How to Get a Hard Heart, Part 1

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Hebrews 3-12 puts us on high alert to a great danger. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. We must cultivate a surrendered, trusting heart toward our Father. Today, Pastor Rich points out the traps in our thought life that will quickly lead us to a hardened heart. Hebrews 3, 7-19 holds important wisdom for us on how to avoid a heart of unbelief.

This is part 3 of a message titled, How to Get a Hard Heart. It was first preached on May 20, 2012. Keith Green was a man that was passionate for God. He was different, but he was passionate for God. And he wrote a song, So You Want to Go Back to Egypt.

I'm going to quote a little bit of it here. So you want to go back to Egypt where it's warm and secure. Are you sorry you bought the one-way ticket when you thought you were sure? You wanted to live in the land of promise, but now it's getting so hard. Are you sorry you're out here in the desert instead of your own backyard, eating leeks and onions by the Nile.

Oh, what breath, but dining in style. Oh, my life's on the skids. Give me the pyramids. That's the kind of songs he wrote.

Master pianist. The Hebrews were looking back to the security, the predictability of living by what they were familiar with. This trusting God thing was hard for them, and they were distracted by the hard part of trusting God.

They wanted to feel more in control. And so with this deception and yielding to it, it led them to the fourth step to a hard heart, and that is disobedience. Verse 19, we see they could not enter in.

What is that? The land, the rest that God had for them. They could not enter in because of unbelief. What they experienced was what we have in verse 12, an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Disobedience.

Disobedience is ignoring God's direction and design. It's thinking I know better. It's saying I'm going to do it my way because it's my life.

Really. Did you make yourself answer that question for me? It's my life.

I'm going to do it my way. What you're saying is when you get to this point of disobedience, you're saying I am willing to sin to get what I want. And the wages of sin is more sin. And when we read in the scriptures of God hardening someone's heart, that is exactly what it's referring to. Someone hardens their heart because they have been distracted and they are drifting away from God and they believe a deception and they become disobedient. And the wages of that is more sin because the hardness of their heart only brings more sin into their lives. And that's God hardening a person's heart. What does that lead to then?

Step number five is demand. Your father's tested me, verse nine says. Your father's tested me. We know better than God. We're going to go back to Egypt.

The demand is this. God, you haven't come through for us. God, you have actually failed us. Think about that. Think about that. If you're blatantly honest here this morning, you will be willing to admit that you have been tempted to think those things yourself. That's why this warning is so necessary. That's why this warning is so relevant. That's why it's for you and me today.

As it was for the Hebrews way back in the first century. So when you believe that God has failed you, then you end up with the conclusion it's not worth it to trust God. Been there, done that, doesn't work. I'll take it from here. Thank you very much.

What is that? That's a hard heart. You have arrived at a hard heart.

And that will lead you through the cycle again, and the next time your heart will be even harder. And a hard heart will lead you to a worldview, a system of thought that ignores the supremacy of Christ. A system that is futile.

A system that will not experience rest and the rest that God desires for his people. Do you know, remember in the Old Testament, this is exactly what Satan assumed Job would do. He assumed that Job would be focused on the hardship and become deceived and disobedient and then accuse God of failing him. Satan assumed Job would do that.

But what were Job's words? Though he slay me, what? Yet I will trust him. It's not about me. I recognize that I didn't make myself. I recognize that my existence does not mean that God is there for me. My existence means that God made me for himself. Do you find yourself tempted to think that God hasn't come through for you?

Have you ever been there? Then this warning is for you today. Beware of an evil heart of unbelief. Beware of a hard heart.

Take time to inventory what's distracting you. What hard thing is distracting you from trusting God? What hard thing is distracting you from following the Lord Jesus Christ with abandon? Are you in any way following Christ on your own terms? I can't come to God on my terms. He is the sovereign redeemer.

I am not. If you are trusting Christ on your own terms and not with abandon, that means your faith is, your trust is shallow. And it's a guaranteed hard heart because there will come a point when you will feel that God hasn't come through for you. There's a warning here, isn't there? There is also provided for us in the Word of God a remedy for a hard heart. And the first step is what we find in the first warning of Hebrews chapter 2, and that is to devote your mind to God's truth. Now be careful here a moment, okay? Because some of us have been in Christianity all of our lives and we hear this, we say, okay, I need to read the Word of God.

Okay, be careful. Stop and think a minute. Who is speaking to you in the Word of God? It is the infinite sovereign creator of the universe who is communicating directly to you.

Does that mean anything? And you need to devote your mind to God's truth as verse 7 says, if you will hear his voice. The warning, the first warning of the book of Hebrews is that we need to devote our minds to God's truth because we need to recognize who is speaking and what is he saying. What is truth? What is truth? Listen, you ought to be able to answer that question, what is truth?

Because it's being asked today. And if I were to ask you the question, what is truth? And you start giving me a list of all these statements that define truth, I'm going to say, wait a minute, truth has a name and his name is Jesus Christ. Devote your mind to God's truth and that leads us to the second point in remedy to a hard heart. Center your attention on Christ. Center your attention on Christ. He is the only appropriate object of faith. And we find this in the beginning of chapter 3.

This is what we studied last time. Center your attention on Christ. There's some very, very important points here because I believe there are specific reasons why some people abandon the faith. It's because they have the wrong object of faith. Center your attention on Jesus Christ as the only appropriate object of faith tells us this, your faith is not the object of faith. Your believing something doesn't make it true. Your faith is not the object of faith for too many people it is.

Well, I have faith because I walked an aisle. Really, is that the object of your faith? Your faith is not the object of faith nor are pleasant circumstances or people.

Folks, this is the plight of the Western church of which we are a part. That sometimes the object of our faith is pleasant circumstances. We judge the goodness of God based on the comfort and pleasure of our circumstances. If things are going for me well, God is good. If things aren't going for me, you know, God, I'm not sure if you really know what you're doing.

You know what that is? It's a hard heart. You are quickly moving towards a hard heart because you're right on the fast track of believing that God's going to fail you. Wrong object of faith. Nor are people, other people the object of faith. Again, we could stand up here all day and talk about stories of people who have rejected Christianity, have rejected God, have rejected the faith.

Why? Because they look at other people and when they see other people they say, you know what? Christianity doesn't work. And you know what? I can stand up here and say they're almost justified because Christian people can be of the nastiest. I'm a pastor, I've seen it all.

Christianity doesn't work. They claim they love Christ and that look at their lives. They're not even as nice as some people I know that don't even claim faith. There's no change. There's no transformation in their life. I don't see the love of God in their life. I don't see any compassion. And you could almost sit here and say, you know, they're justified in their accusation.

But here's the problem. People aren't the object of faith. This is why we need to center our attention on Christ because he alone is the appropriate object of faith. Join us this weekend at Grace Bible Church to see People Like Us, a play performed by Grace Bible Church's youth group. People Like Us gives a small glimpse into the lives of various men and women from the Bible. People who were just like us.

They struggled with sin and temptation and with the brokenness of this world, but God was still able to use them to accomplish his perfect plan. Everyone is invited to this free event held this Saturday and Sunday, August 26th and 27th at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The play starts at 7pm and the doors open at 645pm. You can find out more at www.gbcwinston.com. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace, weekdays at 10am.