Hebrews 3:7-11

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, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.  Therefore 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.’”

The Word of God is meant to be used by the Spirit of God to soften and transform our hearts through obedience.  It is an honor to have and be exposed to the Word of God.  However, there are serious consequences to not allowing the Word of God to work in our hearts.  This passage speaks of two kinds of hearts and the result of receiving God’s Word into these kinds of hearts.

A HARD HEART LEADS TO REBELION: The Spirit of God is working to draw men’s hearts to the Lord.  This is the work of God’s grace and is a privilege to experience.  Creation and conscience are constant testaments to e existence and attributes of God.  So, when the Spirit begins to work in man’s heart it is meant to bring repentance, faith, and transformation.  However, far too often people harden their hearts to the work of God’s Spirit in their lives.  This was true of the children of Israel in the desert when they ignored God’s miraculous provision, protection and instruction so they could follow their own hard hearts as an act of rebellion against God.  We can choose to have hard hearts that lead us down a road of rebellion.  What we cannot choose are the consequences of doing so.  Israel learned this lesson the hard way and had to go on a forty-year death march.  It is not worth it to harden our hearts to the Lord.  Listen to His Word, obey His Spirits promptings, and enjoy the true pleasure of living in submission and obedience to the Lord.

A STRAY HEART LEADS TO REJECTION: When Israel hardened her heart to the work of God’s Spirit, they didn’t simply remain neutral; their hearts went astray.  Refusal to obey and worship God will always lead to a life of wandering further and further from the Lord.  Their hearts were set adrift of the seas of the sinfulness of their own pleasures and desires.  This kind of living will lead to many unintended and undesirable consequences.  For the children of Israel who rebeled against God it meant not entering the Promised Land.  They would never inherit the land they left Egypt to inhabit.  Instead, they died in the desert.  God promises to all who believe on Christ a rest from the plague of sin that infests our hearts by giving us a peace that passes all understanding.  He also promises an eternal rest in the presence of the Lord.  However, if we allow our hardened heart to become a stray heart, we will be eternally rejected by God and excluded from the joy and “rest” the is His presence.

APPLICATION: Thank God for having the Word of God available to us.  Be sensitive and submissive to the workings of the Spirit as He applies the Word to our hearts.  Repent of the sin He reveals, obey the commands He gives, and worship God as we were created to do.  Warn those who are not following the Lord of the coming judgment.  Constantly seek to know and obey God’s ways.

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