In the book of Ezekiel, we learn how idolatry plagued the people of Judah. When Jerusalem’s leaders came to see the prophet Ezekiel, God told him, “These men have set up idols in their hearts” (14:3). God wasn’t merely warning them against idols carved of wood and stone. He was showing them that idolatry is a problem of the heart. We all struggle with this. Folks, may I suggest spiritual heart disease is a killer of our spiritual lives and of our civil welfare.
Our choices are always revealing of our hearts condition. God doesn’t need to wait to see our choices in order for Him to know what’s in our hearts. But the things that occupy our time and attention are telling. As Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34).

Preventing this deadly spiritual disease requires hearing God, obeying and ridding ourselves of hate. Harden hearts of hate are killing us. Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murder and more.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (Jer. 17:9, 10)

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
—Proverbs 4:23
II. Two Reason for a Hardened Heart. (Hbrs. 3:13-19)

1. In God’s sight, an evil heart is a heart of unbelief. The greatest of all sins is unbelief. It is the ultimate offense against God. In Revelation 21:8, there is a list of horrible sinners who will be cast into the lake of fire, or hell. Two kinds of sinners head that list: the fearful, and unbelieving. This is God’s warning to
those who have not trusted Christ: “Accept Jesus while your heart is still soft.

Don’t let your heart become hardened and insensitive to God’s voice.” A true believer cannot have an evil heart of hate and unbelief. -1 John 4:20
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
2. Second cause of a hardened heart applies to those who are already believers. For believers to avoid a hardened heart, we must exhort, or encourage, one another daily, so none of us will be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (HBR. 3:13).

The word translated deceitfulness (APATE, a -pot’-tay) means “delusion.” When we come under the influence of sin, we become delusional. “Delusional” means “false, persistent belief that is resistant to evidence to the contrary.”

3. Jesus talks about this kind of heart in His parable of the soils. He says some seed, which represents the Word of God, falls on soil with thorns, or weeds. What happens to the seed sown among the thorns in Matthew 13:22; it is choked. The cares and worries of this world cause some believers to become delusional, thinking the cure for worry is to make more money.

So, instead of trusting in the Lord, in their delusion they begin to trust in money for security and when that leads to anger and anger leads to hate because you cannot success this way. James warns,

III. The Consequence of a Hardened Heart (3:16-19)

1. A hardened heart results in a life without purpose and peace. To reveal this truth, the writer asks and answers a series of questions about the Israelites who rebelled in the wilderness (3:16-18). For who, having heard, rebelled?

As a nation, Israel had a good beginning; it took a lot of faith to cross the Red Sea. Yet all of that first generation perished in the wilderness, except for the two men of faith – Joshua and Caleb. His final question is to whom was God speaking when He swore they should not enter into his rest (3:18a)? He answers: them that believed not (3:18b).

2. Hardened hearts are not able to enter God’s rest. The writer repeats this truth three other times in this passage (3:1lb, 4:3 & 5). The word translated rest means “to relax” or “to settle down.” People with hardened hearts will never find God’s rest until they come to Christ. We have looked at the causes of a hardened heart and the consequence of a hardened heart. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

IV. Victory comes from a pure heart
1. Spiritual warfare is where the real battle wages. It wages on many fronts… Let the government and our soldiers fight the earthly battle and let us get involve in the spiritual warfare. There is an old European proverb worth heeding that says, “Age and treachery will always defeat youth and zeal.” Before we engage in spiritual warfare, we should know this about Satan: He is an ancient and extremely treacherous foe. He has not stopped to wipe out the Jew and now the Christians. What is he afraid of?

2. Jesus prepared His disciples for everything, including war. They saw Him casting out demons. In fact, He sent them out doing the same. But before He sent them out, He charged them to be wise as a serpents and gentle as a doves (Matt. 10:16).

3. This combination of divine wisdom and Christ-like innocence is the source of all spiritual victory. We can defeat the enemy. But we must learn the ways of God, which means we must think with divine wisdom. And we must be pure of heart, and gain God’s discernment.

We are using God’s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons. (II Corinthians 10:4-5) They have divine power to demolish Satan’s strongholds. With these weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ.

Conclusion:

When we are disobedient, we cannot have God’s hand of blessing on our lives. How merciful is God! Given His desire for a humble heart and the breathtaking beauty of His kindness, may another scriptural prayer be ours today: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23–24).