Hard Hearts

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

by Dr. Paul Chappell

"But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation."

Hebrews 3:13-15

Not far from our church is the Edwards Air Force Base. This storied flight facility has been home to some of the most famous airplanes and pilots in United States history. It was from Edwards that Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 test aircraft in 1947. The geological feature that originally drew the military to Edwards was the presence of the Rogers Dry Lake bed—a flat, hard surface that stretches for miles across the high desert.

While a hard surface makes an ideal location for airplane runways, it makes for a spiritual barrenness when it characterizes our hearts. When our hearts are hard, we are not ready to hear the Word of God and allow it to produce fruit in our lives. There is simply no place for it to take root.

How do our hearts become hard? The Bible tells us that the deceitfulness of sin produces a hard heart. The word deceitfulness indicates that it is the result of a process we may not be fully aware of ourselves. Over time as we allow the allure of sin to tempt us, our hearts grow hard toward the things of God. To become fruitful again, we must do what a farmer does before planting seeds in the field—break up and prepare the ground. As we confess our sins and seek the face of God, we will find our hearts softening and becoming ready once again to hear His Word.

Today's Growth Principle
Plow the ground of your heart today so that you are ready to receive the Word of God and be fruitful.

Old Testament Reading

Psalm 94-96

PSALM 94

¹ O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. ² Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. ³ LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? ⁴ How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? ⁵ They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage. ⁶ They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. ⁷ Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. ⁸ Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? ⁹ He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? ¹⁰ He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? ¹¹ The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

¹² Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; ¹³ That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. ¹⁴ For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. ¹⁵ But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. ¹⁶ Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? ¹⁷ Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. ¹⁸ When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. ¹⁹ In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. ²⁰ Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? ²¹ They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. ²² But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. ²³ And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

PSALM 95

¹ O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. ² Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. ³ For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. ⁴ In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. ⁵ The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. ⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

⁷ For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, ⁸ Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: ⁹ When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. ¹⁰ Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: ¹¹ Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

PSALM 96

¹ O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. ² Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day. ³ Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. ⁴ For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. ⁵ For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. ⁶ Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. ⁷ Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. ⁸ Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. ⁹ O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

¹⁰ Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. ¹¹ Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. ¹² Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice ¹³ Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

New Testament Reading

Romans 15:14-33

¹⁴ And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. ¹⁵ Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, ¹⁶ That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

¹⁷ I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. ¹⁸ For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, ¹⁹ Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. ²⁰ Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation: ²¹ But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.

²² For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you. ²³ But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you; ²⁴ Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. ²⁵ But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. ²⁶ For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. ²⁷ It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. ²⁸ When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain. ²⁹ And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

³⁰ Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; ³¹ That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; ³² That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. ³³ Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 16

¹ The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. ² All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. ³ Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. ⁴ The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. ⁵ Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. ⁶ By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. ⁷ When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. ⁸ Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. ⁹ A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. ¹⁰ A divine sentence is in the lips of the king: his mouth transgresseth not in judgment. ¹¹ A just weight and balance are the LORD'S: all the weights of the bag are his work. ¹² It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness. ¹³ Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right. ¹⁴ The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it. ¹⁵ In the light of the king's countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain. ¹⁶ How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! ¹⁷ The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul. ¹⁸ Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. ¹⁹ Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. ²⁰ He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he. ²¹ The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning. ²² Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly. ²³ The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips. ²⁴ Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. ²⁵ There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. ²⁶ He that laboureth laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him. ²⁷ An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire. ²⁸ A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends. ²⁹ A violent man enticeth his neighbour, and leadeth him into the way that is not good. ³⁰ He shutteth his eyes to devise froward things: moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass. ³¹ The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. ³² He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. ³³ The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.