Hebrews 3:7-8
13 April 2025
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...”
So if we just take a sort of glancing view at the remaining part of this entire chapter, you'll notice a repeating theme. In verse seven, we see, "Today, if you hear His voice," and in verse eight, "Do not harden your hearts." In verse twelve, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart," and then in verse fifteen again, it says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion." So we have a repeated warning in this passage about hardening your heart.
We are going to be taking a few Sundays to work our way through this passage, but it is vital that, as we prepare to deal with this opening section, we have this in view. Some portions of Scripture are written as warnings to us, the Christian today. For example, in First Corinthians 10:6, it says, "Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did."
Here, we have in this particular section a warning drawn from a portion of history in the Old Testament—a period we have spent considerable time studying in the book of Exodus. This takes us from Exodus to Numbers, Deuteronomy, and beyond, focusing on the time Israel spent in the wilderness. It deals with their hardness of heart, which led not only to decades spent in the wilderness but to their eventual death there. As verse eleven says, "They shall not enter God’s rest."
This is the warning for us sitting here this evening, many of whom are professing Christians. It is a warning written to those who belong to the church: Do not harden your hearts. Why would such a warning be given? Because, as those who know Christ as Lord and Saviour, you are a born-again believer and your salvation cannot be lost. Your assurance is absolutely steadfast and certain. But a key question needs to asked and considered: As you sit here in this building this evening, maybe as one who professes faith, but do you sit here as one who has a heart that longs for, that desires the things of God, a heart that loves and is affectionate towards the Lord Jesus Christ, or are you sitting here this evening, stone cold in your heart, hardened to the truth. These are things about Jesus, about the Bible, that you’ve heard many times. You’re not just increasingly apathetic, but you’re outright hardened to this truth.
Because this lesson that we have of Israel in the wilderness is about a people who were chosen. They were set apart. They were a people who had a covenant relationship with God, and yet their hearts were so hardened to the Living God, His Word, and His truth. Could this describe some of us here tonight, presuming we are Christians because of church membership, baptism, or past professions of faith?
Brothers and sisters, in order to be clear about what it means to be a believer in Christ, we need to also be clear about why such warnings are given. So let's get to this text and deal with this first word: "Therefore," because this helps us to consider what we have been dealing with over the past year in the first two and a bit chapters of the book of Hebrews, because it has all been about Christ and His magnificence, His supremacy, His glory over all.
And this is why we have a couple of exhortations that have come so far in the book of Hebrews. The first one in Hebrews 2:1, which says, "Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard." Pay closer attention to the fact that Jesus is the one who was there when the world was created, that Jesus is the one who has come to make the way of salvation, that Jesus is the one who has conquered sin and death, risen, and is now seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, Jesus Christ, who is God, and He is all glorious, we are to pay much closer attention to Him, the one who is greater than the angels—Chapters one and two. The one who in chapter three we've seen more recently is greater, more supreme than Moses.
It's why in Hebrews 3:1 it says, "Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession." Consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of the confession of faith that you have made. Consider the one in whom there is your only your absolute hope, Jesus Christ. And where the contrast was given between Jesus and Moses to the point where we got to in verse 6, when it says, "Christ is faithful over God’s house as a Son, and we are His house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope." This is what the Bible says, we are His house. If indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
This point of ‘if we hold fast our confidence and our hope is something that we'll come to again in verse 14 of the chapter it says, “for we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”
And this is where, when it comes to clarity about the gospel, what we need to realize is that the belief in the gospel, the profession of faith that you have made, is not relegated to simply being a past tense thing where you're holding on to a profession of faith, a prayer that you prayed at one point in your life. No, there is a present-day reality to being a Christian. It's not that today you need to do something in order to make yourself a saved Christian or to make yourself more of a saved Christian. This point, even in verse 6 of Hebrews 3, is exhorting you not to try to be a Christian or to be more of a Christian, but to live as the Christian that you are. That is what is being dealt with here.
But the warning is being laced through this chapter for those who may be sitting here thinking they're Christians, but actually their hearts are actually hardened to the truth. And this is a tension that we're going to be dealing with not simply in Hebrews 3, but as we work our way throughout the book of Hebrews. It's a tension that we see certainly in the time of the old covenant with Israel that we're going to be working through, but also here for the church today.
What is it that makes you a Christian?
Your belief in Christ! Paying “attention to” Christ—Hebrews 2:1.
Considering Christ: Hebrews 3:1—that is a living, ever present reality in your life today.
That is what it means to, to live as a Christian. And it's why warnings like this should make us sit up and take notice, but at the same time, for the true born-again believer, we should be sitting here also rejoicing and marvelling at His precious grace.
As we consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, we know we have the one who has revealed the way to God, because He is that way. It is Christ in whom we are resting in. And so when we have this warning, being given the warning to the Christian is one that should all the more drive us to consider Jesus.
So we have “therefore, as the Holy Spirit says.” And then we have this quote which as was read at the beginning of today's service is a quote from Psalm 95. But one thing we might be wondering is, well, why again, just like the author to the Hebrews has done previously, isn't he citing the passage this is quoting from why is he writing as the Holy Spirit says?
Well, 2nd Peter 1:21 says, “for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” So, this basically means that nothing that is spoken in the Word of God is devoid or separate from the Holy Spirit. In fact, what we know is that if it's in the Word of God, then it is the Holy Spirit who has said it. And this is what reveals the supernatural weight and power of God's Word in our lives. Because it is by the Holy Spirit speaking through His Word, moving in our hearts, giving us the ears, enabling us to understand the truth of God's Word.
On a subject like the hardness of heart, it is only by the Holy Spirit that any of us sit here this evening with something contrary to a hardened heart. It is by the work of the Holy Spirit speaking to and changing our hearts. And this is why on seven occasions in Revelation, in chapter 2, verse 7, 11, 17, 29, and chapter 3, verse 6, 13 and 22, we have the stark warning being given which is of such relevance, “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” So if you can't remember all those seven citations, Revelation 2 and 3, to these churches, every single church, this same thing is said, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
So this evening, even now, as you are hearing what is being unpacked, it should be your prayer, maybe silently, briefly, that the Holy Spirit would be speaking to your heart, challenging and exhorting your heart. Because maybe now, if you're sitting and you're already somewhat drifting off into something else, then pray that the Spirit of God would be doing a work in your heart and in the hearts of the people here this evening.
Because this warning that we are dealing with in this passage is undoubtedly a striking one. It is undoubtedly a striking one when we consider the nature of where Israel was. It is undoubtedly striking when we think not simply about Israel and how blessed they are in the time of the Book of Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, these books in the Old Testament. But it's also striking when we consider Judas, who spent three years with Jesus, or Ananias and Sapphira in the early time of the Book of Acts, and how blessed such individuals, such groups of people were, and yet their hearts were hardened to the truth that was before their eyes.
And so just because you are sitting here in a church that takes the Bible seriously, that takes things like membership seriously, that does not equal: “Well, that must mean I'm not only a Christian, but a mature Christian.”
So let's get to the quote itself. So if we turn briefly to Psalm 95 again. Just before we read from verse seven, notice the opening six verses of this chapter. It begins in verse 1:
“…let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise…”
So it's beginning with praise and adoration of who our God is.
And then in verses three to five, we have the magnifying of our God, how great He is. He is the one who has greatness over everything, over everything that He has made. And then again into verse 6, there is another exhortation.
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down.”
So this psalm begins with the truth about who God is. It's not just whipping up a group of people who are hardening their hearts based on an emotional fleeting time. No, this is based on the truth of who God is. Let's come and worship this great and majestic God. But then, as we come to verse seven, where does the Psalm go? Verse 7:
“For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture,
and the sheep of His hand.”
And here the psalmist writes:
“’…Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put Me to the test
and put Me to the proof, though they had seen My work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known My ways.’
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”
What's the first point in this quoting giving the example of the Israelites in the wilderness? It is this warning, this warning shot to the hearers at the end of verse 7 here in Psalm 95. Today, if you hear His voice. That's how it begins. Before we even get to the history lesson of Israel, first we have this warning shot today. Now, what does today mean? Well, it's not even referring to a 24-hour period of time. It's dealing with the moment, this moment that is appointed by God here this evening that brings you into this building to hear the proclamation of God's Word.
Today, if you hear His voice, there is an urgency in this call, an urgency in what is being written and quoted in the book of Hebrews chapter 3. Today, if you hear the voice of God here, upon the authority of the Word of God, then we have the warning, do not harden your hearts. Because how often do we see, do we witness this in this building, when we're out in the streets and so on with the proclamation of the gospel, people hear the truth of the Scriptures of the Lord Jesus Christ, and their hearts are hardened to this truth.
And it is a heart wrenching thing to consider that this is the truth of God, this is the truth of salvation, the truth of the gospel. And when these truths are presented, when they are proclaimed today, when this is heard, there could even be here in this room, people who are sitting here, hardened in their rebellion. And so we come then to the specific lesson which is given when it says, “today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah, in the wilderness.” This first part is dealing with a passage we've actually already worked through in Exodus chapter 17.
So let's turn to Exodus chapter 17 now, just to jog our memories for those who worked through that series in the book of Exodus, God has already chosen and set apart Israel. The covenants He's established with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob. He has not forgotten what He has proclaimed and decreed. And though for hundreds of years Israel has been enslaved in a foreign land of Egypt, God has heard their groans. He has remembered. And through the calling of Moses, as we've seen in Hebrews chapter 3, God sends a series of plagues as judgment against Egypt. The people of God are let go. And now they are wandering in the wilderness on the direction towards the land that God has promised them. And already, Even before chapter 17, there have been a series of tests that the people have faced. Tests with regards to the provision of the basic necessities like food and water.
And in Exodus 15:25, it says that the Lord tested them.
And again in Exodus 16, it says that the Lord tested them.
And now here in chapter 17, we have again this language of testing.
So let's read Exodus chapter 17.
We'll read the first seven verses so that we're clear of the context.
"All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarrelled with Moses and said, 'Give us water to drink.' And Moses said to them, 'Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?' But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, 'Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?' So Moses cried to the Lord, 'What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.' And the Lord said to Moses, 'Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.' And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarrelling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, 'Is the Lord among us or not?'" (Exodus 17:1-7)
Now, if you just notice briefly, if you've still got your finger in Hebrews chapter 3, you'll notice that it's not an exact word for word quote of Psalm 95. Because in verse 8 it says, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness. The names for Meribah and Massah, the names that are given in Exodus 17:7. So notice the warnings, warnings against the hardening of your heart and the testing, which are the two issues that are not isolated to Exodus 17, sadly. But that's what verse 8 of Hebrews 3 is specifically dealing with.
It's specifically focusing on this account in Exodus chapter 17.
Now, because we've already worked through Exodus 17 in our series of Exodus, we will try to briefly summarize and go through the key points. And then when we pick up in verses 9 and 10, next time we'll be dealing with some passages in the Book of Numbers, which is what verses 9 and 10 of Hebrews 3 deals with. But here, verse 8 of Hebrews 3 is tackling this passage in Exodus 17. Now notice when the issue of no water to drink comes up, what would we be expecting of a people who believe and trust in God?
Well, this is an opportunity once more for the Lord to be magnified. We've seen with the manna before that we've seen with water being bitter and turned sweet, that God provides for Israel miraculously, powerfully. But what also do we see of sinful man, this being the covenant people of Israel? Every time, instead of faithfully waiting and trusting God, they turn on God and they dare to test him. So they quarrel with Moses and they test the Living God. That's what they do. Now when we deal with the subject of quarrelling, this is not simply a bit of an argument that slightly got out of hand, but they'll quickly sort this out. No, when we're dealing with the people quarrelling, Moses says it himself in verse 4, “What shall I do with this people? They're almost ready to stone me.” So, their hearts are so hardened that at another point of crisis, instead of waiting and trusting in the God they believe in and worship, they will turn on Moses because ultimately, they want to blame God for their circumstances. And they will therefore test God.
Now consider the folly and the wickedness of such a heart and attitude against God. This is Yahweh, the one true living God. The God who is out with and beyond all that we can comprehend. The one who is limitless in time and space. The one who is all knowing and all powerful. The endpoint of all things. The Creator, the Sustainer, the Sovereign Lord, God Almighty. Do we ever dare to test the living God? This God is not answerable to us. A God you erect in your own image may be answerable to your self-serving worldview. But, the God revealed in the Bible, Yahweh, we are subject to Him. We bow down in worship and adoration to him in any and every circumstance of our lives. But for the hardened heart, it is a different thing. Which is why we have the quarrelling and we have the testing.
Now if we just scroll our eyes back to verse 3 and to see what this hardness of heart looks like, more specifically, notice that the people are thirsting for water. And as they grumble, note what they say. “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
Now if we think back to what life was like for Israel in slavery, if we think back to how they could only groan because of the greatness of their affliction, hundreds of years in this foreign territory, being treated like you're less than human. And what they're doing here in a time when God has provided for them, he has blessed, rescued and redeemed them, they are both redefining not only their past, but also, they are redefining their present. Now how are they redefining their past? Well, they're looking at it as though it is much better than it actually was.
And we do that, don't we?
In a time when we are not happy with our current circumstances, we look back at a previous time, a time which when actually worse, and we redefine it. We think actually it wasn't so bad. After all, we're hungry right now, we're thirsty right now. It was better when we were in Egypt, they were giving us food. And similarly, in terms of the redefining of the present, instead of trusting in God as their covenant keeping God, they are instead effectively saying, well you, O God, you brought us out here just to kill us. Think about how much of a sense of self entitlement you would need to have to treat the author of creation, the Saviour of this people with such contempt and with such disdain.
But brothers and sisters, friends, this is not simply exclusive to Israel in the time of Exodus.
Is this not what many who profess to be Christians do today?
Whether it's coming into the context of the local church or in our lives in any circumstance when things don't quite go just as we had thought, quite as we had planned, instead of getting the gospel into view and the glory of the God who we are, safe in His everlasting arms with every single moment of our waking breath, instead, in these moments of panic, in these moments of uncertainty, in these moments of frustration, we let these emotions drive us in our anger and our frustration, which is what Israel does.
And the reason Israel does this, as we see in Hebrews chapter 3, is their hardness of heart. That's the issue. That is making them look not to the God they worship, but to the circumstances that they now very quickly loathe. A people blessed and redeemed, turning not only their back on God, but turning to spit with contempt at all that He has and is doing for them. Is this where we sit here this evening towards the God revealed in the Bible—the God whom we pray would be glorified?
Are we sitting here with a sense of, well, God, you owe me here. I put in this amount of graft in this area. I've sacrificed this much in this aspect of my life. So God, where is this thing that I now demand of you? Because this was Israel's heart. Instead of waiting and trusting, they quarrelled and they tested.
And so God, in both His mercy, but also in His judgment, He calls Moses and the elders to go to this rock. And what he is instructed to do in verses 5 and 6, we read,
“Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock and water shall come out of it and the people will drink.”
Strike this rock and the water will come.
Now, this is God's mercy, not simply because it is the provision of water which is what Israel needs, but it is also because of what this rock represents.
In 1st Corinthians 10:4 it says, "For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ." In this passage in First Corinthians 10, Paul says that the very rock that was struck is the sustaining presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ who is the Rock, the source of strength, protection, guidance that follows them, this undeserving hardness of heart, people and Christ.
The Rock is following them. He is with them. He has been with them when they've been delivered from slavery, when they have been passing through the Red Sea, when God has provided the spiritual food and drink. This spiritual Rock which is Christ is with them. How blessed they are.
And how blessed we are here this evening to know that Christ is in our midst, that he is the Lord and the Saviour of the church. And yet, as well as this being the highlight of the blessing of the very Saviour we come to worship, this is also a picture of the Lord's judgment where we have this rock being struck. It is also striking as a picture of the rod of judgment against Israel and their wickedness and hardness of heart.
It's why in verse 7 the passage ends with a sombre note. He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, Massah which means testing, and Meribah which means quarrelling. And if you note back in Hebrews 3, 8, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, the quarrelling which is Meribah. And on the day of testing or Massah, in Psalm 95, in the wilderness two words which would be cited in the Psalm. And now we have here in Hebrews chapter three, the quarrelling and the testing. And therefore this is a people hardened in their hearts, who face the judgment of God.
If you sit here this evening, hardened in your heart, rebellious, seeking to test God, as if he needs to meet your self-exalting standard, then the judgment that you are deserving of is the eternal consequence of suffering in hell.
And this is why, as we consider this picture of Christ being the Rock, we do need to be reminded of and comforted upon the reality that in verses like Isaiah 53:5, it says that He, the Lord Jesus, was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.
That judgment that every one of us is deserving to face in our hardness of hearts, for those whose hearts have been truly transformed, where the heart of stone has been taken out, and in its place a heart of flesh, we know, and we stand this evening upon the truth that that punishment we deserve to face Christ bore it at Calvary.
That is the gospel.
This Rock, which is Jesus Christ—in whom we know, John 14:4—is the living water for whom we will never have thirst again. It is Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Jesus whom we are called to pay closer attention to, the Jesus whom we are called to consider our apostle and high priest. As you consider Jesus this evening, looking at the rebellious attitude, the wickedness of the people of Israel in the time in the wilderness, do you look at this warning and take heed of the need not to be more religious than Israel, but of the need that you have of Christ?
It may be that here this evening that you realize, well, yes, I've been actually living a lie. This profession of faith has been nothing more than a sham. My heart has been hardened to the truth of the living God, His Word and the gospel. This is why it is our prayer that the Lord would convict and save sinners. It is of no interest or use to have more people being added to a church membership if these people being added are truly hardened to the truth of the gospel. Those who are truly born-again seek passages like this and warnings that are given as necessary warnings and exhortations which would seek to bring us all the more close to Christ for Israel, in a time of travail, in a time of suffering and anguish, they test and they quarrel.
And this is why, verse 11 of Hebrews 3, they do not enter God's rest.
But for the true born-again believer. We know that in and because of Christ we will enter this eternal rest with our God. Because God looks to the sacrifice of Christ, that sacrifice which has dealt with the believer's sin, which has put away our sin eternally and the means by which we have salvation in Jesus Christ. This is your hope this evening. This is the gospel hope that we have.
And for the warning today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.
This is a warning that is given, an exhortation that is given as we look through the book of Hebrews to consider Jesus. And may it be that we would worship and praise Him all the more in the lives that we live.