Does God punish some believers? Hebrews 3:7-19
Please stand for the reading of God’s Word
Hebrews 3:7–19 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ” 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
How’s your heart?
Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
- 900X Bible (emotions, will, decision-driver)
- Heart is upstream. Life is downstream.
Hardness of heart
Hebrews 3:7–19 the Holy Spirit says [Psalm 95:8], “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…They always go astray in their heart…Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God….that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin….“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”…disobedient…because of unbelief.
Hardness of heart is the ongoing stubborn unresponsiveness to God and His Word, and a willful insensitivity to the Holy Spirit. As the heart continues to harden, grumbling and sinning against God reveal spiritual rejection of and hostility toward God. Apart from true ongoing repentance, a hard heart leads to condemnation and is evidence that someone was never truly born again, but rather a counterfeit Christian.
Hard heart – 1st Pharoah (spoken of by Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Job, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, Paul, John, Jesus)
Satan is the father of the hard-hearted
Isaiah 14:12-13 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!…You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high…
Ezekiel 28:1-2 says the Lord God: “Because your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god…
The first mention in the Bible of a hard heart is Pharaoh
Exodus 4:21 the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17)
Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32, 9:7, 34, 35; 13:15)
The Exodus Wilderness Wanderings are a Case Study in Hard Hearts (Hebrews 3:7-19)
God crushed Pharoah for his hard heart
God set His people/slaves free.
-Miracle after miracle (10 plagues)
-Food morning. -Cloud day. -Fire night. -Moses & 10 Commandments
Free people did not live free.
Free people hardened their own heart just like Pharaoh
- Grumbling – arguing w/God; judging God; deconstructing faith
- Sinning – golden calf (worship idols) = sexual sin of all sorts
=God was faithful for 40 years to unfaithful people & they did not soften their hearts.
=The entire generation died, not allowed to enter Promised Land (picture Heaven)
Your hard heart stirs anger in God’s heart
Hebrews 3:7-11 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 forty years. I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
- God “provoked”, “wrath” = 40 yrs keep failing same test
Your hard heart will turn an 11-day journey into 40 wasted years
Hebrews 3:9,17 “forty years”
Deuteronomy 1:1–2 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness…It is eleven days’ journey…
Your hard heart will cause you to die without receiving blessings God had for you
Exodus 3:17-19 And with whom was he provoked 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 unable to enter because of unbelief.
Do you have a hard heart to repent of before you die as a counterfeit Christian?
Proverbs 28:14 Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
Matthew 15:7-9 [Jesus said] You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me…”
Your heart is your responsibility
A hard life is no excuse for a hard heart
Once you harden your heart toward God, you harden your heart toward everyone
Satan is using the cult of empathy – harden hearts – grumble & sin = “compassion”
Prayer Team Forward
Hebrews 3:7 the Holy Spirit says, “Today…do not harden your hearts
Hebrews 3:13 exhort one another… “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 3:15 “Today…do not harden your hearts
