It was the Israelites lack of trust in God that allowed them to fall away and receive discipline. Let us not make the same mistake. The context of this sermon makes it clear that salvation is not at stake. And the promised land is not a metaphor for heaven. It is, in fact, Israel’s rescue from Egypt which is the symbol of salvation. We must keep our spiritual hearts strong and active. If we have a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God, we’ll drift and manifest a form of spiritual cardiac arrest.

If the spiritual heart goes into cardiac arrest, the he symptoms are a hardened heart, loss of desire for spiritual growth, severe spiritual apathy, irregular attendance in weekly worship, and/or a shallow prayer life. An inadequate diet or poor appetite for God’s word and the nutrition of truth are other symptoms. The diseased spiritual heart no longer responds to the gospels of Jesus.