Over the Cliff - Why the Enemy Won't Repent

Recently I began to wonder why the enemy, knowing all they know about God, will not turn and ask to be forgiven. They know the end of the story, they know there is no hope for them, yet they continue on against God. It looks as if Judas tried to say he was sorry but it was not really heartfelt apparently. Was his heart too hard by that point? We know he did not make it through the narrow gate. In Psalm 52 David shows honest admitting of a horrible sin, of killing a good man to try and hide his adultery. So we see one person who committed murder repent, and another who just betrayed another man who could not. This should cause us to become gripped with a fear to do whatever it takes to soften our hearts before God, as Hebrews says, “as long as it is called today”, this means do it now, right now, today.

It is my personal belief is that there is a point that both people and spiritual beings get to in their hardness of heart and mind that they cannot go back. They cannot admit they are wrong. We have all had an argument with someone where we thought we were absolutely right. We would come to find out that we were wrong, but that feeling of admitting we are wrong was so strong, we had worked ourselves up so much that it took too much humiliation to say, “I am sorry, I was actually wrong about that and I really feel bad now about it”. The entire bible warns us, and very much so in the book of Hebrews, against hardening our hearts and the danger that lies in doing so. I know there were so many times in my life where I just could not and would not admit I am wrong. I believe that there is a point where we cut ourselves off from the possibility of ever being able to admit we are wrong and therefore sealing our fate before God, we will not enter the kingdom. We all have read about people and may even have known people who never seem to be able to admit they are wrong or say they are sorry. This should scare us to death with fear and cause us to rush to say we are sorry to everyone. Ebenezer Scrooge was scared enough come Christmas morning to turn into someone who was not going to stay hard in his heart. Often we hear people talking about whether you can lose your salvation or not. That is something I refuse to think about as it does not help your life with either conclusion you come to. But here we have evidence of people, like Judas, and others in the bible, where you can certainly harden your heart with pride and stubborn refusal to admit we are wrong. The end result is not going to heaven.

So why does this happen, how do we get to where we can’t admit we are wrong? I believe it is a combination of several things. One of them is the extreme discomfort, both mentally and even a little physically, that comes when you admit you are wrong. Like swallowing vinegar, it is a hard feeling for a few minutes. But also like swallowing vinegar, swallowing our pride is very uncomfortable for a few moments, but then we have the experience of growth. We mature. Children cannot admit they are wrong. Adults can. If we cannot, even at an adult age, it means we are still emotionally acting like a child in our life. I also think another reason we cannot admit we are wrong is because we fear of looking stupid in that moment. This shows that we have not developed adult character. The goal for us if that is who we are is to look cool at all times. It is not to be admired for having a strong character. Immature people don’t grasp the concept of character. If you want to grow, you have to go through the process of experiencing and living through the process of doing what adults do.

So what can we do “as long as it is called today” to soften our hearts if we think we may be someone who has become someone who can’t admit you are wrong? The first thing is to pray right now to Jesus and tell him specifically that you want to renounce everything in your heart that causes you to be stubborn and angry. Pray for the Holy Spirit to come right now to remove all of the hardness in your heart and soul and mind and body that is keeping you from being free to be wrong. This will change your life. But you must mean it, you have to feel that “want to” feeling, it cannot be like Judas. We can pray to Jesus that we feel so hard that we don’t want to, but we can say, “Lord, I can’t feel anything in my heart but I know I am wrong inside and I do want you to give me a heart that is soft, I do want to remove all of this pride from my life. Please help me to have that desire to rid my life of this.’ I can tell you from my experience, if you pray this prayer, Jesus will, through the Holy Spirit, begin to set you free. You will get up from this prayer and you will feel a sense of peace and a sense of tenderness starting to happen in the moments after this prayer.

You can then begin to think for a moment of someone that you have been wrong an did not want to say you were sorry to. Look for something that was not a very big argument. You may want to decide in your heart, I don’t want to go over the edge, I don’t want to lose all hope of heaven. Perhaps decide to call or talk to that one person and tell them you want to say you are sorry and that you were wrong. That is all you have to say. Let it be uncomfortable. You will not die, you will not suffer any physical pain at all. Think that you will die if you don’t find a way to say you are sorry. Call that person right now, don’t make excuses. You can say something like, “I am calling because I struggle with admitting I am wrong and I don’t want to be like this anymore. Bob, I was wrong when I said or did this and I want to tell you that I am sorry.” Those two sentences will change your life. Those two sentences will be the day that you begin to feel the power of having a strong character. Those two sentences will please God and He will bless you for that.