The Heart of the Matter
Notes
Transcript
My Only Problem — My Wicked Heart
My Only Problem — My Wicked Heart
Intro:
Intro:
By way of introduction, I’d like everyone to make a list. Write down every “problem” that you’re currently facing. (Problem: a source of perplexity, distress, or vexation; a situation, matter, or person that is hard to deal with or understand; a question to be considered, solved, or answered.)
Now, we’re going to make another list; well, actually, it’s not a list at all—it’s one item. In big letters at the top of your notes, write “MY ONLY PROBLEM.”
I’ve got news for you tonight. I know you made a list, perhaps a long one, of “problems” in your life. But the truth is, you only have one true problem. There’s just one thing that is messing up your life right now.
No, I’m not saying that there aren’t legitimate struggles in your life; I’m not saying that the trials & difficulties you’re facing are fake.
Note: This is not to say that all the difficulties you’re facing are your fault. Nor am I suggesting that, if you’ve been abused or treated criminally, that you should just “get over it.” Abuse must be taken to the authorities. We also need to work to resolve conflicts, communicate our hurts and offences with other people, etc. (Matthew 18). I am not advocating a “sweep-everything-under-the rug” approach to life.
I’m sure most of you listed very real problems that fall into one of the four “noun” categories...
Person — relationships
Place (includes circumstances) — a certain class at school, a circumstance at home (e.g. you don’t like the food or the house is too crowded)
Thing — any personal struggle (e.g. bad habits)
Idea — something that’s causing you to worry
Perhaps you have something in every category.
Now, circle every problem that is outside of your control (there’s nothing you can do to change it or fix it).
Now, circle every problem that is within your control to change or fix.
Now, what is the common denominator of all these problems—the one thing that they all have in common? YOU
You are the common denominator of all these problems. Whether it’s a circumstance that is outside of your control or it’s a problem that you can fix, YOU are involved in every single situation that you listed. So, at the top of your notes, after the words “MY ONLY PROBLEM,” please write, “= ME.”
So, before we move on, you’ve got to understand...
All those “problems” you listed—they’re not your real problem.
Circumstances that are outside your control—God doesn’t expect you to fix those kind of problems, so what’s the use of fixating on them? They just steal your energy & your joy.
People that drive you crazy or make you mad? You can’t change them, so what’s the use of complaining about them?
Problems that you can fix? You are the only thing in the way of fixing the problem!
Quit fixating on circumstances outside of your control. Quit complaining about how people treat you. Quit griping about difficulties you’re dealing with. And deal with your only real problem — YOU.
But it goes deeper than that. If you are your only real problem, then we need to get to the bottom of who you really are. We need to get to the core of who you are—the part of you that desires things & makes choices, the source of everything you think, say, and do. That is at the root of all your problems. The Bible calls it your heart. (In the Bible, heart includes your mind, emotions, will.)
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
WHEN YOU STAND BEFORE GOD, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO ANSWER TO HIM FOR ALL THE PROBLEMATIC CIRCUMSTANCES YOU FACED, OR THE PEOPLE WHO ANNOYED OR HURT YOU, OR FOR WHAT KIND OF PERSON OTHER PEOPLE THOUGHT YOU WERE. YOU WILL ANSWER TO GOD FOR THE STATE OF YOUR HEART. THIS IS WHY YOUR HEART IS YOUR ONLY REAL PROBLEM.
Let me show you in Jeremiah 17.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Who can solve the mystery of the human heart, which is bent on evil?
I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
God knows our hearts and judges us according to what our hearts lead us to do.
And the context of these verses shows us the major sins that all human beings struggle with—idolatry (especially in chapter 16) and self-will.
Idolatry: making anything other than God the most important thing in our hearts.
Self-will: choosing what I want over what God wants.
These sins go all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Right there, we see how God judges.
Notice that phrase “whose heart departeth from the LORD.” You know that every one of us is born away from God?
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
The New Testament tells us more...
Says that God will “make manifest” what is in our hearts and judge us accordingly.
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
What does God’s judgment look like?
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
So what’s the solution?
Can we fix our own hearts? Nope, we can’t even figure them out, much less fix them.
What about changing our behaviour? Fixing our bad habits? Nope, that won’t work either. In fact, the verse we just read in Jeremiah says, “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.”
The type of righteousness (goodness) that God expects cannot come from our natural human heart, which is deceitful & wicked.
Now you might think, My heart isn’t all that bad. Actually, I’m a really nice person. Well, I’ve got to tell you—your heart is doing a good job of deceiving you. And God knows every bad thought that has ever gone through your mind. (Lust, pride, jealousy, anger, rebellion)
The Only Solution — Jesus
The Only Solution — Jesus