Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

For often we think the hardened man to be a cruel and dangerous man, only that kind of man whom you do not make eye contact with and do not engage with. And yet Scripture teaches of men whose hearts continue to be hardened in their rebellion against God. They celebrate wickedness, delight in evil, and encourage others to do the same. They suppress truth in unrighteousness and do not want to have God in their minds.

Men of hardened hearts are not always marked by scowling attitudes and a presence that is almost tangibly off-putting, as if they walk about with a warning label attached to their heads.

More often they are very present and actively involved in culture wars, mocking Christians while claiming a morally neutral or more often morally superior position. They welcome professing Christians so long as they abandon the authority of Scripture and are willing to accept others in their sins. I will not say sinful lifestyle choices, as that is merely a manifestation of a far greater issue: their sinful nature, which they love and desire to please, showing themselves enemies of the truth and unwilling to accept, tolerate, or put up with those who love them enough to share the Gospel with them.

Many Christians today know not the dangerous shift over the last several decades whereby men have slowly eroded true evangelism and introduced what the world has said it will be open to, accepting of, and maybe even willing to profess faith in. Modern evangelistic efforts are often identified more by pragmatism, which will never reach a dead heart, but instead appeals to the sinful nature and its desires. Many are reached by pragmatic evangelism, and it has led to many false converts in the church.

The first step was to ask the world what it would be willing to receive. The next step was to change the identity of the church to meet those pragmatic demands of the world. Then the church itself became the primary place for pragmatic evangelism. With sound teaching replaced by messages designed for the world, those who were truly being saved were not growing according to sound doctrine. The result is profound biblical illiteracy within the visible church on such a scale that it would almost seem as if such men had found the perfect way to undo the Reformation within the walls of the visible church itself.

And such men seek not true reform according to the Word of God, but continue on in pursuit of vision casters and church growth gurus for the newest and most effective way to reach the lost. It is almost as if God gave the early church a method and it worked for a while, but He failed to give a method that was sustainable, powerful, and effective for all the church for all time.

Men of hardened hearts mock such shallow Christianity and lump all of it together. The most visible version of what is called Christianity before the eyes of the watching world is made up almost entirely of that which is false, counterfeit, and exactly what Scripture, when set against it, shows to be errant and even heretical.

The church is not a goat farm. It is primarily for the saints, and though the unsaved are welcome, we will not change the church for the lost. And that is just as much for their sake as it is for the sake of Christ’s Name, His bride, and the purity of the Gospel. If we truly love the lost, we will not change the church, the Word, or the Gospel, but will love them in the truth and pray that God may save them.

Hardened hearts are not changed by felt-need, therapeutic messages alongside emotionally manipulative music and dark lights, as well as other pragmatic methods that attract and please the sinful nature. Such methods produce many false converts who identify themselves with Christ and His bride while having no part in Him or with her.

Men of hardened hearts are those in rebellion against God, and many of them are in pulpits and pews thinking themselves right with God and yet are now far worse enemies of His than before someone invited them to their church where they heard a watered-down, man-centered version of the Gospel. Why invite them instead of sharing the Gospel with them? Because many in the church know not how to share the Gospel and place their confidence in an invitation so that the lost may come and “experience God” through dark lights and emotionally manipulative music that makes them feel seen by God, only then to hear the pastor preach a message designed to feel personal and as though God is speaking directly to them. That was the design and intent after all.

Church is no longer for the saints and for the worship of God. It has become about a personal encounter, personal experience, and personal word so that the lost man can feel as though God sees him and has simply been waiting for him to accept Him into his heart. This is why so many will say, “If you would just come to my church, then you would believe because you would have an experience.” The Gospel becomes limited to their church where everything has been designed around the lost man, what appeals to his sinful nature, what attracts him, and what will give him an experience he will never forget.

That hardened sinner may break and cry, having a real experience that he believes to be God. And he will ask Jesus into his heart. Yet he is now worse than before he entered. His heart, moved by an experience, continues to sit under those dark lights and man-centered messages craving another experience and hearing messages that make him feel special and as though God needs him or else He cannot do what He has planned to do. His heart, still hardened, is now learning language that sounds Christian but places him in a new category within Scripture. He is a false convert, and he will do more damage than ever he had before.

Hardened hearts are not impossible to reach if God is truly sovereign in salvation. And He is! Therefore we trust not in men’s newest schemes and devices, nor do we prostitute Christ’s bride to win the world. The church is for the saints to gather together in worship to God according to the means and order He has set. She learns and grows, and as she is scattered she evangelizes the lost.

The church is not the primary place of evangelism. Our homes are. Workplaces are. Communities are. The Gospel needs no gimmicks or schemes of men in order to be effective. God’s Word is powerful and effective and needs only to be proclaimed faithfully and with genuine love and concern for every soul. Not manipulating hearts, but proclaiming truth whereby the Spirit works and regenerates men dead in sin.

Men of hardened hearts are those in our lives whom we love and those we pass by each day who are growing not in grace but ever more hardened toward God. When they hear the Gospel it will not always result in the way we so desire, and sometimes their hearts will be hardened even more as they hear it. This must not lead us to change the message in an effort to reach their hearts. We must trust God with the results and examine our own hearts before dealing with so precious a soul.

Do we love them? Do we care for their soul? If so, we will not employ methods that appeal to their sinful nature, knowing it for what it is. But we will trust the God who saves and be faithful messengers with real love and concern for the lost, proclaiming the message He has given us and trusting the Spirit to work in regeneration.

Friend, we can trust God with hardened hearts. Did we not find His grace and mercy sufficient in our own?