Hebrews 3:15-19

As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”  For who were those who heard and yet rebelled?  Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?  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.

It is a privilege to be exposed to and to know God’s Word.  This implies a responsibility to respond correctly to the revelation and blessings that have been received.  Failure to do so results in consequences that we do not want.  We can control our response to God’s Word but we cannot control the consequences of that response.  The children of Israel who were liberated from Egypt follow a progression we would be wise to avoid.

REBELIOUS HEARERS: Hearing the voice of God is a privilege.  The children of Israel were given that privilege, but instead of responding with obedience, they hardened their hearts and lived in rebellion against God.  It is easy for us to look back and criticize their response to God’s Word.  However, we have been given far more revelation than they ever had and yet we still tend to respond with partial obedience or outright disobedience.  This leads to a hardened heart that will only lead to further rebellion.

REPULSIVE SINNERS: Sin always takes us further than we intend to go.  Dabbling in sin can seem tantalizing and may initially make us feel excited and happy.  This will only lead us to wade deeper into the waters of rebellion.  Given enough time, we can sink into depths of sin that we would never imagine possible.  Sin is never satisfied and always leads to more.  If we could see the level of sin into which we would fall from the beginning, we would immediately be repulsed.  The slow sinking into sin desensitizes us to the point that we cannot see how repulsive our sinful habits have become.

REJECTED UNBELIEVERS: Israel left a life of slavery with the hope of entering the Promised Land.  All they needed to do was trust and obey the Word of the Lord.  Instead, they trusted the passions of their own hearts and obeyed their lusts.  This is a choice they were free to make.  What they were not free to choose was the consequences.  They never entered the rest of the land God had promised and fell dead in the wilderness. When we refuse to receive the Word of God with soft hearts, we will fall deeper into sin, and that will lead to a life of unbelief which results in condemnation.

APPLICATION: Recognize the privilege we have of having the Word of God available to us.  Seek to accurately understand God’s Word, have an open heart that allows God’s Word to confront areas of sin.  Repent of sin and be obedient to God’s instructions.  Believe God and His Word, trust Him not our own understanding and desires.