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?’
II. WHAT IS A “CALLOUSED HEART?”
A. MEANING OF THE WORD
1. We are all on a spectrum somewhere between hardening our hearts and softening our hearts toward God. We are constantly fluctuating back and forth on that spectrum. There are 44 references to this phenomenon in the KJV.
2. “To harden the neck” (2 Kgs 17:14; Neh. 9:29; Prov. 29:1; etc.) is to be stubborn & self-willed. We can become hard (resistant) toward God, hardened toward His Word, our minds hardened in pride (Dan. 5:20), hardened through sin (Heb. 3:13), hardened toward our wives (Mt. 19:8).
3. The KJV on Mt. 13:15 translates the Greek word paxuno as “gross,” but it actually means “to thicken, to fatten,” describing the process of gradual hardening, or forming callouses.
B. CHARLES FINNEY’S 10 SIGNS OF A BACKSLIDDEN HEART [his book, Revival Lectures]
1. A LACK OF SPIRITUAL ENJOYMENT. When you're in love with someone, there's nothing you enjoy it more than talking about them & being with them. When spiritual things are no longer your greatest joy, then you’ve lost your first love and have a backslidden heart.
2. OUTWARD FORMALITY IN RELIGIOUS EXERCISES. When our serving the Lord is the result of habit rather than the out-gushing of a true spiritual life; when we become emotionless about God, or a lack sincerity, we have backslidden.
3. AN UNGOVERNED TEMPER. When our hearts are full of love, our temper will naturally be patient and sweet, but wherever there is an irritable, uncontrolled temper, you may know that the love has gone out of it.
4. THE LOSS OF INTEREST IN TRULY SPIRITUAL CONVERSATION. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6:21). When your conversation quits
being about Jesus and spiritual things, it's because your heart has probably left holding onto Jesus.
5. SEARCHING FOR WORLDY AMUSEMENTS. For those who love the Lord, the most wonderful moments are those that bring the soul into the most direct communion with God. A loving heart is jealous of everything that will interfere with its union with the One it loves. When the soul ceases to find more delight in God than in all worldly things, the heart is backslidden.
6. The LOSS OF INTEREST IN OUTREACHES to the poor, the needy, and the lost. Surely if you were ever converted to Christ at all, you know what it was to be in darkness and bondage, and be set free! A converted soul takes the deepest interest in all outreaches to reform, help, & save mankind. In the proportion that you have lost your interest in these things, you are backslidden in heart.
7. A FAULT-FINDING, CRITICAL SPIRIT. The disposition to fasten blame, to doubt the good intentions of others, to speak harsh words and judgments about individuals, is incompatible with a loving heart and is evidence of a backslidden heart.
8. A SELF-INDULGENT SPIRIT. The inclination to gratify the appetites, passions, and to fulfill "the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (Eph. 2:3). Charles Finney says, “the appetite for food is frequently, and perhaps more frequently than any other, the occasion for backsliding. Show me a gluttonous Christian, and I will show you a backslider.”
9. When secret, private PRAYER IS REGARDED MORE AS A DUTY than as a privilege. To pray because we must rather than because we may is a sad, sad thing, and a certain indication of a backslidden heart.
10. A LACK OF INTEREST IN GOD’S WORD. Perhaps nothing more conclusively proves that a Christian has a backslidden heart than his losing his interest in the Bible. While the heart is full of love, no book in the world is so precious; but when that love is gone, the Bible becomes not only uninteresting, but often repulsive.
III. HOW CAN I SOFTEN MY HARD HEART?
A. REPENT, RETURN TO YOUR FIRST LOVE
1. REPENT. Elisha told them, “Break Up Your Unplowed
Ground!” We must pray for GODLY SORROW for sin, indifference, disobedience, selfishness, and negligence.
2. The Lord Jesus told an otherwise exemplary church, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Rev. 2:4). Nothing can hurt the heart of a lover more than to know that the one they love doesn’t love them like they used to.
3. Jesus tells us to get back our first love. When we pray and ask God to give us back our first love for Jesus, He will! Jesus next told them to begin doing their “first works” again (Rev. 2:5). The following are some of those.
B. RE-TRANSFORMATION HAPPENS BY…
1. BEING IN THE WORD. 2 Cor. 3:18, AMP Classic Ed., “And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.” 2 Cor. 3:18.
2. BY BEING IN JESUS’ PRESENCE. Luke 10:39, “And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.” Lk. 9:29, “As [Jesus] was praying, the appearance of his face changed [Kjv – “transfigured”], and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.” Luke 9:29. “Transfigured” is “metamorphoo” in Mt. 17:2 and Mk. 9:2. Metamorphosis occurs in the Presence of Jesus!
3. RENEWAL BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. Ps. 104:30, “When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.” Titus 3:5, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit, when He comes, renews all things back their origin in God.
4. 4 things establish the Christian: The Word, Prayer, Church attendance, and sharing our faith. If you get busy in these four, you will find your heart softening.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Does God Still Inspire Awe?
1. Have you ever been to Niagara Falls on vacation. I had always heard that it was a beautiful sight, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking, “It’s a waterfall – what’s the big deal?”
2. When we got there, I was in awe. What I saw just took my breath away. No picture or video or words can describe the beauty of God’s creation.
3. But, I noticed something odd. I noticed that the workers at the visitor center and the restaurants and other buildings in the complex didn’t seem overwhelmed by their surroundings at all. They weren’t awestruck by the Falls, they weren’t affected as we were.
4. And then, it hit me – they had become SO FAMILIAR with the falls that it had become commonplace to them. It had lost its attraction. It had lost its sense of wonder. It was no longer awe-inspiring. It was just there, and the people were almost unaware, almost oblivious to its existence.
5. Christian, may we never become that way toward the Lord Jesus! May Jesus never become common, so familiar that He fails to inspire awe in us. Instead, let us draw near Him until we feel the spray of Living Water upon our faces, and let us marvel at the mightiness and the beauty that is found only in our Savior.
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you need to get your “FIRST LOVE” back again? Get back your wonder, your awe of God/Jesus?
2. Let’s repent together for our hard hearts in this country. Let’s ask God to soften our hearts.
3. Now WE MUST USE THE MEANS OF STRIRRING OURSELVES UP – Bible, Prayer, Church attendance, Witnessing. Will you commit to putting your faith into practice by doing these things? Let’s Pray.
