The Church as the Body of Christ – The Implications

 Relationships Within The Body

The church of the New Testament is referred to in the scriptures under several different designations or appellations, one of which is the body of Christ. “And he put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Eph. 1:22-23 NKJV) “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” (Col. 1:24 NKJV) Paul says, in speaking to the church (see 1 Cor. 1:2) at Corinth, “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Cor. 12:27 NKJV) To those in Rome, he says, “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (Rom. 12:5 NKJV)

The body of Christ, the church, is, of course, a spiritual body. Peter describes the church as a building but what he says is applicable here for he says, “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house.” (1 Peter 2:5 NKJV) The church is spiritual; it consists of men and women and boys and girls of accountable age who, each in their individual spirit, have submitted to Christ in both faith and obedience. “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (Rom. 8:9 NKJV) “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:14 NKJV) “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body (the fleshly physical body we each possess--DS), you will live.” (Rom. 8:13 NKJV) It is thus spiritual beings who have the Spirit of Christ within them who comprise the church, the body of Christ.

In the description the Holy Spirit gives of the church as a spiritual body, the body of Christ, it is compared to a physical body to provide us with lessons about its nature and what it is to be. He (the Holy Spirit) says, speaking through Paul, “for in fact the body is not one member but many” (1 Cor. 12:14 NKJV) and then begins discussing the foot, the hand, the ear, the eye, the smelling (the nose) with the idea being that each member of the body has its function to fulfill for the profit of the entire body and that each part of the body, each member, contributes to the well being of the body and is needed. (1 Cor. 12:15-22) With the physical body we readily see this need. Remove any part of the body and, to that extent, we become handicapped.

This is a lesson the church needs to learn -- the value of every single member and the fact that they each contribute in one way or another, whether we see it or not. Too often the member that has standing is the one with speaking talent, or the one who is a church leader in one capacity or another, or one who is well thought of in the community while the poor widow with but two mites to cast into the collection plate (Luke 21:1-4) is left out of the social interaction of the membership.

The church that is what God would have it to be is egalitarian. Too often, the church is divided into cliques based on social, economic, or educational status or perceived superiority. This should not be. If men can see such behavior surely God sees it. To show favoritism of one over another is sin. “My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism” (James 2:1 NAS77) or, as the NET Bible puts it, “do not show prejudice.”

But the reader should not make more of what I have said than what I stated, for I do not mean to imply this is a common practice, but if it is found even once it is once too often. Every congregation is different and the whole body of believers should never be judged based on what one might find in a particular location. Do we think it would be fair to judge all of the congregations that belong to Christ based on the church at Sardis as described by Jesus himself in Rev. 3? I think not.

Here is the body of Christ, the church, as God would have it be--“that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Cor. 12:25-27 NKJV) “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35 NKJV)

The church being what it ought to be starts with each individual member being what he ought to be in his relationship both with Christ and with his fellow brethren. We cannot sit back as observers and see how it is going and say the church is not what it ought to be in its love for each of its members when we are, as stated, just sitting back and watching and not becoming actively involved ourselves.

John says, for example, “Whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17 NKJV) We say that it is the church’s duty, the church’s responsibility, to care for the needy. Now, be honest, is that what the passage says, that it is the church’s obligation? It says it is my obligation if I can help to step in and help; the church being what it ought to be as a body begins with me in friendship, in fellowship, in caring, in sharing, in sacrifice, in the depths of love as measured by God’s word. Besides, if we do not care about one another, who will care about us?

Salvation is in The Body

How many bodies does Christ have? That is a foolish question on its face. How many bodies do you have? It makes as much sense to ask one as to ask the other. Besides, even if we were that dull, Paul tells us, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.” (Eph. 4:4 NKJV) There is an idea held by many that each of the individual denominations is a member of the body of Christ and that, taken collectively, they make up the church. Talk about an absolute perversion of scripture and utter nonsense!

Denominations did not exist when the New Testament was being written, thus when Paul wrote to the church at Corinth talking about these matters regarding the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12) he most certainly was not talking about that which did not exist. He clearly was talking to “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” (1 Cor. 1:2 NKJV) How do I know he was talking to them--because I just quoted the passage, because he says so. They, each one individually, each Christian, was a member of the body of Christ to whom he was speaking. “You are the body of Christ (the church at Corinth--DS), and members individually.” (1 Cor. 12:27 NKJV)

Christ is the head of the body, the church (Eph. 1:22-23, Col. 1:18), to whom each member of the body is to hold fast (Col. 2:19). The head always directs the body using the analogy of the physical body. The rest of the body follows the decisions made by the head. In other words, the head rules the body. God never gave man legislative powers in the realm of religion; Christ has all authority. “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18 NKJV) were some of the last words Jesus spoke while on earth. He is the king of a kingdom and not the head of some kind of a democratic government. This being the case, and as Christ the head has spoken and given his will in the pages of the New Testament, why have men not been content to be guided by his will and it alone?

Men have arrogated power to themselves and set up conferences, councils, and governing bodies, and tried to make laws for God and in many cases even overrode his will, for their own, setting aside scripture and people say it is okay, all is well, God is pleased, he is satisfied, and we are saved. In religious bodies that have done these things it is safe to say Christ may be spoken of as the head but it is not taken seriously by those of us who have a New Testament and have read it and studied it and believe it.

Man may vote and elect a governing body in a club, or a benevolent organization, or a union, or whatever, but such has no place in the New Testament church, the body of Christ, which already has its head and governing body in place--Christ himself.

Christ is the Savior of the body (Eph. 5:23), but scripture says his body is the church (Col. 1:24). There are an awful lot of people who believe the church does not matter. To their thinking it does not matter whether one is a member of the church or not for their thinking is a man can be saved without church membership. If you can be saved without church membership then it does not matter whether or not you are in the body of Christ for the church is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). If you are in the church, you are in the body of Christ; if you are not in the church, you are not in the body of Christ.

Now, what is it that Christ is the Savior of? It is his body, the body of Christ (Eph. 5:23). Name one place in the Bible where Christ ever promised or gave hope of saving anyone not in the body of Christ. I am willing to wait for the answer but it will be a long wait as you will not find it.

Here is what causes the confusion: people do not know the truth about how one becomes a Christian. They think becoming a Christian is one process and becoming a church member is another. The truth is that the same process that makes one a Christian also adds him to the body of Christ, the church. If you obeyed the gospel of Christ, in truth and sincerity, you are a member of the church, whether any in the church accept you or not. God adds you to the church (see Acts 2:47 NKJV), not men. He does it when we obey the gospel. You cannot obey the gospel and not be in the church.

God adds you to the church, the body of Christ, but on conditions. One condition all agree upon is faith in Christ. That, however, is only one condition. While everything else flows from it and while it must of necessity be the first thing in order (Heb. 11:6) God requires more of man than that even though many do not believe he does.

A second condition is repentance. God is not in the business of saving unrepentant sinners, even if they are believers. If so, where does the Bible teach it? If man can be saved without repentance what did Jesus shed his blood for? If a man can be saved without repentance, meaning he can go on and still live a life of sin and be saved, then why did Jesus shed his blood for the remission of man’s sins if sin does not matter? Repentance is thus required of man for salvation (Acts 2:38).

A third condition is a confession of Jesus with the mouth. “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.” (Rom. 10:9-10 NKJV) Confession is made before baptism for only believers can be scripturally baptized. It is disciples who are to be baptized, says Jesus (Matt. 28:19), but you cannot know a person has been made a disciple unless that person lets it be known.

The final condition one must meet before it can be said he has entered the body of Christ, of which Christ said he is the Savior (Eph. 5:23), is baptism. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.” (1 Cor. 12:13-14 NKJV) We enter the body of Christ by baptism. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal. 3:27 NKJV) To be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into his body.

I have quoted the passage from Eph. 5:23 a few times in this article where it is said Jesus is the “Savior of the body.” If you will read but 2 verses on down you will begin reading as follows, “Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:25-27 NKJV)

Let me ask you one thing. What did Christ cleanse the church of “with the washing of water (baptism--DS) by the word”? To ask is to answer--sin. If you think spiritual cleansing of sin does not come by “the washing of water by the word,” then you must explain why the Holy Spirit said it did while not meaning what he said. Would you question his integrity?

Those who think they can enter the body of Christ some other way than by being baptized, as Peter said, for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), will search in vain for the passage that teaches it. No one is a Christian who has not been baptized, despite years of man-made tradition that teaches otherwise. One can either choose to believe the Bible or believe men.

I grow weary of hearing men talk of faith who have no faith, who will not believe plain statements of scripture. I can find several passages that say we are baptized into Christ, it is for the remission of sins, that it saves, etc.–teachings along those lines. Those who oppose this teaching oppose every passage I produce and yet can find no passage in support of their own proposition that it does not save or have anything to do with man’s salvation.

If one enters the body of Christ by baptism (1 Cor. 12:13), that is where salvation is found for his body, the church, is what Christ is saving, then what do you think you ought to do with regards to baptism? If you think one can enter that body without baptism why not teach us all how? Teach us how that while Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16 NKJV) the truth is “He who believes and is ‘not’ baptized will be saved.”  Whether Mark 16:16 is authentic or not is debated but, nevertheless, be that as it may, the teaching of many is “he who believes and is not baptized will be saved.” That is an exceedingly dangerous doctrine in light of Bible teaching on the subject. Who is so reckless to do it?

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Calling On The Name Of The Lord

The Apostle Peter, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, preached the first gospel sermon ever preached on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 after Jesus’ ascension back to heaven. By believing and obeying the message preached that Pentecost day the men and women present would be saved from their sins, and so they were. In that sermon, Peter quoted the prophet Joel, saying, “It shall be, that every one who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21 NAS 77)

All rational men and women ought to want to be saved. We all know, if we are at all honest, that we have sinned and have sins that need to be forgiven. God’s promise through Joel the prophet was that “every one” will be saved who will call on the name of the Lord, so how do we do that?

One’s first inclination when hearing the word “call” is to think of verbal communication, thus prayer to God. Yet, when one reads the entirety of Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, we find not a word about prayer to God or Christ.

As Peter proceeded in his speech to those who had assembled that day after convincing them he and the other apostles who were speaking in tongues were not drunk, his first objective was to convince them that the Jesus they had condemned to death was indeed the Christ. This was not difficult to do. Peter reminded them of the miracles, wonders, and signs Jesus had done in their presence. No ordinary man could do such things if God was not with him, and God is not with liars. Jesus was who he said he was – the Son of God.

No doubt they were also aware of the events surrounding the Lord’s death, the earthquake, the darkness, the veil of the temple being rent, and, add to that, many of them were likely already convicted in their hearts that they had condemned an innocent man.

Being convicted in heart of their sin and of the fact that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, they appeal to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37 NAS 77)

Peter’s well-known response was, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38 NAS 77)

Now to the heart of our subject: what does it mean to call on the name of the Lord? It means to obey the gospel; if you are not a Christian, to become one, it means for the alien sinner to repent and be baptized upon your faith in Christ.

Were these people on the Day of Pentecost saved after obeying Peter’s instructions? The Bible says, “There were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41 NAS 77) Inspiration says that, not me. We ought to believe what the text clearly states.

I ask you this question: Did those three thousand that day call on the name of the Lord? It is those who call on the name of the Lord that Joel says will be saved. Did they do it? What did they do? When you answer that question, you will know what it means to call on the name of the Lord. It means to obey the gospel -- to have faith, repent, and be baptized.

If calling on the name of the Lord meant to simply pray to God for forgiveness, Peter would surely have emphasized that, but we hear not a word from him along that line. Why not? Because that is not what it means to call on the name of the Lord.

Saul, called on the name of the Lord in Acts 22:16. Perhaps you recall his experience on the road to Damascus when he encountered the Lord and was told to go into the city and it would be told to him what he must do. Ananias was sent to him and told him, “Why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.” (Acts 22:16 NAS 77)

Paul had developed faith and repentance on the road to Damascus when the Lord appeared to him thus all that was left in calling on the name of the Lord was to be baptized. Calling on his name was not something in addition to baptism that Saul needed to do, but it was a summarizing statement of what was transpiring or being accomplished by being baptized.

Surely, Paul had been praying to God, no doubt for forgiveness, ever since Jesus had appeared to him on the Damascus road. The Lord, in directing Ananias to go to Saul, said specifically to Ananias, “he is praying.” (Acts 9:11 NAS 77) We are told just two verses before this, “he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.” (Acts 9:9 NAS 77) If calling on the name of the Lord meant praying to God for the forgiveness of one’s sins certainly Saul had done that before Ananias ever arrived at his abode. Why then did Ananias not instruct him to do what he had already been doing if praying to the Lord is the same as calling on the name of the Lord?

Saul, despite his prayers, had not yet called on the name of the Lord, for he had not yet completed his gospel obedience. He had developed faith, he had repented at the time of his heavenly vision when Jesus spoke to him, but he had yet to be baptized; thus we find Ananias directing him to do so. In Ananias’ own words, “Why do you delay?” (Acts 22:16 NAS 77)

When one obeys God, that person is without speech, but by action, asking God to fulfill his promise. The person obeying the command is expressing in action his/her faith in what God has said and promised. The alien sinner in obeying the gospel is asking or calling on God, by his acts, to grant him or her the promised forgiveness of sins.

There are a few other passages in the New Testament that shed light on this subject. Acts 9:14 speaks of those who “call upon Thy name.” (NAS 77) It is clearly a reference to Christians for those who call upon the name become Christians.

Rom. 10:12-14, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for ‘Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?” (NAS 77) Again, to call upon the name of the Lord is to become a Christian, to obey the gospel. However, there is an additional point that needs to be made from this passage and what it teaches.

This passage makes plain that belief alone is not calling upon the name of the Lord. You cannot, according to this passage, call upon the name of the Lord until you first believe. When you believe, then you can call on the name of the Lord. This accords with Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 and Saul’s conversion account in Acts 9 and Acts 22. The Bible has never taught salvation by faith alone as so many today teach.

In closing it needs to be said that one must always read the context in determining the meaning of words and/or phrases. The one exception that I am aware of to what I have set forth in this article is the passage in Acts 7 where Stephen is being stoned to death, looks up into heaven, and sees the Lord. The text says, “he called upon the Lord.” (Acts 7:59 NAS 77)

He was speaking person to person, face to face, man to God directly. He was making a request, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (Acts 7:59 NAS 77) Context always matters in scriptural exegesis.

To summarize, calling upon the name of the Lord is, in the New Testament, a request by man to God for God to fulfill his promise. It is a request not made verbally but a request made by obedience, an action out of faith in God’s word, faith in God’s promise.  

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A Way That Seems Right

The apostle John made the statement that he had “no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” (3 John 4, NKJV) Yet, today, some approximately two thousand years later, it is questioned whether one can know the truth or whether such a thing even exists. I find that quite distressing, but find myself unable to do much about it.

It was reported to me that one I know quite well made the comment as it relates to Christian doctrine that “everyone sees it differently.” The implication, of course, is that it makes little to no difference what one believes and practices in the Christian religion as long as it fits somewhere in the broad spectrum of what men call Christendom. The idea is that one can be a member of about any Christian denomination with their peculiarities and all will be well with one’s soul. It implies that truth cannot be known with any certainty and even questions whether absolute truth even exists in religion.

It is a live-and-let-live philosophy. My Christian faith and practice are as good as yours, and yours as good as mine, even though we are in deep disagreement about many things. It just makes no difference.

Certainly, there is nothing rational in this train of thought, but that is the world we live in. How do people think today? George Barna recently came out with a new report entitled: 2025 American Worldview Inventory – Report #6 Americans Possess Contradictory and Unbiblical Views about Moral Truth. I quote from it:

“Most adults in the United States do not believe that there are any moral absolutes, and they live accordingly. … Even substantial majorities of some of the largest Christian church groups reject absolute morality, including 69% of Catholics and 61% of those who attend a mainline Protestant church.

Beyond that, half of the adults considered to be spiritually conservative and a cornerstone of evangelical Christianity—a niche known as “theologically-identified born-again Christians— admit to rejecting absolute moral truth.

The research has shown that these days, Americans most often make their moral choices based on their emotional reaction to a situation. In fact, the only consideration that a majority of adults trust to discern moral truth is their feelings, which is relied upon by three out of four adults (74%).”

You can read the report for yourself, as long as it is up, online at: https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AWVI-2025-6-Contradictions-in-Beliefs-about-Moral-Truth_FINAL.pdf

Further down in the report he goes on to say: “One of the guiding moral ideals is that being open-minded and accepting of alternative philosophies of life is a sign of maturity—even if those points of view conflict with one’s personal perspectives. A large majority (67%) of adults embrace this supposed “sophisticated” thinking. ...

Pluralism is alive and well in America today: the dominant worldview of nine out of 10 adults is Syncretism, which is the blending of beliefs and behaviors conceived or favored by a variety of competing worldviews.

The popularity of that approach to life provides an ideal philosophical environment for people to suppose that competing, even conflicting, truth views can all be right or should at least be appreciated as valid.”

If, in fact, we live in such a society it is easy to see that the narrow gate Jesus spoke of is non-existent in the mind of the average American, even of many Christian conservatives. Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” (Matt. 7:13 NKJV) In American religious thought today, Jesus had it just backwards. In our minds the gate that leads to life is quite broad indeed.

Today, even among many, perhaps most Christians, who can say (?), one sees this kind of thinking. Let someone die who has not lived a Christian life but has been a nice guy, man or woman, friendly and kind, but never lived as a Christian, and it is suddenly said upon their death that they are “in a better place now” or they have received “their angel wings.” We rail against those who would judge others, and we should oppose such judging, but on the other hand, who put you or me in charge of judging people into heaven? Who made us judge?

But that is a reflection of how people think today. People have discarded the clear teachings of the Bible and developed their own religion, which is basically whatever seems right to me. What does the Bible say about such a course? “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” (Prov. 14:12 NKJV)

Paul, in Rom. 10:2, spoke of those in his day who “have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” (NKJV) I make two points about those Jews of whom he spoke. (1) He was not complimenting them. He goes on to say they were “seeking to establish their own righteousness” (ver. 3).  That is exactly what is happening today with the way we are thinking about Christianity and life.

(2) The second point is that Paul spoke of knowledge. He was saying there is such a thing as truth. It is not my truth nor your truth, but the truth applicable to both of us. It is objective, not subjective, and is independent of our feelings.

Today, believing the way so many do, the Bible is forced to take a back seat, but it will not stay there. You cannot fight against God and win; only a fool tries to do so.

It is felt that Christianity is too narrow if you take the word of God to mean what it says, so we play around with it and tell ourselves the text does not mean what it seems to be saying in so many different places. We spend our time not in teaching what the text says but in teaching why the text does not mean what it says. No, not all of us, but so many do.

Of course, there is such a thing as intolerance which we must fight against. The problem is that we have come to tolerate the evil and condemn the good. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20 NKJV)

This raises the question, of course, of how do we know the good from the evil? Are we to determine it for ourselves? Is it whatever seems right to me? Is there no objective standard? That is where we are today, each person doing what is right in his/her own eyes, living by feelings, and intolerant of anyone judging their personal decisions. We have abandoned our standard, the Bible, and each is doing what is right in their own eyes.

Two examples are our society’s open embrace of homosexual unions and of living together outside marriage. We all know the Bible condemns both, but we have embraced both as a society, for we make the rules now, not God. We will reject him if need be, and so we have.

Where is all this new worldview going to land us? God only knows. It will not be a good place, but only time will tell. We do know, however, “sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34 NKJV) and God will eventually judge us all.

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The Hardening Of The Human Heart

There are passages in the Bible that are frightening.  Heb. 3:12-13 is one such passage. "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called 'TODAY,' lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." (NKJV)  This is a passage addressed to Christians but the idea that the heart can be hardened by sin is applicable to all men.

The fact that a man can be hardened by sin is scary in that the implication is that a person might well get to the point where he/she is so hardened that they can no longer repent and thus lose all possibility of being forgiven and of salvation.  Sufficient hardening leads to damnation.  When your heart becomes so hard that you cannot repent, for your heart will not allow it, you are done.

The spiritual heart of man can be likened to cement in that when cement is wet, before it has settled and dried, you can fashion it in whatever manner you choose but once it has hardened it becomes a different matter altogether.

Once a person hears the truth, whether about the gospel as a whole or the truth as regards a particular sin, and that person refuses to respond to the truth obediently he hardens his heart in that very act. 

Sin is a hardening agent.  Every day away from God living for self, when one has heard the truth and knows better, is another day of sin, another day of the further hardening of the heart.  You say you can change but the desire to do so becomes less and less as time goes by and one grows ever more comfortable in a non-Christian or unfaithful lifestyle.  Sin becomes ever more comfortable as each day passes by.  This is a part of the deceitfulness of sin.  Things seem to go fine without God or without faithfulness.  That is until the day it is too late. 

In Heb. 6, the Bible speaks of Christians who have gotten themselves into a situation where it is impossible to renew them to repentance:

"For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame." (Heb. 6:4-6 NAS)

One does not fall away from God in a single hour, day, or week, but it is a process.  Let the leaven of sin do its work, let the heart become gradually hardened by it, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, and the end result may well be a heart too hardened to repent and who can say how long or short a time that may take.

The Bible speaks about God giving up on people.  No doubt they had become hardened.  In Rom. 1 we read words like "God also gave them up" (v. 24), "God gave them up" (v. 26), and "God gave them over" (v. 28) all talking about God giving those people up to sins of various kinds which means he ceased to exercise any restraining influence on them.  The New Living Translation says "God abandoned them" in verses 24 and 26, and in verse 28, "he abandoned them."  How would you like God to abandon you, to give up on you, to allow you to go on in sin with no more efforts to restrain you or bring you to repentance?  Would that scare you?  It should.

God says in Psalms 81:11-12, "But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me.  So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels." (NKJV)  That God was long-suffering with his people in Israel and Judah no one can doubt who has ever read the Old Testament.  Time and again in the prophets one can see God pleading with his people to repent and turn back to him but they refused to do so.  There comes a time when it is too late to repent, too late because you cannot do it, because you become incapable of doing it.  The heart will not allow it.

A person's heart is not something to be played with.  "Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life." (Prov. 4:23 NKJV)  Adam Clarke says of this verse, "'Above all keeping,’ guard thy heart."  The New Living Translation reads, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."  Think about that, your heart determines the course of your life and so it does.  That is serious business.  If the heart wanders, if it is not steadfast, if it is not centered on God, on Christ, on the gospel, on God's will, what then?  It is then directing the course of your life towards hell.  There is good reason to "Guard your heart above all else."  One's eternal destiny is at stake.

Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matt. 6:21 NKJV)  If you look closely at the two verses just before Matt. 6:21 Jesus only offers two alternatives as to where a man's treasure will be, either on earth or in heaven.  He says without quoting it all, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." (Matt. 6:19-20 NKJV)  A man's treasure is either going to be found on earth in the things of this world, which means that is where his heart is, or his treasure is going to be in heaven, which means his heart is set on the spiritual life.  The one pathway is inevitably going to lead to sin for it does not lead to God. 

A man who has hardened his heart against God and his word is like a man carrying around a bottle of liquid nitroglycerin in his pocket.  He never knows when his life will end and total disaster befall him.  Solomon wrote, "He who hardens his heart will fall into calamity." (Prov. 28:14 NKJV)  Now I want you to take note of two things from this passage.  (1) There is no doubt about the calamity.  It is coming.  You will not escape it no matter who you are if you harden your heart.  (2) Secondly, who is it that hardens his heart?  It is the individual.  It is not something that has to happen.  You can prevent it.  It is in your hands; you have the ability to prevent your heart from hardening.

Again, "He who is often reproved, and hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." (Prov. 29:1 NKJV)  While the text is correctly translated "hardens his neck," we understand that is a figure of speech referring to the hardening of the heart.  The New Revised Standard version reads, "One who is often reproved, yet remains stubborn, will suddenly be broken beyond healing." (Prov. 29:1)  It is the heart that is stubborn, but who makes it that way?  Who is responsible for not listening to the word of God that reproves a man of his sins?  To ask is to answer.  What happens to such a man?  He is destroyed without remedy.  That ought to scare us.

Without the word of God we would not even know there was such a thing as sin or that we were going to be judged by God's word.  It is God's word that reproves a man, that tells him he is wrong and needs to change, that he needs to repent?  What do you think, should a man harden his heart against the things he reads in the Bible?  It is just a matter of time for the hardened man who refuses to listen to the word of God, just a matter of time.

"But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." (Rom. 2:5 NKJV)  The impenitent heart is a hard heart.  It will not obey God and its reward is wrath.  That reward begins on the day of death.  He will be as was the rich man who desired of Lazarus some water for his tongue for he said, "I am tormented in this flame." (Luke 16:24 NKJV)  That time of torment for the hard-hearted man or woman could begin in the next few minutes for no one knows the minute of his death.  My niece died in apparently perfect health while asleep on a couch at the age of 33.  The autopsy found no apparent cause of death.  According to the autopsy report she ought to be alive but she is not.  When your heart quits beating you are dead no matter what state of health you may think you are in or your doctor says you are in.

An impenitent heart is a choice.  A hard heart is a choice.  God knows a man's heart.  Peter said at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 in speaking of God's acceptance of the Gentiles, "So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them." (Acts 15:8 NKJV)  The Psalmist, David, said, "He knows the secrets of the heart." (Psalms 44:21 NKJV)  Then we are told, "All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." (Heb. 4:13 NKJV)  David, in speaking to his son Solomon said, "The Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts." (1 Chron. 28:9 NKJV)  One can fool other men as to his motives and as to what he thinks.  He can mislead, deceive, and even tell outright lies but he cannot fool God for God knows--he has searched out every man's heart.

One of the big questions that a man faces is am I honest with myself?  Am I honest with God's word as it applies to me?  If I am not I am simply going to die in my sin or sins.  There is no way around it.  In God's eyes it is the wicked man who "hardens his face." (Prov. 21:29 NKJV)  We can please men or we can please God.  We can please self or we can please God.  Whatever we do we must remember the question Job asked, one which we must answer, "Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?" (Job 9:4 NKJV)

I want to close this article with a short discussion of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, a man who hardened his heart against God.  I quote the following text:

"Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.  He also did evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD.  And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel." (2 Chron. 36:11-13 NKJV) 

The kingdom was at that time a tributary to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.  Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar paying no heed to Jeremiah, God's spokesman.  Jerusalem was laid siege to around 18 months before being taken.  When the city was taken, Zedekiah was captured while trying to flee.  All of Zedekiah's sons were executed before his very eyes and then his own eyes were put out and he was carried captive to Babylon.  I remind you of what Job said, "Who has hardened himself against Him and Prospered?" (Job 9:4 NKJV)  Not Zedekiah. 

Zedekiah "hardened his heart against turning to the Lord."  Was there a reason he could not have turned to the Lord?  Was there something preventing such a turning?  Not a thing in the world.  Jeremiah was there urging just such a turn all the time.  Until a man gives in to the word of God and is willing to come into compliance with it there is no hope for him.

In this same chapter, where we read about Zedekiah in 2 Chron. 36, just 2 verses below where we left off in our reading above, we find the following as a follow-up.

"And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.  But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy." (2 Chron. 36:15-16 NKJV)

Zedekiah was not the only Jew with a hardened heart.  But I have quoted this passage to make some points from it.  (1) God is compassionate.  He sent warnings via the prophets but they were more than warnings.  Often, as one reads the prophets, it is as though God is begging, pleading, as though his heart is broken over his people who have left him.  He yearns for them and desires their return much like a parent over a child, a child who has turned his back on the parent and broken the parent's heart.

(2) The second point is that God had done all he could.  There comes a time when everything has been done that can possibly be done for an ill patient.  So it is with the spiritually ill.

(3) The third point was that God's word was despised.  When you get yourself in that position, where you despise what God says, how can you expect help from God for you have basically said I will not accept such help?  His help is found in his word that tells us what we need to do but we are unwilling to accept his prescription.

(4) The final point, there comes a time when there is no remedy.  Why not, because of the hardness of heart.

I close now with the best advice you will ever get.  It is not mine.  It is God's.  "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." (Heb. 4:7 NKJV)  How is your heart today?  How is mine?  It is the pure in heart that will see God (Matt. 5:8).  They do not harden their hearts against his word.  We will either see God or Satan in time to come.  It is our choice.  It is our heart that will make the difference. 

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