Last week we started talking about Hardness of Heart as it relates to spiritual PERCEPTION and I mentioned that all of us have Hardness of Heart to some degree. Don't forget the illustration that got us started: two Believers can be sitting in any given assembly on Sunday morning listening to the Pastor's teaching and one will come away with a rooted understanding of the message while the other just won't get the point. Both Believers received the teaching with their five physical senses and they both heard the entire message with their physical ears without being distracted. Maybe even both of them took notes. But only one of them actually PERCEIVED it and was changed by what was heard. Only one was listening with the purpose in MIND of being changed.

 

The Christian life under the New Covenant is supposed to be about a process of RENEWING one's MIND. When we're born again and start a new relationship with God, we come out of the World and into the Kingdom of God under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Where before, sin and the wisdom of men and the LAW were our masters, we give that up to come under the wisdom and authority of God through His Word by FAITH. When we're born again the spirit-man part of us is instantly REDEEMED and made perfect but our SOULS containing our mind, will, emotions and conscience must start a long journey eventually arriving at REDEMPTION. We're to cease being "conformed" to the World so we can be "transformed" by the renewing of our MINDS (Romans 12:2). Only the Word of God can renew our MINDS.

In Mark 8:17 Jesus suggests to His disciples that they had developed hardened hearts because they had failed to PERCEIVE with their spiritual senses the significance of His miracle of feeding the 4,000 with just seven loaves of bread. As He rebuked them, He enumerated the ways that Hardness of Heart manifests in the lives of Believers (Mark 8:17-21):

 

> We fail to UNDERSTAND the Word.

> We can't see with our spiritual eyes.

> We can't hear with our spiritual ears.

> We don't REMEMBER previous supernatural events.

 

All of these things are rampant in the Body of Christ and demonstrate the accuracy of our basic illustration where one out of the two example listeners in the assembly was not able to understand and retain the point of the teaching. Keep in mind that Jesus was NOT happy that ALL of His hand-picked, personally-trained disciples had Hardness of Heart, which means He had wanted/expected them to get beyond Hardness of Heart which means that with His help, they could have moved beyond it if they had applied themselves more diligently.

The Bible says that the Israelites came out of Egypt with Hardness of Heart (Hebrews 3:8). God performed miracle after supernatural miracle for them and they never got the point. What they DID do was complain and resist God at every opportunity until in His wrath He decided to keep them in the wilderness for 40 years and prevent most of them from going into the Promised Land. Following are the CAUSES of Hardness of Heart which can be summarized from the Bible's discussion of the Israelites as found in Hebrews 3:7 - 4:11:

 

> Unbelief

> Deceitfulness of sin

> Disobedience

> Failure to unite the Word with Faith

> Failure to know the ways of God

> Ingratitude

> Fear and distrust

> Continuing in the ways of the World

 

The principal thing that stands between where each of us is today and where we want to be, which is to be in total victory in every area of life spirit, soul and body, the principal issue is the need for the RENEWAL of our MINDS. Renewal ONLY comes by the Word of God, not just reading it or hearing the Pastor preach it on Sundays, not even memorizing it, but UNDERSTANDING it and APPROPRIATING it in FAITH for our own lives. In my experience, I haven't been able to just rely on the teaching of other people like my Pastors even though they were very helpful. The reason is that the Holy Spirit is my real Teacher (John 14:26) and it's by Him that I receive the illumination that RENEWS my MIND. That means I have to take what my Pastors have taught me and go to the Word MYSELF in personal study, meditation and prayer to get out of it the things that will make me sensitive to the wisdom of God instead of HARDENED to it so the Word can change me and RENEW me. I have to listen to my Pastors and study the Word myself with the PURPOSE in MIND of being changed for the glory of God.

 

In short, Hardness of Heart cuts us off from the RENEWAL we need to produce victory in life which is to say that it cuts us off from God's empowerment. This is something we need to deal with not only for our own good but so the Body of Christ can become what God intends for us to be. May God bless you tonight in Jesus name.

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be your Lord, you can do so today by believing and saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

 

If you were sincere as you prayed, God has already come into your life and you're a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

When you get a moment have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer and believing what you said:

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