Hardening of the Heart, Part 4

We have been taking some time to look at the condition of your heart. We've been looking at the hard heart. And understand the characteristics of that hard heart, because the Bible says in the book of Exodus, no less than 18 times.

That Pharaoh's heart was hardened. And so we thought that we would take just a few weeks to examine the hard heart. It's important for us to look at the heart as J.

C. Ryle has so aptly put it when he said these words. Think not to say within yourself, there is no need for such questions as these. There is no need to make such ad about the heart. I go to church or chapel regularly. I live a respectable life. I hope I shall prove right at last. Beware of such thoughts, I beseech you. Beware of them if you would ever be saved. You may go to the best church on earth and hear the best preachers. You may be the best of churchmen or the soundest member of a chapel.

But all this time, if your heart is not right in the sight of God, you are on the high road to destruction. Settle down to quiet consideration of the question before you. Look it manfully in the face and do not turn aside. Is your heart right or is your heart wrong? Think not to say within yourself, no one can know what his heart is. We must hope the best. No one can find out with any certainty the state of his own soul. Beware, I say again, beware of such thoughts. The thing can be known. The thing can be found out.

Deal honestly and fairly with yourself. Set up and assize on the state of your inward man. Summon a jury. Let the Bible proceed as judge. Bring up the witnesses. Inquire what your tastes are, where your affections are placed, where your treasure is, what you hate most, what you love most. What pleases you most? What grieves you most? Inquire into all those points impartially and mark what the answers are. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. A tree may always be known by its fruit, and a true Christian may always be discovered by his habits, tastes, and affections.

Yes, you may soon find out what your heart is if you are honest, sincere, and impartial. The question is it right? Or is it wrong? That's the question we've been looking at. We've termed it in a different way. Is your heart hard, stubborn, and obstinate against the truth of God? Or is it soft, tender, and broken over the truth? Of God. Last week we left off about how God and His sovereignty hardens the heart of a man. And that leads us to the consequences because there's two things you need to grasp.

That when God hardens the heart of a man, listen carefully, the just of God is known, and the judgment of God is shown. When the heart is hardened against the wor of God, listen, in the justice of God, God hardens the heart. Of the man. In Exodus chapter 7, God had already predicted that Pharaoh would harden his heart. So when Moses showed up on the scene, And perform this great miracle where the staff would be turned into a serpent, and the serpent would swallow the serpents of the magicians in the courty.

Moses already knew that Pharaoh was going to harden his heart because God had predicted it. And it happened just like God said. And the text tells us in Exodus 7 that Pharaoh would not listen to the message. He would not look to the miracles because he would not obey. Jehovah God. So when you come to Exodus chapter 9, the Bible clearly states these words in verse number 12. And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. And he did not listen to them just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. You see, Pharaoh hardened his heart to the word of God.

Wh you come to Exodus 9, it says now, so God hardened his heart. That is, listen, the just of God. It also is the judgment of God. And that is the consequences of not listening to God. That is the consequences of not responding to what you hear God say. That becomes the consequence for those who come to church, for those who hear the word of the Lord, for those who continue to rebel against it, although they might look like they're listening. Although they might look like they're taking very good notes, and although they might even look on the outside that they are Christian, but are unwilling to respond to the Word of God.

They refuse to obey. They harden their hearts. And the justice of God is that God Himself hardens their hearts. And that justice becomes known, and that judgment then, listen, becomes shown. It says over in the book of Lamentations, the third chapter.

Speaking of those enemies against Israel, thou wilt give them hardness of heart, thy curse will be on them. Because the enemies of Israel would not respond to the God of Israel, God says, okay, I will harden your heart.

And my curse now will be upon you. The hardening of the heart is the justice of God, and the curse now being upon them now becomes the judgment of God. We shared with you last week Proverbs chapter 28 when it says, He who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. That's the warning. If you harden your heart against God, you will fall into calamity. And that calamity will be the justice of God and the judgment of God. It says in Proverbs 2, verse number 1, A man who hardens his nick after much reproof will be suddenly broken beyond remedy.

Beyond remedy. Why? Because in the sovereignty of the master, he will have hardened the man's heart, and the man will now be. Irreparable. That is, he is beyond repentance. He can no longer be remedied. He falls into great calamity because the judgment of God is now upon him. This is so important for you to understand. It helps you understand what's happening in our society. It helps you understand why it is that when you preach the gospel, people don't respond and they become more and more obstinate to the things of God.

And what happens to those who rebel and continue in their obstinacy against God, and the stubbornness of the heart, and the callousness that's there? Their hearts become hardened. And what did Job say? Who hath hardened his hearts against God and prospered? Nobody. And yet, the man who hardens his heart against God thinks he is better off. He thinks he is prospering. All the while, the justice of God is being known, and the judgment of God is going to be shown in his life. The most dreadful judgment upon sinners is that God gives them over to a hard heart.

That is the sinner's worst judgment. Let me explain it to you. Turn with me to Matthew 13 for a moment.

Let me show you how the justice and judgment of God are both known and shown in the same passage. Remember, in Matthew 13, Christ begins his ministry of the parables. We have done a whole study on the parables. We called them the searchlights of the soul. If you were not with us on Wednesday nights to hear those, I would encourage you to pick up those CDs or those tapes that you might understand how God peers into the depth of a man through the parables that he teaches. And so in Matthew 13, he begins these parables.

He begins with the kingdom parables. He begins with the parable about the sower and the soil. Ironically, isn't it? It's about all those and how people hear the Word of God and how they respond to what they hear. That's the parables that Christ begins with. And then the disciples asked this question in verse number 10. The disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? Why would you speak in these stories? Now, a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That's the definition of a parable.

And so the disciples come to Christ and they say, Lord, what are you doing? Listen to what Christ says.

Then he answered and said to them, To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not. Been granted. And the mysteries of the kingdom is what? The church age. But to them, it has not been granted. Why? Why can't they understand the mysteries? Why can't them, the unbelievers, why can't they get it? Why hasn't it been now granted to them? Christ says this: For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance, but whoever does not have.

even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because while seen, they do not see. And while hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, You will keep on hearing, but will not understand. And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull. And with their ears they scarcely hear. And they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears.

And understand with their heart and return, and I should he them. You see, that is the justice of God and the judgment of God. Here is the justice of God. While seeing, they would not perceive. While hearing, they would not listen.

So to fulfill the words of Isaiah the prophet. They saw, they saw me, they saw my miracles, but they would not believe. They heard the message with their ears. But they did not truly listen.

And because of that, here comes the justice of God. Because of that, I've cut them off. Because of that, they will not respond. Because if they would, he says, listen, and I should heal them. I'm not going to heal them, he says. You see, the judgment of God is to cut man off, is to allow him to continue in his unbelief, is to allow him to live in the stubbornness of his heart. To refuse to listen, even though he hears. And that was Israel. And that's Christ's answer to those who refuse to respond to the message.

of the gospel. The will re of man brings about the judicial re of Christ. The will rejection of man brings about the judicial reject of Of Christ. Man says no to God, so God says no to man.

That's the judgment. As well as the justice of God. God is simply confirming man in his obstinence. You see, Christ gives a very simple principle in verse number 12. He says, if you accept the light given to you by Christ, more light will be given to you. But if you reject the light, you fall into deeper darkness. You see that? That's why the Christian, what does he do? He prays, Psalm 119, Lord, open my eyes that I may see wonderful things out of thy law. Isn't that what the Christian prays? Isn that what the Christian wants?

You're here today. You're here saying, Lord, teach me, show me. The unbeliever says, I don't want to listen.

I don't want to hear. I don't want to see. Remember on the Emma Road back in Luke 24 after the resurrection of Christ, those two disciples, they were carrying on a conversation with the resurrected Lord and they didn't even know it was him. But their hearts were willing to receive more and to want more, and more light was given, so much so that they were able to recognize that it was the resurrected Christ. Because Christ would impart to them what the law of the prophets had said about the coming of the Messiah, his rejection, his death, his resurrection.

See that? So important to understand what the word of the Lord says. You see, unbelief results in the callousness of the heart. That's why the Bible says today.

If you hear his voice, do not hard your hearts. Don 't give approval to a sinful lifestyle. If they give hearty approval to them, then they are giving themselves over to the hardness of a heart, to an obstinate heart, and they are in danger of God abandoning their lives and being lost forever, irreparable. Beyond remedy, unable to repent and die in their sins and be lost for eternity. Now, I know that's not a very popular message. And Larry King's not going to call me up and ask me to preach it on CNN this week.

I understand that. But that's the truth. And we need to understand the truth. Now listen, some of you are thinking, God just abandoning man. I thought God loved man. I thought God was a God of grace. Mercy, good. And now I'm coming to church today, and you're telling me about how God's going to abandon man. What kind of church is this? I don't want to be a part of this kind of church. I don want to be a kind of church where you're going to teach about the love of God and the goodness of God and the warmth of God and the fold of God.

And the womb of God, and all those good little things. And here I come to church, and you're talking about God abandoning man and God giving man over to the stubbornness of his heart and letting God and God doing what he wants to do. Listen, I told you before. The willful rejection of man brings about the judicial rejection of Christ. But turn to me with me to Romans chapter 9 for a moment so I can answer your question. Romans 9, verse number 14. Listen.

Paul is going to answer a question. The question about why Isaac and not Ishmael? Why Jacob and not Esau? Why did God give preferential treatment to one and not the other? The old question: it just doesn't seem fair. It's not right. There's no justice in this world. And so Paul sets out to answer that. Listen to what he says. What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. Now, listen.

God is perfectly just in everything He does. He's perfectly just. He's perfectly right. You see, the reason we don't think God is fair is because God doesn't meet our standards. Romans 1 says that's idolatry, that's recreating God in our image. God is just. God is right. Remember Genesis 18, 25? Shall not the judge of earth deal in justice? And that was with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. See, the God of this age always does justly for us to conceive in our minds that somehow God's Actions are un is blasphemy.

It really is. Listen to what the Bible says about the justice of God. Psalm 7, verse number 9. The righteous judge tries the heart and the mind. The righteous judge, not the unrighteous judge, the righteous one. So, whatever decision God makes, it's the right one. But we find ourselves wanting to redefine God's decision-making process, and we are the created ones. So listen to this. Paul goes immediately into an illustration. Verse number 15. For he says, To Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

Well, we read on. You must understand, God's sovereignty and God's grace are inseparable. Once you separate them, You're in danger of misinterpreting the scripture. So you've got to be careful. Look what he says in verse number 16. So then, it does not depend on the man who will or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. If a man obtains mercy, it's not because of him, it's because of God. And then it says, verse 17: for the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose, I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.

So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he des. Now we're back to our discussion of the hard heart. He says, For Pharaoh, in his case, I raised up Pharaoh for a very important purpose. That is, so that the people throughout the earth would hear the name of God and listen to the song of Moses. Way back in Exodus chapter 15, right after Pharaoh and all of his army are drowned in the Red Sea, listen to what it says in verse number 14. The peoples have heard, they tremble. Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia.

Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed, the leaders of Moab. Trembling grips them, all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Why? Because they heard about the awesome power of Almighty God. Because God chose to raise up Pharaoh to make sure that the power of God was disseminated throughout the land. So much so, in Joshua chapter 2, it speaks of Rah. Remember her, the prostitute? Who gave her life to great Jehovah God? It says this in verse number 8. Now, in Joshua 2, now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land.

Well, how'd you know that? And that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. Well, how do they know that? For we have heard. How the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan. to Sah and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted, and no courage remained in any man any longer, because of you. For the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth.

Beneath. See, she heard. And that was God's purpose. If God would have raised up Pharaoh to harden his heart, to accomplish his purpose, so that Rahab could get saved, it'd be all worth it. But more than Rahab got saved. And more people heard about the great and awesome power of God. You see ten times in the book of Exodus it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and seven times it says that Pharaoh hardened His heart. Now listen to me. Which is true. Both. Both are true. It's what we call a humanly un tension between The sovereignty of God and the volition of man.

Now, listen to what I'm going to say. This is very important. I don't believe in Calvinism, and I don't believe in Arminianism, I believe in Jesus. That is the totally un ability of human volition and divine sovereignty. You will notice in Romans chapter 9, Paul never, never ex why God does what he does.

He only proclaims what God does. That is so important. You see, we got to explain it. We got to be able to have it. We're just control freaks, is what we are. And we got to put everybody in this little category over here and this little category over there. Let me tell you something, folks.

I don't get it. I don't understand it. But neither did Paul. Because Paul never explains it. He just. Proclaims that God is sovereign, God will do what God will do, and yet man hardens his heart against God. Well, how do you reconcile that? You know what? My job is not to reconcile. That. That's God's job. But I've come to believe that people who want to reconcile it want to be God. They do. They want to be like God. And they want to reconcile it in their own minds. But you know what? Paul never did.

He never did. He just proclaimed them. That is so important. You know, when the Bible says, no man comes unto the Father.

John 6, 44, unless the Father draws him. I believe that. I believe that. And John 8, 24, says, unless you believe, you will die in your sins. Well, I believe that too. So we can't believe both. Yes, you can. Because the Bible says both, right?

To as many as received Him, to them give you power to become the sons of God. And that's what we need to come to grips with. With. Let me tell you something.

God is just. He is. But you can't separate God's justice from His mercy. Because the justice of God would be the fact that the moment you were conceived in your mother's womb, you would die immediately. Because in sin are you conceived. That would be the justice of God, right? He would be holy and right in doing that to man. But the mercy of God lets you be alive for those nine months in the womb, be born and live as long as you do. That's the mercy of God, that's the grace of God. That's the compassion of God.

That doesn't mean that God is not just. He is. But God is all just as well as he's all right. As well as He's all wrath, as well as He's all mercy, as well as He's all grace, as well as He's all love. He's all those things all in one. And the minute I begin to divide up the attributes of God and put them in different categories, then what I do is I redefine God and I reorganize God in my thoughts. And we have to be very careful about doing stuff like that. It can be very dangerous. And so we need to understand that what God is doing is telling us the willful rejection of man brings about the judicial rejection Christ.

Upon man. That is the justice of God resulting in the judgment of God upon man. And that is the consequences. And we have to tell people to understand that. And you say, well, if that's the case. How do I know that God hasn't abandoned me? How do I know that God hasn't given me over to degrading passion? How do I know that God hasn't given me over to impurity? How do I know that I'm not at that point? Well, you'll have to come back. Because I cannot cover it all this morning. Let's pray.