My Heart, Christ's Home-Robert Boyd Unger

When I think of the wisdom and scope of His plan, I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father ..... that out of His glorious, unlimited resources He will give you the mighty inner strengthening of his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in Him… Eph. 3:14, 16 & 17

Or as another has translated, “That Christ may settle down and be at home in your hearts by faith.”

Without question one of the most remarkable Christian doctrines is that Jesus Christ Himself, through the presence of the Holy Spirit will actually enter a heart, settle down and be at home there. Christ will make the human heart His home.

Christ said to His disciples, “Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (in) him.’” John 14:23. It was difficult for them to understand what He was saying. How was it possible for Him to make His home with them in this sense?

Jesus used the same word used when He said “I go to prepare a place for you...that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3). Jesus was promising to the disciples that just as He was going to heaven to prepare a place for them and would welcome them one day, now it would be possible for them to prepare a place for Him in their hearts and He would come and make His home within them.

They could not understand this. How could it be?

Then came Pentecost. The Spirit of the living Christ was given to the Church and they understood that God did:

· Not dwell in Herod’s temple in Jerusalem...

· not in temples made by human hands...

· but now, through the miracle of the outpoured Spirit, God would dwell in human hearts.

· Believers body...temple...living God...human heart His home…

It is difficult for me to think of a higher privilege than to make for Christ a home in my heart, to welcome, to serve, to please, to fellowship with Him there.

One night I will never forget close to 54 years ago now, I invited Him into my heart. What an entrance He made! It was not a spectacular emotional thing, but it was very real. It was at the very center of my life. He came into the darkness of my heart and lit the candle there. He built a fire in the hearth and the chill disappeared. He started music where there had been stillness and He filled the emptiness with His own loving, wonderful fellowship. I have never regretted opening the door to Christ and I never will--not into eternity.

This, of course, is the first step in making the heart Christ’s home. He has said Rev. 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” If you are interested in making your heart the home of the living God, let me encourage you to invite Christ into your heart and He will surely come.

After Christ entered my heart and in the joy of that new found relationship, I said to Him “Lord, I want this heart of mine to be yours. I want to have You settle down here and be perfectly at home. Everything I have belongs to You. Let me show You around and introduce You to the various features of the home that You may be more comfortable and that we may have a fuller fellowship together.”

He was happy to come in, of course, and happier still to be given a place in the heart.

The first room we went to was:

I. The Library

A. The study of the mind

1. Small room very thick walls

2. But it is an important room.

B. In a sense, it is the control room of the house

1. He entered w/ me ...

a. books bookcase

b. magazines on the table

c. Pictures on the wall

2. As I followed His gaze, I became uncomfortable.

Strangely enough I had not felt badly about this before, but now that He was looking at these things I was embarrassed.

a. books…His eyes…too pure to look on

b. trash and literature.. table.. Christian.. no business reading

c. picture on the wall...the imaginations and thoughts of my mind--these were shameful.

C. “Master, I know that this room needs some major alteration. Will You help me make it what it ought to be--to bring every thought into captivity to You?” 2 Cor. 10:5

1. “Surely... Gladly... the reason I’m here.”

a. “First of all take those things that you are reading, seeing, watching ... things that are not helpful, pure, good and true and throw them out.”

b. Books of the Bible. Fill shelves and Meditate day and night.

c. Pictures on the wall...difficulty controlling these images...to aid a full-sized portrait of Himself. “Hang this centrally on the wall of your mind.”

*I did and have discovered through the years... thoughts centered on Christ Himself, His purity and His power cause impure imaginations to retreat. So, He has helped me to bring my thoughts into captivity.

*May I suggest to you if you have difficulty with this room of the mind, that you bring Christ in there.

1. Pack it full of the Word of God

2. Meditate on it

3. Keep it ever before the presence of the Lord Jesus.

II. The Dining Room

A. The room of appetites and desires.

1. Very large room...

2. Good deal of time dining...

3. Much effort in satisfying my wants.

B. I said to Him “This is a very welcoming room and I am quite sure You will be pleased with what we serve here”

C. He sat at the table... “What is on the menu for dinner?”

1. “Well... My favorite dishes: old bones, corn husks, sour cabbage, leeks onions and garlic right out of Egypt”

2. Things I liked, worldly things.

3. I suppose ... there was nothing radically wrong in any particular item, but it was not the food that should satisfy the life of a Christian.

D. When food placed before Him ... nothing said.. I observed... He didn’t eat it.

1. I said to Him, somewhat disturbed, “Savior, You don’t care for the food that is placed before You? What is the trouble?”

2. “I have meat to eat that you don’t know about. My meat is to do the will of He who sent Me” (John 4:32-34)

3. “If you want food that really satisfies you, seek the will of the Father, not your own pleasures, not your own desires, not your own satisfaction.”

4. There at the table He gave me a taste of doing the God’s will.

a. What a flavor!

b. No food like it ...

c. It alone satisfies ...

d. Everything else in the end .. dissatisfying.

E. Now if .. Christ.. in your heart.. I trust He is

1. What kind of food are you serving Him?

2. What kind of food are you eating yourself?

3. Are you living for the lust of the flesh and the pride of life-- Selfishly?

4. Or are you choosing God’s will for your meat and drink?

III. The Drawing Room

A. Intimate and comfortable... I liked it.

1. Fireplace, overstuffed chairs, bookcase, sofa

2. A quiet atmosphere.

B. He also seemed pleased with it

1. “This is indeed a delightful room. Let us come here often. It is secluded and quiet and we can have fellowship together”

C. Naturally as a young Christian

1. I was thrilled.

2. I couldn’t think of anything... rather do... Christ in intimate comradeship.

D. He promised

1. “I will be here every morning”

2. “Meet w/ me here

3. “Start the day together”

E. Morning after morning

1. Meet

2. He took a book of the Bible from the bookcase

3. Opened It and read it together

4. Wonderful times together

F. Actually, now we call it the Withdrawing room

G. But little by little…under pressures of responsibility... shortened

1. Why I don’t know

2. I thought I was too busy to ...

3. Not intentional you understand, it just happened that way.

4. Miss a day now and then

a. workloads increased

b. urgent emergencies

5. 2 days in a row

H. I remember one morning

1. In a hurry

2. Rushed down steps

3. Eager to be on my way

4. As I passed the door was ajar.

a. Looking in I saw

-fire

-Lord sitting there

b. Suddenly in dismay, I thought to myself:

“He was my guest. I had invited Him into my heart! He had come as Lord of my home. And yet here I am neglecting Him.”

5. Turned and went in. With downcast glance I said;

a. “Blessed Master, forgive me. Have You been here all these mornings?”

b. “Yes, I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you.”

c. Then ... I was more ashamed.

-He had been faithful in spite of my unfaithfulness.

d. I asked His forgiveness and He readily forgave me as He does when we are truly repentant.

6. “The trouble with you is this: You have been thinking of the quiet time, of the Bible study and prayer time, as a factor in your own spiritual progress, but you have forgotten that this hour means something to Me also. Remember, I love you. I have redeemed you at great cost. I desire your fellowship. Now, He said do not neglect this hour if only for my sake. Whatever else may be your desire, remember I want your fellowship”

G. You know, the truth that Christ

1. Wants my fellowship

2. That He loves me

3. Wants to be with me

4. And waits for me...

* That has done more to transform my quiet time with God than any other single fact.

** Don’t let Christ wait alone in the drawing room of your heart, but every day find some time when, with the Word of God and in prayer, you may fellowship with Him.

IV. The Workshop

A. Before long he asked, “Do you have a workshop in your home?”

1. Down in the basement of the home of my heart.

a. I had a workbench

b. Some equipment

* But I was not doing much with it.

B. Once in a while.

1. I would go down and fuss around with a few little gadgets.

2. But I wasn’t producing anything substantial or worthwhile.

C. I led Him down there

1. He looked over the workbench

2. And what little talents and skills I have

D. “This is quite well furnished. What are you producing with your life for the Kingdom of God?”

1. He looked at one or two of the little toys that I had thrown together on the bench and He held one up to me.

“Are these little toys all that you are producing in your Christian life?”

2. “Well, Lord, that is the best I can do. I know it isn’t much and I really want to do more, but after all, I have no skill or strength.”

3. “Would you like to do better?”

4. “Certainly..”

5. “All right. Let Me have your hands. Now relax in Me and let My Spirit work through you. I know you are unskilled, clumsy, and awkward, but the Spirit is the Mater-worker and if He controls your hand and your heart, He will work through You.”

E. And so stepping around behind me

1. Putting His great strong Hands over mine

2. controlling the tools with His skillful fingers

3. He began to work through me.

F. There is so much more I must learn

1. I am far from satisfied

2. But I know that whatever has been produced for God has been through His strong Hand and through the power of his Spirit in me.

G. Do not become discouraged because you cannot do much for God.

1. Your ability is not the fundamental condition.

2. Give your talents and gifts to God

3. Let Him control you

4. And He will do things through you that will amaze you.

V. The Game Room

A. I remember the time He asked about the play room

1. I was hoping He wouldn’t ask me about it.

a. Certain associations and friendships

b. Activities and amusements I wanted to keep for myself.

2. I did not think Christ would enjoy them or approve of them, so I avoided the question.

B. But there came an evening when I was in college, I was going out for the evening.

1. I was just walking out the door when He stopped me

a. “Are you going out?”

b. “Yes”

c. “Good, I would like to go with you.”

d. “Oh”, I replied rather awkwardly. “I don’t think, Lord, that You would really want to go with us. Let’s go out tomorrow night. Tomorrow night we will go to a prayer meeting but tonight I have another appointment.”

e. “That’s all right. Only I thought when I came into your home, we were going to do everything together. We were going to be partners. I want you to know that I am willing to go with you.”

2. But that evening ... miserable hours. Felt wretched.

a. What kind of friend was I to Christ, when I was deliberately leaving Him out of:

-my associations

-doing things and going places that I knew very well He wouldn’t enjoy?

b. When I returned that evening

-there was a light in His room

-I went in to talk it over with Him.

“Lord, I have learned my lesson. I cannot have a good time without You. We will do everything together from now on.”

3. Then we went down, and He transformed the rumpus room..

He brought into life real joy, real happiness, real satisfaction, real friendship. Laughter and music have been ringing in the house ever since.

VI. The Hall Closet

A. There is just one other matter that I would like to share with you.

B. One day I found Him waiting for me by the door,

1. There was a troubled look in His eyes.

“There is a strange smell in this house. There is something dead around here. It’s upstairs in the hall closet.”

2. As soon as He said those words

a. Small closet a few square feet on the landing. closed, locked

b. Personal things that I didn’t want anybody to know about.

c. I certainly didn’t want Christ to see them.

3. I knew... dead and rotting things

a. Yet I loved them

b. I wanted them for myself

c. I was afraid to admit they were there.

C. I followed Him up the steps

1. As we walked up

a. The odor became stronger

b. I held my breath at the top.

2. “It’s in there. Some dead thing.”

D. I was angry. That’s the only way to put it.

1. I had given Him access to the;

Library

dining room

drawing room

workshop

game room

2. Now He was asking me about this little 2 by 4 closet?!

*I said inwardly “This is to much. I am not going to give Him the key!”

E. Reading my thoughts,

1. “Well, if you think I’m going to stay up here on the second floor with this odor, you are mistaken. I will take My bed on the back porch. I’m certainly not going to put up with that.”

2. He started down the steps

F. When you have come to know and love Christ, the worst thing that can happen is to sense His fellowship retreating from you.

* I had to surrender

“I will give you the key.” I said sadly, “But You will have to open the closet. You’ll have to clean it out. I haven’t the strength to do it.”

“I know, I know you haven’t. Just give Me the key. Just authorize Me to take care of the closet and I will.

G. With trembling fingers I passed the key over to Him.

1. He took it from my hand

2. Walked over to the closet door

3. Opened it

4. Entered it

5. Took out all the putrefying stuff that was rotting there and threw it away.

6. Then He cleansed the closet.

7. Painted it

8. Fixed it up

F. All in a single moments time!

Oh what victory and release to have that dead thing out of my life!

Conclusion:

Transferring The Title

A. Then a thought came to me.

1. I have been trying to keep this heart of mine clear for Christ.

a. I start on one room, no sooner than I am done then another room is dirty.

b. I begin on the second room and the first one becomes dusty again.

2. I am so tired and weary trying to maintain a clean heart and an obedient life.

* I’m just not up to it!

B. “Lord, is there any chance that You would take over the responsibility of the whole house and operate it for me and with me just as You did with the closet? Would You take the responsibility to keep my heart what it ought to be?”

C. I could see His face light up as He replied,

“Certainly, that is what I came to do. You cannot be a victorious Christian in your own strength. That is impossible. Let Me do it through you and for you. That is the way.”

“But” He added “I am not the owner of this house. I am just the guest. I have no authority to proceed since the property isn’t mine.”

D. I saw it in a minute and dropping to my knees, I said, “Lord, You have been a guest, and I have been a host. From now on I am going to be the servant. You are going to be the Lord.”

1. Running to the strong box

a. I took out the title deed to the house describing its assets and liabilities, its situation and condition.

b. Then returning to Him

*I eagerly signed it over to belong to Him alone for eternity.

c. “Here, here it is, all that I am and have forever. Now You run the house. I’ll just remain here as Your servant and friend.”

E. He took my life that day and I give you my word.

1. There is no better way to live the Christian life.

a. He knows how to keep it in shape

b. and deep peace settles down on my soul.

May Christ settle down and be at home in your heart as Lord of all.

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