RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2020-11-03	When Does God Harden a Sinner's Heart?
		Rom 1:24  Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, Rom 1:25  who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Rom 1:26  For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Rom 1:27  Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. Rom 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting There is no hardness in the human heart, either against God's decree or from human depravity, which is so hard that God Himself cannot overcome it. God can save the hardest sinner. This is the heart of the New Covenant promise (Ek.11:19). Eze 11:19  Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, Nothing is too hard for the Lord (Je.32:17). Jer 32:17  'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. We start with these truths because so many have friends and family who have been resistant to the Gospel for years. It is very easy to become discouraged and sort of give up whether they could ever be saved. They just seem too hard. But it is the sovereignty of God who says, “He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (Ro.9:18). It is that freedom and power which is our only hope that the seeming impossibility of human hardness cannot stand before the sovereign mercy of God. Did God first harden the sinners in Romans 1:24-28 before He gave them up to “uncleanness” (v.24), “vile passions” (v.26), and to a “debased mind” (v.28)? So it is clear that there is a sinful and rebellious condition prior to God giving them over to a debased mind. God's removing the restraints that He puts on sinners is not the ultimate origin of their rebellion. That rebellion and hardness was there before He handed them over to a debased mind. So what was their condition before this “handing over” or “hardening?” Eph 4:17  This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, Eph 4:18  having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart Paul traces our condition back through futile minds, through darkened understanding, through alienation from God, through ignorance, and finally to hardness of heart. This is the root problem. Paul makes it plain that this hard spiritual deadness is universal for Jew and Gentile. Eph 2:3  among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. This is the condition of every human being. We are by nature sons of disobedience. By nature we disobey. By nature we are selfish. Therefore by nature we deserve God's wrath. How did that come about that all humans are justly subject to the wrath of God? Paul's answer is that Adam's sin has infected the whole human race. The punishment that fell on Adam fell on all who are part of Adam as his descendants (Ro.5:18). Rom 5:18  Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. So to answer the question, did God first harden the sinners of Romans 1 before He gave them up to vile passions? Our hardness is owing to God's judgment on the whole human race in our forefather Adam. This hardness or deadness is basic. All other texts in the Bible concerning God's hardening have this as their backdrop. So any given case of hardening it may mean that God is giving them up to the hardening that He decreed from the beginning. Rom 11:5  Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Rom 11:6  And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. Rom 11:7  What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. We as believers should be very thankful that our eyes are opened to the truth and beauty of Christ. This rescue from hardness was a sovereign work of God. Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

An Evangelical Free Church of America

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