If you hear His voice………..

“Brothers and sisters, make sure that none of you has a sinful heart. Do not let an unbelieving heart turn you away from the living God.  But build one another up every day. Do it as long as there is still time. Then none of you will become stubborn. You won't be fooled by sin's tricks.

 We belong to Christ if we hold firmly to the faith we had at first. But we must hold to it until the end.  It has just been said, "Listen to his voice today.
If you hear it, don't be stubborn.
You were stubborn when you opposed me." —(Psalm 95:7,8)

Who were those who heard and refused to obey? Weren't they all the people Moses led out of Egypt?   Who was God angry with for 40 years?  Wasn't it with those who sinned? They died in the desert.  What people did God promise with an oath that they would never enjoy the rest he planned for them? Wasn't it those who didn't obey?

 So we see that they weren't able to enter. That's because they didn't believe.” Heb. 3:12-19 NIRV

There is only one sin that will take you to hell.  Murder, rape, theft, war crimes are atoned for by the blood of Jesus.  Again and again Hebrews tells us that Christ by His death made purification for sins, He atoned for sins, He borne our sins, and He has put away sin once and for all by His sacrificial death on the cross. Sin is dealt with, but there is still one thing that will take you to hell – unbelief.

The greatest sin is UNBELIEF.

 Do you trust Jesus? If you do, then you have come to repentance in Him, and He – like the rich Husband that He is – has absorbed all your debts and given you all His riches and He remembers your sins no more.

If you do not trust Jesus then you have not come to share in Him. You are rejecting the one Sacrifice for sins, your One hope of heaven and as He spreads His arms open for you on the cross –-- you spurn this love, God the Father swears on oath that you will never enter His rest.

As I repeat this warning to you I am repeating a warning that has rolled down through history. First through Moses in the wilderness, then 500 years later when David wrote Psalm 95 which is quoted here.  Then a thousand years afterwards Hebrews picks up the warning.  And now 2000 years after that I am repeating this warning – you ARE hearing God’s voice through the Scriptures.  It is very possible for people call themselves the people of God to spurn His love and to go to hell. Do not harden your heart.

MANY Israelites went through the waters of the Red Sea, they sang the songs, they shared in the wilderness experiences, but there were 2 million graves dotted through that desert.  You can be a passenger in the Christian life and never actually love the Lord who redeemed you.

For us – it’s one thing to go through the waters of baptism and to belong outwardly to the people of God and to sing our songs and to share in the wilderness experiences of the church but it’s another thing to love Jesus.  Not everyone who shares in Christianity shares in Christ.

There is a way of being “happy” without a change of heart.  There is a way of being a “frozen” chosen without a change of heart.   I cannot think of anything more tragic than a person sharing in Christianity – getting baptized, taking communion, hearing the gospel, and being a part of the life of the Church – and then on Judgment day Jesus says to them “Sorry, I never knew you.”  In Matthew 7, Jesus says He will say that to many, many people.  There will be people who will say “But, Lord, I did loads of Christian things.”  Jesus will say to many “I never knew you, depart from Me.”

Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.

I hope you can see – that the heart is the real issue.  This whole passage screams to us – it’s the heart, the heart, the heart.

 The heart of our problem is the problem of our heart.

Look at verse 8 – “do not harden your hearts”

Verse 10 – “their hearts are always going astray”

Verse 12 –“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart”

Verse 13 – “may none of you be hardened”

Verse 15 – “do not harden your hearts”

Jesus wants a heart-to-heart relationship with us. He is the great heavenly Husband and He’s not primarily after our wills, He’s not primarily after our intellect – He’s after our hearts.