Too Long Too Late

Authentic believers are ashamed when they do something bad or mean. When we encounter those who defend their sin, even justifying it, we are probably looking at a non-believer. Someone who was never born again and does not have the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 32:3
"When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long."

2 Kings 22:19
"because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you," declares the LORD."

Those who sin, refuse to admit they have and continue to justify it, could not possibly have the Holy Spirit. These people remain dead in their sins, without help from God, their only recourse over the years is to either become born again or grow deeper and deeper into rebellion.

When the heart resists the Lord, eventually it becomes hardened, even so far gone that it cannot do anything else.

Jeremiah 18:12
"But they will say, 'It's hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"

Eventually God takes action to make it impossible for the stubborn heart to see truth.

Isaiah 6:10
"Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed."