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.
We get some pretty cold weather up here in the woods, and a lot of people don’t have garages to keep their cars in. Because of this, they need to park them outside in the deep freeze overnight. When they finally get them started in the morning, they will immediately turn on the defrosters because the windshield is completely frosted over with a thin layer of ice. Eventually when the motor begins heating up, the defrosters will begin slowly thawing out the windows, melting away the ice so they can see where they are going.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Sin can blind a person, just as cold weather can frost over your windshield. It is very deceitful, and can completely cloud somebody’s vision. The further away one gets from biblical truth, the more ice will begin to form in somebody’s heart, becoming hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. But ice can be melted with the application of heat. Daily doses of scripture are like warm embers in a fire, keeping our windshields clear, and our hearts warmed by the truth.
Hebrews 3 ¹² Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
There will be many people who begin the Christian Life, but the path to heaven will become too narrow for them. Rather than loving the truth of God’s Word and repenting of wicked works, they will love their sins more. One can depart from God by simply turning away from biblical teachings, and embracing the doctrines of this world.
2 Timothy 4 ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; ⁴ And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
When somebodys heart becomes hardened, they become less likely to change sinful behavior. Sin is incredibly deceptive, because the more you get involved with it, the less willing the heart will be inclined to repent. They lack feelings of Godly sorrow and contrition, which would result in them turning away from sin in order to do the will of God. People will perish because they never developed a love for scriptural truth.
“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10
This is why the Apostles warned about misplaced love.
1 John 2 ¹⁵ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Some people will attempt the Christian Life, but not have the stamina to complete it.
Mark 4 ¹⁸ And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, ¹⁹ And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
The Christian Life requires completing the race, and enduring all the way to the end.
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 10:22
We have a promise of eternal life given to us, but some people are not going to do the things required of them to eventually obtain it.
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” Hebrews 4:1
Rather than following the will of God, they will follow after the devil, and be led away by seducing spirits.
1 Timothy 4 ¹ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; ² Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Like Lot’s wife, they will eventually turn away from the teachings of Christ, and try to return to the world from which they left, but it will be gar worse for them than ever before. This is because they wilfully turned away from righteousness, to the darkness of sin.
2 Peter 2 ²⁰ For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. ²¹ For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
²² But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
An evil heart of unbelief will not obey God’s Word, which results in a hard and impenitent heart. God is not mocked and He will punish that behavior.
Romans 2 ⁵ 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; ⁶ Who will render to every man according to his deeds: ⁷ To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: ⁸ But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, ⁹ Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; ¹⁰ But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: ¹¹ For there is no respect of persons with God.
The further that people distance themselves from the teachings of scripture, the harder their hearts will become. It’s very similar to using a two-part epoxy glue. For the resin to become hard, you need to add a hardener. Sin is the hardener that hardens the resin of people’s hearts.
Hebrews 3 ⁷ Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, ⁸ Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
⁹ When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. ¹⁰ Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. ¹¹ So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
This is why we need God’s Word in our daily lives. It must flow through our hearts like water from a well. We must surround our lives with scripture, keeping it close in our minds each day, as it constantly reminds us of the direction that we must take, and points us on the path of salvation.
2 Timothy 3 ¹⁵ And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ¹⁷ That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
To keep a lake from freezing it requires the continual warmth of the sun. To keep our hearts from becoming cold, they need to be warmed each day with the teachings of God’s Son. It is a daily ritual, focusing on the will of God rather than our own. If we are going to find our way home, we must be filled with the warmth of scripture, keeping the ice off our windshield, and turning on….
….. The Defroster
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.♥️
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 