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[0:00] I asked you this morning in Matthew chapter 9. Yeah, I've had a couple verses stick out to me in the past few weeks.

[0:10] And, you know, typically when I'm going to preach, I ask the Lord to, or teach, I ask the Lord to kind of show me what I should do. And, you know, I do it by faith. I was telling somebody the other day, you know, I got a drawer full of sermons.

[0:24] I pull them out, I look at them, and I go, okay, which one, you know, or maybe retread something, but it just usually doesn't work like that. So I was just, you know, just, I realized that I was thinking about a couple of different verses this week.

[0:36] And so I want to look at, and Matthew 9 kind of stuck out to me last week also, when Pastor Walski was in here. But I want to look at some things about the heart.

[0:48] And in chapter 9, I want you to notice that, the first thing I want you to notice this morning, as we look in chapter 9, is these guys talk to themselves. Now, you've probably heard that, you know, you may have even done it.

[1:03] You know, you look at somebody and you go, you go, you look at somebody and you go, here in chapter 9, I want you to, I want to, I want to, we'll start right in the beginning there.

[1:29] And he entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city. And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their face, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer, thy sin be forgiven thee.

[1:40] And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, this man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

[1:51] I want you to see some things about the heart. And the first thing has to do with you talking to yourself. Here, this is where we were last week. Look over in Luke chapter 18. If you remember, this is where we were in Sunday school.

[2:05] Luke chapter 18. And look at verse 11. Thank you, brother. Is it on?

[2:25] Luke chapter 18 and verse 11, it says, the Pharisees stood up, the Pharisees stood up and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

[2:40] So here's this guy. He's also interacting with himself. And the Lord points it out. I had a memory verse a few weeks ago. One of my memory verses was Proverbs 27, 19.

[2:54] And it says, it says, as in water, face answereth the face. So the heart of man to man.

[3:06] So when you look in the water, right? Mirror, mirror on the wall. Fill in the blank. You look in that thing and you are answering yourself.

[3:17] Oh, I have a pimple on my face. You have a pimple on your face. Or, wow, boy, you're getting old. Whatever it is, it says, as in water, face answereth the face, so the heart of man to man.

[3:39] Do you know who you're looking at in the water? You're looking at you. You're looking at somebody else. There's only one person there. So when your heart is answering the man, you know who it's answering?

[3:53] It's answering you. You're the only one there. You're talking to yourself. And that's okay. That's the way God made you. God made you to talk to yourself.

[4:06] Now, I understand. I understand. Crazy people, they take it to the extreme. Right? We see them all the time going down the street and just carrying on a real graphic conversation with themselves.

[4:17] But you know what? Whether you move your lips or not, you are constantly talking to yourself. And that's okay.

[4:29] Because that is the way God made you. I know that. That doesn't sit well, does it? You know, think about it. You know, I think that, I think that the more I do this Christian thing and the more I read my Bible over and over and over, I realize, I don't know about him.

[4:56] I think I do. I like to put him in my mold. Now, I got him figured out. This is the way God thinks and God wants this and God wants that and God wants this and he doesn't want that. And then I read along in my Old Testament and I go, what?

[5:11] And then the next time I read it, I go, what? And then I read it again. You know what I do? What? Every time I read it, that's what I do. What? Same passage.

[5:24] Because my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. I am little finite creation. I don't think like him.

[5:38] So when something doesn't necessarily line up with your way of thinking, you might just want to consider the scripture and see what it says. Talking to yourself, that's not where I'm going this morning.

[5:53] That's not really, that's not what the message is. That's not what the Sunday school lesson is. I want to look at the heart this morning. I also thought of another verse in Psalms 4.

[6:03] Let's go over there, Psalms chapter 4. I don't know about you, but when I'm reading my Bible, when I'm reading my Bible, a verse that kind of stands out, just like every time I read it, it's kind of like, it's, I like to consider those.

[6:22] There's a reason that thing is doing that. I like to consider those sometimes. They go, you know, I'm going to look at that verse one of these days. I'm going to pay attention to that thing one of these days. Maybe not today, because I'm doing just Bible reading or whatever, but I want to pay attention to that one of these days.

[6:35] Psalms 4 and verse 4, it says, stand in awe and sin not, commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still. You ever done that? How many ever done that? I do that all the time.

[6:48] I do that all the time. I'm always talking to myself. I'm communing with my heart. I want to focus on the heart this morning and not talking to yourself, but, you know, the heart, the heart is the very center of your very being.

[7:13] To the Christian, that's the way it is. To the world, it's your brain. To the world, everything stems, everything comes from the brain.

[7:25] The brain ties everything together and basically all the heart does for you to the world is supply oxygen to your brain. But their focus is, because they're humanists, their focus is on that brain.

[7:42] Like all the issues come from the brain. No, they don't. No, they don't. You know, God thinks so much about your brain that isn't even a Bible word.

[7:58] You know what the Bible word is, right? It's mind and that's spiritual. Right? Put on the mind of Christ. You don't take out that brain and insert another one. The heart is the very center of your physical, spiritual, and emotional life.

[8:21] The heart is an object lesson. God does object lessons. And look at Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. But whatever the heart is in your body physically, it is an object lesson of the spiritual.

[8:39] And your heart is the very center of what goes on in your body. Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1 and verse 20 says, For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.

[9:03] He says, The invisible things of Him, plenty of invisible things, right? Are clearly seen by the things that are made. So, object lessons, everything you can see out there that God has created, reveal something about Him.

[9:25] Psalms 19 says, The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament show us His handiwork. It's object lessons. All the time, object lessons in creation that God is showing something to us about Him.

[9:40] And that heart, that heart does, you know, think about what that heart does in your body. Right? I mean, you can think of all kinds of things. That heart supplies everything. Supplies all the body with the oxygen in the blood that keeps everything functioning.

[9:56] Right? It's all about the heart. It's the heart. It's kind of like the object lesson of birth. Right? Birth, you're born, the physical birth is you're born once, you're born as a baby, you're born in water, and you're born into a family.

[10:11] You probably got all kinds of them you can come up with, but there's an object lesson. Everything's an object lesson. How your heart operates in your body is how it operates spiritually.

[10:24] But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Right? The foolishness to him. The natural man doesn't even, I don't know, but I would guess, anybody take the psychiatry lessons, you know, anybody take that in college or anything about psychiatry?

[10:43] I'm going to guess they don't do much about the heart. I'm guessing. I don't know. I don't go to them. I don't know much about them. But I would guess they don't do much about the heart.

[10:55] I bet they would do something with psyche and, you know, how you think and you just have to think. They got it all wrong. They're going to the wrong place. They got the wrong start.

[11:08] And just as a side note, ask an evolutionist at what point the heart started working. At what point did that heart actually start working to where it could evolve?

[11:21] Exactly when God created it just like it is. That's the way to happen. Because it would have failed. It needs to be what it is. Look at Matthew chapter 9 again.

[11:36] So we got the scribes talking to themselves, which everybody does. You know, it's a first sign of healing is what? Is admitting.

[11:47] Right? How many of you talk to yourself? I don't know, man. I don't know if I want to do that. It's okay. The first sign of healing is admitting. When you go home today, when you go home today and you're talking to yourself about talking to yourself, just go ahead and go, just go ahead and go, that's what I'm doing.

[12:09] I'm talking to myself. I was talking to myself while I was writing the message. Matthew chapter 9.

[12:21] Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9. It says, and behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, and this man blasphemeth, I want to point out, the second thing I want to point out is the plural in the passage here.

[12:42] And that they, it says, certain of the scribes said within themselves. You know, these scribes, these scribes aren't going, hey man, what do you think?

[12:55] What do you think? No, no, no, no, no. They're thinking it. They're already thinking it. They're all on the same page. The plural is, they think alike.

[13:07] They think alike. They think alike. It is the, it is the condition of their heart. It is, it is their heart conditioning.

[13:18] Right? The Bible says, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. That's the rule. That's the rule. It goes the same way with your heart. What you train, what you train that thing to be, I tell people, and it's not 100%, and people don't like it because it's not 100%, but let's say it's 98%.

[13:38] I tell people, you know, I ask them where they went to school at. They do the same thing to me. If I want to find out what somebody believes, I ask them, where'd you go to school at? That's one of my first questions to somebody.

[13:53] And typically, where they went to school at will tell me what they believe and vice versa. And I'm good with all that. And there's exceptions, you know.

[14:05] There's people that go to schools a certain place that just want to get something out of that school a certain thing. But kind of as a rule, when they go there, when they come out, that's who they are.

[14:16] So think about it. They got all these universities and all these secular colleges and they're going in and they're getting popped every day with the same stuff. It's no wonder they come out messed up.

[14:30] It's no wonder they come out thinking like them. Right? So these scribes are talking to themselves the same thing.

[14:45] The same way. And Jesus, of course, knows their thoughts, right? God knows what they're thinking. Look at chapter 9 again.

[14:55] And it says in verse 3 and 4, we'll do it again. And behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, this man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, God knows what they're thinking.

[15:12] That's nothing new to you. I understand that. But just understand that God read all your thoughts and He knows what you're thinking. So the third thing I want to point out is their thoughts come from the heart.

[15:25] Notice what He says. He says, Wherefore, think ye evil in your hearts. So their thoughts, their thoughts that they were thinking were coming from that heart.

[15:37] And I know there's probably no new revelation to you and I hope it isn't. You should understand that those thoughts that go on in your head, they ain't starting there.

[15:47] You understand that, right? They all come from there. Now the world isn't going to teach you that. The world, they're going to tell you it all comes from there.

[16:00] It doesn't. Right? Hopefully everybody agrees this morning. If you don't, hopefully you will by the time we're done. They all come from here.

[16:12] That's what Jesus just said. It says that, verse 3, Behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, this man blasphemeth.

[16:26] Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore, think ye evil in your brain. That's not what He said. Wherefore, think ye evil in your hearts.

[16:39] That's where your problem is. The thoughts come from the heart and God knows them. How about Jeremiah?

[16:50] Look at Jeremiah chapter 17. So I want you to write down something else if you're writing any of these down, but I want you to write down the thoughts of the heart.

[17:04] The tendency of the thoughts of the heart will be to be evil. That'll be the tendency in your heart. We're going to look at a couple of verses to show you that. But Jeremiah chapter 17, the tendency of that heart of yours is going to be to think evil.

[17:24] Sorry. In a fallen world, that is the way it is. Jeremiah chapter 17. Jeremiah chapter 17, hopefully a familiar verse to everybody.

[17:34] But in verse 9, it says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? You can know it.

[17:48] But you're not going to know it without certain things. And it's funny because I just realized that I had wrote the same scripture in there previously that I wrote in there yesterday.

[18:00] I just wrote in a different spot. It's funny. Okay. Look at, let's go to Genesis. Genesis. Genesis chapter 6.

[18:15] Genesis chapter 6 would be the first, the first mention, first mention in your Bible. Genesis chapter 6, verse 5, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of his thoughts were evil.

[18:32] Continue. That's what it says. But you know what else it says? It says every imagination of the thoughts of his heart will evil.

[18:43] Continue with it. That's where it goes on at. It goes on in your heart. And hopefully, you know, I mean, I understand where, how does it go?

[18:58] Where, where two parts spiritual, one part physical, but we spend all our life in two parts in the physical and one part in the spiritual? Really, we don't do that. It's probably more like, it's probably more like the 95, 5% rule.

[19:13] You're probably not spending even, even, even a fraction of the time of that third in, in spiritual things, you know, thinking as we go around in the day doing the physical all the time.

[19:23] I understand that. I'm, I'm in the same way. You know, it always, it always bothered me that, it probably should more, but it always bothered me that I could go the whole day at work and never think about God. kind of like, there's something wrong with that.

[19:38] I could just go all day working on my job, doing my thing and at the end of the day, all of a sudden, oh yeah, I'm a Christian. The heart of deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?

[20:02] I'll give you that answer in a minute. So, so in a, in a fallen world, this has been revealed since day one. You know, I say day one, 1600, that's not day one, but the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart were evil continually.

[20:20] Look at Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15. Matthew chapter 15.

[20:38] And look, let's start in verse 18. It says, look at 18 and 19. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile the man. Throughout the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

[20:56] These are the things that defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands defiles not the man. Right? It's not what goes in that messes you up.

[21:12] It's what comes out. And I think, you know, I think what the, what the lesson is, is you're thinking from your heart. Even if your vocal cord doesn't say it and maybe you just lip it, it's still the same.

[21:31] Still coming from the same place. You know, Psalms 51 and verse 10, David said, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

[21:42] David realized that he needed a clean heart. David realized that there was a heart issue. And, you know, David, if anybody understood the heart, I would assume it was David. David, you say, why is that?

[21:54] Wasn't David the man after God's own heart? You know what it says? I would assume being that, he's got a leg up on us on that heart.

[22:05] So when he talks about the heart, it might be a real good, a real good time to listen. And he realized his need to have a clean heart. Look at Proverbs chapter 4 and you probably know, this is not new, you probably know where I'm going.

[22:18] Proverbs chapter 4, Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 23, it says, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.

[22:38] Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. All of them. all those issues.

[22:50] Whatever they are. You need to, you need to address them. I wrote, I wrote down, I wrote down, it is Christianity. Be a Christian.

[23:03] The world says it's in your head. That's not Christianity. Christianity, it's all about your heart. So, like I tell my kids all the time, whenever something, whenever anything goes on, I tell them, just be a Christian.

[23:21] What should I do about this, dad? Be a Christian. Maybe you don't know what that is. Maybe you don't know what the answer to that, okay, find out, straighten it. That's right, that's where you go, you can write that book right there.

[23:33] All of it. If you don't know what the answer is, just search the book. Just be a Christian. That's what the answer is.

[23:47] Just be a Christian. This is, this is probably, I would, I would say, this is probably the time of year you see more about the heart than any time of year.

[24:01] They're everywhere. It's Valentine's Day. Right? How did it go? Right? You see the heart everywhere. But, how many people actually consider it?

[24:15] How many Christians see it and actually consider it? Be a good day to do it. I think of that song, Is Thy Heart Right With God?

[24:28] Is Thy Heart Right With God? A worthy thing to think about. I've told people probably for 20 years, you need to get right with God every day.

[24:42] Every single day, you need to get right with God. If you don't do that, make that, make that a habit starting today. The word heart in one form or another is in your Bible upwards of a thousand times.

[24:58] Wow, that's a lot. Upwards of a thousand times. I tell you to get right with God every day, you know, that's a healthy thing.

[25:10] That's healthy. The opposite of that is unhealthy. You don't get right with God every day, that's unhealthy.

[25:21] I understand. The world's idea is, they want to look at your heart too, but they're talking about heart health physically. Is that what I'm talking about this morning?

[25:33] Talking about the spiritual. Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. So Proverbs chapter 4 is said to keep your heart diligently.

[25:45] Look at Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12 in verse 34.

[25:58] It says, O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

[26:16] I asked you this morning, what is it that's abundantly in your heart? It says, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. You ever find yourself saying something to somebody and go, oh, I was just kidding.

[26:30] Yeah? Were you? Really? Maybe you weren't. You ought to check it out. The Bible says, out of the abundance of the heart, you just can't help it.

[26:46] It comes out. What was it? Check it out. Think about what you're saying. Because that's probably what's in there abundantly.

[27:03] That's one of the ways you can see your heart. Right? You can't look in there, you know, you wish you could look in there. I wish I could open the thing up and kind of, but you can't. So what you do is you see what, as that stuff comes out, just start paying attention to that.

[27:19] And you will get to see what's in there. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Probably not how you envision Valentine's Day going, I don't know. Pastor Walski told me I had to do something on Valentine's Day.

[27:33] No, he really didn't. No, he really didn't. We did talk about it though. All right. Let me close with the prescription. The prescription for that heart today.

[27:46] Hebrews chapter 4. You say, it says, the heart of deceitful above all things and desperately awake it. Who can know it? Here's your answer. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12.

[28:01] It says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

[28:21] You want to find out about your heart this morning? Hopefully you do because that's what Christianity is. Christianity is in your heart. So hopefully you want to know about your heart this morning.

[28:33] If you do, get in your Bible. Get in that Bible. Read that Bible every day. Read your Bible.

[28:43] Read your Bible. Read your Bible. And you will learn about your heart. Look at, I want to close with 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

[29:05] 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I want you to look at verse 7. It says, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the ecclesiast of the sea of the power may be of God and not of us.

[29:17] We have a treasure inside. Utilize it. We have a treasure in there. The Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us.

[29:28] Jesus Christ being a part of us. The Word of God working within us. We have a treasure. Use that today. Use that today.

[29:41] So, you know, just a couple, just a few things about the heart. You talk to yourself, right? They talk to themselves.

[29:53] They think alike. The thoughts come from the heart and God knows them. The thoughts in a fallen world tend to be evil.

[30:06] And the Word of God will help you keep your heart. Let's pray. Father, this morning, thank you for thy Word.

[30:21] Help us to just be a Christian as we look in the Word and we study thy Word and we see things that you teach us in there. Then we would consider those things in our lives as the world bombards us every day on their slant and how they do a thing.

[30:37] But it isn't Christianity. Thank you for showing us these things in your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.

[30:47]  Amen.