Hebrews chapter 3 this evening, verses 7, 3, 12, and as you're turning there, we come again to one of these warning passages. And so we might say this, if Hebrews was a symphony, it would have two themes. It would have a major theme and a minor theme. And bear with me for a moment.
The major key would sound like this, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, you know that Rocky's theme, right? Victory, right? Jesus is the great conqueror. Jesus is our great hope, right?
He's the winner of everything and he wins it for us. And so it's an optimistic theme, right? Jesus is victorious and all who believe will share in his great victory. The minor key might sound like this, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, you know why they don't like me during the hymns.
But you also know that tune, right? That's the theme from Jaws, the great white shark. It's ominous. Stay out of the water.
Most of Hebrews is in the major key. It's hopeful. But it is punctuated by these minor keys. It's realistic.
Tonight we come to a second one of these minor keys. The first we saw in Hebrews 2, 1 to 4, the danger there was drifting away from Jesus, like a boat on board is slowly taken by the tide and the wind. And it's so subtle, you might not realize it's happening. The danger was drifting away from Jesus.
Here the danger is falling away from Jesus. And so the first problem was inattention to him. Here the problem is the outright rejection of him. And so let me invite you to consider this in your own heart.
As we study God's word together, from Hebrews chapter 3, beginning at verse 7. 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, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their hearts. They have not known my ways.
As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. Amen, this is God's word, make it cut our heart with it. Let's pray.
Father, we ask that you would be our teacher. We ask that you would give us grace. Blessed us, help us. We need you.
Show us Jesus. Show us our own hearts and teach us to trust you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
So the writer here quotes Psalm 95 at length, which was about the experience of Israel in the wilderness. And then verse 12, following he makes his point. And part of that point will catch next week. And so, but let's think about it in three parts.
First, by cycling three verses seven to 11 twice, in the first place, by being and seeing the warning that God gave Israel and so taking warning ourselves by Israel. And then secondly by examining our heart, and then finally noting his therefore verse 12, or so what? Don't fall away. And so those three things in the first place be warned by Israel's unbelief.
Verses seven to 11. Now, as we approach seven to 11, just recognize it begins with therefore, and it's because of in part of what he just said in verses one to six, he's been saying that he'd been talking about God's house. He'd mentioned that Moses was faithful in God's house as a servant, and Jesus was faithful over God's house as a son. Jesus is better than Moses.
He's saying just as the builder has more glory than that which he builds. And so Jesus is better than Moses. He's the builder of the house. He's also like Moses or Moses is like Jesus in that both were faithful.
And so he's thinking about God's house which is of course God's people, not a structure of building, but a people. The community of people who gather around Jesus and gather around God under his son, and in his son. And since Moses was faithful and Jesus was faithful, he's saying now to us, y'all, keep your faith and hope in Jesus. That's actually what he says at the end of verse six basically.
Keep your faith and hope in Jesus. Don't go anywhere else. And though Moses was an example of Jesus, we might say, and a positive one, here the Israelites are an example of the church and a negative one. Don't be like them is what he's saying to us.
Moses was faithful in meeting Israel in the wilderness, and that gets him thinking about Israel's unfaithfulness while they were in the wilderness. And one of the temptations that the congregation was facing as we've been saying is that many of them, perhaps most, had been converted Jews. They'd embraced the Messiah and had become, we might call Christians. They had seen in their own lives and hearts the fulfillment of God's plain and purpose for believers to embrace the Messiah, but they're being tempted to go back to Judaism.
They're being tempted to leave Christ to go back to Moses, so to speak. And so he begins here with a quote from Psalm 95 about when Israel was in the wilderness and the rebellion at the waters of Marabah and Massah in Exodus chapter 17. And it tells us how Israel failed to trust the Lord in the time of Moses. What is it?
What had happened? The story. We need to remember the story that the goodness of God to them had been incredible. They'd been slaves in Egypt, cruelied, treated, overworked, underfed, chained, beaten, starved, all the terrible things that wicked people do to slaves, and God raised up a deliverer for them.
God sent them Moses, God punished Pharaoh, God brought them out of slavery, out of misery, into freedom, and then God miraculously guided them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and then God parted the Red Sea so they could escape on dry land. and God drowned Pharaoh's army coming after them. God made bitter water they encountered, sweet for them to drink. God brought clay to them at night for meat, and he brought bread from heaven, manna, morning by morning.
And for 40 years in the wilderness, their sandals never wore out, their clothes never wore out. They were thirsty, and God made streams of water flow from a rock. I mean, miracle after miracle, spectacular, supernatural stuff, daily, providing, as God did for their daily needs, their daily provision, and their daily protection. And what did they do?
They grumbled and complained, why did you bring us out of Egypt? Was it the killing of the wilderness? They said, basically we'd rather have Pharaoh than Moses. We'd rather have the gods of Egypt than the living and true God.
I mean, God's power and provision was in their face, and they asked, is God even among us? Does he even care about us? And God, it says, was offended by their unbelief. He was provoked by it.
And he wiped out an entire generation of people over the age of 20 who had come out of Egypt. None of them were permitted to enter the promised land. What does that experience have to do with us? Well, the writer is saying, now, y'all are part of a community.
Where God's power and provision is known. You were slaves to sin. You were living in fear of death. You were under the tyranny of the devil, living as enemies of God.
And he came down. He became like us. In every way we get without sin. And then he went to the cross.
And he died the death that we deserve. He was raised. And he's building his church. And you've been included in his new community.
And he promises all who trust in him, the forgiveness of sins and the hope of everlasting life, or the certain hope of life. And so redemption has come and heaven awaits. And it's entirely possible, the writer is saying, that you're a member of a church that believes and preaches that and yet you don't yourself actually trust Jesus to be your leader. It's entirely possible to grow up around Christianity and even in a Christian family and not belong to Christ.
It's entirely possible even to profess your faith. In Jesus outwardly with the lips, while inwardly with the heart, we reject him. And if you do that, he's saying, you won't reach the heavenly promised land that way. And he doesn't want that for any of us.
And then we might also say, now for some of us who sincerely believe in Jesus, and I believe you all do, however imperfectly you do, you all who profess that certainly, he's saying, don't turn back, don't leave Jesus and his people, even if your pilgrimage is hard, even if others are saying you're nuts, or you're a fool, or you're an enderfall, right? Or maybe you're just looking at your life experience and how difficult it is, and you're tempted to say, well, I've got so far to go, and I don't like the wilderness I'm in. I'm out of hell and I'm not yet into heaven is what you're saying to yourself. And this journey I'm on, I don't much care for it.
And the writer's saying, no, don't let that be the reason you leave Jesus either, the elementary school principal. They need all kinds of kids and see all kinds of things. I heard one tell of the story of little Johnny, first grader, he was just a pill. The first day of school after lunch, Johnny went to recess, and after recess he came in and started packing up his bag, gathering his books, and the teacher asked Johnny, what are you doing?
And we said, I'm packing up to go home. And the teacher said, well, you're a big boy now, Johnny. This is first grade. And in first grade, we have school after lunch, until three, you're only halfway through the day.
And he responded to quote him, well, who the heck signed me up for this? Right? And sometimes Christianity feels like first grade. Every now and then, don't we say, who signed me up for this?
When will life get easier? When will being a Christian be easier? And now in some ways it is easier. And if you genuinely have the hope of everlasting life in your heart, it's easier to live with hope than without hope.
But it is also harder in some ways. I mean, the world, the flesh, and the devil are all against you, and you're learning how forceful and persistent they are. And so we all need to be warned by the example of Israel and need to take it to heart. But of course, if you do believe in Jesus, don't think that Jesus will be unfaithful to you if you're struggling with sin.
He's talking about people rejecting Jesus as their savior. He's not talking about Christians who continue to struggle with the world and the flesh and the devil. Right? That's the Christian life this side of heaven.
And so he's not trying to discourage Christians with a sensitive conscience. He's not trying to discourage young Christians who didn't know this is what God signed them up for. He's not trying to do any of that. You're gonna be in a fight against sin until the day you die.
And that's the normal Christian life. And the fact that you are in a fight against sin and you know it is actually not a sign of spiritual death, but a sign of spiritual life. People who are spiritually dead don't fight against the world of flesh and the devil, but people who are spiritually alive do. And so he brings before them this morning, you're wondering, when do we get the actual text to the words of the warning?
We're just about there. He warns them of Israel's unbelief in their wilderness journey from Egypt to the promised land. And he warns us likewise of the unbelief that can happen along the way. That's the first thing.
So therefore, he's inviting them to examine their hearts. And he mentions the heart here in verse eight. He mentions the heart. Do not harden your heart.
And again, at verse 10, they always go astray in their heart. And so we need to think about our heart. Now I met a woman, she lives in Dallas. And during her move to Dallas, she needed some mundane medication.
And so she hadn't found a doctor yet. She called her brother who was a doctor and asked him to call in a prescription for her. And her brother reluctantly called in. But insisted that she find a doctor ASAP.
And a few months later, she called and asked him for the same favor. And again, he reluctantly agreed. And then a year later, she calls him again and says, you know, I still haven't found a doctor. Well, you call him in this prescription for me.
And he responded, no, you are going to grow up and go to a real doctor. And she says that summer I grew up and went to a real doctor for the first time in 10 years. And since she was a new patient, they scheduled her for a routine physical. And the doctor and her are chatting.
And as she sticks the stethoscope up to her chest to elicit to her heart, the doctor says quietly, tell me about your heart. And she said, what do you mean? The doctor tells her, well, you need to see a cardiologist right away. And she responds, what are you talking about?
I'm 31 years old and in great health. And the doctor says, well, I'm not sure what's going on, but it's not good. So I need to send you to someone who can help you. And so that same day, she sent off to the cardiologist and the tech hooks her up to the EKG machine and they're chatting.
And then says, what's wrong with your heart? The doctor's going to want to see you right away. And the doctor comes in and makes her walk on a treadmill and gives her sleep monitor, takes an ultrasound at the heart, turns out her heart rate asleep at night in the middle night with 150. It had no regular rhythm.
And the doctor said, you can be on medicine for the rest of your life, or you can have it surgically corrected. And this young woman replied, this can't be happening. I went to the doctor this morning to get clarity. And the doctor said, you don't understand, you're in a dangerous place with your heart.
And she said, well, otherwise I'm healthy, right? And the doctor replied, there is no health apart from your heart. So she ended up having the surgery. And the same is true spiritually.
There is no health apart from your heart. The heart is the main thing in religion. And it's the battleground. And so the author is inviting us to examine our own heart and notice we might say, or we put it this way, three questions.
We ought to examine our heart with, versus seven and eight. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. What's he saying? He's quoting Psalm 95.
And he doesn't say here, interesting who the human author is. And if you go to Psalm 95, it doesn't say as many do of David or of Asaph or any other. It's just there without a human author noted. And the only thing we need to know, this author says, is, well, the author of the Psalms has got the Holy Spirit as is true of David's Psalms as well.
And so he says, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, and he quotes the Old Testament scripture, because the Spirit inspired that word. And the Spirit of God is speaking to us through that word. And we need to remember just at the beginning, as a bit of an aside, that the Holy Spirit was active in the Old Testament. He didn't just pop up on the scene in the days of Pentecost.
But the Spirit who inspired the apostles to give us the New Testament also inspired the prophets to give us the Old Testament. And so he says, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. The Psalm is a warning to us as Christians against a hardened attitude. And that was a term that was used to Pharaoh.
You remember Pharaoh hardened his heart against the Lord. That's the Old Testament way of describing somebody who's in spiritual rebellion. And so he's saying to us, now, when you hear about Jesus, and you hear that Jesus is God and God in the flesh, he's the creator of all things, the sustainer of all things. He's the heir of all things.
He's the one who restores humanity, reconciles us to God, rescues us from sin, and death, and Satan, and God's wrath. He's the one who builds God's house. He's faithful to his people, to his house. When you hear all that, don't buck up against him.
Today is the day to listen. He's not speaking a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. He's speaking to you today. These words are for you today, today.
If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. But rather let such kindness, such sweet kindness of Jesus actually melt your heart. That's the first thing we need to ask ourselves about our heart. And the second is, do you put God to the test?
Notice that language in verse eight and nine, do not harden your heart as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your father's put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. What do they do? They put God to the test to see if he was worthy of their trust. And they grumbled about water, and they grumbled about food, and they grumbled about the journey to Canaan.
And in every case, God provided for his people. But they complained, is the Lord among us or not? They saw these spectacular things. The cloud, the fire, the party of the Red Sea, the boy with the man and all the rest.
Is God here or not? They asked. You may remember as well, in Exodus 32, Moses went up on the mountain to meet with the Lord face to face, and they complained about how long he was gone. And while he was gone, did they wait for him?
No, they fashioned a golden calf after the gods of Egypt, and they worshipped the metal bull. They just had to have some physical object God hadn't given them because they wouldn't listen to the words he said to them. They wanted to use their eyes to see, make him prove himself. Went, of course, all along.
He had proved himself. But God wanted them to use their ears to hear him, to listen to his voice, to trust in his promises. And time and again, they wouldn't trust him, and they did it for 40 years. So the author is asking us, do we put God to the test?
Do we have an attitude that God needs to prove himself to us before we'll trust in him? That's a dangerous symptom of a hard and potentially unbelieving heart here. And then we might ask about our own heart. Do we go astray in our heart?
Notice that language of verse 10. Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. So they had wandering hearts.
They heard God's will. They'd been given God's commands. And though their feet kept marching with Moses, so to speak, however, reluctantly, in their hearts, they went anywhere and everywhere but with the Lord. They didn't want to know the Lord.
They didn't want to walk with the Lord. And though they were called to repentance, they didn't want to turn back to the Lord. And they didn't. They always went astray in their hearts.
And they didn't care. They didn't care enough to repent. But the Lord cared. He was provoked against them.
He was indignant. He was righteously angry. And so verse 11, he says, I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. And so the writer reminds us of all this as a bad example.
And he's saying to us, don't be like them. It didn't end well for them. And so he says in verse 12, rather pointedly, don't fall away. Take care, brothers and sisters, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
Don't fall away. A hardened heart that won't listen to the Lord. Heart that always tests the Lord. That always goes astray.
Is he says, well, it's the evidence of an evil, unbelieving heart. If you will not trust him, you will not know him. And you will not enjoy being close to him. And in the end, you end up far from him is what he's saying.
And that's really not all that's surprising. That's the way things work in normal human relationships. When you start to distrust someone, does it lead you in a closer intimacy in relationship with them? No.
Some of you have seen this in business dealings. When one person begins to distrust the honesty of the other person, it doesn't lead to good business dealings. No. It doesn't lead to closer business relationships.
No, it leads to fracturing of relationships. And we see this time and again in marriages, where there isn't trust. There isn't closeness. The relationship ends up cold at best.
The difference, of course, here is that God is not to blame in any of this. Sometimes when distrust comes into a business relationship, it's because there's a good reason, such you with marriage. But here, God has done nothing to deserve his people, not trusting him. Nothing is more illogical and unreasonable than unbelief.
It refuses to accept the overwhelming evidence, because it does not want to believe. As Jesus made clear in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, you remember that no evidence of God's goodness and love is sufficient for the person who doesn't want to believe. Remember, in Luke 16, Jesus said, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. And Jesus rose from the dead.
And people still refuse to believe him, because unbelief is the basic fallen condition of every human heart. We are our own worst enemy. And so we are called to stop waiting for more proof, stop saying, I'll believe in Jesus when God satisfies my every objection. Because what we're really saying then is, when God bows to me, then I'll bow to him.
When God answers every question of my unbelief, then I'll believe. When God gives me as much knowledge of everything he has, then I'll acknowledge him as he is. And that's just absurd, right? Because what we're really saying is, we want him to make us God before we choose to have him as our God.
And he won't have us on those terms. And we need to see here that I'm believing in the gospel is the supreme evidence of that heart and what he calls an evil heart. Maybe you don't trust Jesus. It could be certainly your friends who don't.
And they tend to think, the really bad sins are things like adultery or murder or stealing or perjury or hypocrisy of Christians. I mean, those are the really bad things, right? And then maybe they feel good about themselves because they say to themselves, I haven't done those things. Or maybe they're saying to themselves, my heart doesn't feel evil.
It just doesn't care about Jesus. And the authors say, well, exactly. That is the great evil. You don't trust Jesus to be your Savior and your Lord?
How proud you are. How confident you must be in your own righteousness. And yet how sad? Because that is the one unforgivable sin.
When you talk about a sin against the Holy Spirit, which can never be forgiven, certainly it is the sin of rejecting Jesus because the Spirit has come to bear witness to Jesus and to convict us of sin and righteousness and judgment. To drive us to Jesus. But if we refuse to listen to his voice, if we reject the only Savior there is, there is no other place or no other person who can save us. And so it's unforgivable because we've turned our back on the only one in whom there is pardon.
But there's good news for you today because today is the day of salvation, right? Jesus lived among us. He was tested in the wilderness. He was tempted by the devil.
And unlike all of us, his heart was true to God because we by nature have an evil and believing heart and he never did. He trusted God for provision. He counted on God for protection. He obeyed God's word.
He did not put God to the test. He worshiped and served God only. And Jesus then walked in Israel's steps and he succeeded where they failed. He succeeded where you and I have failed.
And so we're invited to put our trust in him. And when we find ourselves struggling to cry out, as one did, I believe Lord, help my unbelief. This is what the hard heart will not do. It wants answers to every objection.
It wants satisfaction of every desire that won't repent until it gets what it wants. And it never is satisfied with what it gets. It says, Jesus, you answer to me, be my servant and I shall be your Lord. Do what I tell you to do.
Prove yourself. May that hardness of heart never be true of us. May the Lord make itself. Let's pray.
Father, we believe, help our unbelief. We do trust in your son. We thank you for him. Grant that we would more and more look away from ourselves and be always looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
In his name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let me invite you to stand and we'll sing.
O come, call ye faithful.