The Terrible Danger of a Dull Ear Text: Hebrews 3:7-11
Introduction: The Permanent Urgency of Today
We have come to a central warning in this letter to the Hebrews, a letter written to a church that was growing weary. They were considering the cost of following Christ and wondering if a quiet retreat back to the shadows of the old covenant might be a more comfortable option. The author, having just established the supremacy of Jesus over Moses, now drives the point home with a severe pastoral application. He does this by reaching back into Israel's family album, pulling out the story of the wilderness generation, and holding it up as a stark, terrifying photograph of what happens when God's people hear God's voice and refuse to listen.
This is not an abstract lesson in ancient history. The author says the Holy Spirit is the one speaking these words from Psalm 95, and He is speaking them now. The word He thunders is "Today." The Christian life is lived in a perpetual "today." The danger of apostasy, of having a heart that grows calloused and unresponsive to the Word of God, is not a future theoretical possibility. It is the great spiritual peril of this very moment, as you are hearing this very sermon. Unbelief is a subtle rot. It doesn't announce its arrival with a brass band; it seeps in through the cracks of compromise, prayerlessness, and a casual disregard for the preached Word. It is the slow, quiet hardening of a heart that was once, at least outwardly, soft toward God.
The wilderness generation is the ultimate case study in spiritual privilege squandered. They were miraculously delivered from Egypt, they walked through the Red Sea on dry ground, they ate bread from heaven and drank water from a rock. They saw the works of God for forty years. And their carcasses fell in the desert. Why? Because of unbelief. They heard the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey, but they listened to the grumbling of their own fears instead. They saw God's power, but they did not trust His character. This passage is a shot across our bow. It warns us that it is possible to be part of the visible covenant community, to be baptized, to take communion, to sing the psalms, and yet to have an evil heart of unbelief that falls away from the living God. This is not a message for the pagans outside; it is a solemn warning for the saints inside.
The Text
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
"TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,
AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.
THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,
AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART,
AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;
AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’ "
(Hebrews 3:7-11 LSB)
The Spirit's Present Warning (v. 7-8)
The warning begins by establishing its divine authority and its immediate relevance.
"Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, 'TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS...'" (Hebrews 3:7-8)
Notice first who is speaking. The author of Hebrews says this quotation from Psalm 95 is what "the Holy Spirit says." Not what David said, but what the Spirit says, present tense. This is a high view of Scripture. The Bible is not a collection of ancient religious documents for us to study; it is the living voice of God speaking directly to us now. The Spirit who inspired these words in the past is the same Spirit who applies them to our hearts in the present. To hear the Scriptures read and preached is to hear God's voice.
And the central command is "Today." This word is a pin that pops all our balloons of procrastination. We think we can get right with God tomorrow. We can deal with that simmering bitterness next week. We can repent of that secret sin next month. The Spirit says there is no time but "Today." Tomorrow is the devil's great lie. The time to obey, the time to believe, the time to repent, is always right now, while the sound of His voice is still in your ears. To delay is already a form of hardening.
What does it mean to harden your heart? It is a refusal to be impressed by God. It is a stubborn resistance to His authority and His grace. It is the spiritual equivalent of putting wax in your ears. The Israelites did this at Meribah and Massah, which mean "provocation" and "trial." They had just been delivered from Egypt, and the first time they got thirsty, they accused God of bringing them into the desert to kill them. This wasn't a simple request for water; it was a bitter, accusatory challenge to God's goodness. They put God on trial. This is what hardening does. It twists God's character and makes Him out to be the villain. A hard heart does not say, "I am a sinner in need of grace." It says, "God is a tyrant who has wronged me."
The Folly of Tested Unbelief (v. 9)
The Spirit continues to describe the sin of that generation, highlighting its sheer irrationality.
"WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS." (Hebrews 3:9 LSB)
Their sin was not a sin of ignorance. They were not acting in the dark. They "saw My works for forty years." Forty years! They saw the plagues on Egypt. They saw the Red Sea part. They saw the pillar of fire and cloud. They ate the manna every morning. They drank water from a rock. They saw God's power and provision on constant, daily display. And yet, they continued to test Him. Their unbelief was not an intellectual problem; it was a moral problem. It was a willful refusal to draw the obvious conclusion.
This is a crucial lesson for us. We often think that if we just had more evidence, faith would be easy. If only I could see a miracle. If only God would write His name in the sky. The wilderness generation is God's forty-year refutation of that argument. They lived in a world saturated with miracles, and it did not produce faith in them. Why? Because the problem is not in the evidence; the problem is in the heart. A hard heart can explain away any amount of evidence. It will see a miracle and call it a coincidence. It will see a clear command and call it an unreasonable burden. Seeing is not believing. Believing is seeing. They had hearts that were determined not to believe, and so all the works of God were wasted on them.
The Divine Diagnosis and Anger (v. 10)
God then gives His own inspired diagnosis of their spiritual condition, which provoked His righteous anger.
"THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;" (Hebrews 3:10 LSB)
We must not skim over the fact that God was "angry." We live in a sentimental age that has tried to domesticate God into a cosmic therapist who is never angry, only "disappointed." But the Bible is clear. God's wrath is His settled, righteous, and holy opposition to sin. Their persistent, ungrateful rebellion provoked Him. To treat sin lightly is to treat God lightly.
And what was the root of the problem? "They always go astray in their heart." The problem wasn't their circumstances; it was their hearts. Their wandering in the wilderness was simply an external manifestation of the wandering that was happening on the inside. Their hearts were the source of the error. And because their hearts were astray, "they did not know My ways." This doesn't mean they were ignorant of God's commands. They had the law. They knew what God required. But they did not know His ways in a relational, intimate sense. They didn't understand His character. They saw His acts, but they did not learn His heart. They knew the what, but not the why. They knew the rules, but not the Ruler. This is the tragic state of the religious unbeliever. He may have a head full of theology, but his heart is a million miles away from God.
The Solemn Oath of Exclusion (v. 11)
The passage concludes with the terrible and final consequence of their hardened hearts.
"AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’ " (Hebrews 3:11 LSB)
This is one of the most sobering statements in all of Scripture. God takes an oath. He swears by Himself that this generation of rebels will be excluded from His rest. The "rest" here has multiple layers of meaning. In the immediate context for them, it meant the promised land of Canaan. They were delivered from bondage in Egypt only to die in the wilderness, never entering the land of promise. They got out of Egypt, but Egypt never got out of them.
But the author of Hebrews is applying this to us. For the Christian, the "rest" is not a geographical location, but a spiritual reality. It is the rest of salvation, the rest of ceasing from our own works of self-righteousness and trusting entirely in the finished work of Christ. It is the Sabbath rest that we enter by faith. And ultimately, it is the final, eternal rest of the new heavens and the new earth. The warning is this: a hardened heart, a life of persistent unbelief, will exclude you from that rest. It is not enough to have started the journey. It is not enough to have been baptized into the community. We must persevere in faith all the way to the end. The generation that fell in the wilderness is the great biblical proof that privilege is no substitute for perseverance.
Conclusion: Listen While It Is Called Today
So what is the takeaway? The application is right there in the text. "Today, if you hear His voice." You are hearing it now. The Spirit of God is speaking through His Word. The question is, what are you doing with it? Is it softening your heart or hardening it? There is no neutral ground. Every sermon you hear either pushes you closer to God in faith or nudges you further away in rebellion.
Perhaps you are here today, and you know your heart has been growing hard. The Word doesn't move you like it used to. Your prayers are formal and cold. You are nursing a secret sin or a bitter grudge. You are testing God, seeing how much you can get away with. To you, the Holy Spirit thunders, "Today!" Do not wait for a more convenient season. Do not think you can manage your own spiritual condition. The deceitfulness of sin will harden you beyond repentance. Turn to Christ now. Confess your sin now. Believe His promise now.
The good news is that while the wilderness generation is a warning of failure, Jesus is the guarantee of success for all who trust in Him. He is the true Joshua who leads His people into their true rest. He is the faithful Son over God's house, and we are His house, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm to the end. The only way to guard against a hard heart is to be continually captivated by the glory of this great Savior. Look to Him. Listen to Him. And do it today.