Hard Hearts

Romans 11:7–10 CSB

7 What then? Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day. 9 And David says, Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually.

HOOK | I DON’T FEEL IT ANYMORE

llustration:

How many of you have ever had a callus before?

First time playing guitar, strings hurt.

Over time, the same pressure is there, but you stop feeling it.

Calluses are great for your fingers, but Terrifying for your soul.

Things that once convicted us can eventually feel normal.

The danger isn’t only: “God spoke to me about a thing and I said no.”

Greater danger: “God spoke, and I didn’t even notice.”

This is what happened to many Israelites…but not all.

You can be around the things of God and become more and more insensitive to God Himself.

Transition: Paul shows us three different signs in this passage:

seeking but missing

hearing but not hearing

being absolutely blessed but trapped.

BOOK

1. SEEKING, BUT MISSING

Romans 11:7 ESV

7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,

Israel was seeking, yet did not obtain.

Looking for God

Looking for the Messiah

and they missed it all completely…

They had:

the Word of God

worship

heritage

religion

They had all of the God things, but didn’t have God Himself…

Proximity to God’s things did not guarantee sensitivity to God.

We can:

Attend church and miss Jesus.

Know Scripture and miss Jesus.

Serve, sing, give, even preach and miss Jesus.

Familiarity with the things of God is not the same as sensitivity to the voice of God.

Am I seeking God, or the version of God I already decided I wanted?

Having all the things and missing Jesus should make us stop and assess our lives…

There’s no coming back from this once we are dead.

Romans 11:7 CSB

7 What then? Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened,

The elect will always find and be awakened to the gospel, at their appointed time.

They are the ones Jesus means when He says, “those who have eyes to see and ears to hear…”

We go out with the gospel to all, and the gospel reveals the elect family through their being:

born again

Repenting and believing

And persevering to the end. 2. SEEING, BUT NOT SEEING

Romans 11:8 CSB

8 as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day.

Quoting (Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10; 6:9)

“God gave them a spirit of stupor”

“stupor” = bewilderment; reeling; asleep; slumber

Eyes, but they don’t see.

Ears, but they don’t hear.

The problem isn’t proximity. It’s sensitivity.

This is more than a callus.

There is judgment in the hardening.

God is not tyrannical or didtatorial, but repeated resistance to God is never harmless.

One frightening judgment of God is not always that He stops you.

Sometimes He lets you continue down the road that you insist on traveling...and you may never come back…

That is a fact.

You may never come back.

There’s no guarantee that you will come back to Him…

Leaving Him will just prove that you were never OF Him.

Don’t play.

Back to the callus:

Every encounter with truth calls for a response.

Today’s “no” can make tomorrow’s “no” easier.

Hard hearts can become both the result of sin and part of the judgment on sin.

Hardheartedness doesn’t always come through one enormous rebellion. Sometimes it develops through a thousand little no’s.

PAUSE:

Be careful what you continually ask God to leave you alone about.

What if eventually you don't hear anymore what you have continually refused to hear?

What if you actually do stop hearing it?

3. BLESSED, BUT TRAPPED

Romans 11:9–10 CSB

9 And David says, Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually.

“Let their table become a snare…”

A table is good:

provision, fellowship, abundance.

Yet blessing itself can sometimes become a barrier.

Sometimes the greatest threat to your relationship with God isn’t what you’ve lost. It’s becoming satisfied with what God has given you without wanting God Himself.

His blessings > His presence?

His answers > His voice?

Comfort > obedience?

Church culture > Christ?

WE NEED TO COUNT OUR BLESSINGS…

LOOK | COULD THIS BE ME?

Hardness doesn’t always look rebellious.

Sometimes it looks very religious...

You still:

show up to church, stand up, sit down, sing, serve, and know Christianese and what people WANT to hear…

But underneath it all…something has become numb.

THREE HEART CHECKS:

1. What used to bother me that doesn’t bother me anymore?

Bitterness?

Compromise?

Gossip?

Pride?

Prayerlessness?

Broken relationships?

People far from God?

Friends and Family who are lost, cold, and dead in their sins.

Pause here. Let it sit.

2. When was the last time the Word of God changed my mind?

Not encouraged me.

Not inspired me.

Corrected me.

If I always agree with God, maybe I've become very mature…

Or maybe I've gotten very good at making God agree with me.

3. Do I want God, or mostly what I want God to give me?

A gift becomes dangerous when I’m satisfied with the gift without the Giver.

GOSPEL TURN

Don’t confuse conviction with condemnation.

If God’s Word is exposing something in you, He hasn’t stopped dealing with you.

Repent of it.

Make moves to not allow for that to happen.

Conviction isn’t God pushing you away. It’s God waking you up!

Condemnation is that you are still in your sins and the judgment of God is still over your head.

Being “beat up”

Conviction is being lifted up towards Christ and His holiness.

TOOK

RESPOND WHILE YOU CAN HEAR!

Three prayers:

“God, show me where I’ve become numb.” Not everybody else. Me.

“God, give me eyes to see and ears to hear.” Don’t let being familiar produce indifference or apathy.

“God, when You speak, give me courage to say yes.” Before compromise becomes normal.

A soft heart isn’t a perfect heart. It’s a responsive heart.

David wasn't perfect.

Peter wasn't perfect.

Ruth wasn’t perfect.

Esther wasn’t perfect.

Paul wasn't perfect.

The question isn’t whether you’ve ever wandered off or not.

The question is: When the Shepherd speaks, can you still hear His voice?

John 10:27 CSB

27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.

Closing:

Don’t be most afraid of the moment when conviction hurts.

Be afraid of the day when nothing does.

If He’s speaking, listen. If He’s convicting, respond. If He’s calling, come.

The God who reveals the hardness of our hearts is also the God whose grace can make them tender again.

PRAYER