I'd like to give you all a warm
welcome to our worship here this morning. Let us come before the
Lord, let us ask his blessing in prayer. O Lord God of heaven
and of earth, we seek thy blessing upon our worship here today. May thy presence be known and
felt, manifested through the preaching of the word, through
the effect upon the hearts of those who receive thy word. O
Lord, do help us to sing thy worthy praise and to gather in
thy name. Lord, this first day of the week,
Lord, may we know a risen saviour. We ask these things in his dear
name. Amen. Hymn, 579. Tune, Sheffield 235. Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God, the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews. We'll read chapter three and
the first seven verses in chapter four. If you have one of our
free Bibles, that is page 1112, 1112. Hebrews chapter 3, and reading
through to verse 7 in the next chapter. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, Consider the Apostle and High Priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy
of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house
hath more honour than the house. For every house is built by some
man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was
faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of
those things which were to be spoken after. But Christ, as
a son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost
saith, today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts
as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your fathers tempted me,
proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved
with that generation, and said they do always err in their heart,
and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath they shall
not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you and evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. But exhort one another daily
while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. While it is said, Today, if ye
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard,
did provoke, albeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved
forty years? Was it not with them that had
sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and to whom swear
he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that
believe not. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise be left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we
which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, as I have
sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest. although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
and God did rest the seventh day from all his works, and in
this place again, if they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore
it remaineth that some must enter therein, They to whom it was
first preached entered not in because of unbelief. Again he
limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long
a time, as it is said, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts. Thus far the reading of God's
holy word, may he bless it to us and help us in prayer. Let us pray. O Lord God of heaven and of earth,
once more we come before thee, and it is at thy own command
and direction to call upon the name of the true and living God. Lord, we do plead thy word that
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,
and that thou wouldst have men to pray and not to faint. And Lord, as we come in the attitude
of prayer, It is with that expectation that thou who art in heaven,
that are holy and pure, will hear the poor sinner on earth,
and hearken and do. And Lord, as we desire to have
thee listen to us, O Lord, later on when thy word is preached,
do grant, Lord, that we might listen to Thee, that everyone
that desires that their prayers be heard might also desire to
hear what Thou wilt say unto them. Lord, we come before Thee,
the Maker of heaven and of earth, and the maintainer of all things. In Thee we live and move and
have our being, and we do acknowledge that without Thee we can do nothing. Lord, we confess our sin, our
iniquity, our lost, our ruined state and condition, our helplessness. O Lord, we have only a power
to do evil and that which is wrong. But Lord, with Thy power
and Thy grace and Thy word powerfully within us, Lord, we think of
the Apostle's words, that I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me. We do see then that we might
have help from the sanctuary and strength out of Zion, that
we might be able to say, having received help of God, I continue
even unto this day, that it be not just in name, but that that
divine power be sent from heaven. We think of thy charge to the
apostles to tarry at Jerusalem, until they be endued with power
from on high. And Lord, we need that same power
today. We need Thee to own Thy word,
to bless Thy word, to move and touch our hearts. Do, Lord, cause that we might
have a real genuine desire to hear what Thou would say unto
us. And Lord, do make us obedient
to what we hear. Deliver us from our deceitful,
evil heart, our hard heart. And do grant, Lord, that our
ear might be opened, that those make us obedient, and that those
make us not an almost, but an altogether Christian, and that
that might be our real desire. Lord, do work in us and do bless
thy word before us this morning. O Lord, we do seek for that blessing
that does make rich. Lord, we need thee to work in
us and to show us what things to ask for, to show us what things
that are hindering us from hearing thy voice. And Lord, do direct
us in our prayers. Oh Lord, do take away that desire
of trying to serve Thee and the world at the same time. Oh Lord,
do deliver us from those things that stop our ear. Lord, do help
us then, help us in our worship. That Lord, through our worship
and through our gathering, to feed our souls, do grant us that
which shall be a help to us day by day, that shall transform
our lives, that shall make us to be what Thou wouldst have
us to be. O Lord, we do pray for Thy blessing
to be upon Thy Word, that it might not be that we just come
and go, as a door upon its hinges in Thy house, but that we do
really receive the benefit and blessing, and that Thou dost
see that we are engaged with all our heart to serve and worship
Thee. Do pray that Thou hast blessed
each gathered, those in the sanctuary here, and those that join with
us online or shall hear thy word afterwards. O Lord, thou knowest
each case, every affliction, every trial, every need of thy
people. And we do see that thy word might
be that help from the sanctuary and strength out of Zion. Do
grant faith to be mixed with what we hear. I do pray that
Thou hast blessed us and built us up as a church and people,
and make us a blessing to those round about us, and that Thou
hast caused that this house might be filled with hungering, thirsting
souls. Oh, do send a real spirit-led
revival into this land, this dark, benighted land, a land
that has cast Thy word behind its back. I refuse to hear And
Lord, generations rising up that have no idea of the things of
God, do cause that we might be given open doors. We thank Thee
where we have had the open door of Bible distribution. And Lord, we thank Thee for its
continual opening. We pray Thy blessing. Lord, may
there be those constrained to ask for Thy word. have not got
it already. Those that are thy people, thou
dost know them, and will bring them to thy word, to be blessed,
to be saved. And Lord, may we hear of what
thou hast done through thy word. But Lord, we would cast that
as bread upon the waters, knowing that we do not know what shall
prosper this or that, or both alike. No, Lord, do Grant then
thy blessing on every copy of thy word that goes forth and
those that receive it. Lord, may they receive it as
thy word and be truly savingly blessed and continue in thy ways
and be found at last at thy right hand in heaven. O Lord, we pray
for many of our loved ones after the flesh. Lord, many that do
not know thee, many who have turned their backs upon the ways
of the Lord. And Lord, that thou send out
thy word after them. May there be many prodigals,
many that are brought back again. Lord, we do pray for all that
is sick and unwell to grant that help today. May there be then strength given
and that help throughout the day. Do remember those that are
recovering from hospital treatment and do help them grant full healing
and help those servants that lay but also in weakness today. We pray for thy dear servant,
Jew, with us this evening. May thy blessing be upon his
ministry here and help us where I go. O Lord, do be pleased to
bless each gathering of thy people today, whether in this land,
or in Australia, or in America, in Canada, our churches there,
and dear brethren in Holland. We do pray, Lord, for thy people
throughout the world, and we thank thee for sermon audio,
that thy word may go into every nation, And Lord, may there be
many that do hear thy word through this means. And Lord, we do pray
for the nations in Africa, some of those that we know join with
us. We seek, Lord, thy blessing upon all that join in this way. Oh Lord, do be pleased to grant
us then, as we start another week, Lord, we think of mercies
in the past week, we thank Thee for them. Lord, do be with us
in ministry, be with us in our going out, our coming in, in
the week that we've entered upon. O Lord, hear prayer for those
arrangements made for gatherings, especially the Creation Ministries
meeting on the 15th of February. We pray for thy blessing upon
them, and Lord, that thou hast been pleased to work through
these means that many might be brought to see thee and to acknowledge
thee in all thy works and thy creation. Do forgive and pardon
our many sins. We do pray for that blessing
that thou art exalted to give repentance and remission of sins. You grant us a softened heart,
godly sorrow for our sin, cause us to repent, cause us to turn
away from those things that Thy Word discovers are wrong in us
and in our lives, and grant us grace to do that which is pleasing
in Thy sign. Grant us a teaching of Thy Holy
Spirit and Thy kind correction Lord, we do seek that Thou deal
with us as Thy children, as our Heavenly Father. We do thank Thee for our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, for He that so willingly came, obedient
even unto death to this world, that suffered upon Calvary's
tree, that rose again, And we do thank Thee for the empty tomb,
the risen Saviour, now ascended into heaven, who makes intercession
for us. We thank Thee for that glorious
plan of salvation, the substitutionary offering of Thy beloved Son in
the place of Thy people, that Thou hast endured the wrath of
God instead of us, that Thou hast paid the penalty instead
of us, that thou hast made it way, that we can be brought to
thee. O Lord, do work in us, and may
we know that those blessings that thou dost bless us with
flow to us from the everlasting love of God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and through thy work on Calvary's
tree. We do seek then Thy blessing,
the help of Thy Spirit, as we preach Thy Word, and as Thy Word
is heard. Lord, bless us this morning,
and favour us in our souls, and get to Thy self-honour and glory. We ask Thee these things through
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. Announcements, God willing. Mr. William Arrowsmith is expected
to preach here this evening at 6.30pm. That's from Bellevue
Green Chapel. I'm expected to preach here on
Thursday evening at 7 o'clock and next Lord's Day at 11am and
6.30pm. I would mention as I asked for, in prayer, the meeting
on the 15th of February, God willing, in the Vestry Hall. It's not in the chapel here.
It's Vestry Hall, Cranbrook, of Creation Ministries International
Meeting. The details of that are on our
website, on the homepage and the notices. You may click on
that and download all the information about that meeting. Hymn, 702. Tune, Hart's 468. Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Hebrews chapter 3 and verse
15. While it is said, today if ye
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. Hebrews 3 and verse 15. This is very similar word that
you'll find in verse 8, 7 and 8. Wherefore as the Holy Ghost
saith, today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,
as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
and the word where we Finished our reading in chapter 4 verse
7, Gain he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today,
after so long a time, as it is said, Today, if ye will hear
his voice, harden not your hearts. And when the word speaks about
the Holy Ghost saying it, it is referring back to the Psalms
Psalm 95, we read this in verse 7 and 8. For He is our God, and
we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today,
if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation
and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. When your
fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work forty years long,
was I aggrieved with this generation, and said, it is a people that
do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. And then the solemn word, unto
whom I swear in my wrath that they should not enter into my
rest. The Psalms, written some thousand
years before Christ and many hundreds of years also after
the wilderness journey, are now referred to by the Apostle writing
to the Hebrews and using it as a message not to unbelievers,
Though let those that are not God's people, those that do not
know that they are His people yet, let them listen to this. But the word is specifically,
as in verse one of Hebrews three, wherefore holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, the word is written to them. to us that are brethren. Now
it may appear in this chapter that our being saved is dependent
upon our works and that our salvation can be lost. There are many that
actually teach that. No certainty in salvation. It all depends upon us holding
on our way. Well, We read of those that are
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. And the
Lord Jesus Christ is the author of faith. He which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And Paul is persuaded in Romans
8 that nothing shall separate between the people of God and
their God. the Lord's own gift, I give unto
them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of mine hand." So how do we then reconcile those
parts of scripture that speak like it is possible that we could
lose our salvation? And a reminder of what happened
to the children of Israel that some started on that journey,
some were brought out of Egypt, but they never went into the
Promised Land. The reason why the exhortations
are like this is that it is through faith that God's people are kept,
and faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of the
Lord. We should always remember this,
not just think, that God will keep us by, shall we say, His
power separate from His Word. Now, if we had a family, say
a father and children, and the child was intent on doing something
that was dangerous, the father could have the option of getting
the child and tying it up and bring it home and physically
preventing it from going and doing something that was dangerous.
Or he could say to the child, do not do that. Don't go there. If you do, then you will get
injured. Then you will come to harm. And that child then will either
listen and be spared from that danger, or they will not listen,
and they will go and they will suffer the consequences. Now,
the Lord's given the very mark of his children, is that his
sheep, as he calls his people, my sheep, when he's speaking
of himself as the good shepherd, they hear my voice and they follow
me. It is the mark of being one of
the people of God. It is the whole way that faith
comes and it is the evidence of faith that we hear and hearken
to the voice of the Lord. And we need to be really reminded
of this and not just go through life and think, well, we can
just sin that grace might abound. We are the Lord's people. Nothing
will hurt us. The Lord will never speak to
us in a way that we must take heed, and if we don't, it's going
to cost us. And if we are mistaken as to
our real calling, whether we are called or not, then actually
to prove at the end that we were never God's people, and actually
along the way through our life, The fact that we never listened,
never took notice, never were warned of the Lord was really
an ongoing warning to us. You are not really the people
of God. We don't really have to look
back to a new birth to get assurance of our interest in Christ, because
we are to be hearing from the Lord all the time, not just some
of the time. And when we think, and we mentioned
this in prayer, that in prayer we hope, our expectation is that
God hears us. But the expectation is when the
Word is preached that we hear from God and we listen to His
Word. And so we are reminded in this
that the Lord does speak. The people of God have all been
very concerned of this. Be not silent to me, lest if
thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down into the
pit. Just think of that. Those that
go down into the pit, the Lord is silent to. He doesn't speak
to them. They don't hear his voice. It
might be spoken in their hearing, but they don't hear it. And they
go down into the pit. And the desire of the people
of God, knowing this, is that the Lord is not silent to them. They do hear his voice. How does the Lord then speak
to his people? We mentioned it through preaching,
through the word of the Lord. In these last days, this is how
Hebrews begins. God, who at sundry times, in
divest manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets. And we read of Samuel, that he
did not yet know the Lord, but the Lord began to speak to him.
Eli directed him, so that then he did know the Lord's voice.
And when the Lord revealed himself to him again, it was by the word
of the Lord. We go on in Hebrews in chapter
1 verse 2, And it is through the word and through the gospel,
through the preaching, that the Lord speaks to his people. So, We are reminded of that, and
we would be very thankful for that, and we would then be diligent
that if there are things that are stopping us hearing, if there
is that which is making the Word of God of none effect
to us, that we be mindful of this. And this is what is upon
my spirit hearing, His voice, and things that stop us doing
so. And specifically, it is set before
us here, that is when we harden our hearts. And the Apostle is
going back to the Psalms, back to the children of Israel, if
ever, There was a setting a seal that God's ancient people were
a typical people. There are lessons for us to learn
from them. It is set before us in these
passages here. So I want to look at three points. Firstly, do we want to hear his
voice. A question for us each. And then secondly, if we will
hear, if we do want to hear, be warned of what will stop us
hearing it. And then thirdly, the provisions
of the gospel And we were thinking that of our hymn that we've just
sung, What can soften hearts of stone? Jesus' precious blood
alone. So we're not setting before you
those things that are to be done in our own strength, but there
are provisions in the gospel to help us. But this is to make
known what is and has in the years past stopped many an ear
from hearing the word of the law. But firstly this question, it
might seem a strange question to ask, do we want to hear his
voice? Well our text, it says this,
today if ye will hear his voice, There are those that openly have
no desire to hear His voice. They deliberately shut their
ears. They deliberately do not open
the Word of God. They do not want to read it.
They do not want to come to the preached Word. They are mindful
that it will reprove them. that there will be something
set before them that they don't want to know and they don't want
to obey. And I've spoken to those in this
town seeking to get them to come to hear the word of the Lord
and they have openly said they would rather be in ignorance.
They'd rather not know. They'd rather go just in blissful
ignorance to eternity rather than know what the truth is or
have any hope of changing and being delivered. They don't want
to know what is ahead of them at all, like the ostrich that
will put its head in the sand and hope that everything will
be all right because it can't see, it can't hear. And we have
this with Psalm 73, that which was a real puzzle to Asa, The
prosperity of the wicked. There was no bans in their death.
There was no troubles or anything. They were full in ignorance.
But when he went into the house of God, then he understood their
end. And that suddenly they were consumed
by terrors the other side of the grave. It is the word of
God that tells us what is the other side of the grave. It tells
us what is in eternity. It tells us about the judgment
day. It tells us by what standards
we shall be judged and what our condition is now and why the
gospel is to be proclaimed to us. But there are many that they
do not want to hear. Our Lord said very clearly that
men would not come to the light because their deeds were evil,
lest their deeds should be found out. So there are those that
do not want to hear at all. But there are those that will
come by custom and just come to the house of God and the idea
might be, well, we're worshipping God and we're going where the
people of God is. We've said we believe and so
we're going to go to heaven. And we're going to sit under
the word of God, but we don't really want to hear it. We're not expecting that anything
challenges our life or gives us direction what to do, or the
Lord's got any word that he's actually speaking to us. You get those that will say,
that they want to hear it, but subconsciously they are saying,
well, yes, but I'm going to do my own will anyway. Those that solemnly testified
in Jeremiah's day, that they would hearken to the Lord. They would listen to what he
would direct them to do, should they go down to Egypt or should
they not? The Lord was silent to Jeremiah
for 10 days. Then he told him that the people
of Israel, they had dissembled in their heart. And they made
some very solemn promises that whatever the Lord would say,
that they would do. But the Lord knew that secretly
they had already decided to go down into Egypt and they just
wanted a rubber stamp from the Lord to do what they wanted to
do. And so you can have those that
may give every appearance that they want to hear from the Lord,
but there's real conditions that they put on it, real blocks,
that if the Lord doesn't speak what they want him to speak,
then they're not going to hear it at all. But this is a message, this is
a message to holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. And
the question that is put, if today, if ye will hear his voice,
if we really do want to hear his voice, then there's a message
to us regarding those things. that will stop us hearing it.
But we need to be honest with ourselves as to whether we really
do want to hear the voice of the Lord. Are we prepared to
obey what the Lord sets before us? Are we prepared to hear the
gospel, the good news of salvation? Are we prepared to be guided
and directed in our lives, to receive comfort, to receive help
from the Lord through the Word of God? Are we open to hear and
listen to the Word of the Lord? And what is supposed here is that the Lord's
people do want to hear it, but they are not really aware that
there are things that are stopping them hearing it. And it's passages like this that
are to discover to us what really is happening, why we are not
hearing it, You might say, well, I've come and gone from the house
of God. I've heard many sermons, I've
read the word, and I never seem to hear the word of the Lord. The Lord is silent to me, doesn't
seem to speak to me, but I do want him to speak to me. I do want him not to be silent. I want to hear his voice. And yet there may be those things,
and especially what is set before us here as a hardened heart,
that all the time is stopping us from hearing His voice. So the first point, the first
question really is, do we really want to hear His voice? If you
want to hear me set forth as the Lord's servant, the reasons
why we cannot And while we don't hear his voice, are we open to be searched in
the way that this chapter and this verse does search us? Do we want to hear his voice
or not? It may be that every time we
come into the house of God, every time we read the Bible, every time that we hear the word
preached, that we want to hear from the Lord. We want the Lord
to speak to us through the ministry. Or if that is the case, then
I want to bring before us, and I bring it before me as well
as to you, a warning of those things that
will stop us from hearing it. Our text says, while it is said
today, if ye will hear his voice, Pardon not your hearts as in
the provocation. And going back to the Psalms, we read of the reason where the
children of Israel, they tempted the Lord, they proved Him, They
saw his work, but the Lord was greed with them in those things
that they were doing. We have a very solemn searching
word in Proverbs 29, verse 1. He that being often reproved,
hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without
remedy. A very, very searching word. The thing then that is set before
us first, and I'll look at some other things as well, that will
stop us hearing, is a hardened heart. What is it to have a hardened
heart? A hardened heart is unfeeling,
It is cold, it is insensitive, it is shutting ourselves off
emotionally, insensitive, refusing to feel. We think of the solemn case that
began with the children of Israel's journey in the wilderness. When Moses was sent to work his
signs in Egypt, God said that he would harden Pharaoh's heart,
judgmentally harden it, or leave him to himself, leave him to
his natural, hardened, deceitful heart. He said, who is the Lord
that I should obey him? Defiant against the Lord. And you find through nine signs
Pharaoh had set before him miracles. At first they were imitated by
his magicians and then they couldn't imitate them anymore. Miracles
that brought utter destruction across all of Egypt. After each
one, all of the frogs that were brought to cover the land He
besought Moses to take them away. Moses prayed to the Lord, the
frogs were taken away. As soon as he got relief, then
he hardened his heart again. He wouldn't let the children
of Israel go. So then the Lord sent flies throughout
all the land. And he pleaded that they would
be taken away. When they were taken away, then
he hardened his heart and he wouldn't let the children of
Israel go. As soon as he got relief, then
back again, defiant, he refused to change, refused to let the
children of Israel go. And you get an illustration of
that man in the spite of all of those signs and wonders, he
refused to bend, to obey, to let the children of Israel go.
But this portion, in Psalm 95, speaks of the children of Israel
themselves. They had seen those things. They
had seen the Red Sea divided. They had been brought through
safely, delivered from their enemies, and the Egyptians they
saw dead upon the seashore. They'd had miracles. The waters
of Mara that were bitter were made sweet. The water was brought
out of the rocks. The manna was sent from heaven
for 40 years. They'd received the law at Mount
Sinai, but even while that law was being given, then they gave
over to idolatry, made a golden calf, said that brought them
out of Egypt. And we get a picture of a hardened
heart that sees so many signs, so many wonders, so much evidence
of God's work, and then ascribes it to an idol. refuses to obey. You get just such a picture of
what the human heart, the fallen nature, our nature is, it will
not bend. One of our hymns says, the judgments
nor mercies ne'er can sway the roving heart to wisdom's way. And it's good for us to realize,
look, Israel wasn't unique. The children of Israel were really
used to show what is in the heart of man. In Pharaoh's case, there
was no mercy. He was judged. But God's children,
yes, they were chastened as a nation. And those that disobeyed, those
that rebelled and would not go into the promised land, not believing
the Lord could do it, they limited the Holy One of Israel They perished
in the 40 years in the wilderness. They didn't go in. As a nation,
the whole nation did. God's promises were fulfilled.
But this is the warning that is here. That we have just the
same wicked heart, the same hard heart, the same heart that's
capable of seeing wonders and say the Lord appeared here and
there and did this for us and that for us and helped us there
but then just refusing to obey and bow and walk before Him. That hard heart is what here
we're warned, take heed. Brethren, in verse 12, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God, exhort one another daily while it is called today,
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." And
there we are told what it is that brings that hardening, the
deceitfulness of sin. Sin being indulged, sin being
walked in, sin is hardening and stopping us from hearing the
word of the Lord. and obeying the word of the Lord. While it is said, today if ye
will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation. Now it is spoken of here as if
it is us that is hardening our hearts. And really, our wicked,
evil hearts, that is what we do. Our sin is our own. Our wickedness is our own. But
here is God's mercy that he shows it, he highlights it, he shows
what it is. And you know, it comes to mind
of the case of Ahab when he would go into battle and the prophet
clearly told him that God had determined through going into
battle he would be slain. But he thinks he can. Get round
it. He locks up the prophet in prison. He disguises himself. He goes
into battle, leaves Jehoshaphat to have his clothes on, and thinks
he's going to escape the word of the Lord. It won't happen
to him. But it does. Man just shoots an arrow at nothing. And that arrow is directed by
God, finds the joints of his harness, and he's killed. It's a solemn thing to be warned
and still go on. Just not listen to that warning. And it should make us tremble
when we know and know that we have this wicked heart. We have
a heart that we can also harden our hearts. Well, the main warning here is sin, the indulgence of sin, an
evil heart of unbelief, not believing God, not believing His Word,
and walking in the paths of sin, That is the principle way set
before us here that makes our hearts heartened. Sometimes when we hear or see
things that are sinful and evil, if it is the first time that
we've heard it, then we are shocked at it. But as we begin to see it again
and again and to hear it again and again, we become so used
to it, we're not shocked anymore. There are those that remember
when the television first come in and some of the programs that
were seen shocked people. But now things that would never
be shown in prime time if you like, now are, and people aren't
shocked at all. We get hardened, we get used
to it. We get used to seeing wickedness
and sin, to hearing swearing, cursing, blaspheming, taking
the name of God in vain. And the more we hear it and the
more we see it, then we become hardened. And really it is only
as we come constantly before the Word of God that we should
be unheartened, shown what really these things are. But it is the
nature of sin and the nature of hearing something again and
again. So on the one hand, while we
are seeing so much evil openly about us today, when we come
into the house of God, We're constantly hearing the message
of the gospel. We're constantly hearing the
word of the Lord. And that can be another way. Not that we should not constantly
hear it, but we become gospel hardened. We don't really hear
what we are hearing. And also, we don't really translate
what we are hearing into everyday life, into our lives. Many of us have read the account
in John 4 of the Samaritan woman and the Lord, how he dealt with
her. Remember that when she desired
the living water, he said, go call thy husband, come. She said,
I have no husband. And he said to her, Truly thou
saidst, thou hast no husband, for thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou hast is not thine husband. She said, Sir,
I perceive that thou art a prophet. Now we read over that. We've
read that account many, many times. Years ago, speaking to
a dear brother, and I said to him, you know, I said, the other
day, I said, I read of this woman. And she got married. And then
she divorced. So she married again. And she
divorced that man. And then she married again and
divorced that man. And then had a fourth marriage
and divorced him. And then gave up on bothering
to get married. So she just took a man and lived
with him. And I said, and then the Lord
called her. He called her by grace, he blessed
her. And he said, that's amazing,
that's a wonderful thing. And I said, yes, you can read
about it in John 4. And he hadn't recognized that
what I was telling him about was what he'd read and we'd all
read so often. And we can be like that. We can
read of these characters in the word of God. We can read of the
warnings, we can read of what happened to them because they
did not listen. And we fail to put it to our
account. We fail to think this applies
to me. Or that just applies to them,
not me. And in effect, our heart is hardened
against the warnings, the teachings, the instruction, because we've
heard it again and again. And because we Don't bring it
into our own life. Remember a hardened heart, unfeeling,
it is cold, it's insensitive. You think of those that can do
horrible things to another person. They hear their cries, they hear
their sorrows, they see their distress, but they've no pity,
they're just hardened. what the Nazis did to the Jews
in the Holocaust, just hardened. They'd go home, they'd have their
own wife, they'd have their own children, and then they'd go
back to the concentration camps and do terrible things to wives,
to children. And just so hardened, not registering
what they're actually doing, insensitive. And we read in the
last days of those that shall be implacable, incontinent, incapable
of controlling themselves, and that you cannot pacify, you cannot
calm them down. And those sort of characters
shall be the persecutors of the church in the last days. And they have been, of course.
But here is a warning for our own wicked heart. We are reminded
We also are fallen. Even holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, can harden their hearts. They are still in danger of unbelief. We still need this warning. Harden not your hearts. Well, there's other things that
also stop us hearing. going back to the children of
Israel, when those signs and those wonders were first being
done, then one of Pharaoh's reactions was to make the bondage and the
servitude of the Jews even harder, worse. And so when Moses came
to speak to them and to encourage them in the Lord their God, then
they would not hear for anguish of spirit and for hard hunger. And we might be like that too.
We might come into the house of God. We are so tried with
afflictions, with troubles in our family, with sicknesses,
from wearing pain, that really we shut our ears. We think nothing
that the Lord can speak can help us. Nothing will deliver us. There's no use me listening,
why I've come back and forwards to the house of God so many times
and I have not had any help. And so because of that, we do
just like the children of Israel, we just cannot hear because of
the anguish of spirit. Well, the really encouraging
thing was that, that didn't stop the Lord continuing working and
it didn't stop him either. from delivering them in the end
and bring them to himself and out of Egypt. So do be encouraged
if that is one reason you find it very hard to hear in the house
of God because of those deep trials and afflictions and things
you're going through. The Lord knows those. He knows those things you're
going through. thing is what is spoken of in
the fifth chapter of Hebrews, where he says of them that they
were dull of hearing. He wanted to speak to them about
Melchizedek, Lord Jesus Christ, as a high priest, after the order
of Melchizedek. He says, of whom we have many
things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull
of hearing. When for the time ye ought to
be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be
the first principles of the oracles of God, become such as need of
milk, and not of strong meat. And so, we can be so little exercised
in the things of God, that really when it comes to deep doctrine
or when it comes to the practical walk and growing in grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord, we're really like a child in
grade one and really they should be, well maybe a child in grade
six and they should be learning their maths to that standard,
but really all the teacher can teach them is what he's teaching
grade one. And we can be like that, just
really not progressing at all in the things of God. We are
not learning, we're not hearing to be instructed and taught.
And therefore when the word is spoken, we say it just goes over
our head. We cannot understand it, cannot
fathom it. There's nothing wrong with the
Word, but it's just that all we really want is something very,
very simple and basic, and many churches that is all that is
given anyway. We think then of the case of
Martha, when our Lord was in the house. Mary, she was able
to sit and listen and hear the Word of the Lord, but why wasn't
Martha doing that? because she was comforted about
with much serving care. Martha, Martha, thou art careful
and troubled about many things. That is another thing that stops
us from hearing his voice. Many of us can know what that
is, to sit in the house of God and to be so full of the cares
of tomorrow and things that are in our life that we just we're
blotting out many parts of the sermon and many parts of what
we're hearing, and it is soon lost, it is soon gone. If we
then will hear his voice, we're to be mindful of this. We think
of the apostle when he writes to the Corinthians, and again
this is writing to churches, but he says to them that they
are carnal, I've fed you with milk, Here's 1 Corinthians 3,
verse 2. And not with meat, for hitherto
ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able,
for ye are yet carnal. Why did he say they were carnal?
What were they doing? There is among you strife, envying
and strife, divisions. Are ye not carnal and walk as
men? One is saying, I'm a Paul, another
of Apollos, Are ye not carnal? Who is Paul? Who is Apollos?
But ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every
man. And so while they had that party
spirit, while they were walking, not in the spirit, but in a carnal,
fleshly way, then the Lord's word was silent to them. Another thing that can stop us
is that we subconsciously do not want to fully follow the
Lord. We don't want to be a completely
holy, spiritual, godly person. We want some part that we can
serve man, to serve our lusts, to serve sin, to serve this world. It's very common, it's a very
strong thing within us. Our Lord was very clear He cannot
serve God a mammon. And that which is commended of
the likes of Caleb and Joshua, who didn't limit the Lord, who
did believe the Lord, who did go into the promised land, it
was that they followed the Lord fully. What is spoken against
Jehu and his like, They executed the judgment of the Lord, they
were commended for many things that they did well, but he took
no heed to serve the Lord with all his heart. And we can be
just the same. We can say, Lord, I want so much
religion, but not too much, because I still want to indulge this
sin, I still want this part of my life, And I don't want to
be too religious, I don't want to be too holy, too godly. And this deceitfulness of our
heart, this old nature that does not want to be completely put
under. But the Apostle is very clear,
I put under my body. He spoke of mortifying the deeds
of the body through the spirit. No, I speak these things to myself. I have need of such warnings
as this. So this is the warning. These
are the things that stop us from hearing His voice. While it is said, today if ye
will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,
very often as well there's this subconscious thing Tomorrow. I'll be better tomorrow, the
next day. But the word here is today. Not putting off, but listening
to the word of the Lord today. Be mindful of what it is today. Remember what is at stake here,
dear friends. This is eternity. This is our
eternal home. This is the true evidence of
being the people of God. Are we having heaven as our home
or do we still cleave to the earth and want the things of
earth? Well, I want to then look lastly
at the provisions of the gospel. Because I don't want it that
we just are given these warnings. And you hear it and you say,
there's no hope for me then. I've got this hard heart. I have
these cares. I do have this where I, there
is that in me that does want the things of this world. And
it doesn't, there is a reserve. I don't want to be fully holy
and fully godly. And it is a good thing to be
honest where that is the case, where the word this morning has
found us out, where it is true. So what are we to do? What can we do? You know, three
weeks ago, on the 5th of January, I preached from the cause that
is too hard for you, bring it unto me. And this is one of those
cases, one of these things that is too hard for us. Bring it before the Lord. Come
before the Lord and tell Him, Lord, I've got this hardened
heart and I discern that I really don't want to be fully spiritual. There is something in me that
does want the world as well. It doesn't want to let go of
some of these besetting sins. It doesn't want to let go of
some of the company that I have. and to lay it before the Lord. The name Jesus, why he was given
that name, that he would save his people from their sins. His
people are sinners. And we need the Lord to save
us. We need the Lord to soften our hearts, to break through
these things and to deliver us from those things. that are stopping
us from hearing His voice. He is exalted to give repentance
and remission of sins unto Israel. No person, may we be clear of
this, no person is born godly. We might look upon some people
that ministers or people that we know and say, what a godly
person, I wish I was like them. Be it known that none of us,
no one, is born godly. We are all fallen, we are all
lost. If anyone appears and looks godly,
it is because God has given them his grace. They have sought it
from, you think of Daniel and spoken of Daniel, what a godly
man that he was. But there he was three times
a day in prayer, And sometimes weeks at a time with fasting
and prayer, he lived close to the Lord. He lived godly. And many would say, well, I would
be godly, but don't want to spend the time in the Word or time
at the throne of grace. And sometimes it may be we come
before the Lord and say, Lord, I find an aversion to reading
thy Word. Help me. Give me an interest
so I can read it. Lord, I find I can spend hours
on the internet or hours reading worldly books, but as soon as
I start to read thy word, my mind is pulled away. Or worse,
as soon as I start to pray, I have nothing to pray for. I don't
come to my mind. And all other things have such
a strong, strong pull except prayer. None of the Lord's people
know this. We know it, we feel it, we feel
this opposition all the time to coming to the throne of grace,
to coming to the word, to listening to the word, but bring it before
the Lord, ask Him. The Lord gave the encouragement
to, if you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? and see what hard-hearted
prayers can do. When half-hearted, we might come,
say, Lord, I'm asking for this, but half of my heart says, don't
ask for that, I don't want it. And actually bring Him, before
Him, the conflict and the struggles and what is going on within,
that the Lord would appear for you. It is to acknowledge that,
confess that before the Lord, not imagine it is not happening,
or not give up because it is a cause too hard for us, which
it is too hard for us. We want to be able to say, the
apostle, having received help of God. And if we have received
help of God, we're not going to then turn to our fellow sinners
as if we're better than them. or as if they should do something
to remedy their case, the help does come from the Lord. And
we would point each one to the Lord, point myself, point you,
for help in this specific point. Here's a point to pray for, isn't
it? A verse to pray for. Lord, soften
my heart. Cause me to hear thy voice and
let not sin or the world or a desire to be a partial believer and
follower stop me from hearing thy voice. May we often have
times that we hear direction and take and follow and obey,
that we receive correction that we have comfort, we have help
from the Lord. We hear his voice and we feed
upon his word. It is manner to our souls and
help for us. So dear friends, remember the
gospel. The good news of salvation is
for sinners and it is to be given to those who feel their sinnership
and groan under it. And the perplexing thing is,
those very sins, very evils, are the things that are stopping
us from hearing His voice. But when we realise that, and
when we would want to hear His voice, and beg of the Lord, Lord,
be not silent to me, let me hear Thy voice. Today, if ye will
hear His voice, harden not your hearts. May the Lord bless His
Word. Amen. Hymn, 556. Tune, Cambridge 16. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all now and evermore. Amen.