Two Bibles, can you open up to Mark chapter 3? Okay, so the Gospel of Mark chapter 3. Okay, and we touched on this on Sunday, on Wednesday nights as we're doing the Gospel of Matthew, so some of you will be really familiar with the actual verses from Wednesday night. So, I'm just going to read from verse 1 to verse 5, okay? And he entered again into the synagogue and there was a man there which had a wizard hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day that they might accuse him. And he said unto the man which had the wizard hand, Stand forth, and he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil, to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked around about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. He saith unto the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other." So a few months ago somebody asked me a question and that's what sort of prompted me to talk about this subject on Sunday nights. But they said, there's one thing I don't understand when I read the Bible. I don't understand this idea of what it means when a person's heart is hard. And they were using particularly the example, like when I think of hardness of heart, the example that comes to my mind is in the time of Moses, Pharaoh. Do you remember when the Lord sent Moses to Pharaoh? He said, I'm letting you know that Pharaoh's heart won't listen to you because Pharaoh's heart will be hardened. What does that mean? Does that mean that God took Pharaoh's heart and actually made Pharaoh stubborn so that Pharaoh would not let the people go? So, does God do that sort of thing? In actual fact, the simple answer to that is that no, God did not make Pharaoh's heart hard, but rather God didn't do anything to soften Pharaoh's heart. He didn't go through Pharaoh's heart to soften it, but rather he left it exactly as it is. So when the Bible talks about how Pharaoh's heart was hardened, it wasn't just that God was just turning around saying, okay, you know what, Pharaoh wants to let the people go, but I'm not going to let him do that. I'm going to stop him from doing that. because that's contrary to God's nature. So that's the problem in Exodus. That's the issue with Pharaoh's heart. But then this passage tells us that something made the Lord angry and they brought this man who had like a withered hand, a paralysed hand. And they brought him to him and the whole idea was just whether he would break the Sabbath law or not. So whether he would choose to heal this man or not. And they must have assumed from what they'd seen about the character of Christ, he can't help himself, he will heal him. He will do something to make him better. He can't help himself but to help those who are in need. So we're going to bring him on the Sabbath, and we're going to see if he breaks the Sabbath law by killing this man. And so that's why the Lord asks them, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day? In verse 4. Or to do evil, to save life but to kill. Now they don't have a law against this. They don't actually have a law against this, but they're just trying to catch him any way possible. Anyway, that's not the topic. The Sabbath day is not the topic. for tonight. Our issue is that in verse 5, when he looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their heart. So, what makes a person's heart hard? What makes a person become unresponsive to God? Because that's really what it is. It's like something that should be soft, it should be flexible, you should be able to work with it, but you can't. It's just so hard, it's so rigid, it's just become too hard to work with. I remember when we used to do stuff at school, you always had those odd occasions, like probably three times through your whole school career, you worked with clay. And you know when you work with it and if you're like me, like you're terrible at these sorts of arts and crafts type of things, right? And so you know I just normally sort of take the clay out and I don't keep it moist and I just keep it out there for ages and I probably put it right where the sun's shining through the window in the classroom. and I leave it there. And then when I come to finally get around to actually trying to make something out of this thing, it just all crumbles everywhere and it's just not, it's not, it's not malleable. And the seashell oven comes and says, look, you've got to wet it, you've got to keep it moist, you've got to keep it away from the sun. And you can't work with it. You see other people, man, they're building like statues and all sorts of things, right? And you're trying to work with this piece of clay and you're struggling to make like a little vase or something out of it. And the idea is the clay's gone too hard, you just can't work with it. And this is the idea that actually comes from this expression. Actually, in the book of Jeremiah, God talks about how he is actually the potter, and he can't work with the people of Israel because their heart has become so hard. So what he does is, as he puts the clay on the wheel, he wants to make something really good out of it, but they won't let him. They won't submit to him. They keep fighting against him. So then, finally, it becomes no good, and he throws it out. And that's often the result of what happens when a heart is hardened. You never become what God wants you to be. You actually don't become anything. You actually become useless. In every aspect. In every sphere. In every avenue of life. You think you have some worth. You think you have some potential, but in actual fact you don't. So what I want to look at with you today is three reasons why a heart might be hardened. I'll give you three examples from the scriptures. But first, let's have a look whether God can actually change the heart of a person. Turn your Bible to Proverbs 21, and it gives us just a small picture as to what God can do with man's heart. Now, I know how stubborn I am and I know how difficult it is for God to work in my life. That's why it takes a whole lifetime for God just to shape me and mould me and change things. And there are things in my life which are going to take years, decades to change. I know that. I know that. I'm not under any misapprehension about that whatsoever. There are things that God can change that are a little bit easier in my life to change. But it's not his ability, it's all about whether I allow him to work in my life or not. So, in Proverbs 21 it tells us this amazing verse in verse 1. It says, The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, and as the rivers of water, he turns them wherever he wants. So, it's not a question that God's sitting there with a person going, I don't know what to do, I'm running out of ideas, I'm struggling. No, it's got nothing to do with God's ability. God can turn your heart like that. He really can. The problem is for God to turn your heart, He has to apply so much pressure to turn your heart. And the harder the heart, the more the pressure. And if you're not willing to submit to Him, well, that's got nothing to do with God's ability to change you. God can't change you like this. We've seen people change overnight. We've seen people who were murderers come to know Christ and suddenly become the greatest ambassadors for Him, like Saul, who became poor. You see, Peter, who's rash and impatient and just allowing the Lord to work in his life, he suddenly becomes a man who is just humble and just knows his place. We've seen thousands of people, even not only through the Bible, but through Scripture. We've seen the greatest intellects at the height of their fields come and submit themselves under God and confess that they really don't know anything. Why? Because God can turn your heart like this. God can change it like that. God knows exactly how to do it, when to do it, and the way in which it should be done. The problem is always from Aaron. So, I'll give you three reasons, for the sake of time, what causes a heart to be hardened. So, the first reason is found in Hebrews 3. In Hebrews 3, he's talking to us about The way that the Israelites just refused to really believe the Lord and sort of follow him and take him at his word. And that's why, beginning from verse 7 of chapter 3, he says, Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation." Again, see God's feelings towards that heart that is hard and stubborn. I was grieved with that generation. They do always err in their heart, and they have not known My ways. So I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest." He's talking about the people that came, remember, to the Promised Land, and they refused to go in, and it was only Joshua and Caleb that said we should go in. So it's all about that whole generation that died in the wilderness. And he says like they always do this, they always err. But then he says in verse 12, "'Take ye brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." One of the things that will harden the heart of the Christian even, because that's who he's talking to now, the brothers, the believers, is that when they look at sin but take it lightly, They don't realise the gravity and the seriousness of the wrong that they're doing. I mean, for years I never realised how serious it was for me to sit there and watch things that had so much swearing in them. I didn't realize the gravity of it, I didn't realize the seriousness of it. I just let it come and flow in my mind and wander around there and I allowed myself to see these things and absorb these things. And I didn't realize that all these things, all they were doing was they were making my heart even harder and harder and harder and harder. And that's why I couldn't, I couldn't really have real fellowship with God. I couldn't enjoy the meetings. I couldn't sit in the pew and really actually feel a closeness to Him, feel like the Lord was speaking to me. Because my mind was just becoming harder because I was treating sin with such ease. Like, it's just not an issue. So what? Get over it. Everyone does that. It's in everyone's life. But that's wrong. That hardens your heart. And that's what the Apostle comes here and he says. He says, I'm telling you, be careful in case your heart becomes hard because of deceitfulness and sin. And you know why it's so hard today? to share the gospel out there with people, why they're not searching, why they're not receptive to the gospel? Because sin is abounding so much. People like their sin, they know their sin, they love their sin, and they're not even ashamed of their sin. I mean, that's what we see. People aren't ashamed of the wrong they do anymore. Your heart is hardened because over the years you've allowed yourself to do things that are sinful. What's another reason? Turn to Job. Now, we can't find a person more than Job who suffered in his life. And you think to yourself, well, often we think to ourselves, you know, what if I was in Job's position? What would I have done? Okay? Job is actually a very righteous man. And even though there was a sense of self-righteousness in him that God wanted to get rid of, because he obviously turned around and said, you know, there's nothing wrong with me, there's nothing wrong with me, I don't understand why God's doing this to me. And his friends are saying to him, no, there's something, that you've done something, you've just forgotten Job, you've just got to think harder, Job, whatever it is. And Job turns around and says, no, look at me, look at my life, look, I'm fine. Anyway, and God finally sort of rips out of the depths of Job's life this self-righteousness that I don't deserve this. I don't deserve what's happening to me. Okay. But look at what he says in chapter 6. Okay, we're going to look at two verses in Job to help sort of just give us a better idea as to what he's thinking. So, Job's responding to one of his friends and in verse 10 he says this. He says, "'Then should I yet have comfort?' Yes, I would harden myself in sorrow, let him not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. What is my strength that I should hope, and what is my end that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh of brass? is not my help in me, and is wisdom driven quite from me. To him that is afflicted, pity should be showed from his friend, but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty." Now turn just quickly to chapter 9 of Job. And it comes out in a response to his other friend. In verse 1 he says, chapter 9 of Job, verse 1, then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth, But how should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength, who has hardened himself against him and has prospered." The impression that we're getting here is that because of the trial and sorrow that Job is experiencing, the natural reaction is for Job to look at God and say, I hate you. I hate what you're doing to me. I hate what you've allowed in my life. I don't deserve this." And he asked the question in chapter 9, he says, well, who? Whoever stood in front of God and said to him, I don't approve of your ways, I don't understand your ways, and actually contended, argued with God, and finally came out, you know what? I've got answers to my questions. No one. No one. No one at all. And this is what later on Job realises, beginning with his friend Elihu, the younger one, the youngest person. He turns around and he says to him, how can you say that? How can you question God? How can you turn around and tell God what he can do and can't do? Who are you, Job, to tell God what he can and cannot do? Who are you, Job? And that's why later on Job comes to the conclusion, or even before that, and the Lord comes to Job and He says to Job, what are you talking about? Job, you're talking about things you don't understand. You have no idea what I'm doing. You were not there at the beginning of time when I made the world. I didn't ask you for your counsel. I didn't ask you for your opinion. Should I make it this way? Should I make it that way? Should I get your advice on this? No, you were not there. You have no idea what you're talking about. And yet you have the audacity, Job, to turn around and talk about what I should do and shouldn't do in your life. And that's why Job confesses, I think it's in chapter 40, he says, Lord, I have spoken about things too wonderful for me. I've been talking about things that are way above me. You know what, you as a child of God, you have to realise that there will be many things in your life that you will not be able to join the docks with. You won't be able to make a lot of sense with. But that's not a reason for you to deny what God's doing in your life. And for a reason for you to hate God and turn against God. But often our trials can become a source of the hardness in our hearts. And really, that's not the problem. The problem is whether you trust Him or you don't. Because if you trust Him, No matter how hard the circumstances are, you will know that He is working them in your life for something even better. I'm not saying it's easy. I'd be lying if I stood in front of you and said, yeah, it's just a walk in the park, face the difficulties, face the trials, and keep your trust in God, and just love Him as much as you loved Him every other day. I know it's hard. I really know it's hard. But if you are dying, if you are sinking, then don't Don't turn your back on the one person who can actually pull you out and save you. It makes no sense. It makes no sense. You know, the Bible doesn't give us that the character of God is a character that loves to hurt and loves to cause problems for his children. On the contrary. God hears the cry of his child and can't help himself but to come and help. That's the character of our God. God doesn't take any pleasure in sort of allowing you to walk through trials and problems and all sorts of catastrophes in your life, and then He just watches you from a distance and says, I'm just going to see what you're going to do. No, He doesn't do that. When God allows you to go through a catastrophe, through a disaster, through a problem, God is right there and He is never far from you. But you have to tell Him, even though I don't understand, I will trust you. I will. Alright, the third reason, last reason, then I'll finish. Proverbs 29. So the first reason is if we just allow ourselves to believe the lies of sin and dabble in sin in all its forms, in the little sins, the big sins, if you want to call them like that, the hidden sins, the exposed sins, that can harden our heart. Our heart can also be hardened when we don't trust God even in the difficulties in our life. There's a third reason why our heart can be hardened. In Proverbs 29 verse 1, look at what he says. He says, He that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. The person who actually is often corrected, So, you come to a meeting, you hear God saying something to you, you realise that God's trying to change something in you, to correct something in you, but you walk out the same way that you walk in. You come to another meeting and you listen to the same thing and you leave the same way. And you do this, you just keep doing this. Most of your Christian life, you just keep doing this. And often, I think, and Rose reminded me just before, often the danger comes when we grow up in Christian homes. Because we've always spent our life in church, we've always heard people preaching from the Bible, Sunday school teachers, preachers, all sorts of stuff. So we hear all this stuff and we know it back to front. You know what I'm going to say before I say it. I'm not telling you anything new, anything that's just like, I've never heard that before. And in a way, that hearing, but never responding, begins to harden your heart. And that's what he says here. He says the person that's often reproved eventually just hardens his neck. You just become stubborn. And that's the result of listening but never doing with what you listen to, listen through, or listen to. So sin could harden your heart. Trials can harden your heart. But not responding to God's Word can also harden your heart. This is why I think as Christians we are in the greatest danger. The longer you are a Christian, the greater danger you actually pose to yourself, because you've become so used to listening to God's Word. I mean, let me give you a simple example or a scenario. How many people will actually today, at the end of this meeting, stop for a moment and think about what it is that God has been trying to change in their life for so many years? That one habit, that one thing that you know, and only you know about, that you know God doesn't want there. Well, how many of you have heard messages that have addressed it? Or sermons, or talks, or had a friend say something, or read something in the Bible, and you know that it's got to change. I mean, how many of us have pride in our life? How many of us have an envy or a jealousy in our life? How many of us have become worldly in our ways? All these sorts of things, we've heard it, we've heard it over and over again. And if we don't do anything, if we don't respond to God, if we don't fall down and repent and ask Him to forgive us, then you are making the change near impossible. Not because God can't do it, but because your heart is developing a hardness. You just won't respond to God. And God gets angry with that. God's grieved when he sees his child like that. I know, for example, like with Micah, I know he's not always going to listen to me. I know that, right? He's not listening to me now. I know that, okay? But my issue with him is not that he's just not listening to me. My issue really is that if he ignores me, that's just going to infuriate me. That makes me angry. As a father, that makes me angry. Don't ignore me. Don't ignore me. You listen, then you make the choice whether you're going to obey or not. And what God is saying to you and I, He's saying, listen, it could be because of sin, it could be because of the trials you're going through, but it can also be because I have spoken to you countless times and you have refused to humble yourself and repent and ask forgiveness. And that's why people's hearts are hardened. See, the thing about the Pharisees, when they heard the Lord speak, is they thought they knew it all. We don't need Him to tell us anything. We know the Lord. Who's this Jesus? He's Jesus of Nazareth. What's Nazareth? What's son of a carpenter? Who is He? Who is this guy? What has He got that we don't have? We're far more superior than He is. And they've read the Word of God and they've read the writings that God has left for them, but they just ignored what God was telling them. So God says, fine, I will leave you the heart on your heart. And then there becomes such a dryness, such a distance in your walk with God. Do you know when a heart is soft? God loves that. Like He loves that heart that just responds. He loves that heart that just comes to him and he can just work with it. Because if he can't work in your heart, he can't work in your life. If you're not willing to submit your will to him, then how will he change your life? How will you overcome the temptation that you're facing? How will you remain faithful in an unfaithful world? How will you be the person that he wants you to be? How can you serve him when your heart isn't his? How can I walk down the aisle and marry someone? How can I become committed to someone? Give them my all, you know, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, to death do us part. How can I do that if I don't love them? And so often, our hearts, when they become hard, our love grows cold for the Lord. And that's what He said will characterize His coming. The Church of Laodicea, they will neither be hot nor cold. They'll be lukewarm. They're going to be a people who love Him but don't really love Him the way He wants. And that way God can't use us. Now this is not something you have to do in front of people. This is something you have to do between you and the Lord. Maybe your heart is soft and God works with you and you respond to His Word and, man, It's a great place to be, to know that when God can take that heart of yours and He can change it. Sometimes it takes a song, it takes a hymn, it takes an experience, it takes a prayer, it takes an encouragement, it takes a message, it takes a series of messages, it takes a camp, it takes years, whatever it is, whatever it is, God's talking to you. And God doesn't want you to walk away and harden your heart like the Israelites did. Don't look at everything that's potentially yours in the promised land and turn around and say, it's not for me. I don't believe you. Don't. Don't. It will not pay off in the end. You will find in the end that you have lost far more than what you thought you'd gain. Now I pray that the Lord would soften my heart, soften our hearts, that imagine if we all responded to him. And we all, like, just said, Lord, whatever you want, do it in our life. How the Lord would love that. That's what he wants. That's actually what he wants. And the older you are, the greater the danger of the hardness of your heart. And the more sin that's in your life that you're leaving undealt with, the greater the danger that your heart will be hard. And the more that you go through trials and you don't put your faith in God, the chances that you will have a hard heart. May the Lord help us to have a heart that responds to you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, just thank you so much for the examples we have through your word. Thank you that you love us far more than we love you. And we know of our own unfaithfulness. We know how far we can go. It's like the hymn says, prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love. It's so true, Father, we are just prone to leaving you. It takes very little to draw us away from you. And yet you gently call out to us, you are patient with us. Father, we just pray that you will truly soften our hearts. And this is not something that we can do just through our own intention and desire. But we know that this is something that only the Spirit of God can do in our lives. And we just ask that our hearts would be softened through your word and that we may respond to you when you speak. We ask that you bless us and help us to grow, to be more like Christ, that we might truly be a group of young people that reflect your Son, the Lord Jesus. Bless these words to us and we pray this all in your Son's name. Amen.