Today, If You Hear His Voice

In one paragraph

Pastor Mark picked up where he left off the previous week in Hebrews 3, pressing on from verse 7 through 19. The central call was the same one he had left with the congregation before: consider Jesus, carefully and decisively, all the way through to a conclusion. What was new this week was the warning that runs alongside that call, drawn from Psalm 95 and the story of Israel in the wilderness. The...

Read together

1. Hebrews 3:1 Opening verse of the passage under study, calling believers to consider Jesus as apostle and high priest
2. Hebrews 3:2 Jesus was faithful to God who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all of God's house
3. Hebrews 3:3-4 Jesus counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as a builder has more honor than the house
4. Hebrews 3:5-6 Moses faithful as a servant, Christ faithful as a son over His house, whose house we are if we hold fast
5. Hebrews 3:7-11 Direct quote attributed to the Holy Spirit, warning against hardening hearts as Israel did in the wilderness
6. Hebrews 3:12 Warning against an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God
7. Hebrews 3:13 Command to encourage one another day after day so none are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin
8. Hebrews 3:14 We have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end
9. Hebrews 3:15-19 Repeating the warning about hardening hearts, identifying unbelief as the reason Israel could not enter God's rest
10. Hebrews 4:7 The Holy Spirit again fixes a certain day, today, saying through David not to harden hearts
11. Hebrews 10 Referenced in connection with drawing near with full assurance and stirring one another to love and good works
12. Psalm 95:1-7a The positive portion of the psalm presented as the place where the preacher wants to live, worshiping the Lord joyfully
13. Psalm 95:7b-11 Quoted as the Holy Spirit's warning against hardening hearts as Israel did in the wilderness
14. 2 Peter 1:19-21 Used to explain the dual authorship of scripture, that no prophecy came by human will but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God
15. Exodus 17:1-7 The historical story behind Psalm 95, Israel quarreling with Moses over water at Meribah and testing the Lord
16. 1 Corinthians 10 Paul cited to show Old Testament wilderness events happened as examples so we would not crave evil things as Israel did
17. Joshua 24 Alluded to in connection with resolute choice, choose this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house
18. Proverbs 3:5-10 Read as the benediction, leaning not on your own understanding, acknowledging God, honoring Him with your wealth

Talk about it

1. The pastor described the word 'consider' in Hebrews 3:1 as thinking something all the way through to a decisive conclusion, not just a casual look. What difference does it make in your own life whether you consider Jesus casually or all the way through to a firm resolution?
2. The congregation at the time Hebrews was written was tempted to step back from following Jesus to avoid persecution, trading what they had in Christ for a safer, more familiar religion. When has comfort or social pressure tempted you to quietly step back from something you knew God was calling you to hold fast to?
3. The sermon pointed out that the Israelites in the wilderness had seen God provide water, bread and meat, and yet they kept grumbling and hardening their hearts. How does it happen that people who have genuinely seen God work can still drift into unbelief, and what does that warn us about our own hearts?
4. The pastor said that sin is inherently deceitful, and that encouraging one another day after day is one of God's appointed ways of keeping us from being hardened by that deceitfulness. What does that kind of daily encouragement actually look like in practice, and where do you see it missing in your own relationships?
5. The sermon ended by putting the two halves of Psalm 95 side by side: the joyful worship of verses 1 through 7 and the hardened unbelief that follows. The pastor said he wants to live in the first half. What habits or choices are helping you stay in that posture of worship and submission, and what is pulling you toward the second half?