The Hazards of a Hard Heart

THE HAZARDS OF A HARD HEART Spring Valley Mennonite; October 6, 2019; Hebrews 3:7-19 There are millions of Americans sitting in church this morning. Now discounting babies and small children, each one of these millions of people attending church this morning fall into one of four categories: First, there are committed and mature believers. The second category consists of believers who are immature, somewhat struggling in their faith, and thirdly, those who are attracted to the Gospel message but have not yet made a commitment to Christ. The fourth category are those who have absolutely no interest in spiritual matters and are in church for various reasons: perhaps for social or business contacts, or they attend for appearance sake, perhaps to look good in the community. The continual challenge throughout the book of Hebrews, both to the original readers and to us today is simply this: “In which of these four categories do I fall?” In our passage today in Hebrews 3, we are challenged to evaluate ourselves to avoid the development of a hard heart. Self-evaluation is somewhat complicated by the fact that immature Christians may resemble the unsaved in many ways. Paul described such immature believers in 1 Corinthians 3 as “fleshly” or “carnal” Christians who in many ways resemble “mere men” or an unsaved person. I personally spent my later teen and early twenties in this condition. Often my actions did not reflect my inner reality as a converted individual. Likewise, an unsaved and moral person who regularly attends church, who is a good upright citizen, obeys the law of the land and pays his taxes looks like a believer in many ways. In Mark 4, Jesus described four responses to the gospel; the Gospel message is likened to seed which falls on different types of surfaces. The first surface is the hard road or rock, and birds come and devour the seed. This describes those who hear the Gospel and have no response. These would be in my fourth category of church attenders. The seed falls next on rocky soil, a thin layer of soil over rock. It describes those who hear the gospel and like what they hear, for who would not want to go to heaven when they die? But even though some sort of mental assent is given to the truth—perhaps they raise their hand in response to an invitation, or even walk the aisle in a revival meeting—but at the first hint of opposition or temptation they forget what they heard. These are the interested, but still unsaved. They have no root and are like a seed on a damp paper towel, which germinates but soon dies. By the way, this speaks of the need of the church to develop disciples, not just converts who are not nurtured in the faith. The third seed falls on deeper soil, and puts down roots, but any significant fruit is choked out by the cares and thorns of life. This would be the immature and struggling carnal Christian. Of course, the fourth soil describes the soft heart toward God which produces significant fruit, those mature and growing in their faith. This portion of Hebrews speaks in some ways to all four types of people found in church, from the disinterested to the mature. We are first warned of the extreme hazard to one whose heart is hard and unresponsive to God. I. THE WARNING Read Hebrews 3:7-11. The author is challenging his readers to consider the example of the Israelites in the wilderness, but he adds that aren’t just his opinions and words, but those of the Holy Spirit. This is one of those “theological gold nuggets” which can be “mined” as we read the Word. The inspiration of Scripture, the fact that the Bible is the very “God-breathed” words of God is found here. This agrees with 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” 2 Peter 1:20-21 adds, “But know this first of all that no prophesy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophesy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Considering that this church is predominantly Jewish in background, the readers would have been very familiar with the history of their forefathers. The example put forth is of the Jews in the wilderness who continually rebelled against God despite the miracles they had witnessed and the daily presence of God in the cloud or pillar of fire over the Tabernacle. God was daily providing manna for their food and miraculously giving them fresh water in the desert. Yet, when led to the boundary of the Promised Land, instead of trusting God, they responded in fear to the cowardly words of the spies. As a result, they wandered in circles for 40 years until everyone 20 years and older died. But for those forty years God sustained them, and instead of trusting God and growing in their devotion to Him, they continually complained and tested God, as if to say, “What has God done for me lately?” Their hearts were hardened, and they reaped the fruit of that rebellion. They were prevented from entering the rest of the Promised Land. God’s anger and wrath were the result of their rebellion. The warning issued by the Holy Spirit is twofold: First, Today, do not resist God’s call to salvation (to those sitting on the fence and wavering between their old life in Judaism and placing their full trust in Christ alone) and secondly, for those who have believed but are wavering in the face of persecution. The true mark of a believer is perseverance in the faith. There may be periods of doubt or even times of failure to fully trust God, but in the end a true believer will persevere. As we continue in the passage, we see: II. THE WARNING APPLIED, AND THE CORRECTION GIVEN Read verse 12. Take care! There is danger ahead! Like a warning sign on the roadside, you are in danger unless you take appropriate action. You can’t continue driving your present speed when approaching a curve. God begins working in the heart of an unbeliever, perhaps they observe a Christian friend and are attracted to their lifestyle. They may begin listening to Christian radio and like what they hear from Godly teachers. They might even begin attending church. Then the devil steps up his work of deception and discouragement. An immature believer’s inconsistencies come to light. He gets negative feedback from friends and family about “getting religious.” He decides this religion business is not for him, and his heart grows cold toward the gentle advances of the Spirit. Soon he returns to his empty life. In a believer, the hard heart develops like a callous on your hand, gradually thickening with repeated stimulus. We yield to temptation—to doubt, to sin, to participate in something questionable—and we feel guilty (because we are!) but we brush off the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The enemy of our soul has gained a toehold. The temptation returns and we yield again, and the conviction is a bit less noticeable. The callousness to our sin or disbelief is growing. If left unchecked, the heart grows hard and cold toward God. He has little interest in reading God’s Word. Church attendance may lag. Spending time with other believers just makes him feel guilty. It becomes easier for him to participate in questionable activities. He begins to develop an attitude of “I don’t need anyone telling me what to do.” And, the hard hearted believer opens himself to the loving, yet stern discipline of God, for the one God loves He disciplines. Life becomes more difficult, perhaps with physical or financial setbacks. A hard heart leads to a hard life. I believe the warning can be applied to both believers and unbelievers. All are in danger of a hardening of the heart. But for we believers, God has provided a safeguard against the development of a hard heart: Read verses 13-15. We find here… III. THE PREVENTIVE POWER OF ENCOURAGEMENT “Encourage one another!” How powerful is a word of encouragement! I believe there are special people who have learned how to use this gift; these are people you gravitate toward. We love to be around encouragers! But this is a very pointed type of encouragement—these encouragers are sensitive to those who seem to be slipping away from their first love. They lovingly are able to steer us back onto the narrow road of righteousness. They even have the ability to ask the hard questions like, “It seems you are troubled about something.” “Is something bothering you that you’d like to talk about?” “You seem to have lost the ‘joy of the Lord’; can I pray for you?” This type of encouragement is extremely valuable within the church, but we hesitate to exercise it for fear of being offensive. It takes the sensitivity and courage from the Holy Spirit to do this properly and with humility, knowing we all are subject to sin. This is something we are to continually do, because the enemy is hard at work all the time. We are to encourage one another “day after day” because sin is so insidious and devious. We all sin, but we have the wonderful provision of repentance and confession. 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we sin, we all know what to do; sometimes we need to get a bit of encouragement to keep short accounts with God. For we believers, we are those who have been partakers of the divine nature. The Holy Spirit lives within us enabling us to live godly lives. He does this in part by convicting us when we sin. He motivates others to encourage us to live for Jesus, and to keep our priorities straight. We are citizens of heaven and strangers and aliens on the earth. IV. HOW GOD RESPONDS TO THE HARDENED HEART It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a wrathful God. As Biblical believers, we must acknowledge the full character of God Whose holiness demands that the wages of sin is death. The hard hearts of Israel resulted in a failure to enter the Promised Land. The author asks three questions in the final verses of the chapter. Read vv. 16-19 The questions: “Who provoked Him?”, “With whom was He angry for 40 years”, “To whom did God swear that they should not enter His rest?” The answer is those He had rescued from Egypt, the unbelieving and disobedient from His chosen people. The point being made is that even though they had made a good beginning, those who were rescued from slavery in Egypt developed hard disbelieving hearts. As a result, they reaped what they had sown, the consequence being the anger of God which resulted in a 40- year death march where everyone over 20 years of age died. They did not enter the rest of the Promised Land They had complained that their children were going to be the victims of the Canaanites and would be enslaved or killed at their hands. Those children not only survived the 40 years but entered the Promised Land, the land of rest from their desert wanderings. Everyone who entered Canaan, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb were 40 years old and younger. The overall question to us today is this: Do we have, or are we developing a hard heart toward God? Or are our hearts tender and humble before our loving heavenly Father? “Behold, today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.” Perhaps there is someone you know that is struggling in their faith and either has a hard heart appears to be in danger of developing a hard heart toward God. Pray about speaking to them and gently encouraging them to return to loving fellowship and closeness to God, for if someone feels far from God, guess who moved?