Oh, That We Would Listen

[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 12th of February, 2017.  Look for the video on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

We’ve been spending a lot of time the last few Sundays looking at the letter to the Hebrews.  I’ve noted that this letter speaks to us in many ways as we approach the Easter season, when our Savior suffered so much for us, even dying on the cross just so that we would have a chance at salvation.  I feel that this letter to the ancient Hebrews has so much to tell us, so much we should pay close attention to, just as do the Gospel accounts of our Lord’s last trip to Jerusalem and His final days on this earth.  The message of the cross is very clear, but we must listen to hear it, and then heed what we have heard.  This letter to the Hebrews tells us why.

Listen and follow along as I read the 3rd chapter of the Book of Hebrews, from the New English Translation of our Holy Bible…

1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest whom we confess, 2 who is faithful to the One who appointed Him, as Moses was also in God’s house. 3 For He has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! 4 For every house is built by someone, but the Builder of all things is God. 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken. 6 But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house. We are of His house, if in fact we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope we take pride in. 

7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Oh, that today you would listen as He speaks! 

8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness. 

9 “There your fathers tested Me and tried Me, and they saw My works for forty years. 

10 “Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering and they have not known My ways.’ 

11 “As I swore in My anger, ‘They will never enter My rest!’” 

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God. 13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence firm until the end. 15 As it says, “Oh, that today you would listen as He speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership? 17 And against whom was God provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear they would never enter into His rest, except those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.

--Hebrews 3 (NET)

Let us pray…  Father God, we come to worship You and to listen to what You would tell us.  Speak to us in Your quiet way that we might hear Your message.  Please help us to listen, to hear, to understand, and to obey.  In the blessed name of Jesus we pray.   Amen.


A story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House as President.  He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said in those lines.  One day during a reception, he decided to try a little experiment.  To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he muttered, "I killed my grandmother this morning."  The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous!  Keep up the good work.  We’re so proud of you.  God bless you, sir."  It was not until the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his comment was actually heard.  Without the slightest hint of shock, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I'm sure she had it coming."


For a San Francisco study, teenage prostitutes were interviewed and asked: "Is there anything you needed most and couldn't get?"  Their response, invariably preceded by sadness and tears, was unanimous: "What I needed most was someone to listen to me.  Someone who cared enough to listen to me."


Gen. George Marshall once gave this formula for handling people:  1. Listen to the other person's story.  2. Listen to the other person's full story.  3. Listen to the other person's full story first.


I think we can all relate to President Roosevelt’s little experience, can’t we?  How many times, when someone greets you with, “How are you doing?”, have you just wanted to say the truth and tell them you’re having a horrible day, just to see if they’re listening?  Sometimes, just like those teenagers in San Francisco, all we really need is for someone to simply take the time and care enough about us to sit down and listen to us, really listen to what we have to say, hear our story as we unburden ourselves.  General Marshall definitely had it right:  we need to listen to each other fully, attentively, and first, before glibly responding.

If we feel like no one is listening to us, no one cares enough to listen, can’t we imagine how God must feel?


In verses 7 through verse 11 of our scripture reading, the author of Hebrews seems to quote the Holy Spirit.  This passage can be found in Psalm 95, beginning at the last part of verse 7, and it may well have been said by God’s Holy Spirit since we do not know who authored it.

I’d like to read a little of this Psalm, beginning with its opening verse and then verses 6 through 11…

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!

6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 When your fathers tested Me;
They tried Me, though they saw My work.
10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

--Psalm 95:1, 6-11 (NKJV)

“Let us sing unto the Lord… let us worship and bow down… let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”  Why?  Because “He is our God and we are His people.”

Then we see what the author of Hebrews referenced to set the tone for the rest of his 3rd chapter.  We need to listen as God speaks!  We must guard our hearts from turning hard from sin.

The ancient Hebrews allowed their hearts to become hardened to God’s word, they became deaf to His voice, they gave in to temptations and sinned.  They not only did not listen to God, they disobeyed Him and rebelled against Him.

I like the way the New Kings James Version put it, as I read from Psalm 95, where God says: “For forty years I was grieved with that generation”.  And they paid a great price for causing God grief.  None of that generation made it to the promised land, not even Moses.  Because of their disobedience, they were not allowed to enter into God’s rest.  “They will never enter My rest”, is how the author of Hebrews put it.

Why is this piece of Old Testament scripture considered important enough for a New Testament author to quote from it not once but twice?  Why is it meaningful to us today to understand what happened to the Israelites thousands of years ago?  Why should we be concerned that they were not allowed to enter God’s rest?  What is God’s rest - the Promised Land?

Well, yes, in the context of the Psalmist’s scripture.  But more pertinent to the author of Hebrews and his audience of believers, and to us today, is that God’s rest is heaven.  Our ultimate rest will be in heaven.

Break down what our author says in chapter 3.  Those who do not or will not listen to God won’t know His ways.  They’ll go astray in their hearts, just as the ancient Hebrews did in the wilderness.  And they will not enter heaven, no more than those ancients entered the Promised Land.  Our promised land is heaven.  If we do not listen to God, we run the risk of Him swearing in His anger, “They will never enter My rest!”

We can’t shrug this off and think it doesn’t apply to us.  Our author makes that clear.  Look at verses 15 through 19.  He warns us to listen to God’s word and not allow our hearts to become hardened as did those ancient Jews when they rebelled against God.

Who heard His voice but still rebelled?  All those who came out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses.  They sinned and provoked God for forty years, and they eventually died and their bodies fell in the desert.  They were disobedient and were not allowed entry into the Promised Land, into God’s rest.  They could not enter His rest because of their unbelief.  They did not believe in God enough to listen to His words and obey them.


But note that our author also offers a measure of hope.  He encourages us to listen to God’s words and obey them, but he also wants to make sure we do not become discouraged by all that is going on in the world around us.  In fact, he instructs us to exhort one another, to encourage each other, so that none of us become hardened by sin’s deceptive ways.  We are to help each other every day, as long as there is a “today” to do it in.

A little further on in this book, he tells us that, whenever the world begins to get us down, we should think about what Jesus went through.  Listen to his words in chapter 12, verse 3…

3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

--Hebrews 12:3 (NASB)

If we do remember all that Jesus went through, all that He endured for our sake, we will understand that God really does love us and He wants more than anything for us to love Him back.  He wants us to love Him enough to listen for His voice, to follow His will for our lives, to obey His words and not rebel against Him.  He wants us to believe in Jesus as the Christ, His beloved Son, our Savior who gave His all for us.  And He wants us to obey His command to love God and to love one another, just as He loves us.

Take time to listen and to believe.  Help one another, encourage each other.  And one sweet day, we will enter His rest.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, we truly want to hear Your voice.  We try to stop and listen, but too often the world intrudes and throws up barriers of distraction and noise that block out what You are trying to tell us.  We open our Bibles and try to hear You in Your words but then the phone rings or the TV beckons.  You have tried to warn us that if we do not hear Your message, our hearts will go astray and we will not find our rest in You.  Please help us to hear, help us to listen, help us to obey.

Please listen and hear us now, Father, as we quietly speak our personal prayers to You straight from our hearts, repenting and seeking forgiveness of our sins, asking for Your help in our daily walk…

Lord Jesus, the author of the Book of Hebrews speaks for You and our Father God and provides a stern warning.  We need to hear this, Lord!  We need to listen and pay close attention so that we don’t go astray, so that we don’t wander so far away that we cannot find our way back to You and can find no rest at our end of days.  Forgive us, Lord, when we fail to listen to our Father’s word, when we fail to hear His voice, when we fail to follow His commands.  Help us to be more attentive, and more faithful, to You and to our heavenly Father.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Lord Jesus Christ, our Master and our Savior, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith.  Amen.