Why Are Some People’s Hearts Resistant to the Gospel – Desmond Ford

Apr 6, 2015 2907

hard heartWhen Jesus explains the parable of the four soils, he tells us why three-quarters of the soils are not receptive to the gospel. Here it is: “You shall, indeed, hear but never understand; you will, indeed, see but never perceive for this peoples’ heart has grown” some versions say “dull”, some say “gross” and some say, “fat”.

Now what Jesus is saying is, it is not that the soil is there from birth and you can’t help it; one is lucky for he has a good heart and another is unlucky because he has a superficial heart – a heart like tarmac. No.

This verse tells us that “this peoples’ heart has grown”. I determine the soil by the tiniest decisions of life from my earliest moments, I make my own soil. I am responsible for the state of my heart. If my heart is hard like tarmac, it is because I let the chariots of the world go over it all the time. I have never had it ploughed by the Holy Spirit. I have never had it cut up by the ploughshare of penitence and tears of sin.

If my heart is hard like a rock with just a little soil over it, it is because I have become preoccupied with superficial things. The great sin of the world is that it is very sensitive to trifles and very insensitive to the great realities.

When I was a boy and used to go to the show and they had the boxers, wrestling, dancing girls and all the places where you could buy this and buy that, we kids would always buy fairy floss. You  would get this whole heap of stuff which was just sugar and colouring but it tasted beautiful – to a kid. We never thought about dentist’s chairs. Fairy floss looked good, tasted good and was gone in five minutes! Most of the things in life that appeal are like that.

So the point I am making is, don’t make the mistake I made when I was a little boy. This is difficult.

The Spirit of God moves upon everyone of us from the earliest moments of consciousness as to whether we will be nasty or good, whether we will be kind or cruel, whether we will go for the truth or whether we prefer comfortable illusions. Most people live under illusions and are only awakened by a doctor’s verdict or something.

Most people live under illusions. One of the biggest illusions is that they are going to live forever! Not really, if you ask them, but they live as though they are going to live forever, as though there is no judgment day, as though there is no old age, as though there is no reckoning. Most people live under illusion, as though they are their own, as though they were not bought, as though they don’t belong to God by creation and by redemption.

So, I make my own soil and whether my heart is good to bring forth a hundredfold or whether it is going to be filled with thorns, or whether it is just going to have superficial soil or whether it is going to be hard like a road – that depends on all the choices I have made.

So here is the solemn business about living. Life is like a boy on a bicycle, you either go on or you go off; you are either getting better or getting bitter.

– Des Ford. Rom 8:27–32 (Adapted from “Why the Gospel Isn’t Rushed”)

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