Impervious: Not admitting of passage or capable of being affected.

Every soulwinning Christian knows the frustration of witnessing to people who have already decided they will never get saved. I was saddened recently, as I read of the impervious attitude of former president of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, who stated...

"He (the Rev. George Whitefield) used, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard." -Franklin's Autobiography.

Tragically, Benjamin Franklin heard sermon after sermon by the mighty preacher, George Whitefield, and yet refused to believe upon Jesus Christ. How sad. So many people, like Benjamin Franklin, hear the Word of God preached over and over; BUT, their hearts are harder than concrete. If you haven't guessed it already, the photo to the right is a jackass, a donkey, which is an appropriate symbol of some people's stubbornness to obey the Word of God.

In Mark Chapter 6, the disciples had just witnessed Jesus feed well over 5,000 hungry people with just 5 loaves of bread, and 2 fishes. The Bible says in Mark 6:44 that the men alone numbered 5,000. Including the wives and children, there must have been over 15,000 people. We know for certain there were at least 5,000. Can you imagine, thousands of people being fed from just one little boy's lunch? What a miracle by a wonderful Savior! Yet, just a short time later in Mark 6:52, we read that the disciples feared, lacking faith ... BECAUSE THEIR HEART WAS HARDENED. Wow! And these were Jesus' disciples! I find it interesting that Jesus' own disciples doubted Him at times. This teaches us that even the best of Christians falter. This is true of every believer. We are all emotional creatures, prone to doubt and wander. This is why it's important that we learn to keep our eyes on Jesus, by living in His Word, which He has given to us.

However, it is an entirely different situation when a man refuses to believe upon Christ as his Savior. The disciples weren't impervious, they were simply immature in the Lord. Their hardened hearts were eventually melted away by the Word of God. To the contrary, Benjamin Franklin was impervious, unable to be reached with the Gospel. Proverb 29:1 states, "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." A person only has so many breaths to this life, only so many heartbeats ... and then this earthly life is over forever. Kindly said, Benjamin Franklin was like a jackass, who stubbornly heard the Gospel preached again and again; BUT, HIS HEART WAS HARDENED. No amount of preaching was ever able to reach Benjamin Franklin, because of his impervious heart of unbelief.