Hebrews chapter 3, this morning
we'll be looking at verse 7 and verse 8. Hebrews chapter 3 and
verses 7 and verse 8. The Scripture says, Wherefore,
as the Holy Ghost saith today, if you will hear His voice, Harden
not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the
wilderness." The title of the message is, God's Word for Today. God's Word for Today. The first thing that we see in
this passage of Scripture is the authority of all Scripture. The authority of all Scripture. The Scripture says, wherefore,
as the Holy Ghost saith, there's our authority, as the Holy Spirit
says. The authority of all Holy Scripture
is this, thus saith the Lord. That's the authority of Scripture.
Thus saith the Lord. In verse 7, it says, the Holy
Ghost saith. This is marvelous in our eyes.
The God that created all things by the speaking of His voice,
by the word of His power, created all the universe and all the
things made in it. Within six days, He created all
things. And yet now He speaks. He speaks to you and to me by
His Word. Thus saith the Lord. The grace of God, the election
of God belongs to God the Father. The redemption of God belongs
to God the Son. And the grace of regeneration
belongs to the Holy Spirit. The scripture says there are
three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the
Spirit. And these three are one. These three are one God. So the work of our salvation
is truly, absolutely, completely the work of God, the work of
God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And because we are born dead
in spiritual things, we are dead to all righteousness, dead to
all spiritual understanding, we could not by any way please
the justice of God. because of our spiritual condition,
because of how we were born into this world dead, we could not
understand how it is that God could be just and justify the
ungodly. It's not in us to know that.
We could not know of election, of grace, We could not, by obedience, obey
the law of God even though it was revealed to us in our hearts. Every one of us, by nature, knows
that lying, stealing, murder, that that is against the law
of God. We know that. By nature, we receive not the
things of God because we are already spiritually judged. discerned, sentenced to death. Wherefore, as by one man's sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed on,"
who? On all of us. Death passed on
all of us. The depravity of man is so vile
and opposed to God that even though God sent His
only Even though God sent His Son
to be the mercy seat, the propitiation, the forgiveness of sins, even
though God sent His only precious Son to die for sins, man is so
depraved that he will not come to Christ. He will not come to
Christ. He sent Christ to make an atonement
for sin. And God even declared that he
was satisfied by raising him from the dead. And yet, all men set themselves against
God and against his anointed. Paul said this thing wasn't done
in a corner. This thing that Christ had come into the world
and done good works and is now crucified and risen from the
dead, that wasn't done in the shadows. That was done in the
open. Everybody knew it. Man is so
awfully depraved, so dead, they would not come. Therefore, God, to make sure
that we knew that this was the only Savior. He not only confirmed
it by His miracles, He not only confirmed it by His voice, but
God had confirmed that Jesus is the Christ from the beginning. So there would be no mistake.
So there would be no mistake. The Holy Spirit of God, the Holy
Spirit of God was to give men His holy word. How do I know that Jesus is the
Christ? Because God said so even before
he came. He says, who declares the end
at the beginning but me? Who is it? He said, I declare
the end. When? From the beginning. From
the beginning. God declared that there was one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And how
did he declare it? He declared it by his word, by
the Holy Spirit that saith. Go to 2 Timothy, chapter 3. 2
Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16. The Apostle says, all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all
good works. The Scriptures that we have are
God-breathed. That's what that inspiration
means. It means God breathed. These words, these are the breath,
the very breath and words of God Almighty himself, and they're
profitable for teaching, for conviction of sin, for chastisement
and for instruction in righteous living, they are God's Word to
every believer. This is God's Word to us. It is God's Word to us. It's
given by inspiration so that sinners may be without
blame and holy as He has determined before the world began. This
is the reason God breathed His Word. Flip over a few pages to
2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 20. Peter said, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the holy. ghost, this scripture that we
have, this word of God is not of any private interpretation. Have you ever heard anyone say,
well, that's your interpretation? Well, friends, this is not of
any private interpretation. In other words, you can't have
your opinion and I can't have my opinion. There's only truth.
There's only the truth as it was meant by the Holy Spirit
as He moved men along to write this book. This is no private interpretation. For this prophecy, this book,
came not in old time by the will of man, not by the knowledge
or wisdom or desire of men. I love how God uses ignorant
men. To write this book, most of the
men that wrote this book were ignorant, uneducated. They were the lowest form of
men in the world. Fishermen who had no formal education. You think of some of the prophets
who were who were nobodies, nothing. They had no they had no rank
in their in their race or in their tribes. They were farmers,
sheep herders. God raised up a sheep herder
to be his king in Israel. And these men spake as they were
moved, carried along by the Holy Spirit. These men just didn't
sit down and think up something and write it down. No, they were
inspired, they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we may know that the
Scriptures are infallible and without error because God the
Holy Spirit is the author of them. And he who is the author is the
only one who can reveal them. This book is a mystery. It's a mystery. To the lost men of this world,
this book, they have no idea what this book is for. They think it's a guide as to
how to be perfect, how they can obey God, how they can live a
righteous life, how they can do this and please God and do
that and please God. That's not what this book is.
That's not what this book is about. This book is without error. Now, these holy men. You'll hear
this many times when you speak of the inerrancy of Scripture.
People will inevitably say, well, it was written by men. Absolutely. Absolutely. Nobody's confessing that a pen
came down from heaven and wrote this. Nobody said that. We know
that this was written by fallible men. We know that this was written
by sinners saved by the grace of God, just like everyone else.
Elijah was a man of light passions, just like every one of us. Matter of fact, the scripture
leaves that to no, doesn't leave that alone at all. It reveals
all of the faults of these men. It does. You can't read the Scriptures
and see not Abraham's lack of unbelief when he went into Egypt,
and he said that was his sister and not his wife. You can't see how Moses went
ahead and killed that Egyptian soldier, thinking he was doing the will
of God. You see, God paints His saints warts at all. Yeah, they
were fallible men. But that's not what the scripture
tells us. They were fallible men saved
by grace who were carried along as they wrote. They were carried
along by the Holy Spirit, and what they wrote was infallible.
What they wrote was infallible, not the men themselves. No Scripture is of any private
interpretation, not by the man that wrote them, and not by the
man that preaches them, and not by the man that reads them. No
private interpretation. The writers of Scripture were
fallible, but they were greatly blessed and called to the office
by the grace of God, and what they wrote, they wrote because
thus saith the Lord." God used all the gifts that these men
were given, and this word came not by education,
nor was it withheld because of ignorance. Is that not grace?
Is that not mercy? You see, it wasn't because they
were smart or because they were dumb. It was because of God's
grace. It was because of God's grace they were chosen for this
particular mission. The Word of God we have came
to them by revelation of the Holy Spirit. That's why our scripture
text this morning says, Thus saith the Holy Ghost. And he's
referring to a psalm, Psalm 95. Thus saith the Holy Ghost today. The scriptures of God are infallible,
and there are many proofs. How do we know this is of God? How do you know what you believe
is the truth? If it's no private interpretation,
is it not necessary that we know that we know that this is the
truth? That we understand what God is saying to us? Is it not
vitally important to our souls? Yes. Yes, it is. It's so vitally important that
either salvation is of grace alone through faith alone in
Christ alone, or it's by our works. And it's so important because
if it's by our works, we're all doomed. We're all doomed. Especially us, if we're if we're
not telling the truth, how damned would our souls be? But how do we know that this
is the truth? Because the Word of God, when
it comes to the sinner's heart, it comes only in power. It comes in power. The power
that accompanied the Word of God gives us great evidence that
this is the only Word of God. When the prophets wrote these
scriptures, just think about how many and over how long a
period. It was over 5,000 years. 5,000 years. Many different countries,
many different languages were these books written. And oh, the proof of it, how
it defies all odds. for this book to continue today. How many kings and kingdoms have
set out to destroy this book? And they're gone. It's still
here. Is that not great evidence? Is
that not great proof? Yes, it is. This book still remains. We have recorded God's word and
how he came and destroyed all those that set themselves against
him. Find one king who was successful
to destroy this book. You won't find it. They're dead. And the book is still here. They were destroyed and not the
Word of God. If anyone tried to speak the
Word of God and did not give the words of
God, their word was lost and not to be found. I'll tell you what, there are
many books that have been written by men over the centuries. And they tell us that many of
these books will never be recovered. Good. I'm so glad because only
God's Word endures forever. Only God's Word endures forever. In Jeremiah chapter 23, we know
this, that God says to everyone who is a false prophet, who speaks
a false word, saying it is the Word of God, He said, I will
not bless them. And He has not blessed them.
Every false doctrine, every false word falls away. Why do you think the false church
has to keep up the excitement? Because they have no word of
God. You see, their word is always changing so that they can keep
people. Oh, but God's word doesn't change.
God's word doesn't change. It's the same as it was from
the beginning. And this is another infallible
proof is that this gospel has only one message. 5,000 years,
66 books over many different countries and continents, and
yet they all come together to speak one message. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. That's their whole message. This
is the message of God to testify of one man, of one work of salvation. testify that salvation is by
grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, by the scriptures
alone, for the glory of God alone. That's it. There's their message. All these books make one perfect,
complete message. And all that is necessary for
life, salvation, faith and practice are found here in the Word of
God. And the only way for any man
to understand it is truly by the Spirit of God. Therefore, Paul confesses in
1 Corinthians chapter 2 that he said, I didn't come with the
excellency of speech. He said, I didn't come with the
wisdom of this world. I came to you with the word of
God and with power. You see, the Word of God
is always accompanied. If it's effectual, it's always
accompanied with the power of God to salvation. How could any one of us know
what God was planning from eternity? Is that possible? How could any
man know? Were we there? When God was by
Himself, when God was alone in the perfection of His persons,
enjoying His own presence, where were we? We were in the mind
of God. We were in the purpose of God. But I'll tell you this, we weren't
around. Nothing was made. Nothing was created. Let me ask
you this, when Adam was created in all his perfect understanding,
did he know anything about election, predestination, grace? No. Adam knew nothing of these
things. The only thing he knew is that
he was not to eat of this, and as long as he did not eat, he
would live in perfection. He was living by law. He knew
nothing of grace. He knew nothing of God's sovereign
mercy. We were not yet created, we were
not yet born. How then could we know? We couldn't. We couldn't. The Scripture says that who knoweth
the mind of God save the spirit of God. These things are a mystery,
and unless God reveals them to you, you'll never know it. You'll
never understand the joy of it. You'll never understand the purpose
of the Scriptures. You'll never enjoy the salvation
of God unless the Holy Spirit comes and delivers it to your
heart and puts it in and gives you life. You won't understand
it. You see, he who wrote it also
reveals it. And he reveals it to the heart. How? How does he reveal it to
us? What is the means that God reveals
it to us? Only by the preaching of the
gospel does God the Holy Spirit save
man. is the means by which God saves
sinners. There is no other means. There is no other means by which
God saves sinners but by the preaching of the gospel. Wherefore,
the Holy Ghost saith. What does the Holy Ghost say?
Today. Today. When did he say today? When was that today? My goodness, if it was in Psalm
chapter 95, that was thousands of years ago. He said that. But really, his today was from
eternity. His today is an eternal day.
And therefore, when the Holy Spirit say it today, he means
today right now. When the spirit of God reveals
the word of God, he says today, if you will not, if you will
hear his voice today, if you will hear his voice. Now, this
is not an act of the will, but rather a miracle of grace. This phrase, if you will hear
his voice means if you are able. To hear his voice today, if you
are able to hear his voice, are you able to hear his voice? Are you a. Not talking about yesterday because
the spirit of God doesn't talk about yesterday, he says today.
Can you hear today, can you hear his voice now? If you will hear his voice, if
you can hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,
as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. What is this
day of temptation? It's when Israel refused to believe God's
promise. When Israel refused to believe
God had given them the land that they were to go in and just take
it. They would not believe. They
harden their hearts against God. If this is God's inspired holy
word by the Spirit of God, and only revealed by the grace of
God's sovereign Spirit, I'll tell you this, friends, you should
give everything you have, sacrifice everything you have to hear it. You should give up all your thoughts
all your works, all your religion, all that you thought was right,
and hear his voice today. Today. The Spirit of God says
today. The gospel is always living,
always powerful for today. Friends, we are needful of daily
supplies of grace, aren't we? If you're a believer in Christ,
you understand this, you need him not yesterday, not tomorrow,
you need him today. You need him to reveal this to
you today. It's like the manna of old. If
we try to store up the word of God for future benefits, it breeds worms and stinks. That's what it is. If you try
to live past today, you're going to be in big trouble. The Word of God is ever present
in the believer's mind and heart because the Spirit daily says,
hear his voice today. Believe today. Trust today. Don't trust in what you trusted
in yesterday. Don't trust in what you think
you'll trust in tomorrow. Believe today, today. There's nothing more offensive
in the nostrils of God and nothing more useless for the church and
sinners than a professing believer in the grace of God to boast
of yesterday's knowledge. useless, worthless. Every time I preach, I desire
to give you a fresh word from God. If I were to go in my drawer,
I have hundreds of sermons. But I'll tell you what, if I
just went in there and picked one out, it wouldn't be fresh. I'd be trusting
in old knowledge. And it wouldn't benefit you at
all. You see, I want you to hear his voice today. I want you to
know his power today. Because faith is not something
we store up, it's something we have every moment of every day,
we're to believe every day. While it is called today. We need fresh supplies of his
grace. Let me ask you this, if you cut
off circulation to your arm and the blood over here in this side
of your arm was still there, but it couldn't circulate, would
that stop it from dying? No. Your arm had rot off. You
see, you need fresh supplies. It's the same with the Word of
God. You need fresh supplies of grace. You need to hear him
today. And my job as a minister of the
gospel of grace is to put you in remembrance of these things.
You see, it's not grievous for me to preach Christ over and
over and over, because for you, it is safe. It's safe. If I try to start expanding into
other areas, it's not safe for you. It's not safe for you. Today, if you will hear his voice, This is the reason people come
to hear the gospel. And friends, I desire to hear
Him today. I don't want to hear my voice.
I want to hear His. I want to hear fresh supplies
of the Spirit of God-giving comfort and consolation and assurance
and hope and joy and peace. I need that today. I need that today. The spirit of God says today,
harden not your hearts. Harden not your heart, as in
the provocation. What is that unbelief? Hardening
your heart is nothing more Nothing less than unbelief. The trust
in something you see rather than something God said. That's hardening your heart. How many have professed to believe
on Christ and drifted away saying, well, I'll hear it tomorrow. I'll go when it's more convenient
for me. Surely. We can only bear one sermon a
week. Truly, that's all that I can take is one sermon. Truly,
that's enough to get me through the whole week. Spirit says today. You know what he'll say tomorrow?
Today. You know what he'll say the next
day? Today. You need it today. You say, well, Pastor, I know
you're not talking about me. I sure am faithful. I sure am
good. I'm always there. Friends, I've been here without
always being here. Sometimes my mind is not here,
even though my body is. So I should remember I need him
today. I don't need to trust in my faithfulness
yesterday. I need him today to be faithful
today. God is telling us then as believers
to take heed, look at that verse 12 of our text in closing. Verse
12, take heed, brethren, lest there be any of you with an evil
heart of unbelief, as in departing from the living God. What is
it to depart from the living God? Friends, it is to depart
from hearing his word. That's what it is. John said
they went out from us because they were not of us. If they
were of us, they no doubt would have continued with us. But they were made manifest how?
They were not of us, they went away. They didn't need the Word
of God anymore today. They had enough. Believer, this is an exhortation
to every one of us to stop looking at what we've
done or what we're going to do, but realize that faith is ever-present. We need his word today and you
don't need to hear it. You don't need to hear it as
my voice, you need to hear him. Don't listen to my voice, listen
to his voice, because that's who's speaking. Do you believe
that? Do you believe that? I hope by God's grace today you'll
speak to us. that he'll show us Christ afresh,
anew, because his gospel is for today. I pray that God blesses
to you. We're dismissed.