Posted on 06/28/2021 11:32:03 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1).
“He, that being often reproved . . .” if a man will ‘turn” at that reproof, God won’t harden His heart, He will soften it. Take Cornelius, he was soft to God’s dealing. Or Paul. Paul was adamantly against the Christians in Acts chapter 9, in verse 5-6, when the Lord appears to him there—and the light from heaven knocks him down— “And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”
“it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks,” that is, the pricks of the conscience on the heart, the pricks of the Holy Spirit against the heart. They are thrust upon a man’s heart to see if it will respond, if that heart will take truth. If it won’t take truth, if it won’t receive truth—then God hardens it. It if will take truth, then God deals more and more with it and reveals more and more to it. Until eventually the Gospel is sent to that individual who has turned or repented of his sin and gets saved.
“He, that being often reproved . . .” is a great message to the lost. Do we even realize how many times Americans hear the gospel over a lifetime? How many times they have had opportunities to get right with God? How many times they have been reproved of their sin? And haven’t done anything about it? It is like less than 10% of people that get saved after the age of 50. It’s about 90% at the age of 10-12. By the time a man gets to be 50-60 (some younger) their hearts are so hardened over the years that he won’t respond well to the pricking of the heart.
“He, that being often reproved . . .” over time he “hardeneth his neck,” and so as the heart has hardened, they become a stiff-necked people, and here is the problem-- “shall suddenly be destroyed” --he says, well, “Maybe tomorrow, or next week, or sometime I’ll do this or that with ‘religion’” Well, the rich man in Luke 12 had made all his plans without God, and God cut him off suddenly, “and that without remedy.” There is no remedy to hell, once a man is in, he is in and there is no way out. The rich man in Luke 16 was looking at an eternity without even a drop of water to cool his tongue.
The surgeon general likes to warn people that smoking cigarettes is a leading cause of death, but here Solomon is saying that unrepentant sin is the leading cause of death—suddenly—and without remedy.
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