Untitled Sermon (3)

HEART TROUBLE

Jeremiah 17:9

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Our text gives us the answer to a lot of problems in society. If we used this text to address the problems of society we would know some important answers about why society is what it is.

FIRST—THE PLACE OF THE PROBLEM

“The heart.” Men prefer to think it is the head or the house that causes so much trouble in society, so it pushes education and urban renewal. But education without God is degradation and urban renewal without the Lord is the same old anti-Gospel philosophy that says we do not need a new berth, but a new birth. (Genesis 3 proves that idea true). Men’s basic problem is heart trouble. We recognize that truth physically but we certainly do not recognize it spiritually. When the heart is bad the man is physically in trouble and when the spiritual heart is bad, the man is in big trouble with God. The Gospel is aimed at the heart of man. Jesus came to earth to die on the cross so He could give us a new heart (Ephesians 3:17; Ezekiel 36:26). Salvation gives man a new and a clean heart. Salvation focuses on the heart on man, not on the head or house of man.

SECOND—THE PARTICULARS OF THE PROBLEM

“Deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Our text gives us two problems about the heart which prompts much sin.

• Deceitful. The heart of man is crooked, and speaks lies. It lies like the rug on the ground. It is the car salesman, for it does not tell the truth. It is skilled and clever at this deception (“above all things.”) So it is really good at being deceitful.

• Defiled. “Desperately wicked.” Not just wicked but very wicked. The words mean incurable. The heart is sin-sick and men cannot heal it. It is incurable. But Jesus Christ can cleanse the heart and heal it by his shed blood (1 John 1:7). “Desperately wicked” is a good description of many people today. They are dedicated to doing evil. Hollywood is constantly inventing ways of doing evil then filming it for the vile food for the hearts that love it.

THIRD—THE PRODUCT OF THE PROBLEM

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Do you ever wonder why we have so much crime, why our schools embrace evolution instead of creation by God, why people get drunk, do drugs, are immoral, divorce? It is because the heart of man is bad. It is not because he needs a new house or a head filled with more facts but he needs a heart with Christ in it.

FOURTH—THE PERPLEXITY OF THE PROBLEM

“Who can know it?” A bad heart has an advantage over man because men cannot see what is in the heart of man. But the next verse answers this question. The answer is God. God knows the heart of men and knows all about men. Not repenting of sin only hurts the sinner.