The God Who Knows My Heart

Good morning, everyone! Whether you're here with us in the room or joining online—listening live or later—we’re truly glad you're here. You're part of our extended spiritual family, and we're thankful for you.

Hey, if you’ve got kids with you this morning—now’s a great time for them to head to class. We’ve got an amazing team ready to welcome them and help them know Jesus in a way that makes sense to them

For the rest of us, grab your Bible, get comfortable, and get ready for what God has for you today. I have to say this morning that this series we are starting was first visioned by a pastor that I know called Brad Bigney. He wrote a book called Gospel Treason, and it is in that book that Brad brings Scripture to bear on the human hearts. So let’s dig in together…

Now most of us have either had an MRI or know someone who has. For an MRI you lie completely still while a giant machine scans you from head to toe. Then the doctor pulls up the images, and suddenly what was hidden beneath the surface is revealed. It’s both comforting and terrifying. Comforting, because you finally know what’s going on. Terrifying, because you can’t hide anything.

Now imagine for a moment that there was a spiritual MRI — one that didn’t scan your body, but your heart. It could show what you really love most… what you fear most… what you’re chasing after to feel secure, or happy, or significant. Would you even want to see it?

What would that scan reveal for you? Would it show a heart centered on Christ, or a heart pulled in a dozen different directions?

Here’s the thing: you and I don’t need a machine like that, because God already has it. He sees every corner of our hearts with perfect clarity. And what He sees matters deeply. You see, the heart is where worship happens — either true worship of Him, or false worship of something else… an idol.

In Jeremiah 2, God confronts His people with what He saw in their hearts. They had traded Him — the fountain of living water — for broken cisterns (buckets) that couldn’t even hold water. And if we’re honest, we’ve all done the same thing.

So let’s see what God’s Word says about the scan of our hearts. In Jeremiah 2, God shows His people what’s really going on inside and where they are really looking in to to feel fulfilled.

Jeremiah 2:10–13 ESV

For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Let me explain what’s happening here. God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah because His people had abandoned true worship. For decades they were in spiritual decline under King Manasseh, who led Judah into idolatry for 55 years. Then Josiah became king at only eight years old. In time, Josiah discovered the book of the law and began sweeping reforms. Jeremiah 2 comes in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

Jeremiah had a gift: he expressed theological truth in vivid pictures. Here, he paints a courtroom scene. God brings an accusation against His people — but He also invites them to examine it for themselves. From east to west, no nation abandoned its gods, even though they were false. Nations might add new gods, but they would never forsake the old ones. Yet Judah did the unthinkable: they traded the glory of the one true God for worthless idols.

Do you hear God’s heartbreak? “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and they have dug out broken cisterns that can’t hold water.”

Listen, if you forget everything else today, remember this: Our hearts are always worshiping something. If it’s not Christ, it will be an idol that leaves us empty.

That’s the story of the human heart. Left on its own, it doesn’t run toward God — it drifts away from Him. And when it drifts, it always drifts toward idols.

That’s our first truth today:

1. The Heart’s Drift Toward Idols

Jeremiah paints the picture: God’s people ignored the fountain of living water for cracked vessels that couldn’t hold a drop. Imagine trading a running spring for a broken cup. That’s idolatry.

And here’s the problem: idolatry is not a fringe issue. It’s not something you deal with “if you ever get around to it.” It’s central. It drives everything else in life.

What Jeremiah wrote to Judah in 627 BC could just as easily be written to the church today—even to our church right here in Leaf River. Every one of us struggles with idolatry. We run after things that cannot satisfy: pornography, possessions, careers, relationships. And when we pursue them, we abandon the only One who can satisfy.

God’s people traded the fountain of living water for vessels that were cracked and could not hold water. Imagine trading arunning water hose because you found a broken cup…that’s what’s going on here.

Brad Bigney put it like this: “Gospel drift away from your Savior is what kick-starts idolatry and throws it into gear, because we were made to worship — so we will worship something. If not Jesus, then something else.”

That’s exactly how the drift happens. You begin your Christian walk devoted to Christ, but slowly other things, life—work—family, crowd Him out. The heart — which Scripture says is deceitfully wicked — drifts toward idols.

The same concern Jeremiah had for Judah, Paul later expressed for Corinth…

2 Corinthians 11:2–3 ESV

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

So let me ask: where are you going for life, peace, or security? What is your “broken cup” that you keep trying to fill, even though it never works?

Now, if idolatry is just a random side issue, we could shrug it off. But the Bible shows us it’s not just a fringe problem — it’s at the very core of our spiritual lives. Which leads us to our second truth…

2. The Danger of Gospel Drift

In Corinth, Paul pictured four figures: himself as a spiritual father, the believers as a bride, Christ as the bridegroom, and the serpent as the deceiver. Just as Eve was led astray in Eden, Paul says that Christians can be led astray from pure devotion to Christ.

Here’s the truth: Idols thrive where devotion to Christ weakens. When you neglect the gospel — when you treat it as something only for Sundays — idols grow strong.

Author Milton Vincent reminds us of the need to rehearse the gospel daily: God created a perfect world; man sinned, separating himself from God; Christ came to bridge that gap by dying for sinners; He rose again beating sin death hell and the grave, and one day He will return to judge. Those who submit to Him will live with Him forever, and those who refuse will face eternal torment. That gospel truth must never drift to the background…you must rehearse that truth every day.

So what distracts you from daily devotion? What fills your mind first thing in the morning, or keeps you up at night? That’s often where drift begins.

If idols thrive when devotion to Christ weakens, it’s no wonder they’re so hard to detect. Which brings us to the third truth: idols don’t come in the front door of your heart….they sneak in. That’s…

3. The Deceptive Power of Idols

David Powlison once wrote,” Idolatry is by far the most frequently discussed problem in the Scriptures… the relevance of massive chunks of Scripture hangs on our understanding of idolatry.”

The problem is, idols don’t operate out in the open. They slip in unnoticed, they settle into the depths of your heart. Your heart convinces you it’s no big deal. But listen to what God says:

Jeremiah 17:9–10 ESV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Trusting your heart is the worst advice you can follow. Instead, trust Scripture and bring your heart into alignment with it. Idolatry is the sin beneath the sin. It is the hub that drives the spokes of our behaviors.

Think of a bicycle wheel: the hub at the center drives the spokes. Likewise, what you worship at the center of your heart shapes everything else in your life. So when you are in the throws of sin, don’t ask: “What am I doing wrong?” ask, “What am I worshiping at the center of this?” “What does my heart want?”

And here’s why that matters so much: idols don’t just stay hidden. They start leaking out into your relationships with people and with God. That’s…

4. The Devastation Idols Cause

The reality is that idolatry doesn’t just damage your walk with God. It warps every human relationship around you.

Romans 1:21–23 ESV

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things…

Romans 1:25 ESV

because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Let me say this again…They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.

Idols place crushing demands on others that only God can fulfill. Husbands expect wives to meet needs they cannot meet. Wives look to husbands for what only God can give. Parents place ultimate hope in children. People turn to wealth, pornography, or addiction. None of it can satisfy.

God Himself says:

Isaiah 42:8 ESV

I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

God loves you too much to bless your idols. He will let them crumble until you see that nothing else is worthy of worship.

So…where do you feel bitterness, disappointment, or strained relationships? Maybe those emotions are simply a symptom of misplaced worship?

What is an idol though? I’m going to go with the definition given by Brad Bigney is his book, “Gospel Treason”.

“An idol is ANYTHING or anyone that begins to CAPTURE our HEARTS and MINDS and  AFFECTIONS more than God”

Now if idols are this deceptive and this devastating, what hope do we have? The answer isn’t pretending we don’t have idols , because you do— it’s asking God to reveal them. And that’s exactly where He leads us this morning, to…

5. A Call to Examine Our Hearts

John ends his first letter with this simple but urgent warning:

1 John 5:21 ESV

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

So what do we do? Well, for one, we don’t ignore this. We ask God to reveal what He already sees. We ask Him to search our hearts and expose what has taken His place.

Remember: Our hearts are always worshiping something. If it’s not Christ, it will be an idol that leaves us empty.

David prayed this way:

Psalm 139:23–24 ESV

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Listen, our prayer as a church must echo David’s prayer: Not once, but continually: “Search me, O God, and know my heart…”Show me where I’ve traded You for something less.

I’ll read this again this morning and I’m going to ask you to repeat this to God as a quiet prayer.

Psalm 139:23–24 ESV

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

We live in a broken world full of violence, hatred, and sin. When we see tragedies — whether mass shootings, political unrest, or war — we’re reminded that sin always runs deeper than the surface. John Piper once said: “Sin is what we do when we’re not satisfied in God.” That’s true of the world, and it’s true of us.

Folks, we talked earlier about the horrific assassination of political activist and faithful christian apologist Charlie Kirk this past Wednesday. This event, along with the shooting in Colorado, and the brutal attack of a young Ukrainian refugee whose terrified face I cannot get out of my head, reminds us that we live in a broken world where sin runs deep.

But here’s the good news: Jesus Christ came not only to expose our idols but to replace them with Himself. He is the fountain of living waters. He is the One who satisfies our thirsty hearts.

The urgency is real: idolatry destroys. But our hope is greater: the gospel restores. The same Lord who said in Jeremiah, “Return to Me”, is pleading with you today.

Don’t walk away carrying a broken cistern when the fountain of living waters is being offered to you in Christ.

Church, the gospel is not just good news for the world “out there.” It’s good news for your heart today. The Lord is inviting you to lay down your idols and come to Him, the fountain of living waters.

So as we close, let’s make David’s prayer in Psalm 139 our own. Invite God to search your heart, expose your idols, and lead you back to Christ — your only hope.

Let’s pray

Father, This morning we confess before You that our hearts are restless and so often wander from You. Too easily we trade the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns that cannot satisfy. Too easily we set our affections on created things rather than the Creator. Forgive us, Lord.

But we thank You for the gospel — that Jesus Christ came not only to expose our idols, but to bear the penalty for them on the cross. We thank You that in Him there is living water, free and overflowing, for thirsty sinners like us.

So now we pray with David: Search us, O God, and know our hearts; try us and know our thoughts; and see if there be any grievous way in us, and lead us in the way everlasting. Expose what we cling to more than You, and by Your Spirit, draw us back to Christ, our only hope and our greatest treasure.

And as we leave this place, Lord, let us not only hear Your Word but live it. May our hearts be wholly Yours this week. May our lives point others to the Savior who alone satisfies.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, the fountain of living waters.

Amen.