Hebrews 3:7-19

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS [your fathers did] IN THE REBELLION [of Israel at Meribah], ON THE DAY OF TESTING IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED ME BY TESTING [My forbearance and tolerance], AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS [And found I stood their test]. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGERED WITH THIS GENERATION, AND I SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS [nor become progressively better and more intimately acquainted with them]’; SO I SWORE [an oath] IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST [the promised land].’ ” [Ps 95:7-11] Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God. But continually encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today” [and there is an opportunity], so that none of you will be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [its cleverness, delusive glamour, and sophistication]. For we [believers] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that the Messiah has for us], if only we hold firm our newborn confidence [which originally led us to Him] until the end, while it is said, “TODAY [while there is still opportunity] IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEART, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME [in the rebellion in the desert at Meribah].” [Ps 95:7, 8] For who were they who heard and yet provoked Him [with rebellious acts]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies were scattered in the desert? And to whom did He swear [an oath] that they would not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed [those who would not listen to His word]? So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest—the promised land] because of unbelief and an unwillingness to trust in God. [Num 14:1-35]