Sermon – “It’s About the Heart”

Now some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. 2 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 3 “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them? 4 “Therefore speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols.”’ 6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. 7 For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the LORD will answer him by Myself. 8 I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. 9 “And if the prophet is induced to speak anything, I the LORD have induced that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. 10 And they shall bear their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be the same as the punishment of the one who inquired, 11 that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me, nor be profaned anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people and I may be their God,“ says the Lord GOD.’”

Well there’s been a theme running through the entire service this morning. And you can tell by the sermon title what that was in its heart. Change my heart of God create in me a pure heart. It’s all about the heart. It is truly all about the heart. Our relationship is about the heart. What we do is about the hard part is used in Scripture as a most comprehensive term for an authentic person. It is a part of our being where we desire to liberate and decide. It has been described as the place of the conscious and decisive spiritual activity. The comprehensive term for a person as a whole his feelings desires passings thoughts understandings and Will are all at the center of a person’s heart. It’s with our heart that we decide that we will love someone. It’s with the heart that we will decide to do evil. If we have an evil heart that we would do violence if we have an evil heart is with a heart that we would decide to have compassion on son of someone if we have love in our heart it’s with our heart that we will do good if we are a good person to have good in our hearts or heart drives us it controls us. It is that machine or that device in us that drives our being it is who we are. So it is all about the heart all about the heart. I read a passage a few weeks ago and it just really tugged at my heart. Now there’s a sermon in there. So and this morning in Sabbath school for those who weren’t there it’s like they touched on about every thing that I have in here. I was my own and I’d like but praise the Lord because that’s. Information for me that this is where God was directing me because he’s already touched on many things that I haven’t sermon this morning. Grip scripture this morning comes from easy cure. Chapter fourteen versus one through eleven. Hear the word of the Lord. Now some of the Elders of Israel came to me and sat before me and the word of the Lord came to me saying Son of man. These men have set up their idols in their hearts. That is where we place put idols folks in our hearts and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let myself be inquired of at all by them. Therefore speak to them and say to them Thus says the Lord God every one of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity and then comes to the prophet either Lord will answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols that I may see the house of Israel by their hearts because they are all estranged from me by their idols. I love that God says I am going to answer him that I might save them by what by their hearts that I might see them by their hearts. He says therefore say to the house of Israel Thus says the Lord God Repent turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations for any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who dwell in Israel who separate himself from me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity then. Comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me. I the Lord will answer him by myself I will set my face against that man and make him a sign and a proper and I will cut him off from the midst of my people. Then you shall know that I am the Lord and if a prophet is induced to speak any thing I the LORD have induced a prophet and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel and they shall bear their iniquities the punishment of the prophet shall be the same as a punishment of the one who who inquired that the House of Israel may no longer stray from me nor be profane any more with all their transgressions but that they may know that my people and and I may be yet but that they may be my people and I may be their God says the Lord God Rizana just share this at the end the Sabbath school about the preacher back in the eighteen hundred Sim was in New England and he preached and he preached for how many weeks. Just one week. But at the end. But nobody nobody received the message that he had until the end. He says I shake the dust off my feet because God will bear judgment on this because you cannot receive the Word of God and at that point when they realize your consequences they came by the multitudes and receive the Lord he had to touch their hearts. They had to realize there’s consequences if you will is sharing with Israel the consequences God’s going to bring judgment upon Israel. If you did not turn from your idols. No I jumped right into the middle of his equal by starting the chapter fourteen. So help us get a little bit of an understanding is if you will was God’s prophet in Babylon. With the captives Israel. Many were carried off out of the city of Jerusalem and taken to Babylon as captives so easy cruel was God’s prophet there to prophesied to the people what he was doin and what was happening and he many times would give them demonstrations. At one point he shaved his head to reveal to the people what God was doing. He laid on his side for three hundred and ninety days. At one point he would take he would prepare a bag and take it outside his house and the houses was made of like a mortar. He would dig through the wall and then come out through the hole to resemble the king. I mean through the wall and leave in the people you know he did many things by illustration not just speaking to them what God was doing. So he was God’s prophet to the to all of the Nation of Israel that was captive in Babylon while Jeremiah was a prophet still in Jerusalem with a ram that was that that was that there. So for twenty two years to proclaim God’s judgment to the people and what they must do that they must get their hearts right with God in this passage that I just read the Elders of Israel would come to visit easy cruel to hear what he had to say about their situation. Hear what he had to say about them being held captive and to hear what was going on in Jerusalem what is God revealed to you. What’s going to happen to Jerusalem. What’s going to happen to our beloved homeland. You know they came to him acting all spiritual. They had this first thought we were talking about inside a school. This facade and they were acting all godly and coming before the prophet of God and God says I will answer them. It resembles. Well Jesus responded to the Pharisees and the scribes in Matthew twenty three. He says well you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly but inside in the heart you are full of dead man’s bones and all one plainness Outwardly they appeared righteous but inwardly they were secretly Judith. They were secretly worshipping or I was Judas said downstairs it’s like we can’t keep a secret from God I’m like Oh that’s right I’m a message we might think we can keep a secret from our friends we might think we can keep a secret from our spouse but who can keep a secret from God and this is so hands nobody we can we might for ourselves but we cannot keep a secret from God They thought they were secretly worshipping our idols and come into the prophet trying to appear all holy because I was not fooled they were like the people of Isaiah’s day who drew nearer to God with the words but not with their hearts. The elders did not want the truth. They preferred rather the laws of the false prophets. All they wanted to hear is peace peace peace all is well with Jerusalem. Views are doing fine. That’s what they want to hear. They didn’t want to hear the truth that unless you repent and turn back to God Jerusalem will fall. They did not want to hear that they didn’t want to hear that the city was going to be attacked and destroyed but is if you will spoke the truth that’s what we talked about and saddest core truth he was. As willing to step out and speak truth regardless of the consequences. He spoke the truth. Then he called the people to repent. Idolatry. The very reason that they were carried off captive was idolatry. So there they are in captivity still worshipping their idols and pretending that they were following God. Verses seven and eight said for anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers who dwell in Israel who separate himself from me so that they separate themselves from God and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity. Then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning May I the Lord will answer him I will set my face against that man and make him a sign in a proverb and I will cut him off from the midst of my people that you shall know that I am the Lord we cannot serve idols and God at the same time we cannot serve both God and man and our idols may not be some big ole thing that is a record in our houses or in our city. It might not be a big wooden pole there’s many forms that are I don’t can take because I don’t Was that what separates you from God and I don’t was that which draws you away from your time with God and I don’t Was that what you put before ahead of God So I don’t can take many shapes and forms. We must remove the idols anything that gets between us and God must go they must be removed. The people one day I believe remembered the story of Abraham and how Abraham bordered with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. You remember the story. God revealed to Abraham that he’s going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness but he’s concerned about his nephew Lot who lives there. He said God if there be fifty people there will you spare the city. Yes So well let me speak once more. What if there be forty I will spare the city for forty and on and on and on down to five. But God knew that there weren’t even five righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah I think they remembered that because I think the people in his equals they thought well if there’s a few good men a few righteous men gobble spare the whole city but he won’t. God reveals that he will not save the city just because there’d be a few righteous men because as you would read on an easy cure fourteen verses twelve and through fourteen says the word of the Lord came again to me saying Son of Man when a land sins against against me by persistent unfaithfulness let that sink in. It didn’t even point out Israel it just says when a land a land sins against me persistently with unfaithfulness I will stretch out my hand against it. I will cut off its supply of bread. I will send famine on it and cut off man and beast from it even if these three men Noah Daniel and job were in it. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness says the Lord God and it goes on with many more examples with Daniel Noah. In job there they will bring the sword he will bring famine he will bring pestilence. But even if these three were there I’m going to destroy the land. I’m not going to say that just because of these three. We cannot rely on other people’s rights isness to save us. That’s the theme today. You’re not going to get it if you haven’t picked it up yet. The responsibility of each person’s faithfulness before God is a key subject in the book of easy cure. It is the key subject in our lives that each and every person at truth still applies today. We are responsible for own righteousness. God does not punish other people for my sins. If I have a cousin out there and it’s a wicked man I’m not talking about the one it’s here in our presence today. But if I have a cousin out there that goes out there murder somebody God is not going to punish me for his wickedness. But friends in the same way God’s not going to be bless you because of my cousin’s righteousness. If I’m wicked and he’s right isn’t it I’m not going to be delivered because he’s right it’s each and every one of us are responsible for our own faith for own righteousness. Each one must make their own decision. For Jesus Christ a faithful lady came to visit one Sabbath few years back from the other church. She said God has no grandchildren let that sink in. God has no grandchildren. Only children. Because your child won’t be saved because your writers I’m talking about a grown child because that child must make their own decision son or daughter must make their own decision for Christ. That’s pair won’t be saved child because you’re a righteous child. They must make their own decision in their own hearts. Individually each person must be in Christ in Christ in him or her to be saved. X. fifteen verses eight and nine says so God who knows the heart acknowledge them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us and make made no distinction between us and them purifying their hearts by faith in God who knows the heart. He knows the heart and yes the heart will reveal what’s in it. Our actions will reveal what is truly in our heart. As I said in the beginning but God knows a heart we can’t hide it from him. We can’t keep it a secret from him. I know that we are living in the distant station of grace. I know that we are saved by grace by faith not of our works. Praise the Lord that we are pardon from our sins that if we repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that we are forgiven. First John chapter one verse nine. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us he will forgive us but what will happen to those who haven’t accepted Christ. They will be judged just as a people is it yours day. We stand before God we stand before the Lord. We are right just because of Jesus Christ. Those without him will be judged according to the law there is coming a day of judgment. We need to. I realize that where is coming the day of judgment. It may be in our lifetime I don’t know. I’m not going to stand apparently for I know when it is but there is coming a day of judgment. And those who do not know Christ will be destroyed just as the unrepentant and easy kills thing is if you will warn them to repent and to remove the idols from their hearts. But the people will not listen. I ask you today do you believe that God has given America warnings. I do I believe that nine eleven was a warning. I believe that two thousand and eight was a warning. I know I did a sermon to resolve a lot of stuff about the shmita and it goes every seven years and there’s been many things happen in the history of the United States where God has sent warnings or there have been blessings that that line up with this meter. I know that we’re not Israel but we are. There is a likeness between America and Israel because of what this nation was founded upon the godly morals and principles that we were founded upon. And I believe that God loves this nation. There was definitely a day when we could be called a godly nation. But I don’t know that I could stand here today and say that we are God the nation. I believe that God is truly given us several warnings. Well there’s another seven year period common seven years from two thousand and eight. My friends it’s very soon. I don’t know if there’s going to be another warning but there may be there may be. Are we willing to. I step out and say we need to repent. We willing to speak that to the nation. We must repent whether what’s coming is a warning or whether it’s a judgment I don’t know. But are we willing to speak the truth as your did that we need to repent and turn our eyes turn our hearts back to God that we must remove the idols from our hearts. I know that we’re all believers here but do we have little I doze that we might have in our hearts that we need to remove cleanse my heart oh God there may be a severe judgment coming I don’t know. A well known devotional writer named Helen Brennaman speaks this about of our total story about a heart. She said there was once a man who had a heart transplant but the operation was a total complete failure for the man was a mean spirited man. But the heart that they put in him was a kind heart. His body rejected the heart. The Bible tells us however of a heart transplant that was successful. He says I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take out that stony heart. I will take the stone heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them and they shall be my people and I will be their God a man that we America would once again be that kind of people. God may you remove the stony hearts of the people in this land because there is wickedness and violence all across this land. May their eyes be open Amen. He says I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. Songs fifty one we already had part of it on our responsive reading created me a clean heart oh God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me restore to me the joy of my salvation of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you. Are we willing to teach transgressors God’s ways. That’s a most important question here this morning. Are we willing to teach transgressors God’s ways that they may be converted that they may be converted and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have one last trip through this year. Sure this is the right scripture. OK So therefore we make it our aim whether present or absent to be well pleasing to Him for we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men but we are well known to God and I also trust that we are well known in your conscience that we will each one stand before him. Individual e individual. Just think of this nation and where we was and where we’re heading is that when your heart is in your heart the one course says we cry out for the nations. I know I’ve touched on this so many times in the last several years but are we really crying out for the nations are we willing to teach them. But we cry now God if there’s anything in here that shouldn’t be here anything at all the word that is in here that shouldn’t be here please remove it. God take it out there is anything wicked. More please remove it. There is a thing uncaring uncompassionate selfish don’t we all have just a little bit of selfishness in here. God take it out let it be totally separated for you cleansed for you and help me Lord to teach others of your righteousness to warn others if that’s what it takes of the judgement that is common is our hearts broken for those that don’t know Jesus Christ is the key question is our hearts broken is our hearts cling. You know these altars are always open this morning if there’s anything in there that you want God to clean out bring it up here and leave it at the altar. Bring it to him this morning say God plans my heart oh god renew a right spirit within me. Amen.