Time to Listen. Time to Believe.

October 20, 2013 Evening:

Title: The Danger of A Hard Heart

Old Testament Passage: Psalm 95:1-7 – First half of Psalm 95

Gospel Passage: Mark 13:37 – Staying awake (again)

Sermon Text: Hebrews 3:7-11 – Quote of the rest of Psalm 95

Sermon Point: Worship the Lord in faith

[7] Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,

When we gather together to hear from God, we expect to receive His message for us. This is what the Holy Spirit has for us. We want to hear God's voice.

[8] do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, [9] where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.

But there is the danger that we simply close off our souls to the voice of God. We can harden our hearts as ancient Israel did in the wilderness. The Lord told them to go into the land, but they gave in to fear and imagined that their enemies were more real than God.

They were called to worship the Lord in faith, to trust Him in all His commands, and to follow Him. But they hardened their hearts against His Word and rebelled. They faced the day of testing in the wilderness and they failed.

Instead of submitting to God in His testing of them, they placed themselves above God and His Word, and they put Him to the test. They saw His work for forty years, and they forgot the fundamental truth that the Lord is God. An entire generation died in the wilderness.

[10] Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ [11] As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”This generation provoked God with their rebellion. They incurred His displeasure. They did not enter His rest—that is, the Promised Land. Even Moses was not allowed to enter.

The New Testament followers of Jesus Christ will also face tests, just as our Lord was tested. Our hope is built on this fact: Jesus passed the test of God on our behalf. This hope in God was also the hope of Moses and any true Israelite who has ever been saved by the grace of God.

But God still tests His elect children, just as He tested His chosen nation. We are called to hear His voice and obey in faith.

If we are going to obey the Lord, we need to be willing to change. We cannot approach His Word with the arrogance of those who are beyond learning. What did the Lord teach you this morning? What does He have for you today?

Ask Him to teach you. Listen to His Word. Worship the Lord in faith.