Introduction

Richard was an intelligent, enthusiastic, hard-working, gifted Christian. But his heart became hard; he ended up rejecting God. If his heart could become hard, then so can ours. So can yours. Hebrews 3:7–19 warns us about heart-hardenings and tells us how to keep our hearts soft. In essence, the passage says to us: Hearing today prevents hardening tomorrow.

1. Don't harden!

The writer of Hebrews quotes to his readers yet again from the Old Testament. He knew they would sit up and take notice; they were converted Jews after all - they knew the OT back to front. The quote is from Psalm 95. This Psalm refers to an incident in Israel's history where the Israelites were stuck in the desert with no water. Instead of trusting God, their hearts hardened. So much so that they threatened to kill God's representative Moses. The readers of the letter of Hebrews were also facing a trial - they were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus. The writer is saying to them: your ancestors hardened up in response to a trial, make sure you don't!

Trials can cause our hearts to become hard. When we face difficulties in our lives, or things happen that we don't like, we can harden up against God.

We must listen to the Holy Spirit saying to us: Don't harden!

2. Do hear!

Hearing prevents hardening. There are three things we need to hear:

1. Hear God's warning
   God warns us because He loves us. We must hear God's warning. THe writer really wants us to. This is why he repeats himself in v15. It is as if he's saying to us "I know I've just told you this, but it's so important I'm gonna tell you again: Don't harden!" Are you hearing God's warning? Just as arteries harden up slowly and lead to a heart attack, heart-hardening can happen slowly; reacting badly to trials, sinning, ceasing to believe and trust are all things which slowly but surely can harden us against God and cause us to reject Him. If we refuse to hear God's warning, we risk losing our salvation. True Christians can't lose their salvation... but true Christians hear God's warnings and act on them. Let us then hear God's clear, repeated warning.
2. Hear encouragement
   Sin can deceive us. Sin always lies. If we listen to sin's gentle deceitful tones, we'll almost certainly start to harden. But encouragement, from other Christians, will keep us soft. Encouragement is the spiritual fabric-conditioner our hearts need. Are you encouraging your Christian brothers and sisters - your spiritual family? Are you hearing encouragement from them? If the answer to the above two questions is 'no', then you run the risk of being the cause of other people's hardening, and having your own heart harden. So let's hear encouragement!
3. Hear God's voice
   God's voice is a voice of warning. But it is also a voice of love. When trials hit the Israelites, they didn't look back and see what God had done for them; they didn't stop and consider how much He loved them. When trials and hard times hit us, we need to hear God's voice of love. And what is that voice? It's the gospel. The gospel is God loving us unconditionally despite our so not deserving it. When we hear this; when we believe it, and take it to heart, we soften, we melt, we thaw. So we must, every day, hear God's voice of love.