RPG Adults
THE HARDNESS OF HEART HINDERS SALVATION
LORD’S DAY, JULY 21
Hebrews 3:7-19
John 3:1-17
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
THE HARDNESS OF HEART HINDERS SALVATION
While in the flesh, man may have the desire to live many years. There may also be the desire for an abundance of earthly goods and a comfortable life. These may be possible but, at last, the end will come. There were those patriarchs who lived for centuries and there are those today who live to a ripe old age. And there are also those who are super-rich. However, at death all these do not matter. The greater concern is the destiny of one’s soul. And this will be determined by one’s relationship with God.
One’s hardness of heart is one’s rejection of God and His gracious offer of salvation. Jesus spoke of His work in that simple conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. One must be born again, a radical transformation attended to by the power of the Holy Spirit. One has to believe in Christ as one’s Lord and Saviour, confessing one’s sins to Him and seeking forgiveness. He will save to the uttermost. He offered Himself as payment for the penalty of sin for whoever will come to Him in faith. The hardness of heart is a hindrance to this blessedness.
One’s hardness of heart leads to God being grieved. Like earthly parents, God is greatly saddened when the children rebel. The chief cause of rebellion is the sinful nature. One’s lack of knowledge adds to it. The Lord lamented in the time of the prophet Hosea that His people were destroyed “for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). A result of sin is the wilful neglect of knowledge. Ignorance thus will not count as a good excuse for anyone.
THOUGHT: “… that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” (Rom 1:19).
PRAYER: Father, make Thy revelation clear to me.