Sermon Tone Analysis

Recap

Last Week (3:1-6), We Saw How the Audience (Holy Siblings and Partners in a Heavenly Invitation and Responsibility)…

Were Told to Consider (Think Carefully About) Jesus, Our Apostle and High Priest

Jesus was an Apostle Sent From God to Humans to Represent God and Deliver His Message

And He Went Back to God to Represent Humans and Make Atonement for Us

Moses Held a Similar Position as a Mediator Between God and Israel

He Played the Role of an Apostle and the Role of a High Priest

And He was Faithful in That Role, Just Like Jesus

But Jesus Deserves More Honor Than Moses

Moses was a Part of the House of God (Israel)

But Jesus is the Builder of the House of God (Church)

We Can Remain a Part of that House if We Hold On Dearly to Our Confession of Faith and Hope in Jesus

That Leads Us to:

Hebrews 3:7-11

After the Author Calls Upon His Audience to Consider Jesus…

And Hold Firmly Onto Their Confession of Faith & Hope…

He is Now Going to Warn Them

The People of Israel Hardened Their Hearts Against Moses and God

And They Were Punished for it

The Point is:

If These Hebrew Christians Harden Their Hearts Against Jesus and God

They Will Be Punished Too

Hebrews 3:7–11 (NASB95)

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years.

“Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’; As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’

”

Hebrews 3:7 (NASB95)

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice,

Keeping What We Just Talked About in Mind…

Just as the Holy Spirit “Says” (Present Tense)

The Author is About to Quote From the OT

But He Says the Holy Spirit is Still Saying These Words Today

The Bible is Not Just a Book That “Said” Things

It is a Book that Still Says Things

The Spirit is Still Speaking to Us Through the Scriptures

What is the Spirit Still Saying?

Hebrews 3:7 (NASB95)

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice,

The Author is Quoting From Psalm 95

Psalm 95 (NASB95)

O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods, In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also.

The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.

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 would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work.

“For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.

“Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

This Psalm Begins as a Psalm of Praise

But Then it Turns into a Warning

It is Reminding Us of When the Children of Israel Hardened Their Hearts Against God in the Wilderness

After the 10 Plagues and Crossing the Red Sea…

Israel Began Complaining and Distrusting Moses and God Because of the Lack of Water

And Later They Distrusted God When 10 Out of the 12 Spies Doubted They Could Enter the Promised Land

The Psalmist is Saying, in His Day, “Listen to God Today!”

“Our Ancestors Didn’t Listen to and Trust God, But You, Today, Listen and Trust Him!”

To Harden One’s Heart Against God is to Distrust or Question His Goodness and Faithfulness…

Even Though You Have Experienced His Goodness and Faithfulness First-Hand in the Past

Hebrews 3:7–9 (NASB95)

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years.

The Author of Hebrews is Making the Very Same Point as the Psalmist With the Psalmists Own Words

“Today, Listen to God and Don’t Harden Your Hearts Against Him!”

“You Have Experienced His Goodness and Faithfulness Through the Apostle and High Priest, Jesus.”

“Don’t Test God as Israel Did By Distrusting and Questioning Jesus…

Just Because Things Aren’t Going Exactly as You’d Like for Them to Right Now.”

Hebrews 3:10–11 (NASB95)

“Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’; As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’

”

God was Angry With the Wandering Israelites Because of Their Hardness of Heart

And He Swore They Wouldn’t Enter His Rest

To Them This Meant They Wouldn’t Be Allowed to Enter the Promised Land of Milk and Honey

But When the Hebrews Author Directs This Toward His Hebrew Christians Audience…

He is Referring to God’s Ultimate Rest He Has Planned for Us

When Jesus Returns, Those Who Harden Their Hearts Against Jesus…

Will Not Enter into the New Promised Land of Rest

Now the Hebrews Author is Going to Explain This to Us Himself

Hebrews 3:12–19 (NASB95)

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”

For who provoked Him when they had heard?

Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

And with whom was He angry for forty years?

Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?

So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

Hebrews 3:12 (NASB95)

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

The Author Commands the Audience of His Siblings in Christ to “Take Care”

“Take Care” = Look, Watch Out

They Were to Watch Out So That Their Hearts Don’t “Become” (Future Tense) Evil and Unbelieving

Literally - “A Wicked Heart of Faithlessness”

A Heart that Refuses to Trust and Obey God is a Wicked/Evil Heart

This is the Type of Heart that “Falls Away From the Living God”

“Falling Away” Sounds More Like Something that Happens to You, Instead of Something You Do

But to “Fall Away” = To Depart, Abandon, Distance Oneself

The Author Commands His Audience:

To Watch Out So That Their Hearts Don’t Become Wicked, Faithless, and Cause Them to Abandon the Living God

To Abandon/Turn Away From Jesus Wasn’t Just…

Turning Away From a New Law or Code of Conduct

Or Rebelling Against a Set of Policies or Procedures