Do You Have A Calloused Heart?

DO YOU HAVE A CALLOUSED HEART?

Matt. 13:10-15

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: A Difference of Origins

1. A New York Reporter needed to find out the public’s opinion about an event happening in Ukraine (“Man on the Street” segment).

2. So he went to Times Square and stopped three people to ask them their opinion. He asked each of them the same question; “Excuse me, what do you think about the shortage of food in Ukraine?”

3. The first man, a Texan, replied, “What’s a shortage?” The second, from N. Korea, replied, “What’s food?” The third man, from New York, replied, “What’s ‘excuse me’?”

B. TEXT

10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” 11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah [6:9-10]: “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them’” Matt. 13:10-15.

C. THESIS

1. If you’re not hearing from the Lord lately, this is a message that you should seriously consider.

2. We’re going to look at why some people get more from God, 10 signs of a calloused heart, and four things you can do to soften your heart.

3. The title of this message is “Do You Have a Calloused Heart?”

I. WHY DID JESUS SPEAK IN PARABLES?

A. TO KEEP THEM FROM UNDERSTANDING?

1. Jesus would speak to the people in parables (stories) and then when He was alone with the 12, He would explain the parable in detail to His disciples.

2. When the disciples asked Jesus why He did this, He explained that the secrets of the Kingdom were given to the disciples but not to the multitudes who came to get needs met or for the show.

3. At first, it sounds like He/God is intentionally concealing the truth from the people. In that case God would be a respecter of persons and wouldn’t have universal love for all.

4. Does God want them “ever hearing and never understanding?” (vs. 14). No!

B. IT WAS TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND!

1. The one who is actually blinding & deceiving the people is Satan; “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel” 2 Cor. 4:4.” Satan wants them to perish; God wants them to know Him & be saved. But there’s a heart problem.

2. In Mt. 13:15 God points out the cause of the indifference – “calloused hearts.” This is what clogs their ears and blinds their eyes! It’s not God. So what has this got to do with parables?

3. The multitude following Christ, being unspiritual, wouldn’t appreciate deep spiritual truths. They would be “pearls thrown to swine.” Matthew Henry says “A parable is a shell that keeps good fruit for the diligent, but keeps it from the slothful.”

4. Mark 4:33 tells that Jesus used parables to give them “as much as they could understand.” Because “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they… are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor. 2:14, NKJV.

5. If the Lord had tried to give the people spiritual lectures they wouldn’t have listened at all, but He told stories with surprise endings, and this kept them listening.

6. The last half of vs. 15 makes it clear; God basically says, “If they didn’t have their calloused hearts, then they would…turn (KJV – “be converted”) and I would heal them.” The hindrance to the knowledge of salvation isn’t in God, but in our calloused hearts!

C. MULTIPLE GENERATIONS FULFILL ISA. 6:9-10

1. Undoubtedly God pointed out this problem in Isaiah’s generation. But the Lord Jesus said Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in His own generation (vs. 14). What’s the similarity?

2. Whenever a people have had God’s truth for a long time, they often end up taking it for granted and ignoring it. This is not true of countries where the Gospel has just arrived and is fresh.

3. The disquieting truth is that America has had the Gospel for a long time and it’s obvious that our nation has taken it for granted and no longer honors it like their forefathers. The question is, ‘Do You & I have calloused hearts?’