Good morning! As we continue to walk through the book of Romans, we see why judgment will ultimately come to those who don’t believe or to those who claim they believe but don’t show any evidence of their belief.
For many Christians, we are taking the kindness of God for granted. In our message today, Paul warns us against being stubborn and having an unrepentant heart. In today’s message these characteristics are identified as hard headed and hard hearted.
I will bet if I said these two terms many us could think of some Christians, church folks, or friends that they would describe. If we were truthful with ourselves, we probably could apply these terms to ourselves.
How about right now? How about today? Is there something that you are being hard hearted or hard headed about in your walk with God? As always, today’s message is to challenge us to look at ourselves through the eyes of God. It is for us to challenge ourselves to be obedient in some difficult areas or spots in our lives.
These are not new characteristics to God’s people. In Judges 2:19-21, it states “But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord burned against, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,”
As we look at the hard headedness and hard heartedness of man, I would like for us to consider the following points:
God's Judgment will be because
1. Man is hard-headed (Consistently refuses to do the things of God)
A. Stubbornness toward God is a sin.
B. Stubbornness toward God will result in judgment later.
2. Man is hard-hearted (Refuses to "turn" way from the things that are not of God).
A. A hard-heart causes us to reject the things of God.
B. A hard-heart causes us not to acknowledge when we are wrong.
C. A hard-heart will result in God's judgment later.
Our points of application are:
a. Rejecting God now causes Him to have to reject us later.
b. Turning our hearts toward God now will give us a home with Him later.
Throughout this week, we will be challenged not to be hard headed and hard hearted. I leave you with this prayer: Lord, soften our hearts and minds to your will. Let us not continue to hold on to things that are not of you. Let us not continue to reject things that you want us to do. Lord, thank you for your patience with us. In Jesus name, AMEN!
