Verse 9 tells us that the Israelites in the wilderness kept testing God. They kept complaining to Him, they kept asking for more, they kept not believing in Him. He rescued them from Egypt and they complained that they were better off as slaves. He fed them with manna six days a week, but they complained that it tasted bad. He showed them great miracles, but they went astray in their hearts and worshiped other gods, they didn’t trust in the God who saved them.
And you and I are about the same sometimes aren’t we? Sometimes we’re not satisfied with all that God has given us, and we complain, and we want more. The truth is that if Jesus never did another thing for us, in saving us, and creating this amazing world to live in, He’s already done more than enough. More than we deserve. But like the Israelites in the wilderness, we test, we grumble, we complain. Don’t be like that. Don’t fail the test in the wilderness like Israel did. We have the amazing privilege of living after Jesus came and died for us. Don’t harden your hearts to the goodness and love of God. Listen to Him, obey Him, trust Him. Today, the Holy Spirit says. Today listen. Today obey. Today there are things you need to sort out to grow in your relationship with Jesus. Today! You’re not promised tomorrow.
Don’t provoke the wrath of God by grumbling and testing Him. Trust Him, have a soft heart towards His Word and His commands. The reason Israel didn’t trust and hardened their hearts was because they didn’t listen. So listen to God, and trust in Him.
What’s the opposite of an unbelieving heart? Read verse 12 with me. What causes a hard heart? Unbelief. What caused Israel to moan and grumble about God? Unbelief. What’s the problem when you and I are not satisfied in everything God has given to us? Unbelief. So we can either believe in Jesus, and be thankful, and praise Him for everything He’s given to us. Or we can harden our hearts. The author tells us that this is evil. Have you ever thought about that? When you complain about God, when you complain about what He’s doing, or what He’s giving you, or anything, it’s evil.
And it causes us to fall away. Don’t harden your heart, because it causes you to fall away from Jesus. Where do I see that? At the end of verse 12 ‘leading you to fall away from the living God.’ The warning is pretty clear isn’t it? If we keep hardening our hearts to Jesus, if we keep ignoring the warnings, if we keep starving our faith and feeding our sin, eventually we’ll fall away. No one wakes up one day and says ‘this is the day I’ll fall away from Jesus.’ But slowly, over time, as we make poor choice after poor choice, as we sin and fail repent time and again, our hearts are heard, and we fall away. What a tragedy.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Look at the instruction in verses 13-14. I love the vision of church life we see in these verses. What’s the remedy to the danger of having a hard heart? Your Christian friends, your church, your family are the remedy. As they encourage you, and you encourage others, our hearts are protected from growing hard. The Christian life is a group project, and we all need each other. How long will we keep doing this for? As long as it is called today! As long as we live in this moment of history between Christ’s first and second comings, we will have to encourage each other. So who are you encouraging today? Who seems like they might be struggling today that could do with some help? Who looks like they’re lonely? Who is out of church?
Who is being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? Who is listening to sins lies? Sin lies and tells you it doesn’t matter who you date, or whether you go to church, or read your Bible, or share your faith. The Bible tells us that these things matter a great deal. Who are you seeing around you who fits into these categories? Verse 14 gives the best reason possible for encouraging one another, ‘we have come to share in Christ.’ You brother or sister who is struggling, shares with you in the greatest faith in the world, the greatest thing in the world. How can we stand by and watch their hearts harden. And the end of verse 14 makes it even more clear how important our encouragement is: ‘if indeed we hold fast our original confidence to the end.’ What’s the author saying? The best way to prove that Jesus saved you is that Jesus is still saving you. Someone in your life needs that encouragement.
Whether or not your heart is hard is a matter of life and death. Read verses 15-19 with me. The author starts to sum up his argument. Don’t harden your heart, because those that did harden their hearts didn’t get away with it. They provoked God, and fell in the wilderness, and did not enter God’s rest. God’s rest is something the author will talk more about in chapter 4, but the application for us is clear. If we harden our hearts, we will fall, just like they did. If we behave like the Israelites did in the wilderness, we’ll suffer the same fate. They didn’t enter the promised land because of unbelief, and if we continue in unbelief, with a hard heart, neither will we.
The illustration, the invitation and the instruction are all worthless if they don’t lead us to faith in Jesus. Proverbs 29:1 warns us ‘he who is often reproved yet stiffens his neck (or hardens his heart) will suddenly be broken beyond healing.’ Jude 5 reminds us that after Jesus saved a people out of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe. One the way home tonight you’ll put your faith in your car and the roads, the next time you eat out, you’ll put your faith in the restaurant. Don’t harden your heart, put your faith in Jesus.
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