Church of the Week

“Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:” (Hebrews 3:7-8)

In Exodus, the Israelites continually complained to Moses about their situation. They had been miraculously delivered from Egyptian slavery; they had seen numerous miraculous works of God such as the parting of the Red Sea; their daily needs had been miraculously provided for by God, yet they continually murmured and complained and rebelled against Him. Hebrews 3:9-11 records God as saying “When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.” The hardened hearts of the Israelites provoked God to the point that He did not allow that generation to enter the Promised Land. They died in the wilderness (Numbers 32:13). They had heard the voice of God but hardened their hearts, rebelling againstHisvoice,and theywere forever doomed.

When God speaks to people today about their need to be saved, many will reject the Gospel message resulting in an hardening of the heart. They willturnHisvoiceoff,andeach time a person does so, another layer of hardness covers the heart. This hardening of the heart may take years as Jesus patiently and lovingly calls, but eventually the unrepentant heart will become so hardened that such people will never respond to God’s voice, and sad to say, provoking God to give up on them (Romans 1: 24, 26, 28). The result--no salvation. No Promised Land. Forever lost and doomed in Hell. Wrath instead of rest.

God speaks through the Bible, sermons, songs, articles like this, Christian friends, etc. Don’t harden the heart when you hear His voice, but respond to Jesus’ call to be saved. Be saved today.