[0:00] All right. Oh, yeah. That's working. Amen. Take your Bible, turn to Jeremiah. As he said, I am from California, and that's always been a mark against me, especially when I went to Bible college in Florida.
[0:15] Florida, and I was a new electrician, and I worked on the job sites out there in Florida, and I mean, the way they work and the way they do things is, like, really different than city life, I guess.
[0:32] And so I would get there on the job, and they would say something like, go get me the bump gun. And I would say, a bump gun? What's a bump gun? I don't know. Oh, you mean a rotary hammer. He's talking about a rotary hammer.
[0:45] And then we'd do things a little different, and I would say, hey, you know, guys, it would be better if we do it like this, you know. Don't tell me, don't give me your city ways, you know. They would tell you that.
[0:55] So that's the California thing, you know, when you're moving around. But thank God the Lord Jesus Christ found me in Los Angeles. Amen.
[1:07] And I was seven years old, 1977. So that's the jackpot right there. Seven years old in Sunday school. I was sitting right about there in junior church.
[1:18] They called it junior church. And the preacher was preaching, and he was preaching about hell. And he was not making any excuses, nothing. He wasn't making it pretty.
[1:30] He was preaching hell hot, you know. And my eyeballs were about this big, and I decided while he was preaching, I said, Lord, I want to be saved.
[1:40] I don't want to go to hell. I was scared. And so I went forward during the invitation, and they took us out in a little yard, you know, like that over there in the grass, about four or five of us, explained salvation.
[1:53] And I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart at seven years old. And it took. And, yeah, I had some doubts as I went along, you know. That's natural. But I knew I got saved that day when I asked Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior in 1977.
[2:10] So I've been saved. I got saved in Los Angeles. Church called Gethsemane Baptist Church. I don't know if you've ever been there. It's in Long Beach now. But it's a good church. And God has been a real guiding light, as he says in his word, you know.
[2:28] He's a lamp unto our feet. He's been a real guiding light. He's guided me in a lot of things. And, boy, I have some stories about life and about Christians and about...
[2:38] I've been in church since I was a little kid. My dad's a pastor. And we have some stories. But I'll tell you what. It's great. It's great. Being in church is great. I love it.
[2:49] I fell in love with it. I don't know how some of these young kids, they end up hating it and running away. And, you know, that happens. I understand. I get it. You know, I understand. But, man, I fell in love with it.
[3:00] I don't know what happened, how the Lord let me fall that way. But I'm glad he did. I love church. And I love the Christian people. And I love the word of God. Just fell in love with Jesus.
[3:11] Amen. And if I could tell you anything this morning, just fall in love with Jesus. You know, there's nothing wrong with him. One of the best sermons I ever heard was, I find no fault in him.
[3:24] Someone preached a sermon about that. And, boy, that's true. You can't find any fault in Jesus Christ. He's worthy to follow. He's worthy to live your life for.
[3:35] He's worthy to put your emotions into. Everything that you can think of. He's worthy. And so this morning what we're talking about is the heart. And it's kind of a topical sermon, a lesson this morning.
[3:48] But the Bible says a lot of things about the heart. And the heart is the core of the matter. The very value of you is your heart. It's a...
[3:58] We call it the ticker. It just keeps ticking. And I was thinking about that heart. It's funny how the heart beats about... It beats about 60 times a minute.
[4:10] That's about... That's a good heart rate. And 60 times a minute is what? Well, that's a second, right? Every second, a heartbeat. Every second, a heartbeat. And then you get...
[4:22] You get... When it gets quiet, you know, and you're just somewhere by yourself. And everybody's quiet. And there's no sirens and no traffic. What do you hear sometimes?
[4:34] Especially if you have high blood pressure. You hear the background sound of life. It's... Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
[4:45] Have you ever gone to an ultrasound? And they're trying to find a little baby, you know, and listen to the little baby's heartbeat. And they put that speaker on there. You don't hear it.
[4:55] And then all of a sudden... You can hear the... You can hear that baby's heartbeat. Boom. Boom. That means there's a life. There's life in there. That's the core value. That's the first thing that you need to take care of in your life to have a good life.
[5:10] To have the right life. Is your heart. But... So we look at Jeremiah. Look at Jeremiah chapter 17. We'll do a little quick heart checkup. Jeremiah chapter 17.
[5:23] And we'll try not to read verse 9 because I'm trying to be nice this morning. But we'll read verse 10. How's that? Jeremiah 17 verse 10.
[5:38] I, the Lord... And so the Lord's giving you a message here. He says, I, the Lord... Search the heart. I try the reins.
[5:48] Even to give every man according to his ways. And according to the fruit of his doings. I, the Lord, search the heart. Lord Jesus, we give you thanks, Lord, for this many...
[5:59] The blessings that are represented here today, Lord. The song we sing says, Count Your Blessings. Name them one by one. Lord, we want to count our blessings this morning.
[6:09] We thank you for the blessings that you've given us. Thank you that we have a God that hears our prayers, Lord. Thank you that we have a God that answers prayers. Lord, you've answered many prayers in our lives.
[6:21] And we thank you for that. We don't want to take it for granted. We want to give you thanks. We want to bring our hearts of praise to you today, Lord. And lift up our hands to praise to you, Lord Jesus. And lift up the name of Jesus Christ today.
[6:34] Pray that you put these lessons deep in our heart. Your scripture deep in our heart, Lord. Where it can emanate for all of our life, Lord. That we can diligently think upon your statutes and teach them to others.
[6:49] In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. All right. So, a heart checkup. Some of my favorite verses. Keep your finger there in Jeremiah. We'll probably go back there a little bit.
[7:00] But go to Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 23. And these are just my favorite verses about the heart. They're not really a part of the sermon. But I made them part of the sermon because I like them. Proverbs chapter 4.
[7:13] Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 23. And we'll look around at some scriptures this morning. Amen. Proverbs 4 verse 23 says, Keep thy heart with all diligence.
[7:25] For out of it are the issues of life. Have you ever had anybody tell you you have issues? You got issues, man. I've heard people say that. But out of it, the Bible says, Keep thy heart with all diligence.
[7:39] So, I'm going to ask you this morning. Have you been diligent about keeping your heart? What does diligent mean? Well, it means you're very concerned about it. That you focus on it.
[7:51] That you think about it. That you give it time. Every day, I would think. Diligence is every day, right? So, you want to think about your heart. And what's it thinking about?
[8:03] What's it doing? Look at Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13 and verse 22. God is interested in a heart. And I see here that, I see in some scripture that God actually has a heart.
[8:19] Acts 13, 22. Some people will say, Hey, you have no heart, man. But we serve a God that has a heart. Verse 22. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king.
[8:32] To whom also he gave testimony. Man, God gave a testimony about David. And said, I have found David, the son of Jesse. A man after my own heart.
[8:45] Which shall fulfill all my will. A man after my own heart. That's a good testimony right there. I wonder what kind of testimony God can have about you.
[8:57] He says, I found King David, a man after my own heart. What's in the heart of God? Have you ever considered it? Have you ever thought about it? Have you been diligent about it?
[9:09] But whatever was in the heart of God, David was after it. David was after it. That's what made him so special. That's what God liked about David.
[9:20] And the Bible says that God considers the heart. God considers the heart. Man looks on the outward appearance. And we do. But God considers the heart.
[9:31] So it is good to have a good outward appearance. Because man looks on it. But you want to fix, you want to get inside of that garden of your heart. And tend to your heart.
[9:41] And make sure, keep it diligently. For out of it are the issues of life. And God is concerned about your heart. He fell in love with David because, there's a man after my own heart.
[9:52] And there was a lot, there was a lot going on there. So he, he gave that good testimony about David. So I'll ask you this morning, what about your heart? Look at Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8. Heart checkup.
[10:04] Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8. Here's another one. Here's another great man of God. Daniel.
[10:14] I mean, he mixed it up pretty good. Amen. He, he, he got a hold of, he got a hold of something. Man, he had a great spirit. And he was able to interpret dreams.
[10:27] And, and, and prophesy times. And, the, the key to the book of Daniel, the key to the book of Revelation is found in Daniel. And so, God, found Daniel, God gave Daniel a, a good spirit and a very, a lot of good wisdom to write these things down.
[10:47] A great book and would unlock another book, the book of Revelation, who God gave to John, who, who John was close to, to Jesus Christ. So, Daniel, Daniel chapter 1.
[10:59] And these are just my favorite verses about that. Daniel chapter 1 and verse 8 says, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank.
[11:15] Therefore, he requested of the princes of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. So, first of all, we look, we saw David, and David was a man after God's own heart.
[11:27] And I will ask you the question, what are you after? What are you after? That means, what do you follow? What are you trying to get?
[11:39] What are you trying to accomplish in your life? Have you been diligent to think about it? What are you after? God was, God loved David because David was after God. And, and, and David's a neat guy.
[11:50] He becomes a warrior, but he's a psalmist. He's a poet. He's a poet that could wield a sword. That's pretty neat. And he's a man after God's heart. And the Bible says that God is a man of war.
[12:03] So, so, so David was a neat guy. And then you got Daniel here, and he purposes in his heart that he would not defile himself. And so that's another question I'll put to you.
[12:14] What do you purpose in your heart? And we live in a day, a day and age of internet and, and mass multimedia and all the things in this world.
[12:28] TV was, TV we thought was bad enough. Then they bumped it up a whole nother level with that little device. That little device that we have that we hold, that we watch and look at every day.
[12:39] I mean, it's, it's practically your whole life now. Like it's your companion, right? And, and it's full of, it's full of things. It's full of things. It's full of evil things.
[12:51] But you have to, you have to keep your heart clean. Amen. So let's see. We're saying Daniel purposed in his heart to not defile himself. Amen. That's a good example.
[13:03] All right. Let's go. let's think about some things about the heart. The, the, the, the, the neat thing I like about the heart is it's in your chest, right?
[13:14] So the heart is in a chest. And where we put treasure, we put treasure in a chest. The brain, I think a lot of people make a big deal out of the brain. Because you could think, you could calculate, you can, you could figure out how much money you have, you know, all those things with the brain.
[13:31] But it's in a skull. It's in a skull. And what's a skull? The skull is a type of death, right? And the, and the Bible says to not, to not to walk in the vanity of your mind.
[13:43] But he says to keep your heart with all diligence. Your heart is in the chest. And the Bible talks about the chambers of the heart. Pretty neat. And the Bible says about the blood.
[13:54] It says the life of the flesh is in the blood. The brain is calculating electricity. And, and, and making electrical impulses to your veins. And calculating stuff all the time.
[14:07] And thinking ahead. But your heart is constantly swishing something. Your heart, your heart is constantly swishing the blood. It's bathed in blood. All day. And the Bible says the life of the flesh is in the blood.
[14:20] And we considered, I think we considered a brain more of, we think of, with it, where it's our light, you know, it's, it's, it's what we think about, think with. But the, the, the, heart has your blood swishing through it.
[14:34] And I, I don't know, I don't know a whole lot about it. But I know it's handling your life all day. And sometimes, like, when you feel heartbroken, we say, when you feel heartbroken, have you ever felt it in your heart?
[14:46] Like, something happens in your life, or someone breaks up with you, or something like that. And you could feel that heart, or, or something really, like, like you get some real bad news, or something, and you could just feel your heart drop.
[14:58] You know, I don't know what that is. I don't, I have no idea what that is. But there's something there. You know, it's doing something. It's a, it's a, it's a very important part of you.
[15:10] And you have to be diligent to keep your heart. Here's some men who, who focused on something. They, they set their heart upon something, and they went after it.
[15:23] Here's Michelangelo. Michelangelo was asked why he had such a solitary life. He said, art, replied the great artist, is a jealous God. It requires the whole, an entire man.
[15:36] During his mighty labor in the Sistine Chapel, he refused to have any communication with any person, even at his own house. And here's a guy who was into art, and he set that in his heart.
[15:51] Michelangelo. And he, he, he made it a great painting on the Sistine Chapel. And that's good. That's good. That's great. He set his heart upon something. And he's popular. We still talk about him to this day and age.
[16:03] You know who Michelangelo is. Why? Because he set his heart on something. I wish there would be some Christians that would do that. I wish there would be some Christians that would set themselves on fire for God, you know, and be diligent and say, hey, I'm going to go after this thing.
[16:18] I'm going to go after Christianity. Christianity. And maybe it seems a little odd to me. Maybe it seems a little odd to the world. It's foolishness, the Bible says, to the world. But I'm going to put it in my heart, and I'm going to cultivate a love for Jesus Christ.
[16:32] And I'm not going to let anything get in my way. I'm not going to let anything block me. I'm going to be like that guy, Michelangelo. He, he wouldn't even communicate while he was doing his art.
[16:43] He knew. He got it. He understood. If I'm going to do this thing, I'm going to do it right, and I have to do it right. And I'm not saying not to communicate to anybody, but he set it as a focus.
[16:54] He was determined. Like Daniel. Daniel purposed in his heart. If you don't have a purpose, if you don't diligently determine something in your heart, then if you don't stand for something, then you'll fall for everything.
[17:08] There's a saying. Here's McCormick, and he was the father of mechanical reaper or something like that. Farming, right? McCormick, McCormick was the father, sorry, McCormick's father was a mechanical genius and invented many farm devices, but he became the laughing stock of the community.
[17:35] Hey, there we go. On account of his failures. In spite of that, young McCormick took up the old machine, and after years of experiment and labor, finally succeeded in constructing a reaper which could cut grain.
[17:52] But even then, jealous opposition prevented it from being used. And it was only after years of labor to introduce it and his personal guarantee to each purchaser that it would harvest the crop that he succeeded.
[18:09] It took him a long time. There was a lot of many failures along the way, but he purposed in his heart, and he got it out, and they still use that reaper to this day. Here's Charles Goodyear.
[18:20] He was repeatedly imprisoned for debt while developing his inventions, and perfected one while in jail. After years of patient toil attended by visions of wealth and the vicissitude of poverty, he discovered the process.
[18:36] Here we go. Real exciting. He discovered the process of vulcanizing rubber. Great. He could not convince anyone outside of his family of the value of his discovery, and it was two years before he could seizure the money to perfect his invention.
[18:56] He went after this vulcanizing rubber, and nobody could care less about that. But even now, we run on these tires all over the place, and they're not popping like crazy.
[19:07] Some of them are, but man, they endure a lot of, especially when you go through those drive-thrus and those curbs are there, you know, they endure a lot of harsh wear and tear.
[19:19] This guy figured out how to vulcanize rubber, and he set his heart on it. So I'm going to ask you today, Christian, what have you set your heart on? These men all had their hearts fixed on something.
[19:32] Some money, some fame, some clearing their name, some proving that they were right. What's your heart set on? Oh, Jeremiah 17 says God searches the heart.
[19:46] We read that, right? God searches the heart. He's concerned about it. Why aren't you? And I hope that you are. Somebody's searching the heart.
[19:58] Who is it? It's the Lord. Whose heart gets searched? If you look back at that verse in Jeremiah 17, 10, he says, to give every man according to his ways.
[20:08] He's going to search every heart in here. He knows the corners of your heart. He knows the chambers of your heart. We try to hide things in our heart. We try to hide things in our heart. Mary did that, right?
[20:20] She put things in her heart. We try to hide things in our heart. We know the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ said, I stand at the heart's door and I knock. If any man will hear my voice and open, I will come in and sup with him and he with me.
[20:34] You want fellowship with Jesus Christ? Tend to your heart. Tend to your heart. Let's see. Let's go to Job chapter 31.
[20:45] Job chapter 31. And we're going to see here, a deceived heart. A deceived heart. Job. We're going to just look at a few different kinds of hearts and maybe you can consider it and go, hey, that's maybe that I identify with that right there.
[21:01] And if you identify it, that's good. That's a good thing. The Bible is like a mirror. You look in the mirror. What do you do when you look in the mirror? Well, you clean something off your face.
[21:12] You know, hey, nobody told me that was there. You know, you clean it off or you do the things that you need to do to be presentable. Job chapter 31 and verse 9.
[21:25] Job chapter 31 and verse 9 says this. Then let us... Sorry. If my heart have been deceived by a woman or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door.
[21:37] He says, if my heart had been what? If my heart had been deceived. So we see here that there's a deceived heart. Go to Isaiah. Go to Isaiah chapter 44.
[21:49] He said, if my heart be deceived by a woman. He said that there's reasons. There's ways that your heart can get deceived. And as I look around, as I talk to people, you try to talk to people about the Lord.
[22:02] And I know Richard got a good opportunity the other day to talk to some of his workers. But you're going to see that people's hearts are deceived. There's junk. There's a lot of junk.
[22:13] There's a lot of things in the way. And Job says, if my heart is deceived, that's not a good thing. And so you might consider yourself today. It's hard to see when your heart is deceived.
[22:25] The Bible says the heart is wicked. And it says it gets deceived. So maybe if your heart is deceived, maybe you need someone to tell you that. Maybe you can't see it for some reason.
[22:38] But Job said, if my heart is deceived, he wants to know. And God searches the heart. And God will show you that. Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah chapter 44 and verse 20.
[22:49] Isaiah 44 and verse 20 says this. He feedeth on ashes. Doesn't sound like a good meal. He feedeth on ashes. A deceived heart hath turned him aside.
[23:02] That he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, is there not lie in my right hand? If your heart gets deceived, it's going to turn you aside. And I hope that doesn't happen.
[23:14] I hope that you stay determined. I hope that you're here in church and you've set your focus and you've set your mind to do something for the Lord, to minister for the Lord.
[23:26] There's a lot of ways to minister in a church. And it's a blessing to be able to have a ministry. Song leading, playing the piano, soul winning, teaching Sunday school, nursery, all kinds of ministries.
[23:42] You should have, if you're an adult Christian, a mature Christian, you should have some ministry you have your hand part of or your heart part of. Amen. But he says here, if I'm a deceived heart, it'll turn me away and I won't care.
[23:57] I won't really care about anything. And so maybe if you feel like, I don't really care. I don't really care what's going on. Well, maybe you have a deceived heart. You've got to find out what it is that deceived you, what it is that took you off the track and go back.
[24:11] Amen. Back to Bethel. Go on back. Sometimes you've got to go backwards and get that altar and get to the altar and build an altar and it's a smoke that goes up before God.
[24:22] It's like prayer. Say, God, will you help me? I have a deceived heart. I need to be helped. Maybe you need to be helped. Even Christians get deceived hearts.
[24:33] Even by so-called Christian things. There's such things as bad Bibles out there. I would have never thought that when I was a kid. Like, all Bibles got to be good. Right?
[24:44] But no, there's some Bibles out there that'll deceive you. They'll throw you off. They have the wrong words. Somebody wrote that Bible just to make some money.
[24:54] They didn't care about the truth of it. William Tyndale, with his last dying breath, he said, pray for the King of Israel. Why? In his heart, William Tyndale was to get the Bible out.
[25:07] He wanted to get the Bible to the commoners and he wanted to get it out in the English language and he built a printing press and he was ready, but they wouldn't let him do it. They killed him for it.
[25:19] And he said, pray for the heart of the King of England. And you know what happened? God put something, God changed the heart of the King of England and we have a Bible now called the King James Bible.
[25:31] Amen? God answered that prayer. God said, but I hope you don't have a deceived heart this morning. I think of a deceived heart and we might think of a lot of examples of people that had a deceived heart.
[25:46] I think of Adolf Hitler, you know, of course. He thought he was doing something, but he was greatly deceived. A deceived heart.
[25:57] He thought, he woke up every morning and he thought, man, I have purpose to my life and things are good. But were things good? No, man. It was not. It was extreme darkness.
[26:08] And so I hope that this morning you're not caught up with a deceived heart. If you are, pray, Lord, please turn the light. Please turn the light on for me. Let's look at another one.
[26:19] Job chapter 36. Job chapter 36. I think a lot of people all around us have deceived hearts. Have you ever tried to, I don't want to get too political, but if you ever talk to people politically, you know, and you try to reason with them and you show them things like very reasonable, a very reasonable point and they'll just bypass that.
[26:43] Or like evolution, you know, and creation. Talk to somebody about evolution and creation and you just show them very obvious, reasonable things like certain things that evolution could not have created, you know, and they'll just, they'll just bypass it and just go on.
[26:58] That's a deceived heart. Job chapter 36. Job chapter 36 and verse 13.
[27:18] And it says here, it says, but the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath. They cry not when he bindeth them.
[27:30] But the hypocrites in heart. And there's here is what we see is a hypocrite, a hypocritical heart. The act of pretending to have a virtue, a belief, or an attitude that one does not actually possess.
[27:49] Hypocrite's heart. A hypocrite's heart tears people and groups up. It's the oldest page in the book of original sin. Someone thinks you're something that you're not.
[28:04] So they rely on you just to find out that you can't toe the mark. You can't do what you said you could do. A hypocrite's heart will gain you nothing. It'll gain you nothing with God and God searches your heart.
[28:16] It'll gain you nothing with God. It'll gain you nothing with eternity. So you might as well get your heart right. Amen. You might as well put it aside. If it's a show, if it's all a show for you and you're hiding a hypocrite's heart, then it's time to put the show away and say, what am I really?
[28:34] What am I really about? And purpose and get the truth. Let the truth emanate with every heartbeat. Let the truth emanate from your heart. Let's go to Psalms chapter 44.
[28:44] We'll look at another one. Psalms chapter 44. Psalms chapter 44. Psalms 44 and verse 21 says this.
[29:03] Shall not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of the heart. And there's a hiding heart. Also turn to Proverbs chapter 24. Proverbs chapter 24.
[29:13] A hiding heart. Is that you? Proverbs 24. Is there something down in there that you're hiding?
[29:25] You think that you're hiding it. But God searches the heart. And God knows what's in there. We can't hide it from God. And it's not, it does you no good to hide it from God.
[29:37] But maybe it hurts. Maybe it's something that hurts. Maybe it's something that you don't want to deal with. Maybe it's something you don't want to admit. But quit hiding it. Amen. Get it out there in the open.
[29:47] Bring it before God. Put it upon its altar. Cast your care before Him. And for He careth for you. Proverbs 24 and verse 12. Proverbs 24 and verse 12.
[29:58] If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not. Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? He ponders your heart. And He considers it.
[30:11] And he that keepeth thy soul doth not he know it? And shall not he render it to every man according to his works? I think this is considered a deceived heart as well.
[30:25] The heart is, the heart is in the chest. And we like to close it up and lock it away. But I would encourage you to open it up to Jesus Christ.
[30:37] He's knocking on your heart's door. In the book of Revelation, He's talking to Christians. He's not talking to lost people. He's saying to the Laodiceans, He's saying, Open your heart's door. That old door, it's hard.
[30:50] He has to knock on that door because it's hardened. And when you open the door to Jesus Christ and you stop hiding things from Him and you open your life up to Jesus Christ, He'll soften it up.
[31:01] And when He softens it up, He could change it. It's like getting on that potter's wheel. Amen. And when you let Jesus Christ in, it's like putting your clay on the potter's wheel and the Lord can deal with your heart.
[31:14] Consider your heart with all diligence. Psalms chapter 66. Psalms chapter 66. That was a hiding heart. Psalm 66 and verse 18. We'll see another one.
[31:26] Psalm 66 and verse 18.
[31:38] If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. You might say, you might have said and you might think in your mind, you might think, I don't think God hears me when I pray.
[31:49] The Bible says, like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Are your prayers going up and they're hitting a ceiling and they're bouncing back down? Well, maybe there's a heart here which regards iniquity.
[32:04] I hope and pray that my heart doesn't regard iniquity. I'd like to cultivate, I have a human heart of flesh and you know what? It goes after, naturally, it goes after that list of fleshy things.
[32:17] You know? You find it in Galatians. You find it in Romans. You find a list of fleshy things and that's not a good list. There's hatred there. There's envy. There's covetousness.
[32:29] There's maliciousness. There's just harboring bitterness. There's lying. There's all those things in the works of the flesh and that's what our hearts will naturally go after.
[32:42] But I want a heart that does not regard iniquity and I think that you have to cultivate a heart like that. Naturally, some people I think naturally have a better spirit than others.
[32:54] I don't know. Some people are just really mischievous. I remember when I was a kid, there were some guys that I didn't even really would like to hang around because I knew they were going to get me into trouble every time I did because they would always come up with their bright ideas and their bright ideas were always mischievous.
[33:12] But some people are a little more prone to those things than others. But what you want to have is you want to have a heart that does not regard iniquity.
[33:24] I don't think it's too hard to regard iniquity because our flesh considers that to be an enjoyable thing. But I think it takes a little work to get that desire out of your heart.
[33:38] Amen. And love righteousness. God said, Be ye holy as I am holy. Why would God say that? Why would God say that? Well, He knows you can be.
[33:50] He knows you can get in the garden of that heart and pull those weeds out. Amen. And get rid of those things. If you're regarding iniquity in your heart, it hinders your prayers. Don't you want your prayers to be answered?
[34:02] I don't know if you do or not, but your prayers need to be answered for your family's sake. For your children's sake. For the things around you.
[34:14] For your church's sake. We need your prayers to be answered. But if your heart is regarding iniquity and it's easy to do this day and age, if your heart is regarding iniquity, then God's not going to hear your prayers.
[34:28] That's what He says. That's what the Bible says. And I believe this is a daily battle for some. It must be. Because we need God to hear us on a daily basis.
[34:38] This says, the Lord will not hear me. I think of someone crying out. No one can hear them. I heard a story about one time two boys, two teenagers went to the desert camping.
[34:56] And they were just going to stay for a night or two. And they parked in a lot and they walked around. Those little hills in the desert are a little deceiving. They're not very high.
[35:07] They're not very tall. So you just walk around them. Then they got lost. But they said, okay, well, the car's around here somewhere. So they set their tents up and everything.
[35:17] And then they thought, okay, it's time to go. They're running out of water and the desert can get treacherous really fast. Really fast. And so they started getting thirsty and they go look for their car.
[35:28] They couldn't find their car. And then they would holler out, help! Somebody! Nothing. Nobody can hear them. Have you ever felt that? Have you ever been lost?
[35:39] Have you ever been lost in the woods and you're hollering out and nobody can hear you? That's how it is when you have a heart that regards iniquity.
[35:51] You'll be hollering out, Lord, I need you. Lord, I need help. Lord, we're in pain. Lord, my son, my child, my mom, my dad. And I'll just be silent.
[36:05] I'll just be silent. Why? Well, maybe you regarded iniquity in your heart. But it's not hard to stop that. Amen? It's not hard to get on your knees and come before the Lord and say, Lord, I'm sorry for this.
[36:17] I'm sorry for this heart's condition. And I need the medicine. What's the medicine that I need? Give it to me, Lord, and put you on track. God is not far away from you.
[36:29] God is close by. Sometimes He does that. He gives you a little silence to get your attention. He's trying to get your attention. And so you could change that heart.
[36:43] Consider your heart with all diligence, the Bible says. And here we go. We have another one. Psalms 95. Look at Psalms 95. Psalms 95.
[36:58] And verse 8. Harden not your heart as in the day of provocation and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. And the children of Israel hardened their heart.
[37:11] And they got in a lot of trouble with God when they did that. They had to walk in the wilderness for 40 years because they were hardening their heart. Proverbs 28.
[37:22] Look at Proverbs 28. And I see that Christians who have been Christians for a long time, a lot of times this is the condition they get in.
[37:38] They get a hardened heart. It's an icy cold heart. Look at Proverbs 28 and verse 14. Proverbs 28 and verse 14 says, Happy is the man that feareth always, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
[37:53] So I guess apparently you could harden your heart. And if you harden your heart, someone comes to you with good news. Someone comes to you with a message. Someone comes around that loves the Bible, but their life is maybe not perfected like yours is.
[38:08] You know, and your heart is hardened and you won't accept what they're saying because your heart is hardened because you don't see what you want to see. And you've set your own little, you've set your own little standards instead of letting the Bible and the Holy Spirit mold you and make you into the Christian that you ought to be.
[38:28] Every time Jesus Christ came into a town and he's seen a group of people, he wasn't judging them like, well, look at their hair. They didn't cut their hair. They didn't comb their hair.
[38:39] They're not wearing the right sandals. They don't have the right, you know, this and that. I never saw that from Jesus Christ. The Bible says when he saw a group of people, he was moved with compassion.
[38:51] Always. Man, I love the Lord. That's great and that's how we should get to. I think we get to a heart and heart where we look at people and we go, ah, they don't fit in like I do or they don't do what I do.
[39:03] Forget about that, man. That's a soul right there. That's a soul that you could possibly influence for the Lord Jesus Christ. But our hearts are so hardened that we don't care anymore.
[39:16] We don't consider that. We don't care anymore about influencing others for Jesus Christ. And I would say if you felt, if you got to that point, today's the day, amen, to put that old hardened crystal rock heart on the altar and ask the Lord to soften it up again.
[39:31] And if anybody can soften it up again, the Lord can soften it up again. The Lord knows your heart. He ponders your heart. You know, like, when I was young, I used to like, I had a little rock collection, very little.
[39:45] It was, there's one wood, piece of wood, it's called petrified wood. And it was wood at one time, but now it's rock. And I liked it. I would just look at it. It was amazing to me.
[39:56] It's like, why does wood turn to rock? And that's how some people's hearts can be. And I would ponder that. I would look at that rock and I would just stare at it. I don't know why, but it's just, it really, it really affected me.
[40:11] Something about it. And that's how God is with your heart. He ponders your heart. He looks at it. Is it a rock or is it a soft, fleshy heart? How are you when it comes time to doing something that takes some spirituality?
[40:29] Do you just do it without any feeling? Because you know how to do it. You know what face to put on. You know how to sing it. You know how to do or is the feeling in your heart?
[40:41] Is it a true, is it a true heart of feeling of worship towards God? Look at Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 17 and we'll wrap it up. Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 17.
[40:54] A heart checkup. I hope you'll consider it. God does. Proverbs 23 verse 17 says, Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
[41:06] This is an easy one. This is easy. It's easy to go out and envy sinners. This happens to the Christian youth. I think that's why we lose them because they go out and they look at sinners and they go, hey, they could do whatever they want.
[41:18] They can go to parties. They could have fun. They could drink and look, there's almost no, they don't have to pay any price and it's not true, but that's how they see it and they start envying sinners.
[41:30] A sinner envy in heart and maybe you got one of those this morning. I hope not because you'll lose your Christianity by envying sinners.
[41:41] David did it at one point. David was envying sinners. He was looking out and he said, there's no band in their death. They go out and they can make money and they have no conscience.
[41:52] They gain from other people and they have no conscience about it and yet they get rich. They get rich. And David was considering that and then he said, it said, until I went into the sanctuary, then he realized, wait a minute, their end is not good.
[42:11] Their end is not good. We have a good thing. Yeah, we have to do without some things in Christianity. That's okay. That's good. That's good for me. I love it.
[42:22] I'm glad I have to do without some things. Why? Because that makes my future that much more sweeter. I'm going to heaven one day and I'm going to have everything that anybody could ever want.
[42:35] There's going to be gold and jewels and riches and beautiful crystal, a beautiful crystal sea and there's going to be purity and there's going to be a government with no corruption that actually really cares about you and there's going to be the Lord Jesus Christ and fellowship with him and no more sin.
[42:54] Amen. I'm not going to care about sin. Whatever I do in heaven is going to be right. It's going to be good and we're going to enjoy fellowship and we'll be reunited with our loved ones and there's a time that's going to be great.
[43:08] So who cares if I have to do without right now? Who cares? I'm going to focus and I'm going to put my heart on the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, lay up treasures in heaven.
[43:20] It's almost a commandment. He said, lay up treasures in heaven where moth and rust doth not corrupt and thieves will not break through and steal. You lay up your treasures here.
[43:31] What happens? They steal it. I hear stories of elderly people answering the phone and thinking they're talking to somebody good and they empty their whole bank account.
[43:43] They give them a little bit of information. All their life, everything they built up, gone. in 10, 20 minutes. That's sad. That's sad. But put your heart upon God.
[43:56] Put your heart upon, lay up your treasures in heaven as Jesus Christ said and don't have a sinner envying heart. Come to the sanctuary and consider the end.
[44:06] Consider your future. Consider your future. You have the best future anybody can ever have as a Christian. And God is guiding us. Do you have a heart?
[44:17] Are you a man who has a heart after God? After God's heart? I hope so. We know that the Bible says in verse 9 in Jeremiah 17 the heart is deceitful above all things.
[44:30] That's why I'm trying to wake you up about it today. The heart is deceitful above all things. What does that mean? Above all things. And desperately wicked. Who can know it?
[44:42] Oh man. Believe it or not your heart can fool your brain. That's why we need to put it on the altar of the Lord. Ask the Lord to direct my heart.
[44:54] Out of it are the issues of life. The heart is like a garden and it needs to be tended to. In order to live off of a garden you practically have to live in it. Ken Hubbard said.
[45:05] In order to live off a garden you practically have to live in it. In order to keep your heart right it must be checked up regularly. Psalms 51 verse 10 and 17 says Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me.
[45:21] Amen. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart. Is that your heart's condition today? A broken and a contrite heart.
[45:31] O God thou wilt not despise. Psalm 62 8 Trust in him at all times ye people. Pour out your hearts before him.
[45:42] God is a refuge for us. Selah The rest will be when you pour out your heart before God. Psalms 139 verse 23 Search me O God and know my heart today.
[45:57] Try me O Savior and know my thoughts. I pray. Invite the Lord to search your heart. Invite the Lord to give you that softened heart. Invite the Lord to take away that hypocrite's heart.
[46:09] Invite the Lord to take away that sinner envying heart. If you're envying sinners and you're looking around and say well they got it made stop doing that. Amen. Focus back on the Lord.
[46:19] Focus back on the things of the Lord. And as your heart where your heart where your treasure is there will your heart be also. If you're laying up treasures in heaven your heart's going to be focused on heaven.
[46:30] If I have a bank account with five dollars I'm not going to care about that bank account. But if I put a few thousands of dollars in there I'm going to care about that bank account. Amen. If you're laying up treasure in heaven you're going to care about heavenly things.
[46:44] Amen. Alright let's pray. Lord Jesus thank you for your blessings. I pray that you bless the lesson Lord. I know it was simple and I know that it wasn't that great Lord but it's your word and that is great.
[46:56] And Lord I pray that you plant it deep in our hearts and do a work with it with your people. In Jesus precious name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.