Lesson 6 - Follow Him today
Read Hebrews 3 -www.bible.com/bible/59/heb.3.esv

In this lesson we look at the words, “today if you hear His voice.” First of all, this is one of the clearest statements in the Bible that says the Holy Spirit is responsible for the writing of it, because these words are quoted from Psalm 95. Even though the person responsible for putting these words on paper was human, it was the Holy Spirit who gave that person the words to say. Just as Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1:21 – “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (ESV)

“Today” tells us this message is urgent. It must not be put off for some other time. We cannot know if the opportunity to “hear” will still be there tomorrow. Things happen so rapidly in our lives, in our world, that we must do today what God asks of us.

What does it mean to harden our hearts? Is that only when we say, “No, I’m not going to listen to you!” No, we most often harden our hearts to God’s voice by saying, “not just now” or “I’m busy, talk to me later.” It might even be “I have to clear up some sin in my life first,” that means we’re hardening our heart.


This is why the story surrounding Moses was so important to understanding what God is asking of us. The people in the wilderness saw a miracle of God every single morning of those many years when the morning dew would leave them food to eat. Can you imagine how much food it would take to feed over 2 million people every single day for 40 years? But they got tired of eating this manna, and started complaining – they no longer saw the miracle, they saw only their own wants and desires. Twice God provided water for them out of seemingly dry rocks, but they still complained about not having enough.

God wants us to be thankful and content with what He has given us. Only when we are at peace in our hearts are we able to “hear” Him speak to us. He wants us to encourage each other to do this as well – to remind each other of what we have received from Him. Discontent deceives us into thinking we deserve more. And sin is so very deceitful in telling us we have plenty of time later if we really want to clean up our lives – but why shouldn’t we enjoy what we can get now?

In verse 14 we read an interesting statement – “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” Some people believe this says we have our salvation (share in Christ) if we hold our confidence to the end. But the Bible tells us in many other places that our salvation is not from what we do, but from what God has already done for us. Then what do these words mean? They mean that if we hold our confidence in Him firm to the end, it will demonstrate that we have salvation from Him.

“Today” is WHEN we must hear, and remaining “firm to the end” is how we show that we’ve heard and understood and accepted Him. But the WHAT is our goal – entering into God’s rest. This will be our discussion in the next lesson.