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.
When I moved out into the woods over twenty years ago, we never had a power pole. When you do dishes by hand, you don’t need a dishwasher. When you sweep hardwood floors, you don’t need a vacuum. When you do your laundry in town, you don’t need a washing machine. You probably have guessed already, but we never had a refrigerator either. During the summer time we eat dry goods and other things from the garden and wild fruits and mushrooms from the woods. I’ve always raised animals for milk, fresh eggs and meat, and there always seems to be some fish to catch in our lake. Sometimes, we will get a big bag of ice so we can have cool drinks on a hot July day. But when the leaves begin to fall, and the weather starts plunging into cold temperatures, I begin moving some of the perishables outside. I have a large steel box with a locking hasp that I keep a short distance from the house, and whenever we need something, we will run outside and grab it. Sometimes we will bring in something to eat that has been out in the cooler for many months, and after that length of time it has frozen into a solid block of ice, hardened by the cold and unforgiving Arctic weather.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Like an Arctic wind blowing across the frozen winter landscape, sin wants to creep into our lives. Its cold air slithers on the ground like a snake, as it searches for a crack in the wall, where it can slip through undetected. Without the insulation of Holy Scripture, our lives can become cold and numb, and just like food in the meat locker, if it’s not taken care of quickly, your heart will become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
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.
Have you ever noticed how the cold can affect your feet?. When you walk around barefoot in a cold home, they will slowly start to develop thick calluses, and when they get thick enough, they cannot feel a thing at all. Sin does the very same thing to our hearts. Each day that you continue to walk in sin, the heart will develop another layer of thick skin, and without repentance and belief of the truth, will become numb to all feelings. The deeper that you walk into the lake, the wetter your clothes will become. The further from the campfire you roam, the harder it is to see its light. The greater the distance between you and the Truth, the more deceived by the world you will be. This is why we need daily exposure to the teachings of scripture, because the more that we can put inside of our hearts, the more we are insulated from the coldness of sin. Rebukes, correction, and exhortation from God’s Word are all preventative measures that we must receive every day, opening up our ears to the truth, for the correction of the wayward heart.
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.
When people are deceived by sin, one of the first things that they will do is begin closing off their ears from the teachings of God’s Word. Sin will get such a grasp on them that they really believe that what they are doing is the right thing, but in all actuality it is the furthest thing from the truth. In this state they are believing a lie and abiding in a state of unbelief. Only through faith can we inherit the Kingdom of heaven, and faith comes by hearing God’s Word.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
Only through faith will people repent of their sins. When they abide in a state of unbelief, they will neither change nor do the will of God. Because of this, many of them completely reject eternal judgment and God’s punishment for sins. This is why it’s so dangerous to get too far away from the teachings of scripture, because it’s like sleeping outside on a Sub-Zero night without any protection from the cold. When people turn their ears away from scripture, the coldness of sin will begin to creep in, as they begin believing the lies of the world, and the doctrines of devils.
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;
When somebody’s heart becomes hardened, they have gotten so involved in doing sinful things, that they are no longer affected by it in the same way that other people would be. The wicked deeds that they commit become habitual and second nature to them, which turns them into a disobedient creature who is unlikely to change. This is why the Apostle commanded Timothy to preach!
2 Timothy 4 ² Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 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.
To hear the voice of God, we need to open our ears to the teachings of His Word.
2 Timothy 3 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.
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” 1 Peter 2:2
Some people won’t enter into Paradise because they close off their ears to the directions that could lead them on the path of salvation.
Hebrews 3 ¹⁵ While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
¹⁶ For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
¹⁷ But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? ¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
So when I go out and open up the meat locker, I realize that the coldness of sin can have devastating effects in one’s life, turning someone’s heart into a solid block of ice, just like a pack of meat kept far too long, out in…
……The Deep Freeze
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 all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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