Israel in the wilderness.

It is their way of remembering those mistakes, so they wouldn’t be made again.

So today, we will look at an example of failure in the hope that we do not repeat the same mistake.

Part 1 (verses 7-11)

Hebrews 3:7–11 NIV

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

We are looking at a snapshot of the failures of the people of Israel in the wilderness.

This passage starts out, “Today, if you hear his voice...”

The people in the wilderness heard the voice of God.

It was often spoken through Moses.

That is why leading into this passage, we see that Moses was faithful in God’s house.

They knew the voice of Moses through the Holy Spirit empowered Scriptures.

They knew that this was the voice of God. God spoke to them.

However, they did not respond with obedience, rather they responded with hardened hearts and rebellion.

Hebrews 3:8–9 NIV

do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.

In fact, it says that they were enduring a time of testing in the wilderness. But their hard hearts and rebellion tried and tested God.

God responded with anger. He had given them direction and His voice. They responded by not listening and not knowing His way.

How sad of a testimony. They had the voice of God, but did not know His ways.

God declared an oath in His anger that they would not enter his rest.

The context and understanding of this means that they would not inhabit the promised land.

As we see in the book of Numbers, that generation passed away and a new generation of Israelites entered the promised land.

This is the story that the author of Hebrews wanted to remind the Hebrew audience about.

These people knew this story very well. It was their heritage. They celebrated the Passover where they remembered the work of God to set their people free from Egypt.

They knew of the wanderings in the wilderness.

They also knew of their entering into the promised land.

They quoted and sang the Psalms.

The author of Hebrews is using something they were familiar with to make a point to them about their current state of affairs.

He is using the Bible to make a relevant application to their specific circumstance.

This is what we are doing today!

The author of Hebrews then does a VERY Jewish thing. He uses a teaching method called a Midrash.

Part 2 (verses 12-15)

Midrash- A method of commentating on the OT text by using key words from that text to make practical application.

What you will find in the next segment of verses is the words and phrases of the first few verses, reused, and applied in a practical way.

Here is the exhortation:

Hebrews 3:12 NIV

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

The ancestors of the Hebrews in the wilderness had a sinful and unbelieving heart.

They turned away from the living God.

The author identifies the problem and the result.

Their hearts were sinful and unbelieving. As a result, they turned away from the Living God.

We are going to come back to this warning.

Commands are always simple. But the follow through can be a challenge.

How do we prevent this from happening? How do we avoid having sinful unbelieving hearts?

The author offers his recommendation.

Instead of doing that, do this...

Hebrews 3:13 NIV

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

We see the author pull the word “Today” from the Psalm 95 text.

In Psalm 95, it says,

Psalm 95:7 (NIV)

Today, if only you would hear his voice,

He says, “Today, if you would hear his voice,”

This was the warning that we should always listen for the voice of God.

Today

Not listen and talk about what God has said in the past

Not sit and wonder what God will say in the future.

We have an admonition to listen for His voice TODAY.

Back to Hebrews 3:13

Hebrews 3:13 NIV

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

As we listen to God’s voice, we must encourage one another daily.

I think this word “Encourage” is an interesting word.

We apply this word to so many positive things in our lives.

We want to encourage each other so we feel better.

We want God to encourage us.

Encouragement usually brings about the thought of feeling better.

But to encourage in this context means that we help to move and guide one another onto a distinct path, while moving off of another path.

This may not be a “make me feel better” moody thing

This is more about urging one another on to the right path.

Even when we want to be on the wrong one.

Hebrews 3:14 NIV

We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

Share in Christ

This whole second section of verses is written to the Body of Christ as a whole.

We must encourage one another.

Each person has significant influence on the path each of us are on.

We are His body together.

This was highlighted in chapter 2 when we see that Jesus came in the flesh and opened the door of salvation for us all.

In doing this, He called us His brothers and sisters.

We became His family.

We share in Christ.

Because we have Christ as our unifying foundation

We are more than a religious gathering.

We are family

I am going to tie all of this together in the end.

Hold to the end

I want to take a second to talk about this verse, because attached to it is the potential for substantial conflict

When we come across these passages, I always like to present them in a unifying light, not a divisive light.

I think having a divisive heart really highlights the point of this passage anyways.

There is one set of believers that believes that this verse talks about how we can lose our salvation

All of the saved people must keep striving for their salvation, because if they don’t they won’t receive Heaven.

There is another set of believers that look at this and says, “True faith in Jesus Christ will endure all of this hardship.

The hardships of life are the filters to show if a person’s faith is true or if it is superficial.

Was the author making a statement of eternal security in this passage?

Or is the author making the point that we need to keep a close eye on the condition of our heart because the consequences could be tragic?

This is an exhortation about the heart above a theological statement of eternal security.

We won’t divide on this. Both sides are Christian.

Hebrews 3:15 NIV

As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

The author here quotes directly from the Part 1 passage and makes the same point as he does in verse 12.

We must listen to the voice of God. How we respond to the voice of God determines our outcome with Him.

Application for Hebrews Audience

The application for the audience seems fairly clear

The Jews in the wilderness were experiencing a tremendous time of testing.

In their time of testing, they responded in such a way that they tested God.

They sinned. They rebelled. They hardened their hearts to the voice of God.

In doing so, the consequences were severe for them. They did not enter the promised land.

God was not faithful to His promise.

The people of Israel still went into the Promised Land, but their rebellious response was relationally destructive with God.

The Hebrew audience, while not spoken here (but implied), was also going through a difficult time of testing.

They were met with the same dilemma. Do they listen for the voice of God?

Part 3 (verses 16-19)

The author now moves into the third part of this passage.

This is a Q&A that is given, still using the Midrash teaching style that points to the first part.

Each question is a question from Psalm 95.

Each answer is a response from another place in the OT.

Hebrews 3:16 NIV

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?

The author is clarifying a few points for the sake of application.

Who was it that heard the voice of God and rebelled?

The author points to Numbers 14:2 and identifies them as all those who Moses led out of Egypt.

Who is the example from the OT text?

Was it some of the people?

Was it applicable only to a few?

It was to all.

Hebrews 3:17 NIV

And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?

The next question is also from Psalm 95: “Who was God angry with for 40 years?”

The author points a little further in Numbers to Numbers 14:29 in giving this response.

God’s anger was with those who had sinned. They all suffered the consequences of their sin.

Hebrews 3:18–19 NIV

And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

The last question asked asks, “Who did God swear they would never enter His rest?”

The author points to Psalm 106 where the Psalm-writer identifies that it was because of the disbelief of the Israelites in the wilderness that they did not enter the promised land.

Application

This is a strange sermon, because we are analyzing the sermon of the author of Hebrews.

He did a verse by verse sermon on Psalm 95.

I am doing a verse by verse sermon on Hebrews 4, which is a verse by verse sermon of Psalm 95.

But here is something that I know. If Psalm 95 is true, and we know it is because the author of Hebrews identifies its author as God the Spirit, then it is true for the Hebrews audience.

If the Holy Spirit that oversaw the writing of Hebrews identifies this as truth, then it is true for us today.