Charles Pogue
Jesus made a lot of hard statements when He lived on this earth. One of those is found in Matthew 13:15. “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; least at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” This verse is a testament to the fact that one can rebel against God with a wicked heart and let his fleshly members control his mind, or he can understand with a heart that is right in God’s sight, and have his mind in control of the fleshly desires. It not surprising that the two fleshly members to which Jesus referred are the ears and the eyes.
God’s Word plainly differentiates between what is good and what is evil. There are people, who because of the condition of their heart will not hear the difference between the two, nor will they see it. The phrase, “waxed gross” means thick, callus, even stupid. One can try to get through to one whose heart is in that condition, but to no avail. Try to tell them the difference between good and evil, and they will not hear it. Try to show them the Biblical statements or principles that distinguish between the two, and they will not see it. That does not mean there is a physical handicap with their ears and eyes, but there is spiritual handicap with their heart.
In the realm of good and evil, what happens when the heart is waxed gross? The person will either commit sinful acts himself, or he will align himself with those that do. When he does the latter, rest assured the time will come when he will also do the former.
So, what must happen? To ask is to answer. The individual must have a change of heart. How is that accomplished? In one of two ways. Either, his heart is struck by the grandeur, beauty, perfection, and eternality of the heavenly home prepared for those who obey God and hate evil, or he will come to realize the awful fate of being cast into a lake of fire where the flames are never quenched, and torment is terrible and everlasting.
If an individual’s hardened heart cannot be melted by the truth of one of those two eternal fates, he will never change. In my understanding, I recognize two types of individuals who will not change. The first one is that person who knows right from wrong, but who is so devoted to some evil or evils that he simply does not care. The second one is the person who refuses to recognize the difference between good and evil. There may not be much difference between those two individual’s hearts, but one thing is for certain; there is absolutely no difference between their eternal fates unless they have a change of heart.
