路加福音19:41-48华达牧师Rev. Walther

根据这篇所读的福音，现在请允许我向你们讲话，

主题是：

论刚硬的可怕状态；

1.     这种状态的本质是什么，

2.     一个人如何陷入这种可怕的状态，以及最终

3.     一个身处其中之人，若要得救助，何时以及如何才可能。

引言

哦，主上帝，你在圣言中向我们启示，一个人最终可以变得如此刚硬，以至于连你都无法拯救他。啊，愿我们所有人都因今天对这可怕真理的默想而被唤醒并心生敬畏，好使我们中无人故意滥用你的恩典，从而被罪的欺骗所蒙蔽。求你不要从我们任何人身上收回你的圣灵；而我们当中，那些已经因罪、爱世界或不信而将圣灵赶走的人，求你仍然怜悯他们；在他里面重新创造一颗清洁的心，并赐予他一个坚定正直的灵。求你不要让任何一个跌倒之人躺卧在罪中，也不要让任何一个从罪的沉睡中醒来的人感到绝望和心灰意冷。是的，求你记念你爱子为我们的罪所流的宝血，记念你在神圣洗礼中与我们所有人所立的恩典之约，并求你信实待我们，即便我们变得不忠；当我们走偏时，求你呼唤我们回头；当我们跌倒时，求你扶起我们；并最终帮助我们进入你属天的国度。奉主耶稣基督的名，垂听我们的祷告。阿们。

第一部分：什么是刚硬的心

我亲爱的弟兄姊妹们，“刚硬”这个词，虽然没有出现在我们今天的福音书中，但其中详细描述了那些明显处于刚硬状态的人，因此，我们可以从这些活生生的例子中，清晰地了解这种状态。

我们福音书的开头如此写道：“他快到的时候，看见城，就为他哀哭，说：‘巴不得你在这日子知道关系你平安的事，无奈现在这事是向你隐藏的。’” 这里，基督用含泪的双眼谈到耶路撒冷的居民，首先就是他们完全不明白什么事能带给他们平安、救赎和福祉。尽管基督多年来一直以充满爱意和清晰的方式向他们指明得救之道，并用最荣耀的神迹证实他的话语，但他们不仅不愿接受基督的话语，最终甚至真的相信基督是个骗子，他的教导是虚假而危险的。对他们来说，基督是上帝的儿子、信靠他能得救赎，这些真理完全被隐藏了，反而成了他们所憎恶的绊脚石，成了他们嘲笑的愚昧。

但不仅如此。基督接着说：“因为日子将到，你的仇敌必筑起土垒，周围环绕你，四面困住你，并要扫灭你和你里头的儿女，连一块石头也不留在石头上。” 这是基督说“巴不得你知道”所指的第二件事。他们因为拒绝基督和他的福音而将遭受上帝的审判，耶路撒冷的居民对此也一无所知，甚至毫无预感。他们已经使自己的良心沉默了；因此，尽管基督含着泪水警告并预言上帝那无可避免的公义惩罚，他们却不相信，并认为这一切不过是某个狂热分子的空洞威胁。基督为之怜悯哭泣的事，在他们看来却是可笑的；他们心里想：我们是上帝的子民，所以没有任何灾祸会临到我们。

还有更甚的。在福音书的结尾，最终写道：“耶稣天天在殿里教训人。祭司长和文士与百姓的尊长都想杀他。” 在他们对关乎自己平安的事变得盲目、并失去了对上帝审判的一切敬畏之后，他们便从一个罪恶跌入另一个罪恶，却不认为这是罪。对基督的蔑视之后，是极度的仇恨，直到他们心中最终酝酿了对这位无辜者的谋杀念头，并且不肯罢休，直到他们的嗜血欲望被他们在十字架上看到基督的景象所满足。

看啊，这就是一个刚硬之人的活生生写照。这样的人已经到了一个地步，他根本不知道什么能带给他平安。向他传讲上帝的话语是徒劳的，这在他身上再也激不起任何反应。他的心像石头一样麻木不仁；无论福音以何等恩典和安慰向他传讲，无论基督对罪人的爱如何感人地呈现在他面前，无论他被如何友善和迫切地吸引和引诱，这都无法打动这个刚硬之人；无论律法以何等严厉和威胁向他传讲，无论上帝的公义和圣洁被如何可怕地描述，无论他被如何严肃地劝诫和警告，这都无法触动这个刚硬之人。无论恩典还是愤怒，生命还是死亡，祝福还是咒诅，天堂还是地狱，得救还是沉沦，呈现在他面前，对他这个刚硬的人来说都一样。通往救赎的道路无论得到多么清楚地指明，他都无法被说服，光再也无法照进他的灵魂，他仍旧留在自己的黑暗中。是的，他越是读和听上帝的话语，这在他看来就越是愚昧和可憎，他的心中对之的仇恨和敌意就越根深蒂固，这对他来说就成了“死的香气叫人死”（哥林多后书2：16），因为他只会因此变得更刚硬，像被铁锤敲打的铁砧一样。

一个刚硬之人既然不能被上帝的话语光照、唤醒和感动而悔改，那么上帝让他经历的境遇也无法在他身上产生有益的影响。如果他生活顺利，他并不会因此而软化内心并转向悔改；上帝向他显示越多的爱，他就越安全、骄傲和放肆，就越确信自己毫无困境，永不会跌倒。反之，如果这样一个刚硬的人遭遇不幸，他也绝不会因此而谦卑下来，他反而会埋怨掌控他命运的主，并肆无忌惮地亵渎天上的全能者。

于是，他最终到了一个地步，不再感到自己的罪。他的良心被烙上了印记；因此，良心不再履行职责，不再控告他，而是陷入了沉默。因此，他可以做任何他想做的事，而不惧怕上帝的惩罚，他成了基督、他的话语和基督徒的公然仇敌，最终甚至可能成为一个迫害者。忧心忡忡的父母、兄弟姐妹、曾经的同路人、朋友们的眼泪都是徒劳的：这个刚硬的人嘲笑那些怜悯他的人，并如此快步走向显明上帝公义审判、地狱和沉沦的那一天。

第二部分：人如何陷入这种可怕的状态

我亲爱的弟兄姊妹们，这里是刚硬之人的可怕但真实的画像：现在让我们来思想第二点，一个人如何陷入这种可怕的状态。

有一个很大的教会群体，即加尔文主义归正宗（改革宗），他们声称，所有变得刚硬的人，都是根据上帝永恒且无条件的旨意进入这种状态的，因为《圣经》不仅普遍地说：“所以上帝要怜悯谁就怜悯谁，要叫谁刚硬就叫谁刚硬”，而且《圣经》也特别提到法老，说耶和华使他心硬，不让以色列人离开。然而，这是对这些圣经话语的亵渎性应用。让上帝成为一个人的罪和沉沦的始作俑者，这是我们绝对不能接受的。不，《圣经》明确地向我们见证，在《诗篇》5篇中说：“因为你不是喜悦恶事的上帝”；在《雅各书》中说：“人被试探，不可说：‘我是被上帝试探’。因为上帝不能被恶试探，他也不试探人。” 但《圣经》也同样清楚地见证，上帝不愿或未曾命定任何人的灭亡。仅举两处经文，首先在先知《以西结书》33章中说：“主耶和华说：‘我指着我的永生起誓，我断不喜悦恶人死亡，惟喜悦恶人转离所行的道而活。以色列家啊，你们转回，转回吧！离开恶道，何必死亡呢？’” 此外，在先知《何西阿书》13章中说：“以色列啊，你自取败坏。” 因此，没有人需要害怕——上帝会使他刚硬，因为他不愿赐他救恩；也没有人可以用此来为自己辩护。

你们当然会说：但是《圣经》中不是清楚地写着上帝确实使某些人刚硬了吗？我回答说：是的；但《圣经》也同样清楚地向我们表明，上帝只使那些首先因蔑视恩典而自己刚硬的人刚硬。例如，基督在我们的福音书中清楚地指出，为什么耶路撒冷的居民最终陷入了刚硬的审判，这并不是因为上帝从永恒就如此命定，而是，正如经文所言：“因为你不知道你蒙眷顾的时候。” 如果说上帝曾以极大的恩典眷顾过任何一个民族，那就是耶路撒冷的居民了；上帝的儿子亲自带着他的十二使徒在他们中间传讲福音，并千百次地邀请他们进入他恩典的国度；他像一个好牧人一样，三年之久殷勤地跟随他们，就是以色列家的迷失羊，他寻找并吸引他们所有的人，并用话语、行动和眼泪呼唤、劝诫、恳求和乞求。但当他们蔑视所有这些恩典，拒绝所有这些友好的邀请，甚至当面殴打、逼迫、钉死和杀害这位充满慈爱的帮助者时：那时，上帝当然最终从这些刚硬的人身上收回了他的恩典之手，并将他们交给了完全刚硬的审判。

上帝总是如此行事。没有人会变得刚硬，除非他首先经历过一段蒙恩的时期。当上帝的话语被传讲给一个人很长一段时间，当他无数次地被老师、牧师、父母和其他信徒，或许含着眼泪劝诫，当他无数次地被他的良心和圣灵提醒和责备，并被上帝的先行恩典甜蜜地感动和吸引时；当他常常像腓力斯那样因自己的罪和上帝的审判而战兢时，当他常常像亚基帕王一样，因着圣灵的作为而离成为基督徒只差一步之遥时（使徒行传24-26）。当一个人却蔑视这一切，将这一切重新扼杀和压制在自己里面，任性而顽固地持续抗拒这一切，并停留在他的罪中、在他的骄傲中、在他的爱世界中、在他的自以为义中——那么，上帝当然常常最终对怜悯感到厌倦；那时，上帝当然常常说，正如《以赛亚书》1章所言：“你们为什么屡次悖逆，还要受责打呢？” 因为上帝凭着他的全知预见到，这样一个死不悔改的人会轻视他所有的恩典，让他的圣灵所有感动都白白落空，甚至只会滥用恩典来寻求自己的安全，所以上帝就会从这样的人身上收回他的恩典之手。而《圣经》正是把这种上帝收回恩典的行为称为“刚硬”；因为当上帝不再在一个人身上动工时，这人自己就会变得越来越盲目，越来越刚硬，也越来越牢固地被捆绑在他的罪恶和邪恶之中。就像阳光的温暖退去后，水会自己结冰；就像土地不再耕耘时，它会自己荒芜一样，当上帝不再以他恩典的阳光照耀人心，不再耕耘它，不再让他的道这属天的种子落在其中时，人的心也会变得越来越刚硬。

第三部分：如何才能得到帮助

然而，现在还有一个重要的问题：这样一个刚硬之人，是否还有可能从他那可怕的状态中得到帮助？现在让我来谈谈第三点。

我亲爱的弟兄姊妹们，尽管以下这个真理是可怕的，但它也是上帝在圣言中清楚教导的真理，因此不能被隐瞒，那就是：存在一种刚硬，从中再也没有拯救的可能。例如，上帝在《箴言》1章中就已经说：“我呼唤，你们不肯听从；我伸手，无人理会；反轻弃我一切的劝戒，不肯受我的责备。你们遭灾难，我就发笑；你们恐惧来到，我就欢呼；恐惧好像狂风突然来到，灾难如同暴风临到，急难痛苦都临到你们身上。那时，你们必呼求我，我却不答应；恳切地寻找我，却寻不见。因为你们恨恶知识，不喜爱敬畏耶和华；不听我的劝戒，藐视我一切的责备。” 希伯来书的作者在第六章也教导了我们同样的事，他写道：“论到那些已经蒙了光照、尝过天恩的滋味、又于圣灵有分、并尝过神善道的滋味、觉悟来世权能的人，若是离弃了道理，就不能叫他们从新懊悔了。因为他们把神的儿子重钉十字架，明明地羞辱他。” 从中我们看到，有一些刚硬的人，上帝已经把他们交给了“败坏的心，去行那些不当行的事”，就像外邦人一样，这些人是那些自己撕断了最后一条将他们与上帝相连的线的人。他们就像一棵树，所有的根都已腐烂，现在已成了一根枯死的木桩，因此，即使将它移到最肥沃的土地，并再勤奋地浇灌，它也永远不会再发芽、开花和结果。对这样的人来说，审判已在这里宣判，恩典之门已在这里关闭。因此，对这样的人来说，没有帮助。因此，有些人甚至在这里就已经把地狱，即绝望的烈火，带在心中，并在他们对必将沉沦的预感中，伴着悲叹和哀号死去；而另一些人则是在欢笑和戏谑中生活和死去，直到他们在那里从这危险的梦中醒来，进入永恒死亡的泥潭。

然而，我的弟兄姊妹们，不要以为，因为这个教导，一位最邪恶的、最刚硬的罪人，或者其他人必须对自己的救赎感到绝望；因为上帝绝不，绝不愿任何一个罪人死亡。他愿意使所有的人，所有的人都得救。那些失丧的人之所以失丧，只是因为他们绝对不愿接受拯救。因此，任何一个知道自己有一颗刚硬的心，但同时内心深处又感受到对上帝恩典和从罪中得救的渴望的人，他就绝不是无可救药地失丧了，正如我们里面的一切美善都是上帝恩典的工作一样。

那些处于刚硬审判之下，无可救药的人，也常常感到害怕，但他们害怕的不是自己的罪，而是自己所陷入的苦难；他们也可能渴望帮助，但不是从他们的罪中得救，而仅仅是从他们的困境中得救；他们也可能在醒来时相信上帝的愤怒，但他们不相信上帝的恩典，不，他们不愿相信。例如，出卖主的人犹大就是处于这种状态。

反之，如果你渴望从罪中得自由和得到恩典，那么你有福了，因为对你来说，仍有帮助！如果你觉得你的心像石头一样，不要绝望；上帝已经在先知《以西结书》11章和36章中应许，他要将石心除掉，赐给我们一个肉心。如果你觉得你的心已经成了钻石般坚硬的岩石，也不要绝望，只要听上帝的话语，因为正如上帝自己所说（耶23），他的话语就像大锤，能打碎岩石。如果你不得不承认你像耶路撒冷的居民那样刚硬，也不要绝望，因为你要想想，即使是他们，当他们听到那篇讲道，知道他们杀害了生命的主，钉死了荣耀的主时，最终还是有些人感到扎心，惊恐地呼喊：“我们当怎样行？” 他们仍然悔改，并得到了救赎。（使徒行传2章）

因此，所有你们那些或许已经多次被上帝的话语唤醒，却总是抗拒上帝的人，啊，不要在你们的罪上再增添最大的罪，就是对上帝的恩典彻底绝望。请思想，今天又有一个恩典之日为你们开启：最终回转吧，不要再轻视那向你们提供的恩典，开始为怜悯而叹息吧，如果照你所想，你甚至不能叹息，那就将自己当作失丧的罪人，俯伏在耶稣的脚前，让你的无声的悲惨向他呼喊——这样，他也会重新接纳你，使你得救。但今天，“今天，当你们再次听到他的声音时，不要硬着心。”

今日你活着，今日悔改，

明天谁能知道是否还有机会；

今日强壮、健康、红润之人，

明日就病倒，甚至死亡。

啊，不要说：“还有时间，

我必须先享受这欢愉；

上帝并不会立刻在今日

将敞开的恩典之门关闭。”

不！既然他呼唤，你就听从，

并用双手紧紧抓住：

谁将自己灵魂的救赎虚度，

谁就错过了恩典之期；

之后恩门将不再为他开启，

今日来吧，今日耶稣接纳你。阿们。

Luke 19:41-48 Sermon by CFW Walther

Based on the Gospel reading, let me now speak to you about:

1.     The terrible state of hardened hearts;

2.     what this state consists of, how a person falls into this terrible state, and finally

3.     if and how a person can still be helped out of it.

O Lord God, You have revealed to us in Your holy Word that a person can finally become so deeply hardened that even You cannot save him. Oh, let us all be awakened and frightened by today's consideration of this terrible truth, so that none of us may willfully abuse Your grace and thus be deceived by the fraud of sin. Do not take Your Holy Spirit from any of us; and whoever among us has already driven it away by sin, love of the world, or unbelief, have mercy on him still; create a pure heart in him and give him a new and steadfast spirit. Do not let any fallen person lie in their sins and do not let any person who is waking from their sleep of sin despair and give up hope. Yes, remember the blood of Your Son, which He also shed for our sins, and remember the covenant of grace that You made with all of us in holy baptism, and remain faithful to us, even if we become unfaithful; call us back as often as we stray; lift us up as often as we fall; and finally help us into Your heavenly kingdom. Hear us for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

I. What Hardened Hearts Consist Of

The word "hardened" does not appear in our Gospel reading today, my beloved, but it describes people who were clearly in a state of spiritual hardening, from whom we can, as from living examples, clearly learn about this condition.

At the beginning of our Gospel, it says: "And when he," meaning Christ, "drew near and saw the city, he wept over it. And said, 'If you, even you, had known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.'" The first thing that Christ says with weeping eyes about the inhabitants of Jerusalem is that what served their peace, their salvation, their blessedness, was completely hidden from them. Although Christ had shown them the way to salvation for years, as kindly as He had shown it to them clearly, and confirmed His word with the most glorious miracles, they not only would not accept Christ's word, but they finally believed that Christ was a deceiver and that His teaching was false and dangerous. That Christ was the Son of God and that faith in Him brings blessedness was completely hidden from them—in fact, it was a stumbling block that they despised and a foolishness that they ridiculed.

But that's not all. Christ continues: "For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and hem you in on every side; and will level you to the ground—you and your children within your walls—and not leave one stone upon another." This is the second thing Christ means when He says, "If you had known." That they would face God's judgment for their rejection of Christ and His Gospel was also something the citizens of Jerusalem did not know or even suspect. They had silenced their conscience; although Christ, with tears, warned them and foretold God's inevitable just punishments, they did not believe it and considered it all to be the empty threats of a fanatic. What Christ wept over in pity was ridiculous to them; they thought, "We are God's people, therefore no evil will befall us."

But there is still more. At the end of our Gospel, it says: "And he," meaning Christ, "taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him." After they had become blind to what served their peace, and after they had lost all fear of God's judgments, they now fell from one sin to another without considering these to be sins. The contempt for Christ was followed by the bitterest enmity until they finally gave room to murderous thoughts against Him, the innocent one, in their hearts and now did not rest until their thirst for blood was quenched by the sight of Christ on the cross.

Look at a living example of the state of a person with a hardened heart. Such a person has come so far that they no longer know what serves their peace. The Word of God is proclaimed to them in vain; it no longer makes an impression on them. Their heart is as insensitive as a stone. The Gospel, with all its grace and comfort, may be proclaimed to them, Christ may be presented to them in His love for sinners in the most moving way, and they may be invited and lured with friendly and urgent appeals, but it does not move the person with the hardened heart. The Law may be preached in all its sharpness and with all its threats, God may be described in all His justice and holiness in the most frightening way, and they may be exhorted and warned in the most serious manner, but it does not move the person with the hardened heart. Grace or wrath, life or death, blessing or curse, heaven or hell, blessedness or damnation—it's all the same to the person with the hardened heart. The way to salvation may be shown to them ever so clearly, but they are no longer convinced; no light falls into their soul, and they remain in their darkness. Yes, the more they read and hear God's Word, the more foolish and offensive it becomes to them; the more hatred and enmity take hold in their heart, and it becomes a "scent of death to death" for them, as they become only harder and more hardened, like an anvil by the hammer.

Just as the Word of God cannot enlighten, awaken, and move a hardened person to repentance, so too do the events that God allows them to experience have no positive effect on them. If things go well for them, they do not let their heart soften and be brought to repentance. The more love God shows them, the more secure, proud, and defiant they become; the more certain they believe they have no need, and that they will never be brought low. If, on the other hand, things go badly for such a hardened person, they do not humble themselves at all; instead, they grumble about the one who directs their fate and audaciously blaspheme the Almighty in heaven.

So it finally comes to the point that they no longer feel their sin. Their conscience is seared; it no longer does its job, no longer accuses them, and falls silent. Therefore, they do whatever they lust for without fear of God's punishment, become an open enemy of Christ, His Word, and His Christians, and finally, perhaps even a persecutor. The tears of troubled parents, siblings, former fellow believers, friends, and girlfriends are in vain: the hardened person ridicules those who pity them and rushes toward the day of the revelation of God's righteous judgment, hell, and damnation.

II. How a Person Falls into This Terrible State

Here you have, my beloved, the terrible but true picture of a hardened person. Let us now consider, secondly, how a person falls into this terrible state.

There is a whole large church community, namely the Calvinist-Reformed, which claims that all those who become hardened fall into this state according to an eternal, unconditional decree of God, because the Holy Scripture not only says in general: "So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills," but also because the Holy Scripture reports specifically of Pharaoh that the Lord had hardened his heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. However, this is a blasphemous application of these biblical statements. Far be it from us to make God the author of a person's sin and damnation. No, the Scripture explicitly testifies to us in Psalm 5: "For you are not a God who delights in wickedness," and in the letter of James: "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God.' For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one."

But the Scripture also testifies just as clearly that God does not want or has decreed the destruction of any person. To cite just two passages, first it says in the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 33: "'As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why should you die, O house of Israel?'" Furthermore, it says in the prophet Hosea in chapter 13: "Israel, you have brought yourself to ruin." No one, therefore, should fear that God wants to harden them because He does not want them to have salvation; no one can excuse themselves with this either.

Of course, you will say: But does it not say clearly in the Scripture that God has indeed hardened some people? I answer: Yes; but it is also shown to us just as clearly that God hardens no one but the one who first hardens himself through contempt for grace. Among other things, Christ clearly says in our Gospel why the citizens of Jerusalem finally fell into the judgment of hardened hearts—not because God had so decreed it from eternity, but, as it literally says: "Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." If God ever visited any people with great grace, it was the citizens of Jerusalem; the Son of God Himself, together with all His twelve apostles, preached the Gospel among them and invited them a thousand times to the kingdom of His grace. Faithfully, like a good shepherd, He followed them, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, for three years and sought and lured them all and called, exhorted, begged, and pleaded with words, deeds, and tears. But when they despised all this grace, rejected all the friendly invitations, yes, even struck the loving helper in the face, persecuted Him, crucified Him, and killed Him—then of course God finally withdrew His hand of grace from the hardened and handed them over to the judgment of complete spiritual hardening.

This is how God always acts. No one becomes hardened who has not first had a time of visitation by grace. But when God's Word has been preached to a person for a long time, when they have been exhorted countless times by teachers, pastors, parents, and fellow believers, perhaps with tears, when they have been admonished and punished countless times by their conscience and by the Holy Spirit and sweetly moved and drawn by the preceding grace of God; when they have often been frightened like Felix about their sin and God's judgment, when it has often come close to them becoming a Christian, as with King Agrippa, through the work of the Holy Spirit—and when a person now despises all this, stifles and suppresses all this within themselves, has willfully and stubbornly resisted all this again and again, and has remained in their sin, in their pride, in their love of the world, in their self-righteousness—then of course God often finally becomes tired of showing mercy. Then of course God often says, as it says in Isaiah chapter 1: "Why should you be beaten anymore? You will revolt more and more." Because God, according to His omniscience, foresees that such a person will despise all His manifestations of grace until their death and will allow all the stirrings of His Holy Spirit to be in vain, yes, will only misuse them for their own security, God then withdraws His hand of grace from such a person. This withdrawal of God's grace is precisely what the Holy Scripture calls hardening; for when God no longer works in a person, they become by themselves ever blinder, ever harder, and ever more firmly bound to their sin and wickedness. Just as water freezes by itself when the sun's warmth withdraws, and just as a field becomes overgrown by itself when it is no longer cultivated, so too the heart of a person becomes ever more hardened when God no longer shines on it with the sun of His grace, no longer works on it, and no longer lets the heavenly seed of His Word fall into it.

III. If and How a Person Can Still Be Helped

But now another important question arises: Can such a hardened person still be helped out of their terrible state? Let me now speak to you about this third and final point.

As terrible as the truth is, my beloved, it is a truth clearly taught in God's Word, which therefore cannot be kept silent, that there is a kind of spiritual hardening from which no salvation is possible anymore. For example, God already says in the first chapter of the Proverbs of Solomon: "Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof." The author of the letter to the Hebrews teaches us the same thing in the sixth chapter, where he writes: "For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt." From this, we see that there are those with hardened hearts whom God has given over, like the Gentiles, "to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done." These are the ones who have themselves torn the last thread that bound them to God. They are like a tree whose roots have all rotted and which has now become a dry stump, and which therefore will never again turn green, blossom, or bear fruit, even if it were transplanted to the richest land and watered ever so diligently. For such people, the judgment has already been passed here; the door of grace has already been closed here. For such people, there is therefore no help. Some of them therefore already carry hell, namely the fire of despair, in their hearts and die in the foreboding of their certain damnation with groans and lamentations; others, however, live and die laughing and joking until they awaken from the dangerous dream there in the pool of eternal death.

But do not think, my beloved, that because of this teaching, the greatest and most hardened sinner, must despair of their salvation; for God does not want the death of any, any sinner. He would gladly save them all, all of them. Those who are lost are therefore lost only because they absolutely do not want to be saved. Therefore, whoever knows that they have a hard and hardened heart, but at the same time feels a secret longing within for God's grace and salvation from their sins, is so certainly not irretrievably lost, as certainly as all good in us is a work of God's grace.

People who are under the judgment of hardened hearts from which there is no help often become frightened, but not about their sin, but about the misfortune into which they have plunged themselves. They may also long for help, but not from their sins, but only from their distress. They may also believe in God's wrath when they awaken, but not in God's grace; yes, they do not want to believe in it. In this state was, for example, the traitor Judas. If, on the other hand, you feel a desire for freedom from sin and for grace, then for you there is still help! Do not despair if you feel your heart is like stone; God has already given the promise in the prophets Ezekiel in chapters 11 and 36 that He will take away the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. Do not despair if it seems to you that your heart has become a diamond-hard rock; just listen to God's Word, for this, as God Himself says in Jeremiah 23, is a hammer that shatters rocks. Do not despair even if you had to admit that you are as hardened as the citizens of Jerusalem, for remember, even of these, when they heard the sermon that they had killed the Prince of Life and crucified the Lord of Glory, some were finally struck to the heart, now cried out in terror: "What shall we do?" did still repent and were saved.

Therefore, all of you who may have been awakened often by God's Word but have always resisted God, oh, do not add the greatest sin to your sins—that you now despair of God's grace altogether. Remember, today a day of grace has dawned for you again: finally turn back, no longer despise the grace offered to you, begin to sigh for mercy, and if, in your opinion, you cannot sigh, then throw yourselves as lost sinners at Jesus' feet, and let your silent misery cry out to Him—then He will accept you again and save you. But today, "today, when you hear his voice again, do not harden your hearts."

Today you live, today convert,

Before tomorrow comes, things can change;

He who is fresh, healthy, and rosy today,

Is tomorrow sick, yes, perhaps even dead.

Oh, do not say: “there is still time,

I must first enjoy this pleasure;

God will not close the open gate of grace

Just today.”

No! Because He calls, so you listen,

And seize it with both hands:

He who dreams away his soul's salvation,

Has missed the time of grace;

The door will not be opened for him afterward,

Today come, today Jesus accepts you. Amen.