Soft Water, Hard Heart

Mark 6:45-56 · 2024-09-22 · Jason Wolin · Gospel of Mark | Cross and Crown

Mark 6:45-56 · Faith. Soft Water, Hard Heart — sermon from Cypress Bible Church on BibleSlides.

Soft Water, Hard Heart Download discussion questions (PDF) Slideshow for this message PDF Message Download Introduction I began my college life very eager to learn more about the Bible. Why? Simple. I was Fascinated with the Bible and I just wanted to do everything in my power to learn more about it. I didn’t care about a job or a career. I just wanted to grow and learn and study God’s Word. So I went to Bible school and studied four years under some of the brightest and best minds in America. I went to Israel and studied for a year Hebrew and archaeology and geography of the land of the Bible. I went to Seminary and studied three more years. And it was so exciting to me. But very slowly, over time, something began to happen to my heart that I did not quite understand at first. What began as a pursuit of God turned into a pursuit of ideas. Seminary became a world of information to be learned and ideas to be mastered. And slowly and almost imperceptibly I began to think that biblical maturity was about theological knowledge and the mastery of biblical trivia. And the more expert I became in Bible facts, the more I conceived of myself as being mature. If you were to have asked me at that point in my life what the chief end of man was, what is the purpose of life, you know what I would have answered? The chief end of man is to know the Bible and defend it forever. Today I am absolutely ashamed at the answer. But that’s the truth. Now that was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the problem. Not only did I have the wrong goal, the Bible was making almost zero difference in my life. I knew more about the Bible than I had ever known, but I still struggled with anger, pride, bitterness, lust, envy, greed, and worldliness. I was newly married and discovered very quickly how terrible of a listener I was. I heard only what I wanted to hear and not what was actually being said. I discovered very quickly how selfish I was in the ways we should prioritize our time and money usage. I discovered that when cornered my tendency was to fudge the truth rather than to own up to my sin. Why wasn’t all that Bible study making a difference? Why was my knowledge increasing without much change in my behavior? And it’s not like this is some problem in ancient history in my life. It’s still my experience. Every week I’m exposed to so much of the truth of God’s Word. I’m truly FASCINATED by it but why is my growth in holiness lagging. Here’s what I began to realize. FASCINATION with God is not the same thing as FAITH in God. Why was this information in my head not making it to my heart? Why was my behavior not changing? Because it wasn’t reaching my affections. It hasn’t reached that part of my soul that affects behavior. I understood it but wasn’t affected by it. Why? The…

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