HEBREWS 3:7

The Bible says in Hebrews 3:7-8, “Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.” In verse seven through eleven the writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95:7-11. Notice that when he quotes the Psalm that was written one thousand years before Christ, the writer of Hebrews says “the Holy Ghost saith.” “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

The first two words of Hebrews 3:7 and Psalm 95:7 are “Today if.” Today is the day of salvation, not tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come. Today may be your last chance to make things right with Christ. This verse says, “if ye will hear his voice,” because God has given every person a free will. Before you are saved, you can exercise your free will to turn to Christ or to harden your heart against Him. After you are saved, you can use your free will to surrender to God’s will each day or to harden your heart against Him.

One thing to notice about this passage from Psalm chapter 95 is that it is talking to believers and about believers. Sometimes this passage is used in reference to unbelievers, and some of the same principles do apply. But we must remember that this passage is addressed to believers when it says, “harden not your heart.” We are going to be given an example of what happened to believers in the Old Testament in order to make a comparison to what can also happen to believers in the day in which we live.

The event that is being referred to from the Old Testament is called “the provocation” and “the temptation in the wilderness.” A provocation refers to making someone angry. When a believer hardens his heart against God, it makes God angry. Most of man’s anger is unrighteous, but God’s anger is always righteous anger. God can get angry with His people. God can chastise His people. “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” For example, it says in Numbers 25:1-3, “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” Concerning the hardness of heart of the children of Israel and the consequences of it, the Bible says in Numbers 26:65, “For the Lord said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.”

Concerning the time that the children of Israel were in the wilderness after being saved from Egypt, the Bible says in Hebrews 3:9-10, “When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.” There were two main problems with the children of Israel in the wilderness according to these verses. They “always err in their heart” was one problem. The other problem God addressed by saying, “They have not known my ways.” We see that it is a problem of the heart more than anything else. That is why a person can seem to be a moral person outwardly, but inwardly be far from God. A person can seem to be living a Christian life outwardly, but inwardly can be far from God. This is especially true of church-goers or of those in so-called Christian service. It says that they “always err in their heart.” To always error implies that there is no repentance. But a Christian should always be watching his own heart, prepared to repent of any sin that creeps in. The sin of pride, the sin of idolatry, and the sin of self-will easily afflict the Christian as well as any other sin that man is prone to do. That is why First John 1:9 says to Christians, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.”

The children of Israel in the wilderness did not know God’s ways. It is not as though they did not have a chance to learn His ways. They saw His works for forty years. How patient God is with His children because He is teaching us to learn to walk with Him by faith. He is kind and patient with His children, but there comes a time when those believers who have hardened their hearts against God must be punished. Believers will be punished by God in these situations. This principle of God’s ways is given very clearly in Hebrews 3:11. It says, “So I swear in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.” This is not talking about eternal life. This is talking about the place where God would have led them in this life. Instead of going into the promised land, they died in the wilderness. They never saw the fulfillment of what God would have called them to see and to accomplish in this life. How much has been lost because of the hardness of hearts. We are not talking about the hard hearts of unbelievers here. We are talking about the hard and sinful hearts of believers. They became believers, and they had time to learn; but they never learned the ways of God.

That is why Hebrews 3:12 says, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” This verse gives clearly the definition of an evil heart. You have an evil heart, if you have a heart of unbelief. Notice that this is talking to believers. A believer can end up having an evil heart of unbelief. You can be a believer in the sense that one time in the past you believed on the Lord for salvation. But you can depart from the Lord and have a heart of unbelief. If you stop trusting in the Lord, and stop looking to the Lord, and stop depending upon the Lord; then you have acquired an evil heart of unbelief. Many Christians need to pray this prayer: “Lord, I believe. Help mine unbelief.” There is only one life that pleases God: the life of faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” “The just shall live by faith.”

The Bible says in Hebrews 3:13, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” This verse shows one of the values to Christian fellowship. It is easy to fall away from the Lord. There are many enemies of your soul. The world, the flesh, and the devil can overpower you. You need to pay close attention to your own heart, but it helps if there is another Christian who knows how to exhort you. That is one of the values of a Christian marriage. If you both know the Lord, and if you both grow in the Lord, you can learn to watch for each other’s soul. You can exhort one another.

Hebrews 3:13 says, “lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Sin has a terrible price to pay in the life of a Christian. That is why a Christian must learn to be quick to repent and to turn to the Lord every day. Notice that this verse speaks of the deceitfulness of sin. The true way of following Christ has some very basic principles to it. It is a straight and narrow way. Compromise with sin is not allowed. Sin is wrong. Sin must be avoided above all things. Sin must be honestly repented of: if and when it happens. It is a sad day when someone has been deceived by sin into thinking that they will get away with it. A believer can become deceived and hardened by sin.

The Bible says in Hebrews 3:14, “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.” In this passage of scripture we are on the theme of what happens to Christians in this life. It says, “if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” If someone serves Christ by faith for twenty years, and then stops doing so, such a person will have failed to meet this condition. This condition is all about faith. The word “confidence” refers to the faith that you have in Christ. You believe that Christ is guiding you. You believe that He is with you. You believe that Jesus forgives your sins. Unless you have this kind of confidence in Him, then you are not actively partaking of Christ.

Notice that Hebrews 3:14 speaks of “the beginning of our confidence.” The goal is to have the same dependence upon Christ and the same faith in Christ that we had the moment that we were first saved. “As ye have received the Lord Jesus, so walk ye in Him.” True Christianity is based upon the concept that all of our hope and all of our faith and all of our trust is placed in Jesus, and we have no where else to look. True Christianity is based upon the concept that we look to Jesus because we are sinners, and His salvation is our only hope.

Those who have become believers in Jesus, but who later turn away from that hope are in grave danger. The warning that was given earlier in this chapter is now repeated in Hebrews 3:15-16. It says, “While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.” Remember that Moses was compared to Christ in Hebrews 3:2-6, and of course, Jesus is greater than Moses. Moses delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. Jesus delivered us from the hold that the world had on us. Moses would have led the children of Israel into a greater land and a far better land in this world. There the children of Israel could have lived and served God. In the same way Jesus wants to lead each of His children into a close fellowship with Him, so that each believer has a productive and fruitful life in this world. But many of the children of Israel never made it to the promised land. They wandered in the wilderness for the rest of their days upon this earth. What might have been! What a waste of opportunity! They still went to heaven when they died, but they lost so much here on this earth. The same is true concerning believers in Jesus. Many have believed in Jesus, but not near so many continued to walk with Him bearing fruit for Christ throughout the length of their lives. Sometimes you hear a story concerning someone who is considered to have been a great Christian, perhaps because of some great burden that they had to bear by faith or perhaps because of some great work that they accomplished through Christ. But the truth is that every believer can become a great Christian, if only they will continue to follow Jesus.

Unfortunately, many believers will spend their lives on this earth wandering in the wilderness, and never arriving at the spiritual place where Christ would have taken them. How does such a terrible thing happen? They started well. They were saved by faith in Christ. What went wrong? Two things happened somewhere along the way: sin and unbelief. Hebrews 3:17-18 says, “But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?”

Sin and unbelief always go together. Behind every doubt is a sin. Everyone sins. “No man doeth good and sinneth not.” Thank God there is a solution to sin. The solution is belief. To believe means to rely upon and to trust in. If you rely daily upon Jesus to forgive your daily sins, then you are continuing to believe in Him. That is the message of First John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Christians who do not learn to apply this verse to their lives daily are in danger of perishing in the wilderness of this world instead of entering into the spiritual rest and fruitfulness that Christ would give to them in this life.

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