Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of Scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
About 15 years ago our family was traveling through Minnesota. It was starting to get late in the afternoon so we decided to pull into a campground and set up our tents on that beautiful fall day. After eating a few snacks out of the cooler, we decided to stretch our legs after the long drive and take a walk around the campground. As we walked I almost slipped on something that was on the ground. I leaned over and picked it up and realized that it was a walnut that had fallen out of the trees. I like eating nuts, everything from peanuts to sunflower seeds. When we were kids I can always remember having a big bowl of nuts on the table during the holidays.
Since I’m the kind of person who really doesn’t like to waste anything, we grabbed everything that we had available to collect the nuts with. They were all over the place and it was the first time I had ever picked up walnuts right off of the ground. I think we picked up about 6 bushel and packed the trunk of the car with them. We were very excited when we got back home at the thought of being able to sit down and eat a bunch of them, but getting the nut out of the shell was a lot tougher than what we thought it would be.
It’s been claimed that it takes about three hundred pounds of pressure to open a macadamia nut. Walnuts are not as hard but it’s a struggle just the same. We found ourselves sitting by the wood stove that winter with a hammer breaking them on the cement until we had a small bowl to eat each day. I think those walnuts lasted us all winter because they weren’t easy to open as we thought they would be. They sure were a hard nut to crack.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
God wants our hearts to be broken and contrite before Him, but just like those walnut shells, some people have a hard heart to break open. There are some people who refuse to feel sorry for the things that they have done to God and others. They refuse to apologize and are not filled with any remorse. This is caused by pride and the hardness of their hearts.
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Romans 2:5
The definition for “hard” is when something is solid, firm and rigid. It is not easily broken, bent or pierced. When you do something that is unloving and unkind to God and others, a person’s heart should be convicted enough to apologize for what they’ve done so that they can be reconciled. The scriptures teach us that we’re supposed to be tenderhearted. We’re supposed to be filled with mercy and grace towards each other. When you hurt others you should feel regret inside of your heart for what you have done instead of having an impenitent hard heart.
Psalms 95:8 – Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
An impenitent heart only leads to sin.
Proverbs 28:14 – Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
When a person is impenitent it means that they don’t feel any shame or regret about their actions or their attitudes towards others. They don’t have any remorse for what they have done. Shame is truly a painful feeling of humiliation or distress that is caused by consciousness of doing the wrong thing or foolish behavior. It is an unpleasant feeling caused by the awareness of guilt, fault or failure. People who are hard-hearted don’t possess these feelings. Their hearts are closed off, surrounded by a brick wall in their own mind. Instead of tenderness their conscience is seared.
Truly if somebody professes to be a Christian they’re going to have feelings of regret for hurting others. Regret is a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done. It is the result of having godly sorrow.
2 Cor 7:10 “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
Ps 38:18 “For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.”
Sorry means to express regret, remorse, or sorrow.
Luke 18 ¹⁰ Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. ¹² I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. ¹³ And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Someone who is contrite is penitent or feels regret or sorrow, especially for one’s own actions. They are apologetic. The Lord draws nigh into those who are filled with this quality.
Psalms 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Isaiah 66:2 – For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Somebody who is impenitent has no remorse or regret. If you truly repent you feel regret or sorrow about something you have done wrong to somebody else. Remorse means to have deep regret or guilt for a wrong committed. Regret is a feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over something that has happened or been done. It’s wishing it had never happened in the first place. To truly have these feelings a person’s heart needs to break. They need to first come to God with brokenness and then reconcile with others that they have wronged. Just like people store money in a savings account each and every day, a person with a hard and impenitent heart is only storing up for themselves God’s wrath.
Sometimes it takes a spiritual hammer on the heart of the impenitent, when they become a tough nut to crack. I’m reminded of this, whenever I think about that day, walking underneath…..
……The Walnut Trees
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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