Sermon Tone Analysis

Do Not Harden Your Heart!

The Lord speaks and calls us to decision.

We must choose to obey or disobey.

When you choose to disobey your sensitivity to the spirit begins to become seared.

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

When you obey the Lord you experience Him and your faith grows stronger.

If You Hear His Voice

The Lord calls to the unbelieving soul for the purpose of salvation.

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

The Lord initiates salvation based on his purpose and will.

When we reject his calling we lose the opportunity.

If God calls you into salvation this morning do not reject his calling.

Many people that had an experience with the Lord, that believe they have salvation, hauntingly will discover that they are not saved.

Let me explain.

When a person hears the gospel it does something to their soul.

It creates a desire for a person to enter into a viable and tangible relationship with Jesus Christ.

This person understands the gospel and even agrees with the gospel, but does not commit their life to the gospel.

You may ask, “Why would a person do this?”

It is because of the fear of what they must give up in order to commit to the gospel.

They must repent of their sin.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

Sin can have such a grip on people’s lives that they are not willing to give up their sin and commit themselves to Jesus.

Understand that I am not saying that you must stop sin forever and be perfect the rest of your life, or you will lose your salvation.

What I am saying is that you must choose a relationship with Jesus over your lifestyle of sin.

When you do this, Jesus will become your forgiveness of sin and power to overcome sin.

What ends up happening to a person that does not commit to the Lord, is they are faithful for a period of time, but eventually go back to the person they are.

The evidence of Christ in their lives is non-existent.

Jesus explains it this way:

20 The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

22 And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Do Not Harden Your Heart

Hardening your heart is disobeying the Lord.

Here are some reasons I have heard people harden their hearts.

I will get saved later on in my life.

I want to figure out what is best for me.

I have something else to do after church, so I don’t have time to do this this morning.

I have been coming to church all my life, what will people think if I go down now?

I don’t like to be in front of a lot of people.

I have to get my life right before I commit my life to the Lord.

If such and such is a christian and they act the way they do, I don’t want to be a christian.

If God is real, then why did he let this happen to me.

I have already walked the isle, said a prayer, and been baptised so I am good!

Being saved is irrelevant to me.

I will live my life the way I want to.

I don’t need anyone telling me what I can and can’t do.

They just don’t care.

They are apathetic in their life.

Friend I beg you this morning not to harden your heart if you hear His voice!

Do Not Test the Lord

Testing the Lord is making your faith conditional.

It is a faith based on the Lord giving you what you want.

If He does that then you will believe.

If He fails to give you what you want, then you stop believing.

The early Israelites were like this when they came out of Egypt.

17 Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.”

And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me?

Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people?

A little more and they will stone me.” 5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

Understand that the Lord had delivered them from Egypt, parted the Red Sea, Guided them by cloud by day and fire by night, fed them and clothed them.

God has proven His love and care for them, but they were never satisfied and always tested the Lord for the next thing they wanted.

Here they questioned Moses as to why there was no drinking water at there current location.

They wanted the water where they could see it and get it on their own.

The water was in the rock.

They needed to have faith in God to bring it to them.

There will be times in our lives when the water is in the rock.

We do not need to grumble and complain against and to God.

We need to have faith.

Some people test God by only allowing him into their lives when things are undesirable.

They draw a line in the sand and demand God rescue them or they are going to walk away.

This is testing God!

Most people do not need more proof that God is real or that Jesus is His Son and the Savior.

They need to hate and repent of their sin and to commit themselves to Him.

A God who is continually tested will never be accepted.

The one who tests God today does so for the same reason as did the Israelites in Moses day—to put Him off, because they love their sin, their own way, their own plans too much to give them up for God’s

God Declared Judgement On That Generation

The people that tested God did not get to enjoy His rest.

They were forced to wander in the desert for 40 years until that generation died out.

God said that they would always go astray.

Basically God was saying no matter what I do for them it will not be enough for them to have faith in me.

If you fail to have faith in God you forfeit the favor of God.

You cannot reject God and expect to receive the blessings of God.

He has sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins and give us eternal life.

He has promised to be with us and help us live our lives with Him.

If we reject this, we will live empty lives that try to be satisfied with the things of the world.

It is like drinking sweet tea or coke.

It may satisfy you temporarily, but eventually it will make you more thirsty.

Jesus said , “14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

Do not test the Lord, but believe in Him and in His Son Jesus Christ.

14 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.

Encourage One Another In the Lord!

There will be times of doubt in all of our lives.

We will question our salvation and our walk with the Lord.

When things get difficult in our lives, it is easy to begin to question.

This is why the writer of Hebrews instructs us to encourage one another day after day.

When we get tired and things aren’t as we would like them, it is very tempting to give up on your faith.