Understanding the human heart

"Go and say to this people:

'Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'

Make the heart of this people dull,

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes,

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed."

Isa. 6: 9-10

As a pastor, I have served churches in many parts of the United States.  I have also served as a witness for Christ in a 10 week summer mission trip to southeast Asia.  Lord willing, I hope to be a witness for Christ in many other parts of the world in the next 20 years.  In every place I have gone, I have seen people come to know Jesus and others who have been completely hardened to the gospel.  Why is there such a range of response?

In the passage above, Isaiah has just seen the Lord, and he has fallen down before Him.  The Lord took a burning coal, touched his lips, and made him a vessel ready to bring the Word of the Lord.  In other words, Isaiah just experience repentance and faith from seeing his true condition before the Holy God and calling out for mercy followed by a commissioning for ministry.

After this conversion, Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord asking, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?"  Notice the plural "us", which demonstrates the multiple personhood of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  In response to this question, Isaiah says, "Here am I!  Send me."  The above passage is the message the Lord gives Isaiah.

So, why do some believe the message of the gospel and many others reject it?  The human condition apart from God's grace is that of one deaf, blind, and hard-hearted to spiritual truth.  As Paul says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins."  Dead people cannot respond to outside stimuli!  Apart from being made alive again, they cannot respond.

I know this biblical teaching goes against what so many of us wish to believe.  In our culture, we know that we are not really dead in sin.  We can change if we really wanted to!  How dare your write or even thing such things?  

I write that the human heart apart from God's grace is deaf, blind, hard-hearted and dead in sin because according to the scriptures, it is true.  We are dead to true spiritual situation unless the Lord opens our eyes, unstops our ears, and changes our hearts.  When He does, we turn or repent and we find healing!  

This teaching does not mean that we do not have a measure of a free will.  We can love our families and friends.  We can be honest.  We can be generous.  We can have good self-control.  We can even give up drinking or anything else we call a vice.  In other words, we are not robots!  Being created in the image of God gives us great gifts and abilities.

So what happened?  What is dead within us is the gift of Faith which brings us repentant and trusting faith in the living God.  Such faith is foreign to our fallen human nature.  Without God's grace, we will not have living faith!

We need true revival because apart from God's grace we cannot bring lasting transformation to anyone. We may improve someone's morals.  We may help them have a positive outlook.  Yet, we cannot bring repentant faith apart from God's grace.  We cannot unstop their ears, open their eyes, or soften their hearts to the gospel.  Why?  Because apart from God's grace, they freely choose to walk in their own paths and decisions apart from repentant faith.

We need true revival in most parts of the world today!  Let's pray that God will send it.  Pray for individuals and groups of people that God will open their eyes and ears so they may see and hear the gospel.  Pray that they may have hearts softened and ready to respond.  May many turn and find healing for their souls!