Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, July 10th. Have you found yourself thinking that you are too busy to read God's Word and pray? Today's podcast helps you be aware of the danger of a hardening heart. How do you explain the fact that A person will hear the gospel over and over and over again. Understand it to some degree.
Be able even to tell you what they heard. and yet say no to the gospel. In fact, hear it again and again and again repeatedly. very clearly explained. And yet, instead of becoming more and more soft and open to the gospel, They become more and more antagonistic until finally they tell you, I don't want to hear it any longer.
Don't tell me anything else about your God. your Bible, your Jesus, or your church. How do you explain that? Then what about those Christians, for example, who have trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and then After a while you see them sort of drifting away and Not just drifting away, but Defending their lifestyle of sin. Rationalizing it away, explaining it away.
Don't go to church anymore. Laid their Bible aside, it's more dust cover than anything else. And yet, these people once trusted Jesus as their Savior. How do you explain those kinds of reactions?
Well, that's what I want to talk about in this message entitled The Danger. of the hardening heart. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 3. And what I want us to look at first of all here is what does he mean when he talks about harden not your heart? What is a hard heart?
Well, if you look it up in the Hebrew and the Greek, you'll find terms like firm and strong. It means a heart that has become. Unimpressed by the Word of God. It means a heart. that is unyielding.
Unbending. Unwilling. It speaks of a heart that has steeled itself against the truth of God's Word. A heart that has become calloused and resistant to the Word of God. When you resist God year after year after year after year, thinking that, well, one of these days, When I get ready, I'm just going to trust the Lord Jesus as my Savior, my friend.
You cannot trust Jesus Christ as your Savior unless the Spirit of God appeals to your heart and brings about conviction and shows you the truth. You say, well, can I do that anytime I want to? No, you cannot. Salvation isn't just open to anybody anytime. Is it open to all?
Yes, it is. But until the Spirit of God woos you, until the Spirit of God draws you, until the Spirit of God makes you aware of your desperate need of Christ, until He helps you understand what it's all about. No, you won't be saved. And here's the awesome danger. that when you resist and resist and resist And this unyielding Unbending attitude toward the things of the Spirit of God.
When it becomes concrete hard, you listen, you won't want to know, you won't want God, you won't want anything because your heart has become so calloused. You say, Well, do you mean to tell me that if I get to the age of 70, I can't be saved? No, I'm not saying that. If somehow you sense in your own spirit that God is sending you a warning, I want to plead with you in Jesus' name. Do not wait another moment, but ask God to forgive you of your sin and save you.
He says, Today, behold, today is the salvation. Never does he say, tomorrow gets saved, next month gets saved, next year gets saved. He says, The Spirit of God is saying, Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. What am I saying? I'm simply saying this.
That if God is speaking to your heart, do not harden your heart. It is dangerous to say no, no, no, no to the appeal of the Spirit of God in your heart. And that's why you and I must walk in the Spirit, moment by moment, day by day. That's why He says we are to encourage one another. We are to encourage one another not to harden our heart.
And when I see a young person or someone even a little older than in their teens or early 20s. And they're saying, Well, I believe this is what God is saying to me. My friend, if you believe it is, Do not pursue anything else until you know for certain what God has called you to do. There is no substitute for the will of God. And partial obedience to the will of God is disobedience, it is rebellion toward God.
Everybody would like to tell you what they think God's will is for your life, but it's between you and God to find out what is God calling you to do. What is his vocation for your life? What is his choice in your marriage of a marriage partner? What is his idea about your finances? What is he saying to you about your children?
It is what God is giving you direction to do. And as you and I follow His leadership, What's going to happen? Here's what happens. When you and I are walking in obedience to Him, our heart is tender and it becomes more and more tender. It doesn't take much for God to get our attention.
And this is why, for me personally, it's difficult for me to see how people can just live in absolute disobedience to God. If our heart is tender toward Him, listen, we can't do anything without the Spirit of God convicting us. And when He convicts you of sin, you want to deal with it right now, not tomorrow, next month, next year, or 10 years from now. You want to deal with it now. And if you can sin repeatedly, Over and over and over again, and there's no conviction.
and you don't feel what you used to feel. That is danger. It is dangerous to be living in rebellion toward God and somehow justifying that rebellion. And justifying that disobedience. It is a dangerous thing to provoke God.
By rebellion against his very clear known will for your life. And so when he says here, harden not your heart, it is a dangerous thing. What causes a person to do this? We say, well, what about these that you just say, unbelief and rebellion? Yes.
These are the steps I just want to share with you. What causes a person to do this? What causes a person to make those kind of decisions?
Well, I think one reason is preoccupation with other things. When God begins to deal with a person's life and they get real preoccupied with other things, oftentimes, that is their escape. from listening to God. Here's what happens. The interest in spiritual things begins here, and little by little, as preoccupation with other things begins to become paramount.
Then preoccupation with things of God begins to get out there on the periphery, on the perimeter of our life. And as a result, The hardness just keeps on growing. There's a second reason. These things happen in our life, and that's this. And that is the absence of private devotion and public worship.
The absence of private devotion, public worship. Any person who's on their face before God and in His Word continually, God is going to keep their hearts sensitive and pliable and moldable. The person who gets too busy to read the Word of God, too busy to pray. Too busy to listen to God, too busy to realize that every day we need to be listening to Him and getting instruction and direction for our life. Private devotion, the absence of private devotion, Satan will take advantage of that.
And what happens is that those things that are paramount to us become more and more important, and the things of the Spirit of God drift to the periphery of our lives, to the perimeter out there. Oh, yeah, I'm saved. But those things, the real genuine heartcore interest is on the perimeter rather than being at the very center of our life. The absence of private devotion. You cannot walk in the Spirit.
You will not walk in the Spirit of God unless your personal private devotion is the priority in your life. That's the way God made us to live in this world of evil, in the battle of two kingdoms, the kingdom of righteousness and the kingdom of evil. How do we survive? We survive. In the Word of God and on our face before Him, listening to Him and seeking direction for our life.
And as we do that, what happens? It's like God every day softens up the heart. A person who is continually on their face before God, their heart is continually being softened by the Spirit. But you get busy. and lay aside the word of God.
And get busy and just quick prayers here and there. Get busy, and the time spent alone with God becomes. Fragmented, and after a while, spacious, and after a while, Only on occasions. And what happens?
Something happens to the human heart. That's why he says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Why? God knows what can happen to the human heart if we do not care for it. That's why he says, be careful lest these things happen.
and in public worship.
Somebody says, Well, I'm saved, but I don't need to go to church. I don't need to go to church on Sunday and worship other people. Is that true? Isn't it interesting that God certainly doesn't think that way because He put us together as bodies all across this world worshiping Him together because He knows we need each other. He says He's gifted us in certain ways because we are to some degree, while we are to be independent, we are to be interdependent.
leaning upon each other in those times of great need in their life. That is public worship. Is very important in the eyes of God. And a person who thinks that they're too smart, too big, too important, the person who thinks that they're too spiritual, they don't need other Christians, they don't need the body of Christ, they don't need to worship with others. I'm here to tell you, something happens to the heart.
And what happens to the heart is they're going to become insensitive to the things of God. God never created a single saint to live like the Lone Ranger or live on an island alone. We are to live with one another, loving each other, supporting each other, upholding each other, building up one another, encouraging each other, as he says in the scripture. The third thing that happens is the deceitfulness of sin. Look at this.
He says And the Twelfth verse. Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Now, what does he mean by the deceitfulness of sin?
Now, all of us know that sin is wicked and vile, and all of it comes from Satan ultimately. Sin makes promises it cannot provide. Sin makes promises it cannot provide. Sin, for example, Satan in the Garden of Eden said to eat, and you really want to be smart? You want to be like God?
You want to think the way he thinks? You want to know what he knows? Here's what you do: just take a bite of this. He made a promise he could not provide. That is the deceitfulness of sin.
That is the allurement of sin. That is the appeal of sin. Sin makes promises, makes offers it cannot fulfill, it cannot provide. And that's why he says, lest we be deceived by Satan. the deceitfulness of sin.
So when you think about, well, well, what causes these things? What causes this hardness to develop in the life of a believer? Preoccupation with things other than being occupied with God? Absence of private devotion, absence of public worship. What causes the deceitfulness of sin, being allured here and yonder to get in this and that and the other and so forth?
Not listening and being sensitive to the Spirit of God who lives on the inside of us? You say, well, how in the world can the Spirit of God live on the inside of me and I'll be hardened to it? Just exactly what we're talking about. These are the things that happen.
Now here's the danger. Here's what I want you to notice. Look, if you will, back again in verse 12. I want you to notice this first phrase. He says, take care.
That is the in the imperative mood. It is a strong warning. If I discuss the grammar of that phrase, it is a very strong warning. Take care. Be careful.
Be on the alert. Watch out. Brethren, not lost people, but He's talking to brethren, believers, lest there should be in any one of you it can happen to anybody. Listen to this. unbelieving heart in falling away from the living God.
Because an unbelieving heart's an evil heart. If we don't believe God, there's something inside of us that is evil, it's not good. He says falling away.
So he says, first of all, we are to take care. That is, we are to be very, very sensitive because it can happen to anybody. And what happens?
He says, be careful lest an evil, unbelieving heart cause you to fall away from God.
Now, what does he mean by falling away from God? He certainly isn't talking about losing your salvation. But he's simply talking about this. That here's a person Uh who is uh A believer? And who is seemingly walking in the Spirit, serving God?
And then they become preoccupied with other things: business, job, all kinds of things. And what happens, little by little, The falling away is a process that takes place. The things that once were their priority in life are no longer priority. Things that once were the most important in life, no longer the most important. Once they were so sensitive to the will and plan and purpose of God, they were continually seeking the Lord's mind, seeking God's mind.
Little by little, little by little, what happens? They have ceased to listen. Become resistant to some things that God has said, become callous in their mind, and here they're outside the will of God. And what have they done? They have drifted.
Away from God. It doesn't mean that they're lost, but they have drifted so far from the will and purpose and plan of God. He says, be careful lest one fall away from the living God.
Now, this is why I say that there are those people, and sometimes we want to condemn folks who have lifestyles that we absolutely think are obstinate and horrible and ungodly, and they are. But it is possible. And I've talked to enough people. And hear them talk about what happened to them earlier in life when they trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior, no doubt in their mind about it. And then listen to the process.
The process. Little by little, gradually, things, other people said, Well, you ought to try this and try that and so forth. And finally, little by little. over a period of time. their whole thinking process so radically changed They don't even think the way godly people think anymore.
And they find themselves involved in habits. and a lifestyle that is ungodly, and now they're rationalizing.
Now they're defending it.
Now they can excuse it.
Now they can explain it. And now somehow they can even get God into it. Why? Because they have fallen away from God because of the deceitfulness of sin in their life. It is a dangerous thing.
Now he's listening, he says, watch out. Be careful. Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you the evil, unbelieving heart in falling away from God. Then he says, Look, if you will, verse 13, encourage one another. Day after day, what is he saying?
He says it can happen to anybody. that we should be an encouragement to one another. Encouraging each other. Lifting up each other, praying for each other, as long as it is still called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Here's what I want you to realize.
It is a dangerous thing.
to listen to the Word of God. And to know that God is saying something to your heart. And you, my friend, say no. No, no. No to the appeal of God.
And that's why I want to say again to you: if there's anything on the inside of you at this moment and you're sensing something that you think, well, this may be God, that's exactly how I feel, then I want to encourage you not to hesitate, not to wait. Because you see, There's going to be a time in all of our lives when we will have heard the gospel for the very last time. God will have made his very last appeal to us. None of us know when that is, but God knows when it is. And I want to appeal to you.
plead with you, beg of you, whatever is necessary. Do not put off. Do not hesitate. Do not resist God any longer. But rather yield to him.
Surrender to Him and tell Him you do receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You do recognize your need of Him and surrender your life to Him. confessing your sin to him. Telling him that you believe that when Jesus died at Calvary, that he died for your sin, and that you're accepting him as your personal Savior by faith, God will revolutionize your heart, soften up your spirit, make your heart pliable before God, and begin to work in your heart in the most wonderful way. I'm just asking you, my friend, are you going to keep giving the same answer?
The same repetition. God, I can't. God, I'm afraid. Suppose this, suppose that, suppose the other? No.
It's a matter of surrendering to him, yielding to him. It is a dangerous thing to hear the gospel. over and over and over. And to say no. to Almighty God.
And my plea to you, my friend, is that is today While your heart is not so hardened. that you would say yes to him. As your Savior. Yes to him to be baptized. Yes to him to join a local fellowship of people who believe the word of God.
Yes to him to serve him no matter where he calls you. Yes to him, whatever that little thing is in your life that God's been dealing with you. Yes to him. Lest your heart become hardened. and you can no longer hear.
Even the voice of God speaks to you no longer. It is a dangerous thing.
to harden your heart. TORD. the appeal of almighty God. And my Father, I ask you in Jesus' name right now. That the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, has and is penetrating The hearts of multitudes of people.
Who desperately need to surrender. to yield to your purpose for their life. They give their life to Christ. To become a part of a local fellowship of believers, to be baptized. into that fellowship.
To be willing to serve you those to whom you have spoken about service. I pray that your spirit will gain victory in your behalf and to your glory today. And Father, when this invitation is given, that there would be a sense of freedom and liberty. and a yearning, hungering, thirsting desire. to be saved.
disrupted to service. Whatever that decision may be, that the answer to you, dear Father, may be. Father, today, yes. Yes. Yes.
is my answer to your appeal, Father. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to part two of The Danger of a Hardening Heart. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station.
And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
