Have you hardened your heart?
Many examples of hardened hearts
There are many examples of people who have hardened their hearts in response to God:
- Pharoah – Ex 8:32
- Children of Israel – Isa 6:6
- Zedekiah – 2 Chron 36:12-13
- Disciples – Mark 6:51-52
Heart Defined:
The inner self; inclination, disposition; determination, courage; will, intention; attention, consideration, reason.
In essence, it is your spirit. The spiritual condition of persistent unresponsiveness to God and His Word, which can rise to the level of rejection and hostility
Three Major components to our existence
1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.SpiritHeart/mindSoulEssence of LifeBodyPhysical
Hardness Defined:
- Cold
- Insensitive
- Unfeeling
- Unyielding
Examine yourself
Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye, not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Hebrews 3:7–13 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.PRAY
Causes of a Hardened Heart
Hurt
Betrayal – Mark 13:12
Disappointment – Jer 15:18
Pride – Dan 5:20-21
UN-Confessed Sin – 1 Tim 4:1-2
“Hardening” is a process whereby a person ceases to have a conscience about an evil action that is committed or a sinful attitude that is embodied, such as pride, godlessness, hatred Sinful habits can produce or compound this hardened condition. Hardness of heart can eventually destroy one’s sense of sin
Consequences of a Hardened Heart
1. Blind to what God wants to reveal
Hebrews 3:7 Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
A hardened heart makes it difficult if not impossible to hear his voice
- You become numb to what the Lord is trying to say to you
- We just cannot allow our hearts to be hardened to what God is doing.
2. Bitterness creeps into your life/relationship
Hebrews 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Provocation = Resentment
A hardened heart will cause bitterness to rise up
even after the death of the firstborn in all of Egypt, Pharaoh made one final mistake. He would not give up. He led his army straight into a watery grave.
Why did he do that? It really does not make sense. To the logical observer, it had to have been clear that this contest with God was over. What person in his right mind, after seeing all the wonders God showed, would actually follow the Hebrews who were walking on dry land in the middle of a large body of water?
After all the things Pharaoh just experienced, how could he not foresee that this decision was going to end badly?
Exodus 10:7 And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?
His servants got it. Pharaoh did not. Deep down, he probably did know. He lost everything because he could not fight his own human nature. This is the ultimate warning to humankind: die to self, or it will be your ruin.
3. Broken Relationship with the Lord
Exodus 5:1–2 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
Who is the LORD?
Pharoah did not have a relationship with the LORD
If you allow your heart to remain hardened you will damage your relationship with the LORD
You will be unwilling to obey his voice
What has he commanded you to do, that you are refusing to do?
Countering a Hardened Heart
The solution is fairly simple
Psalm 139:23–24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Incline your Heart
Psalm 119:112 I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.
In order to incline something – you have to take action
The Bible also gives strong warnings against hardening the heart, implying that persons are responsible for the condition of their hearts (Ps. 95:8; Heb. 3:8, 15; 4:7).
You will need to take control of your heart and set it on some things:
Set your heart to seek the Lord
1 Chronicles 22:19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.
Set your heart towards all of his words
Deuteronomy 32:46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
Love the Bible
Psalm 119:113 I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Only way to truly know God
spend time in his word
Psalm 19:11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
Pharaoh never truly admitted he was wrong. In spite of contrary evidence and in spite of all that happened:
He never really repented.
He never admitted his mistakes.
Is that how we are?
If so, we are just like Pharaoh, and our Pride-filled delusions will be our downfall.
As a result
- Pharaoh sat in judgment of God’s word.
- He criticized God’s word.
- He even challenged God’s word.
If Pharaoh wanted to avoid a hardened heart and the consequences of his actions:
- He should have submitted to God’s word.
- He should have listened to God’s voice.
But he did not.
The soul-destroying hardness of his heart eventually caught up with him.
It also caught up with the children of Israel when God did not allow them to enter the Promised Land.
Living with a hardened heart has serious ramifications. It will catch up with us, too.
Your heart is either hardening against God because you are resisting his ways, or your heart is growing softer toward God because you are submitting to his word.
Your response to his words will reveal your heart.
Our hope at Irvington Bible Baptist Church is that this podcast provided some encouragement and has helped you to develop a closer relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.
