Prior to Jesus ascending up to Heaven, He had met several times with His disciples.  On one occasion He began in the Law of Moses and taught His disciples things concerning Himself.  Luke records this saying: “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.  And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.  But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.  And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.  And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:25-31).  When Jesus left them the disciples said: “…Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures” (Luke 24:32)?

     When the Scriptures are taught today not enough people have that burning within their hearts.  The disciples of our Lord needed to learn valuable lessons and Jesus accomplished that by teaching them from the Scriptures.  The disciples desired the company of Jesus because He was the bringer of salvation.  Today, people do not want the company of those that bring the Gospel nor do they want to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Beyond that, most would not dare call those in his audience today “fools” or tell them that they are “slow of heart to believe”, as Jesus did.  What has changed among those that would proclaim to be disciples of our Lord?  Certainly the message of the Gospel has not changed (I Peter 1:23-25).  Therefore, it has to be the hearts of those who would declare that they are following Christ that have changed.

     Both those outside of Christ and many who are failing within the body of Christ, are uncircumcised in heart and mind.  Simply put, they have their hearts and minds covered.  Stephen had to preach to an audience that had this problem.  In fact, Stephen pointed that out to them saying: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51).  Some of our day would say “how dare he say that”, but keep in mind that Stephen did not speak of his own mind (John 16:13 and Acts 7:55).

     Paul had to address saints in Rome who were Jews in the flesh and thought that made them more religiously right than the Gentiles.  Paul wrote the following to those erring Christians: “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Romans 2:28-29).  We cannot cover our hearts and expect the Gospel of Christ to work effectively in our lives.

     On the “Day of Pentecost” Peter and the eleven other disciples of our Lord preached the Gospel.  On that day, Jesus Christ was preached from what the prophets had foretold of Him (Acts 2:16-21; 25-31).  Jesus was preached by pointing out the miracles that had been done by Him that were witnessed by many present on that day (Acts 2:22).  Jesus was preached by pointing out that He had been resurrected and that was also witnessed by many present on that day (Acts 2:32).  On that day those standing there and hearing the preaching of Christ were called murders.  Such point was made powerfully in the following statements: “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain…  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:23; 36).  The result of this preaching was: “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do” (Acts 2:37)?

 With such forceful preaching many today would react by wanting to stone the preacher, as they did to Stephen when he pointed out the sins of the people (Acts 7:54).  However, what happened on the Day of Pentecost was a result of people’s hearts being able to be pricked.  Their ears, minds, and hearts were opened to the Gospel.  The word of God is effective, but the hearer must allow it to work.

     Just imagine a man going to the doctor with a fatal disease.  The doctor tells that man to take a certain medication that will be sure to heal him of that disease.  The man then receives the medication and decides that he is not going to take it.  Three weeks later, he is dead.  Who’s at fault?  The man who refused to allow the cure to work is at fault.  Sin is a fatal disease (Ezekiel 18:20).  The word of God is able to convert the sinner to Christ and allow he or she to be cleansed from their sins (James 1:21-25).  It will not work if the word of God is never taken and used.

    When man opens his heart to the Gospel of Christ their lives will be changed and their souls will be saved (Acts 20:32).  The Gospel is very powerful (Romans 1:16 and Hebrews 4:12).  Sadly today, the heart is not always the only problem when it comes to people being lost.  While there is no excuse for men to be lost in sin as all are accountable for what they do (Acts 17:30), sin is often aided today by those preaching when they water down the Gospel.  When such occurs, that is a perversion of the Gospel (Galatians 1:6-9).

     In the days of Isaiah the people wanted the smooth things (Isaiah 30:9-11).  Much has not changed since those days.  People want religious feel-good-ism.  They come on Sunday morning and they want to be told that Jesus is a forgiving Lord and that we just need to try the best we can to do what is right.  While the Lord is most certainly longsuffering and forgiving (II Peter 3:9), He also is going to judge and punish those who do not obey Him (II Thessalonians 1:7-9 and II Peter 3:10-12).  The Gospel is about changing peoples lives to Christ (Mark 16:15-16).  The Gospel is not at all about teaching people to remain as they are (Matthew 3:8, Acts 3:19; 26:20, and Romans 6:1-2).

     Some who preach the Gospel today are seemingly afraid to “tell it like it is”.  Preaching the Gospel is all about instruction, correction, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting (II Timothy 3:16-17 and II Timothy 4:2).  You may not make many friends by preaching the truth as you ought to, but you will help many get to Heaven.  Many times one has to preach the truth in a way in which they know those hearing it will not be too happy with them.  SO WHAT!  It is the Lord to whom we are going to answer if we hold back the truth for fear of upsetting someone (Ezekiel 3:18 and Acts 20:26-27).  Anyone in their right mind would rather have men angry with them than to have the Lord angry with them.

     If those who teach and preach the Gospel today would just understand fully it is about saving souls, maybe the watering down of the truth would not occur.  When one goes to the doctor, is examined, and found to have cancer; they do not want the doctor to wait eight months to tell them that.  Tomorrow is not promised to anyone.  Therefore, preaching the Gospel has to be about preparing folks to meet the Lord today.  If they are acting foolishly, that needs to be pointed out!

     Like liquid Draino, sometimes we need to remove the clogs from our pipes.  To allow the Gospel to take root in our hearts we may need to remove some ear wax.  Jesus said: “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15).  We need to have good and honest hearts.  We need to seek out the truth with all intentions on changing our lives to live according to it.  Then yes, when you hear the word of God preached your heart will burn within you.  You will know and love the truth.  As Solomon said: “Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge” (Proverbs 23:12).