Revive Our Hearts
Notes
Transcript
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit.
The heart in the biblical sense is the locus of a person’s thoughts (their mind), volition (the will), emotions, and knowledge of right from wrong (conscience).
Their inner self if you will, their inclination, disposition, determination,
“It is a term that reflects the toatality of the inner person Proverbs 3:5 ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; ...’ Your heart is the real you” (A Mentor Commentary)
Importance of the Heart
Importance of the Heart
We might ask the question - what is so important about this heart? What is it purpose or value?
The Old Testament refers to the heart over 800 times.
Over 300 of these instances it is referring to the spiritual significance and relationship with GOd.
The heart in this sense is extremely important because we are told
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.
The word “issues” it translated “springs” it can refer to the source - or starting place - where things begin.
also it - “is normally used to describe the farthest reaches of a geographical boundary or border (e.g. Josh. 16:3; 17:18).32 The physical idea is here taken metaphorically, to describe the far reaches of where one’s life will go. The goings forth, the end boundaries, the ultimate end of your life is a matter of the condition of your heart.”
(32 Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, n.d.), 426.
Kitchen, J. A. (2006). Proverbs: A Mentor Commentary (p. 113). Mentor.)
Jesus put it this way: Matthew 12:34 “34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
Mark’s gospel put it this way Mark 7:21-23
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
There is nothing of greater value on this earth than the condition of your heart.
The Condition of the heart
The Condition of the heart
To humanity it is unknown
To humanity it is unknown
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Unknown because of the blindness of Satan
Unknown at timed due to our self-deception in thinking we are better than we are.
Unknown because of our own corrupt natures
Classic passage for original sin and depravity - Psalm 51:5
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.
2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Isaiah 1:5–6 “ ...The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; But wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.”
TO humanity it is unknown
To God it is KNOWN!!!
To God it is KNOWN!!!
Proverbs 15:11 (KJV 1900)
11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord: How much more then the hearts of the children of men?
21 Shall not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
12 But, O Lord of hosts, that triest the righteous, And seest the reins and the heart, Let me see thy vengeance on them: For unto thee have I opened my cause.
30 Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:)
When Samuel went to anoint a new king for Israel he went to the house of Jesse and saw all of the strong, fit, ripped, men but as he went to anoint Eliab he thought sure was the one
Samuel says, “Suely the Lord’s anointed is before me”
God stopped him and said...
7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
In the New Testament we find the 11 disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem attempting to pick up the pieces and go on. They decide to have a business meeting to decide who should take the place of Judas. In their prayer they recognize that God knows our hearts. Listen in as they pray...
24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,
He knows my thoughts. He sees clearly my motives. He scrutinizes my desires and longings. My feelings are plain to Him. He knows me—which is both a fright and a comfort, depending upon what I know He sees in me.
While sin is automatic in our lives at birth - we can have a renewed heart at David prayed in our text.
But there is also the danger of Christians who have had a renewed heart letting that heart grow cold, indifferent, hardened bringing about spiritual death and coldness.
This happened to the church at Laodicea
Jesus writes to them through John the Revelator:
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Here Jesus informs and challenges them to recognize the truth of the situation -
THis is often the beginning of revival
A realization of the truth-
truth of lukewarmness
truth of hardheartedness
truth of apathy
truth of deception - thinking they were better than they were (if I can be real honest - this is so dangerous to us that are 2nd, 3rd, 4th, generation Christians - we’ve been around it all our lives, we know what we are supposed to look like, act like, sound like,
These people knew all the right things to say and do - but they had forgotten what was the most important.
truth of Jesus outside the door (broken fellowship/relationship)
The heart being seen as it is, acknowledged, confessed, and open to God in all of His holiness and love to do what he wants.
An implementation of the truth
All Jesus asks of them
COME BACK TO ME- Quit relying on your own idea of who you are
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
And then we see the real longing and heart of God -
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
We live in a rush, rush, world that is fixated on how a person looks, sounds, and presents themselves
But we have a God who looks beyond all of that and sees the innermost recesses of the heart.
A God who says - I’m not going to let you go without offering you to renew the relationship
I’m standing at the door and knocking - all you have to do is acknowledge that I’m outside as I really am, and not sitting at the table with you - get up and open the door - I will do the rest
I’ll come in, I will sup with you and you with me
Fellowship!
Revival!
Renewal of the heart!
Heart change
Eddie Espinoza tells that for years he had been a Christian, but he saw a lot of things in his life that needed to be discarded. He tells in his testimony how he had slowly over time become very complacent.
I’m afraid this is the reality of so many people
Eddie tells that he acknowledged that complacency and prayed to the Lord,
‘The only way that I can follow you is for you to change my appetite, the things that draw me away. You must change my heart!'"
Eddie continued, "Shortly thereafter I was in my car on the way to my work, feeling a desire to draw near to God and with the wrestling still going on in my heart. Suddenly, a melody and some words began to flood through my mind. As I stopped at a stop sign I reached for something to write on. The first thing I found was a small piece of yellow paper, which, by the way, I still have, and began to write as rapidly as I could. It was like taking dictation. I wrote the words on the paper, and kept the melody in my mind."
"Change my heart, O God!
Make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God!
May I be like you.
You are the potter,
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray."
The essence of Eddie's song is a prayer asking God to change us, making our hearts "true," and changing us into his own image.
I wonder this morning - if all of us shouldn’t be praying this prayer -
It is so easy to get used to the way things are, accustomed to coldness, indifference
Going so long without cultivating relationship with God
Leaving him standing outside the door
I just wonder if this Sunday morning before revival we couldn’t all lift our hearts and voices in this prayerful chorus
"Change my heart, O God!
Make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God!
May I be like you.
You are the potter,
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me,
This is what I pray."
Sing with me please and as we sing - lift your heart in true and sincere prayer to God to do this to you
What are we doing? WE are opening the door of our heart and letting HIM COME IN!!!