Guest Speaker: Charles Stevens- Gideons International

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Introduction: North of Atlanta there's an intersection where two major highways come together: I-285 and I-85. This monstrosity of twentieth century engineering spans several miles and includes a glut of overpasses and exit ramps. Even if you've driven over, under, and through the interchanges hundreds of times, you still have to pay attention or you'll start veering off course.

Years ago when the interchange first opened, a local radio station held a contest to nickname the massive tangle of concrete and steel. The name that stuck was "Spaghetti Junction." When you look at it from the sky, the name is certainly fitting. (Show image for "Spaghetti Junction" in Atlanta.) It's actually a very efficient traffic hub—unless you happen to be passing through between 4:00-6:00 P.M. During this time of the day, Spaghetti Junction becomes a multilane parking lot. Everything comes to a standstill. All hopes of being home for dinner, early for a ballgame, or on time for a meeting are dashed.

Just about everyone in the Atlanta metropolitan area has, at one time or another, driven into Spaghetti Junction with a smile on their face and a song in their heart only to find themselves driving out an hour later with vision of selling everything they own and moving to the country. The good news is that everyone eventually makes it out. The bad news is that, few people come out with the same attitude they went in with.

Your heart is a hub like Spaghetti Junction. Everything we experience in life gets channeled through our hearts, and unfortunately our negative experiences have a tendency to get stuck there.

Last week we asked the question, “Who do you trust?” This week we continue with that question as we look at the heart.

Read: Jeremiah 17:9-13

Explanation: We are discussing something that I believe is very much contrary to our societal norm. Our society teaches that the best way to live this life is to trust what’s in you heart. Marriage not going well? What does your heart tell you? The problem is that Jeremiah makes it clear that following the heart is not a good idea. There is nothing in the world that is more deceitful than the human heart. Our hearts are not naturally inclined toward God. Our hearts are naturally opposed to God. Just like the nation of Judah in Jeremiah’s day, we too have a tendency of placing too much trust in our hearts. When you follow the heart completely, then you will soon realize just how deceitful it really is. However, we have to keep in mind that there is good news. The good news is that...

Application:

God Can Change Your Heart

The Jewish people had a longstanding tendency to trust in themselves. They made it a practice and no matter what happened as a consequence, like wandering in the desert for 40 years, they never seemed to change. Why? Because they did not have the strength to make the change.

Your heart will remain deceitful until Jesus takes control. What is inside you truly matters. What usually happens to those who trust in themselves or follow their own heart according to verses 11-13 are things like greed and the willingness to forsake the Lord. You see, even with Jesus, our old nature still tries and creep into our lives again. That is why to fully trust the heart as a Christian is not something we should do. Our heart and our mind need to connect. What God promises should hold just as much if not more water than your feelings.

Who you are on the outside is a reflection of what’s inside. I want to remind you of Proverbs 4:23,

Proverbs 4:23 ESV

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Think about it this way: BOTTLE OF WATER ILLUSTRATION. Why did water come out of this bottle? Unless I were to alter the water somehow, your not going to see grape juice or coffee come out of this bottle. The truth is, there is water on the floor because there is water in the bottle. Similarly, Jesus said in Luke 6:45,

Luke 6:45 ESV

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

What's inside us determines what comes out of us. Of the heart Matthew Henry said, “It cheats men into their own ruin; and this will be the aggravation of it, that they are self-deceivers, self-destroyers.” - Matthew Henry

There is a way to make your heart right. There is a cure for the wickedness and deceit that runs rampant in your heart. His name is Jesus. He is the best chance that we have. He is the only chance that we have.

Conclusion: Church, we must stop falling into the trap of trusting our own hearts. Our trust and our hope must be in Jesus. He has given us His Word that we may have answers, that His very words would challenge us. His word is filled with promises that do not require his children to follow their feelings to believe and understand them. It’s time we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. So, again, Who do you trust? You have to decide.

Pray