SERMON VII. Because thine heart was tender
Does hearing these things and applying them to your hearts make your hearts more tender? Do they soften your hearts further towards
God? If you find that upon hearing this, your hearts become more tender instead of hardened, and if you feel humbled, loathing yourselves and abhorring your own sins before the Lord even more when you hear that He accepts you, then it truly belongs to you, it is your portion, and you can safely embrace it. Let me provide you with a Scripture to safely bring this comfort into your souls: In Ezekiel 36, where the Lord promised a tender heart in verse 26, God also promised to remove the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. Now pay attention to one particular result of having a heart of flesh. After making various gracious promises of saving them from uncleanness and bestowing numerous mercies, the text says in verse 31, "Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and abominations."
Can this be applied to today? Can you say, "I heard a sermon about a tender heart, how precious it is and how God accepts it, and at that moment, my heart broke. I remembered my unworthy ways before God. Oh, how I walked so undeserving of His mercies and so wretchedly in His sight!" If you can say this, if at that time and during that sermon it was so, then peace be with you, for it is all your portion, and may it bring you much good. Embrace it, cherish your tenderness of spirit, and hold onto it if you want to maintain your comfort.
SERMON VII.
Because thine heart was tender "Because thine heart was tender" - 2 Kings 22:19
Let's move on from what was previously discussed and continue.
Objection: But someone may say, "This is the great thing that I find lacking in me, the absence of a tender spirit. If I could find my heart tender, then I could truly be comforted, despite the many hardships.
Oh, the hardness and insensibility of my heart."
Answer: To that, I respond as follows: First, if you are aware of your hardness, then there is certainly some degree of tenderness present.
We cannot be aware of hardness without tenderness. Do you consider the lack of tenderness to be one of the greatest evils that can befall you? Many complain about difficult times, saying, "We have hard times." But a poor soul may say, "Oh, I have a hard heart, and the hardness within my heart is a greater evil than all the hardships of the times." Surely, it is an indication that there is tenderness in the heart when one is so aware of its hardness. For you know that when the flesh is affected by a disease and becomes tough and hard, it is not sensitive at all, not even to its own hardness. However, once you become aware of the hardness, God has begun to work tenderness in you.
Secondly, there are two kinds of hardness: the hardness of a stone and the hardness of ice. God says He will take away the heart of stone. You know that a stone, no matter how intensely the sun's rays shine upon it, never yields. But ice, though it is very hard, melts and thaws when the warm beams of the sun shine upon it. So even if you feel your heart is hard at present, when the beams of God's love shine upon your heart, when the rays of God's grace manifested in the Gospel illuminate your soul, how do you find your heart responding then? Oh, then my heart begins to yield. Then my heart surrenders to God. That is a sign that it is not the hardness of a stone. If the beams of God's love and the grace of God in the Gospel can melt your heart, if you find in your heart that if God were to reveal His grace to you in His Son and pour out His love in your heart, you believe your heart would yield and melt before Him. I say, that is not the hardness of a stone. The hardness of heart that is so contrary to the Covenant of
Grace. It is possible for one's heart to be occasionally hard in the present, but even then, it will melt under the warm beams of the sun.
However, the heart of stone is what is truly contrary to the Covenant of Grace.
Answer 3: You feel in your heart that you cannot mourn for your sin, for that is what you mean when you say your heart is so hard. But let me pose this to you: At the time when you cannot mourn as you desire, is your heart not averse to sin? Is it not set against sin? Would you not choose, if given the choice, to endure all the miseries in the world rather than willfully commit any sin against God? And this choice does not arise merely from a sense of necessity, but from a disposition in your heart that is opposed to sin. You have such opposition to sin that you would turn away from it rather than from all other evils and afflictions in the world. Now, peace be to you if this is true. Even when you think your heart is so hard that you cannot mourn for sin, there is still comfort for you. And there are two reasons for this.
Firstly, it is an indication of great love for God that even though the Lord may not make you as deeply aware, in terms of your emotions, of the bitterness and evil of sin, your heart is strongly opposed to it.
It is not as much a sign of grace when the Lord fills the heart with anguish, sorrow, and bitterness for sin, and then the heart turns away from it. But when the heart turns away from the evil of sin more than from any other affliction, even at a time when it does not feel the full extent of the bitterness of sin or the displeasure of God towards sin, this indeed indicates much grace.
Again, this is a comfort in the second place because you have that which God specifically aims for in making people's hearts sensitive to sin and causing them to mourn for it. What does God desire in the mourning of men and women? It is that they may turn away from their sin and value His mercy. God does not take pleasure in causing grief to His children. He cares for your mourning only to the extent that it may turn your hearts away from sin and cause you to value
His grace. Now, if you are so aware of the evil of your sin that it turns your heart away from it and makes you value God's grace, then surely you possess the tenderness of heart that the Scripture calls for. This is what God accepts.
Let me illustrate this with an example. Imagine there are two sick men. One cries out in intense pain, experiencing extreme agony, and screams and shrieks in the midst of his suffering. He sends for a physician, desperately seeking relief. On the other hand, there is another man who is also sick, but he is not in as much pain. He does not cry out as loudly as the first man. However, he understands the seriousness and danger of his sickness to the extent that he is willing to do everything he can to call for the physician's help. He is even willing to give up all his possessions in order to receive assistance.
Although he may not cry out as much as the first man, if he is sensible enough to take any action and values his healing more than his possessions, this man may be healed just as quickly as the other.
The physician may come to help him just as soon. Similarly, some individuals become so deeply aware of the evil of their sin that they are overwhelmed by its weight. They may cry out and lament in a dreadful manner. All they can do is pursue Christ and seek Him above all else for help. They are willing to give up everything for Christ. On the other hand, there are those who may not experience such extreme sorrow, but they still apprehend Christ and value Him above all else. I say, if you fall into the latter category, although not in the same intensity of sorrow, you possess the tenderness of heart that God works in the Covenant of Grace for those whom He loves and intends to save eternally. Therefore, comfort yourself with what you have heard about the excellence of a tender spirit. Since it is so precious, strive to maintain it. This leads to the third point: if God has granted you any tenderness of spirit, it is a jewel worth more than if He had made you an emperor or a queen, as you heard the previous day. Therefore, keep it within your heart. Work diligently to maintain your tenderness, for know that although the Lord works tenderness in our hearts, without carefulness, there is a great danger of becoming hardened once again. Have you not experienced this?
Have you not felt your hearts yielding and melting before God for a time, only to find them hardened again shortly after? Certainly, if you are familiar with your own heart, you will recognize this.
Therefore, while you feel God working tenderness, strive to maintain it. Pray to the Lord to preserve it in your heart. "O Lord, keep this in the thoughts and purposes of my heart forever."
Question: You may ask, how should we maintain tenderness in our spirit?
Answer: First of all, search deeply into the riches of God's grace in the Covenant. Make an effort to understand the glorious abundance of grace in the Covenant of Grace. There is nothing that works more effectively to cultivate and preserve tenderness than the wonderful mercy of God in Jesus Christ. Those heart-blood mercies of God in Christ, those tender expressions of God's mercies and compassions in Christ, are what both create and maintain tenderness of heart. The more a person meditates on these mercies, delving into their depths, the more tenderness they will acquire and preserve in their hearts.
Secondly, be extremely cautious about falling into any known sin.
Nothing hardens the heart more than indulging in known or gross sins. The daily struggles with sin in the lives of the saints do not harden them, but if they fall into a significant sin, it often leads to a great hardening of their hearts for an extended period of time.
Reestablishing tenderness becomes a challenging task. This was the case with David when he committed a grave sin. His heart was hardened for almost an entire year. For three-quarters of a year, his heart remained hardened. He had lost the tenderness he had before.
Although he initially said he would confess his sin, he did not truly confess it until Nathan confronted him. This delay in sincere confession lasted for three-quarters of a year. During that time, he remained in his sin, and his heart was greatly hardened, losing the fear of God in his soul. Therefore, be cautious and avoid falling into gross sins.
We can draw a parallel from the story of manna. Although the beams of the sun would melt manna, the fire would bake and harden it.
Similarly, the heart of a Christian is like manna in this regard. The beams of God's grace in Christ and the mercies of the Covenant melt the heart, so you should keep your heart under the influence of those beams. However, the fire of any sinful desire bakes and hardens the heart. Therefore, be cautious and avoid falling into gross sins.
And indeed, that one argument should be sufficient, one would think, to prevent a gracious heart from yielding to the strength of temptation. When a temptation arises to commit a particular sin, which may strongly appeal to your fleshly desires, some may have certain arguments against it while others may have different ones.
Perhaps you are struck with fear and horror, and your conscience would condemn you if you were to commit it. But a gracious heart should have this prevailing thought: if I give in to this sin, I will lose my tenderness, my heart will be hardened as a result. Someone who knows the sweetness of tenderness should be unwilling to lose it for the sake of gaining the whole world. Regardless of what may happen to me, let me hold on to my tenderness, says a gracious heart.
Not only gross sins that a Christian may fall into, but also formality in performing duties will harden your heart. If you grow accustomed to a formal approach in your duties, you will lose the tenderness of your heart. It is essential for you to maintain communion with God in your holy duties. Do not be satisfied with merely going through the motions of duty unless you experience the sunshine of God's presence in those duties. On the other hand, ensure that your heart is engaged and turned towards God in the performance of those duties.
When men and women carry out their duties merely out of a sense of obligation, driven by a slave-like conscience, they may continue to perform them, but their hearts will grow harder and harder over time, eventually abandoning the duties altogether. Those who rely solely on the compulsion of conscience to fulfill their duties will eventually give them up. However, when a heart realizes that it used to enjoy communion with God in the performance of duties, and that
those duties were occasions of sweet interaction with God, they will continue to perform them. They cannot be satisfied with the performance of any duty unless they feel God's presence entering their souls. This is truly a soul that will maintain tenderness of heart.
When grace is kept in exercise, the heart will remain tender.
Fourthly, another rule for maintaining the tenderness of your heart is this: be cautious of the company you keep. Beware of associating with those who have hard and frivolous spirits, especially among those who profess religion but lack seriousness. Being in the company of such individuals greatly hardens the heart. On the other hand, keeping the company of those who have broken spirits and tender hearts before the Lord has a significant effect in preserving the tenderness of your own heart. Often, when your heart starts to harden, encountering a soft-hearted and broken-hearted Christian, whose heart melts before the Lord, can cause your own heart to melt as well. Therefore, seek the company of broken and tender-hearted
Christians. In the interactions with fellow believers, there is great power in maintaining tenderness of spirit. This is why the Apostle exhorts in Hebrews 3:12, "Take heed, 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." Exhort one another. This means coming together and engaging in conversations with spiritual
Christians who are lively, active, and stirring. Encourage one another. Why? So that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. When Christians gather and discuss the goodness of God in Christ, the profound mysteries of the Gospel, and the work of God in their hearts, with each one sharing their experiences and encounters with God, it serves as a remarkable aid in keeping the heart in a state of gracious tenderness.
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Fifthly, be cautious of being too focused on earthly and worldly matters. If you let your heart excessively pursue lawful things, it will
harden your heart. Even though those things may be lawful in themselves, if you give your heart inordinate attachment to them, you will eventually become earthly, dull, and insensitive. Just as earth quickly hardens into stone, when your heart becomes attached to worldly things, even if they are lawful, you will rapidly lose the tenderness of your heart. A worldly Christian can never be a tenderhearted Christian. However, this shall be sufficient for this point.
Now, since a tender heart is highly valued by the Lord, we have reason to lament, and lament deeply, the lack of it. This applies not only to people in general but also to Christians. Oh, how little tenderness of spirit can the Lord find even among His own people!
Our hearts have become hardened. God's name is fearfully dishonoured, His law is wickedly violated, His wrath is dreadfully revealed, His severe displeasure is threatened, His judgments are inflicted, and we have reason to fear ruin and destruction. Yet, people's hearts remain hardened. Even though God's compassionate nature is moved, and His heart-blood mercies are extended, and His gracious promises are revealed, and His heart-melting promises and overwhelming goodness are manifested, and His grace is abundantly poured out in the world, still, the hearts of people remain hardened.
The hearts of people are generally like the creature described in Job 41, around verse 24. The text says, "His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone."
Truly, the hearts of most men and women are like the heart of the creature mentioned earlier, resembling a blacksmith's anvil. No matter how many times we strike them, they do not soften but rather harden. They are like the blacksmith's dog that lies beneath the anvil, unaffected by the sparks flying around its ears, able to sleep soundly.
Similarly, many people, even when God's wrath is dreadfully revealed from heaven and sparks fly around them, have hardened hearts that cannot repent (Romans 2:5). Woe, woe to us who have sinned against the Lord, but even greater woe to us whose hearts have hardened in our sin. Where is the spirit of Elijah, the spirit of David, the spirit of Hezekiah, the spirit of Josiah? Where is the spirit
of Jeremiah and Daniel and other tender-hearted individuals mentioned in Scripture? It seems as though that spirit has departed from the world.
The hearts of people are not only hard like iron, but they are like stones. There is a difference between the hardness of iron and that of stone. Iron, though hard, can yield when put into fire and be melted by intense heat. But when you put a stone into fire, it will never yield; instead, it may burst and fly in your face. Many people are not only as hard as iron, but they are as stone. Even when they are in the fire, they do not yield but rather complain about God, His ways, and His severity, instead of acknowledging the wickedness of their own hearts. You can see that the hearts of people are not only like iron but like stone, or even worse than stone. We read that the stones split apart at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Bonaventure, though a Catholic, reflects on this and exclaims, "Lord, You have said that You will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. But Lord, give me a heart of stone, that I may be made aware of the glorious things of Christ. For I read that the stones split apart as if they were aware of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but I cannot feel anything when I hear and read about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Lord, give me a heart of stone." There is a great deal of hardness in the hearts of people, and it is a grave and significant evil. Luther has an expression: "Just as the contrite heart is a sacrifice that is so acceptable to God, the hard heart is a sacrifice that is so acceptable to the devil." And to demonstrate a little the evil of a hard heart and some convictions regarding it, let me elaborate on the evil of hardness of heart.
1. Firstly, if you have a hard heart, you are a wicked person (Proverbs 21:29). A wicked person hardens their face, and this expression signifies the hardness within their heart, which is contrary to uprightness.
2. Moreover, know that it is one of the most terrifying judgments that can be inflicted upon a sinner in this world. When the Lord
gives someone up to a hard heart, it is one of the greatest judgments they can experience in this life. Just as God hardened
Pharaoh's heart to manifest His wrath, so it is written in John 12:40: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts, and turn, and I should heal them." Isaiah spoke these words when he saw the glory of Christ. This passage from Isaiah 6 is quoted multiple times in the Gospel as a severe judgment of God upon sinners. It is a terrible affliction to suffer from kidney or bladder stones, with the agonizing pain it causes.
However, having a stone in the heart is even worse than having a stone in the bladder. If you were acquainted with the things of God, you would regard it as a greater misery. Even if you had the pain of bladder stones, you would rejoice and thank God for it if it could soften your heart. But the hardness of heart, this stony condition, is the most dreadful judgment of God that can befall a person in this world, apart from being immediately condemned to hell. In fact, it may prove to be an even greater judgment, as it accumulates wrath against the day of judgment. This leads us to the third aspect of the evil of a hard heart: those with hardened hearts throughout their lives are only storing up wrath for the day of judgment (Romans 2:4). The men and women who live in the world with hardened hearts are constantly treasuring up wrath for the day of judgment. How dreadful their condition will be in the end!
3. Those with hardened hearts are not affected by the Word of God or the ordinances of God. Whatever they hear, whatever is revealed to them, all the heart-melting mercies of God in the Gospel, and all the heart-breaking truths that expose the evil of sin, serve no good purpose for them. Instead, these things only increase their sin and condemnation if they persist in their hardness of heart. It is a sorrowful state for a person to be in, where all the heart-breaking mercies of God in Christ and the heart-breaking truths revealed in the Word, meant to bring about so much good for some, become aggravations of my sin
and condemnation. The text tells us that those who witnessed the miracles of Christ in Matthew 6:52 did not consider them or let them affect them due to the hardness of their hearts. Nothing can penetrate a hard heart. You may think that if Christ were alive again and performing miracles before our eyes, our hearts would be moved. But if you had been alive among those Jews and witnessed Christ and His miracles, they would not have impacted you if you had a hard heart. Therefore, a hard heart resists all means of grace.
4. A hardened heart prepares itself for any kind of sin, it is ready for any sin. If you are kept from committing a sin, it is only because you have not encountered the right temptation. It is not out of fear of God that you abstain from it. If your heart is hard, you are susceptible to all temptations and the grossest sins in the world. This is evident in Ephesians 4:19, where it is said of those who have given themselves over to lasciviousness, working all uncleanness with greediness, that they are "past feeling." It implies that they would not be so eager in pursuing their lusts if they were not numb to moral sensibilities. When a person becomes "past feeling," they quickly fall into lasciviousness, engaging in impure acts with great eagerness. This happens because they have lost their ability to feel and discern the wrongfulness of their actions. Moreover, when individuals persist in committing great sins, it is a clear indication that they are past feeling. Those who continue in wanton and unclean behaviour are demonstrating that they have lost sensitivity to moral values.
5. Another consequence of a hard heart is that it paves the way for great misery, afflictions, and judgments. Whoever you are, if you have a hard heart, you are on the verge of committing some vile sin or facing a fearful judgment. It may even be that you are on the brink of both. This is stated in Proverbs 29:1 and 28:14.
"Happy is the man who always fears, but he who hardens his heart will fall into trouble." In Proverbs 29:1, it is said, "He who
is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing." When your heart resists God's Word and the admonitions of your conscience and those who warn you, you are hardening yourself against them. Oh, tremble before the Lord, for He declares that you will be suddenly destroyed, and there will be no remedy.
6. Furthermore, know that the Lord has sworn the destruction of a hard-hearted sinner. In Hebrews 3:8, it says, "Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness." The apostle strongly exhorts against the hardening of hearts. Then in verse 11, he continues, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest.'" The Lord swears against a person with a hard heart. The Lord has sworn your destruction if your heart remains hardened. You are in such a condition that, as far as you know, your ruin and destruction have been sworn by the Lord. Therefore, be cautious about persisting in the hardness of your heart for too long, lest God's oath is specifically directed against you.
7. Furthermore, understand that when the time of your destruction comes, if your heart is hard, the heart of God will be hardened against you when you come under His stroke. Just as the Lord deals frowardly with those who walk in wickedness, according to Scripture, His heart is hardened against a hard heart. Even though God calls you through His Word and reveals truths that could melt the heart of a devil, your heart remains hardened.
When God warns you to beware of certain sins, your heart is hardened. Is your heart hardened when you encounter the Word of God? It would be the same with the Lord if, in your most severe affliction, you cry out to Him for mercy, and He hardens
His heart against you. Indeed, He threatens to respond in kind to those who harden themselves against Him. In Ezekiel 7:12, it is said, "They made their hearts as hard as stone." And verse 13 states, "Therefore it shall be, that when they cry out to me, I will not listen to them; so they shall cry out to me, but I will not
listen to them, says the Lord God." When people harden their hearts against God, He, in righteous judgment, hardens His heart against them when He comes in His wrath. We find a fitting scripture in the Book of Lamentations 3:65, which says,
"Give them sorrow of heart, your curse to them." The phrase translated as "sorrow of heart" can also mean a covering of the heart. Arias Montanus translates it as "give them a covering of heart." Commentators on the passage explain that this word sometimes signifies a disease in the body, a condition where there is a hard film around the heart that covers it, preventing any kind of comfort or nourishment from reaching it. Give them such a heart condition, and your curse with it. Those who have hardness of heart that prevents God's commands and truths from penetrating them, it is just for God to give them such a covering on their hearts in times of affliction that no comfort can reach them. In your health and prosperity, you hear these truths that God expects your hearts to be moved and sensitive to, yet they do not touch you. Well, when you face affliction, the Lord may send a curse that creates a hardness around your heart, so that whatever is said to comfort you will never reach your heart.
Just as now, whatever is said to bring about your contrition does not touch your heart. And is this not just? Oh, it would be a dreadful curse from God if it were so!
You know further that God has a time to make people aware, despite their hardened hearts. In one way or another, their hearts will be brought to some kind of tenderness, so they may feel the evil of sin and realize the greatness of the God they have to deal with. There are two types of tenderness:
1. Tenderness that arises from having the right disposition of the flesh.
2. Tenderness that arises from the afflictions of the flesh.
The saints of God have a sensitivity, but their sensitivity is the result of having the right disposition of their hearts, and it does not harm
them. They are sensitive to God's threats and promises, and there is joy in their sensitivity. However, for wicked individuals who are currently insensitive, the Lord has a time when He will make them sensitive. The Lord will bring affliction upon their hearts, and then they will become sensitive. In Ezekiel 21:7, it is written, "And it shall be when they say to you, 'Why are you sighing?' that you shall answer, 'Because of the news; when it comes, every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it is coming and shall be brought to pass,' says the Lord God." Every heart shall melt. In this passage, we have an example of a gracious, melting heart that God accepts. However, if your hearts do not melt when you hear the Word, God will melt your hearts in the future through dreadful news of fearful judgments.
Thus, it is stated in Jeremiah 9:7-8, "Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Behold, I will refine them and test them, for how shall I deal with the daughter of my people? Their tongue is an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait. Shall I not punish them for these things?' says the Lord. 'Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?'" So, if your hearts do not melt when you hear the Word, the Lord has a time, in spite of your hardened hearts, to melt you.
Therefore, to conclude, in illustrating the evil of a hard heart, I refer to Job 9:5: "Who has hardened his heart against Him and prospered?" So I say to every man or woman with a hard heart, who has hardened their heart against the Lord and prospered? You may continue to please yourself in your own ways and believe that you will have your will and do as you please. Let them say what they can, but know that no one who has hardened their heart against the Lord has prospered. What has become of all the hard-hearted sinners who have lived in the past? Show me one example of a person who has hardened their heart against the Lord and prospered. The end for them is ruin, misery, and eternal destruction.
But you might say, "I hope we do not have hard hearts. We acknowledge that having a heart hardened against the Lord is a fearful judgment."
No, are your hearts not hardened against the Lord? Then how is it that you are so complacent in your sins? Certainly, a person who can be so calm in known sin has a hard heart. You are conscious of the sins you live in, and yet you can eat, drink, socialize, and be merry.
Oh, you hard-hearted sinner, hardened in your sins! If your heart were tender, even if you had fallen into sin (as we all do, that must be acknowledged), it would trouble you like a mote in your eye. There may be much dirt on your hand that doesn't bother you, but a small mote in your eye would greatly trouble you.
Furthermore, men have hard hearts, otherwise the Word of God and the works of God would win their hearts for the Lord, but they do not. We see today that the blessed truths of God, which are revealed more clearly and fully than ever before, hardly touch the hearts of many. Even the great works of God, where He appears most glorious, fail to captivate the hearts of men. Surely, their hearts are very hard.
Indeed, men's hearts are hard because their hearts are proud. A proud heart is always a hard heart. The more pride there is, the more hardness resides in the heart. As it is written in Daniel 5:20, "But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride..."
Proud and obstinate individuals, those who are determined in their ways and are proud and stubborn, they are people with hard hearts.
Again, surely the hearts of men are exceedingly hard. It is evident in the fact that they can easily come into God's presence, confess their sins before Him, and judge themselves worthy of destruction because of their sins. Yet, they can leave and continue living in their sins despite all of this. This displays a dreadful hardness of heart, and it is distressingly common in our time. We have many days of fasting and prayer, where we come before God and narrate our sins to Him, making detailed confessions. We judge ourselves for our sins.
However, after all of this, how many sins are truly amended? Let any family come forward and say, "O Lord, since those fasting days, we have confessed these particular sins, judged ourselves for them, and by Your grace, they have been corrected." I fear that only a few souls
would be able to honestly make such a statement in the presence of God. Certainly, on the day of fasting, you either do this or you do not.
If the minister addresses your specific sins, you join in agreement and say, "Amen" to their confessions. If the minister does not mention your particular sins, then, if you truly desire to sanctify a fast to God as you should, you will find a private place and confess those sins that were not confessed publicly. I appeal to you on behalf of the Lord: Have you observed such fasts? Have you paid attention to whether the minister addressed your individual sins or not? And if they did not, have you gone alone and examined your hearts privately, acknowledging the sins you are guilty of? Have you judged yourselves for them but failed to reform? Certainly, if you have not done this, you have not truly understood what it means to observe a fast. And if you have done this yet continue in the same sins, it indicates a terrifying hardness of heart. How can we come into God's presence, confess our sins openly, and yet not wholeheartedly strive against them? Truly, our hearts are greatly hardened before the Lord.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that God's mercy itself can harden people. The more individuals experience the shine of God's mercy, the more they become hardened in their sins. There are many who, during times of affliction, appear to be vulnerable and pliable like iron. However, once their afflictions subside, they return to their former hardness. Their hearts are akin to clay, which hardens under the beams of the sun.
Indeed, it is a clear indication that we possess hard hearts when we show little sensitivity towards the sufferings of our brethren in other parts of the world. They cry out to us for help, and we hear their sorrowful complaints and pleas. They are stripped of their possessions, their wives violated before their very eyes, and they are left with nothing. Yet, we lack mercy and compassion towards them.
Because our own tables are filled, and we live in comfort and ease, we fail to take to heart the afflictions of our brethren and the broader calamities befalling the Church. I dare to appeal to this entire congregation and to each individual soul present: How deeply have
you internalised the current state of the Church and its collective struggles? Do these matters truly touch your heart? Can you find a solitary place and lament with a sorrowful spirit? Does your heart melt and dissolve into tears when you hear of the sufferings of your brethren and the overall calamities facing the Church? But if these things do not affect you, and you remain unaffected and merry, continuing to follow the ways of the world, it is clear that you are a person with a hard heart. Therefore, tremble before the Lord.
And for those of you who are in such a state, all the comforting words spoken about having a tender heart in the previous discussion may not apply to you, and it is concerning that you may have no share or part in that experience.
However, some of you might say, "I thank God that my heart is not so hard. I do feel a sensitivity in my heart towards these things."
Indeed, but this sensitivity may fall short of the spiritual sensitivity that was present in Josiah. Therefore, the next point of examination should be whether our hearts are tender in a spiritual sense, which is the work of the Holy Spirit sanctifying our hearts.
First of all, we need to understand that there can be a softness of heart that arises from one's natural disposition.
Secondly, there can be temporary emotional responses in the heart upon hearing the Word.
And thirdly, there can be a sense of fear and conviction in the heart through knowledge of the Law.
Regarding the first point, a plum or cherry may appear soft on the outside but be hard inside.
Similarly, as for the second point, we know that ice can thaw during the day and freeze again at night.
And concerning the terrors of the Law, we are aware that a marble stone may seem to melt and trickle down with tears in wet weather, but it remains a stone nonetheless.
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Gospel Fear by Jeremiah Burroughs, Copyright © 2023 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
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