Today we are looking at not hardening our hearts and testing God. Hebrews 3:3 “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.”
Following this passage is a warning against unbelief. Hebrews 3:7 “So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways. 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest. 12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Remember we have the word of God that describes everything that happened, which is the same as seeing what God did. So we must hold on to this confidence and not disobey by with unbelief. All during the desert journey Israel quarrelled against God and tested Him. Numbers 14:22 “not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times.” Not only did they test God they even questioned his presence. Exodus 17:7 “And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarrelled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Following this passage is a warning against unbelief. Hebrews 3:7 “So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. 10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways. 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest. 12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Remember we have the word of God that describes everything that happened, which is the same as seeing what God did. So we must hold on to this confidence and not disobey by with unbelief. All during the desert journey Israel quarrelled against God and tested Him. Numbers 14:22 “not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times.” Not only did they test God they even questioned his presence. Exodus 17:7 “And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarrelled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
After the rebellion in Numbers when they doubted God would give them the land and the people rebelled against god by not listening to Joshua and Caleb the men of the first census died in the desert. Numbers 14:3 “not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” Numbers 2:32 “All the men in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550.” Numbers 26:64 “Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. 65 For the Lord had told those Israelites they would surely die in the wilderness, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.”
We do not want to show God contempt by testing Him with our unbelief. This comes by saying, is the Lord with us or not? It is better to live in Egypt. We also need to be careful not tell God to hurry up. Isaiah 5:18 “Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes, 19 to those who say, “Let God hurry; let him hasten his work so we may see it. The plan of the Holy One of Israel— let it approach, let it come into view, so we may know it.” Amos 5:18 “Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light.” 2 Peter 3:4 “They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." Jeremiah 17:15 “They keep saying to me, "Where is the word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!"
We have to remember where these doubts come from. Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” satan is always trying to get you to question the authority and promises of God. Revelations 12:9 “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” Luke 21:8 “Watch out that you are not deceived.” This is a very dangerous place to be. satan is working hard to get you to question God and harden your heart with unbelief.
Isaiah 30:8 “Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness. 9 For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. 10 They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” Sadly today’s church does not want to hear they are on the wrong path but listen to these words of Ezekiel. Ezekiel tells us there will be no delay. Ezekiel 12:21 “The word of the Lord came to me: 22 “Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days go by and every vision comes to nothing’? 23 Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.’ Say to them, ‘The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled. 24 For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations among the people of Israel. 25 But I the Lord will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious people, I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign Lord. ” 26 The word of the Lord came to me: 27 “Son of man, the Israelites are saying, ‘The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.’ 28 “Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
1 Corinthians 15:2 “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” Hebrews 3:14 “We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” Hebrews 4:14 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.”
