8  Do Not Harden  Your Hearts (3:7-19)

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.’ ” Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you 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 should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. (3:7-19)

From Genesis to Revelation the Bible is full of warning signs from God, meant to deter men from sin and thereby keep them from His wrath. The Old Testament tells us that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11), and the New Testament tells us that He does not wish for anyone to perish but wants everyone to repent (2 Pet. 3:9). God did not create man to be doomed to hell, and throughout His Word He continually warns him of the dangers and penalty of sin.

Hebrews 3:7-19 is one of these warnings. The Holy Spirit seems to be giving a supernatural push to anyone on the edge of accepting Jesus Christ. Many people intellectually accept the gospel. They believe its message, but never commit themselves to the One whom that gospel proclaims. They do not repent of their sins and turn wholeheartedly to Him as Savior and Lord. It is no favor to God—and no benefit to us—to like, to admire, to praise His gospel, without accepting and obeying it. To know the truth and not accept it brings worse judgment than never to have known it at all.

The warning here is to those who know the gospel, who affirm its truth, but who, because of love of sin or fear of persecution or whatever it may be, have not committed themselves to the truth they know is real. It is as if there were a fire in a hotel and they are on the tenth floor. Because there is a net below, the firemen are yelling, “Jump.” But they do not jump. They hesitate. They are well aware of the danger and they know the net is their only way of escape; but they do not act on what they know is true and necessary. They are concerned about saving some of their possessions, or perhaps they think that somehow they can find another way out. They may be afraid of being hurt from the fall. Some might even be concerned about how they would look while jumping—afraid of embarrassment. But the point is this: simply knowing about the danger and knowing about the way out of it will not save them. If they do not jump they will die. When your very life is at stake, nothing else should matter.

The writer of Hebrews, under the Spirit’s leading, has a great concern for his fellow Jews who are in this predicament. They have heard the gospel, some of them from the mouth of an apostle, but for various reasons they hold back from commitment. Some, apparently, had made a profession of faith or had given some statement of confidence in Christ, but were beginning to fall back. When they started getting ridiculed by their friends, they began to waver and hesitate. They were not willing to throw their whole weight on Jesus, and as a result they became apostate. Knowing the truth, they willingly and intentionally turned away from it.

To enforce the warning, the Spirit uses an Old Testament story very familiar to Jews. Moses has just been mentioned, and it is from the time of this greatest of Old Testament leaders that the story comes. It falls into four parts: the illustration of Israel; the invitation to take heed; the instruction to exhort one another; and the issue of unbelief.

THE ILLUSTRATION OF ISRAEL

One of the best ways to begin a sermon is to give an illustration. Once you have the people’s attention, you go to the Scripture to affirm your point. That is what the Spirit of God does here. In this case the illustration itself is from Scripture. Hebrews 3:7-11 is a quotation of Psalm 95:7-11. The passage quoted was written probably in the time of David, but it speaks about the time of Moses. It is a moving example of the problem many Jews faced in the time of the early church. It describes Israel’s disobedience and rejection of God in the Exodus wanderings.

The psalmist used this story to warn his people against disbelief. A thousand years later the writer of Hebrews used it for the same purpose. Nearly two thousand more years later the warning is still valid.

The Holy Spirit here says to the Hebrews who are on the edge of decision but have never made a commitment, “Don’t harden your hearts, hear today and do today what God wants you to do. Don’t do what the children of Israel did even after they had seen proof of God’s power and care for forty years. They continued not to believe in Him. Don’t do that.”

PROOF OF THE BIBLE’S INSPIRATION

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice.” (3:7)

Here is one of the clearest testimonies in Scripture to its own divine inspiration. The writer of Hebrews is saying that the Holy Spirit was the author of Psalm 95, from which Hebrews 3:7b-ll is quoted. Inspiration is the Holy Spirit’s speaking through the minds of God’s human instruments. What the psalmist said was not his own opinion or his own choice of words. When he wrote these words the Holy Spirit was speaking. That is divine inspiration. Those are the words of the Spirit of God, who is the true Author of Scripture. “For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet. 1:21). The Holy Spirit was involved in the writing of every word of Scripture. That is why it is sin in the first degree, and opens the floodgates to every kind of heresy possible, to deny the absolute verbal inspiration of Scripture. God originated the autographs, the first copies, to the very word.

The basic warning from the psalm (“Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”) is used three times in Hebrews 3 (vv. 7-8, 13, 15) and once in chapter 4 (v. 7). Today, of course, indicates urgency. It means “now,” not necessarily a 24-hour period. It refers to the period of grace, which sometimes may be less than 24 hours. In other words, it refers to the present moment. If you know the truth of Jesus Christ, if you know the gospel of Jesus Christ, do not do what Israel did when she knew God’s truth and saw His revelation. It is so foolish and dangerous to harden your heart. You never know how long you will have to decide. “For He says, ‘At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you’; behold, now is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, now is ‘the day of salvation’ ” (2 Cor. 6:2). God’s time for salvation is always now.

In his earlier ministry D.L. Moody often would end his message with, “Go home and think about what I’ve said.” One night in Chicago he told the people to do this and to come back the next night ready to make a decision. That night the Chicago fire broke out, and some who had been in his congregation died. That was the last time he told anyone to think over the claims of Christ and make a decision later. No one knows if he will have a tomorrow in which to decide. Today signifies the present time of grace. Men today, as in the time of Moody and in the time of Hebrews and in the time of David and in the time of Moses, never know how long that time of grace for them will be.

Listening to God and obeying Him are matters of will. So is hardening the heart to Him, as Israel did. Paul warns that our hearts, or consciences, can become seared and insensitive, as skin does when it is badly burned (1 Tim. 4:2). The scar tissue that replaces the skin has very little feeling.

When I was in college I was thrown out of a car that was going about 75 miles an hour. I slid some 100 yards on my back and suffered third-degree burns from the friction. The resulting scar tissue is now insensitive.

Something very much like this happens to a conscience that is repeatedly disregarded. “Today” lasts only as long as there is opportunity to decide—and as long as the conscience is sensitive to God. When a person’s “today” is over, it is then too late. His heart gets harder every time he says no to Jesus Christ or to any part of His truth or will. When the heart is soft, when the conscience is sensitive, when the intellect is convinced about Christ—that is the time to decide, when one is still pliable and responsive. Otherwise he will eventually become spiritually hard, stubborn, and insensitive. The gospel will no longer have any appeal.

Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness. (3:8)

Israel had been in Egypt for more than 400 years, the last 200 years or so as slaves. Afraid that the Hebrews would become a threat, the Egyptians tried to weaken them and deplete their numbers by hard, oppressive labor in building cities and perhaps even pyramids. They were overworked, underfed, and regularly beaten. As both punishment and as an inducement to let His people leave this land, God afflicted the Egyptians with a series of ten plagues, the last and worst of which caused the death of all their firstborn. At this, Pharaoh pleaded with the Israelites to leave, which they hurriedly did under Moses’ leadership. By the time they reached the Red Sea, Pharaoh had changed his mind and had led his troops to bring them back. God performed another miracle, allowing His people to travel through the parted waters, which afterward engulfed and drowned the pursuing army of Egypt.

After they arrived for the trial in the wilderness, God continued to bless them with miracles—travel direction by pillars of cloud and of fire (for night travel) and provision of food and good water. After each blessing they were satisfied only for a brief time. They soon started again to complain and to doubt God. They became the classic illustration of unbelief in the face of overwhelming evidence. God had clearly and miraculously revealed Himself; they knew He had revealed Himself; they knew what He expected them to do; and they saw evidence after evidence of His power and His blessing. But they never really believed. Just as the Egyptians quickly got over their fear of God, the Israelites quickly got over their trust of Him. They would not commit themselves to Him in faith. As a result, they had to wander and wander and wander—until all of the ungrateful, untrusting, unbelieving generation had died. For some forty years they wandered around in circles in a barren, desolate, and oppressive land—because of their unbelief.

Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years. (3:9)

Unbelief never has enough proof. Asking for more proof is simply a pretext, an excuse, a delaying tactic. The people of Israel kept testing God, and the day of trial lasted forty years. “Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water that we may drink.’ And Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ ” (Ex. 17:1-2). They were not trusting God for water in faith; they were demanding water from God as their due and as a test to see if He really could and would provide it. Their real purpose is spelled out a few verses later: “They tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us, or not?’ ” (17:7). God had been providing for them all along; they had abundant evidence of His power and care. But they would not put their full trust in God, so they kept saying, in effect, “God, just do this one more thing for us so we’ll know you’re real.” But when He protected them again or provided for them again, they still did not believe. “Don’t be like these people,” pleads the writer of Hebrews. “Don’t make excuses for not believing; don’t harden your hearts to God like they did—or you will lose your opportunity like they did.”

God had released the Israelites from Egypt by awesome, miraculous plagues. Just as miraculously He brought them through the Red Sea and destroyed their pursuers. Without fail He had provided manna to feed them and the pillars of cloud and fire to guide them. But they still asked, “Is God among us?” Nothing is more illogical or unreasonable than unbelief. It refuses to accept the most overwhelming evidence—simply because unbelief does not want to believe. As Jesus made clear in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, no evidence is sufficient for the person who does not want to believe. “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). The person, on the other hand, who wants to believe trusts God despite any evidence that may seem to be lacking. He says, “I do believe; help my unbelief (Mark 9:24).

Most people do not need more proof that God is real or that Jesus is His Son and the Savior. They need to hate and repent of their sin and to commit themselves to Him. A God who is continually tested will never be accepted. The one who tests God today does so for the same reason as did the Israelites in Moses day—to put Him off, because they love their sin, their own way, their own plans too much to give them up for God’s.

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.’” (3:10-11)

The word angry does not mean simply unhappy or disappointed. It means vexed, wrought up, incensed. God was extremely angry with Israel’s sin. The people kept it up, kept it up, and kept it up. The Septuagint of this passage could be rendered, “God loathed them.” He rejected and repudiated them. Why? Because they always went astray in their heart; and they did not know My ways.

As the Israelites finally neared the Promised Land, God commanded them to send out twelve men to spy it out before they entered. The majority report was extremely negative and pessimistic. They saw the enemy as giants and themselves as “grasshoppers.” The minority report, by Caleb and Joshua, was optimistic—not because they underestimated the power of the enemy but because they knew the power of the Lord to be greater. The people believed the majority report and immediately began to grumble and complain to Moses and Aaron. As punishment, God said, “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs, which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it” (Num. 14:22-23). They had more than enough evidence to believe that He could lead them safely into the land of milk and honey, but they would not believe Him and they were not allowed to enter. The rest was Canaan, where the toil of wandering would end. As we shall see in the next chapter, it is a symbol of salvation.

That is when today is over. You can stand on the verge of receiving Jesus Christ for a long time, toying with the idea and thinking, “God, prove Yourself some more. I’m not sure. I’m not quite ready yet.” And one day He will say, “You’ve had enough evidence; it’s over now. It is no longer today; it is tomorrow. You will never see My promised land.”

If Israel had more than enough evidence to trust God in Moses’ day, how much more do we have today? We have the evidence that Jesus Christ the Son of God died on a cross, rose again the third day, and lives and saves men. The evidence is in, the evidence is secure. Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, has manifested God. He has declared Him, He has displayed His love, He has displayed His grace, He has sent the Holy Spirit. We do not need a Moses. In addition to all the historical evidence, we have the third Person of the Trinity to reveal Christ. Unbelief in the face of such overwhelming evidence is tragic indeed—and without excuse.

Even the generation that entered the land never knew God’s rest in the true sense. The first thing God commanded them to do was to exterminate the godless and unbelievably wicked Canaanites. God was going to use His people as a tool of judgment. The Canaanites were so pagan and evil that they buried live babies in jars in the walls of every building they built. They were such a grossly immoral and godless people that God wanted them wiped off the face of the earth. But instead of exterminating the Canaanites, the Israelites moved in with them. Consequently, except for a few hundred years under their own judges and kings, the Israelites were exploited, exiled, and ruled by a succession of Gentile conquerors. In A.D. 70 their Temple was destroyed and they have since been scattered across the world. Only in our own day has God begun to gather them back to a homeland. Israel’s final rest will come only in the Kingdom that His Son will build when He returns again.

THE INVITATION: TAKE HEED

Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. (3:12)

Based on the illustration of Israel’s unbelief in the wilderness, an appeal is made to the readers of Hebrews not to follow this example. It is a warning against rejecting truth that is known. The judgment of the wilderness days fell on those who rejected God’s Word through Moses, and the warning here is to those who reject God’s Word in Christ. Brethren is not a reference to Christians, as is “holy brethren” in 3:1. It refers to racial brothers, unbelieving Jews, as the term does throughout the book of Acts.

The greatest sin in the world is unbelief. It is the greatest offense against God and brings the greatest harm to ourselves. These readers were informed about the gospel. Many, perhaps, professed to be Christians. None considered himself to be actively, aggressively against Christ; but they all were against Him. No matter how close a person may be to accepting Jesus Christ as Savior, if he never comes to Him, he still has an evil, unbelieving heart. His punishment will be all the more severe because of his knowledge of the living God. If such “have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance” (Heb. 6:6). When you have heard the truth of Jesus Christ, when you have acknowledged that it is the truth, and then turn your back and walk away from Him, there is nothing God can do. Once you have heard the gospel and understood its claims, and then say no to Jesus Christ, you have fallen away. You have become apostate.

The Holy Spirit is saying to everyone who hears the gospel: “Respond to Jesus while your heart is still warmed and softened by His truth, while it is still sensitive. Respond to His sweet love and His call of grace. Wait too long and you will find your heart getting hard and insensitive. The decision will become harder and harder as your heart becomes harder and harder. If you continue to follow your evil, unbelieving heart rather than the gospel, you will forever depart from the living God, and forfeit salvation rest.

Turning away from Jesus Christ is not rejecting a religion. Turning away from Jesus Christ is much more than rejecting historical, traditional Christianity. Turning away from Jesus Christ is turning away from the living God. It is turning away from life itself.

THE INSTRUCTION: EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (3:13)

Encourage is from the Greek parakale, a form of the word used by Jesus of the Holy Spirit in John 14:16. The root meaning has to do with coming alongside to give help. The writer is saying to the believers among those to whom he is writing, “Get along side each other and help each other.” They are especially urged to help their unbelieving Jewish brethren by encouraging them not to harden their hearts but to accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Deceitfulness means “trickery” or “strategem.” Sin is tricky; it seldom appears as it really is. It always masks itself. It lies and deceives (cf. Rom. 7:11). When a person becomes spiritually hardened, he rarely is aware of it. He can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ time and time again and not respond. My father often used the well-known expression, “The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay.” If your heart is not melted in faith, it will be hardened in unbelief.

The old nature constantly suggests that sin is not as bad and that trust in Christ is not as important as the Bible says. Becoming a Christian seems too costly, too demanding, too restrictive, too drab and unexciting—and, above all, unnecessary. From one’s own perspective, he does not seem so wicked. “I take care of my family, I am a helpful neighbor and a good citizen. I’m not perfect, of course, but I’m not evil, either. My life has room for improvement, but it doesn’t need ‘saving.’ ” So the thinking goes. This is what the sin nature deceitfully tells men about their need for salvation.

God’s assessment is quite different. “But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” (Heb. 10:38-39). There we have it. You stand on the edge of decision, a decision which you cannot escape. Either you believe to the saving of your soul or you fall back to damnation.

CONTINUANCE IS PROOF OF SALVATION

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end. (3:14)

If we really believe the gospel, if we have committed our life to Jesus Christ, then at the end of the day, the end of the year, the end of life, our commitment will still stand. The greatest proof of salvation is continuance in the Christian life. The true believer stays with Christ. “If you abide in My word,” Jesus said, “then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31). When someone departs from the gospel, backs away from the faith, we can only conclude that this person never believed. “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19). Staying with the Lord marks the difference between possession and profession.

THE ISSUE: UNBELIEF

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 should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. (3:15-19)

The appeal to turn to the Lord without delay is repeated again. God had become angry with all those who came out of Egypt who would not believe, and in anger He refused them His rest in the Promised Land. The writer pleads with his readers not to follow that example and suffer that fate. The disobedience of unbelief forfeits blessing and brings judgment.

The illustration and invitation and instruction are worthless apart from belief in that to which they all point. God has great blessings prepared. He wants to pour out these riches on us, not only in this life but throughout all eternity. There is one thing required—faith. They were not able to enter because of unbelief (cf. Prov. 29:1; Jude 5).

Many say, “I can’t believe. I have a pragmatic, empirical mind that has to see the facts, weigh all the evidence.” But everyone lives by faith. We live by faith when we go into a restaurant and eat the food without questioning its safety. When driving down the highway, we are not in constant fear that around the next bend the road will lead us into a river where there is no bridge. We trust the people who made the highways and the people who have traveled over them before us. We live by faith almost constantly. If we can put our faith in the highway department and the people who prepare our food, we surely can put our faith in the God of the universe. Not to trust in Him is fatal.