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HEAR GOD’S VOICE. Hebrews 3:7-11. 7/16/2023. #10.
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
1. The voice of God
a. This is a quote from PS. 95:7-11
a1. Israel heard God but did not heed God
a2. To hear (akouo – to understand and respond) means to receive and act upon
b. Do not harden (sklero – to dry out) one’s heart (to become austere or harsh)
a1. We have a choice to seek God and soften your heart or rebel and harden our hearts
a2. The evidence of God, His grace, and His will were very clear and obvious
c. Repeatedly rebellious Israel was punished but they still continued to complain and rebel
a1. God was angry with Israel and finally made them walk the desert for 40 years until the Exodus gen. died off
a2. Through refusing to obey God, he could not bless them with the good land, but cursed them with a desert
d. God will not bargain with us or go our way
a1. Job 38 God does not seek or receive our counsel or demands
a2. We are to submerge our will to God’s
e. A stubborn heart is prideful and self-destructive
f. Jewish believers were being stubborn
2. The warning repeated
a. God was saying that the Jewish believers
a1. God used the illustration of His dealing with Israel in the wilderness as a warning not to be hard like their them
a2. To put God to the test is to invite judgment upon oneself
b. A hard heart defies God
a1. Source of a hard heart is sinful pride
a2. One chooses to harden one’s own heart
b1. Obeys the voice of willfulness
b2. Follows the habits of rebellion
a3. Hardness tests God
a4. One cannot know the ways of God when seeking to go one’s own way (cannot serve
two masters)
c. Even though Jewish Christians were taught the way of God, they still held onto their traditions and Law
a1. God warned them that they will suffer loss if they tried to add onto the Gospel
a2. A hybrid of Law and grace would pollute and degrade what Christ had done
d. When we hold onto traditions, rituals, rules, and misconceptions not found in Scripture, we cheapen the grace of Christ and replace faith with customs
3. To hear the voice of God
a. God speaks to us today through His Word
a1. As we incorporate the Word into our lives, the Spirit can use the Word to lead us
a2. A predetermination to obey the Word and the leading of Spirit will lead to faithfulness
b. Important to drop what we are holding onto that is neither biblical, not godly
c. Must seek the voice of God and the ways of God
a1. Fallen state leads to a hard heart
a2. Be aware of own sinful nature and control it
d. Most believers do not fully seek the voice of God