1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:08,060 You are listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible to contact us 2 00:00:08,060 –> 00:00:17,660 call us at 1-877-OPEN365 or visit our website openthebible.org let us get to the message 3 00:00:17,660 –> 00:00:24,980 here is Pastor Colin well we are continuing our series on this marvelous subject of regeneration 4 00:00:25,059 –> 00:00:31,820 the miracle of grace by which God makes new creations in Jesus Christ and we have been 5 00:00:31,820 –> 00:00:38,060 learning and enjoying this wonderful truth that to become a new creation means God brings 6 00:00:38,060 –> 00:00:43,040 into being something that did not exist before and we are learning a little more from the 7 00:00:43,040 –> 00:00:49,540 bible about what that actually is. last week we thought together about the new mind a mind 8 00:00:49,680 –> 00:00:56,680 that now sees the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ . It’s totally new because 9 00:00:56,680 –> 00:01:03,360 before you came to Christ you did not see anything of his glory at all . and today we 10 00:01:03,360 –> 00:01:09,360 are going to look in the scriptures at this marvelous subject of the new heart. Now before 11 00:01:09,360 –> 00:01:15,639 we get into it the danger that lurks in a series in which we have one week on the mind 12 00:01:15,639 –> 00:01:20,660 one week on the heart and one week on the will is that it would be very easy for us 13 00:01:20,660 –> 00:01:25,480 to slip into the idea the wrong idea that these are somehow separate departments in 14 00:01:25,480 –> 00:01:32,660 your life that operate independently. So I want us all to understand very clearly that 15 00:01:32,660 –> 00:01:37,820 when we talk about the mind and the heart and the will we are talking about your inner 16 00:01:37,820 –> 00:01:44,480 life viewed really from different angles. The Bible uses the word mind and the word 17 00:01:44,480 –> 00:01:50,540 heart in different ways and frankly it’s not always easy to tell them apart. Sometimes 18 00:01:50,540 –> 00:01:54,139 the Bible uses the word heart while you think it would use the word mind and mind where 19 00:01:54,139 –> 00:01:59,459 you think it would use the word heart. When we talk about God changing the mind of the 20 00:01:59,459 –> 00:02:05,019 heart and the will we are talking about one miracle viewed from different angles rather 21 00:02:05,059 –> 00:02:08,699 like different facets of a diamond. We are not talking about three different things that 22 00:02:08,699 –> 00:02:15,699 have to happen in sequence. The mind, the heart, and the will are one as the father, 23 00:02:16,720 –> 00:02:22,320 the Son, and the spirit are one. I’ve found that a helpful way of thinking about this. 24 00:02:22,320 –> 00:02:26,320 In other words, if you think about the heart, the mind, and the will being one in the same 25 00:02:26,320 –> 00:02:30,820 way as the Father, the Son, and the spirit are one, that will help us to remember that 26 00:02:30,820 –> 00:02:37,820 they may be distinguished but they can never be separated. They fulfil different functions 27 00:02:38,720 –> 00:02:45,380 but they never operate independently. This is important because it reminds us that a 28 00:02:45,380 –> 00:02:50,839 person’s heart and mind and will are always in the same, spiritual condition. They are 29 00:02:50,839 –> 00:02:57,619 either with Christ or without Christ, they never separate from one or another. When Christ 30 00:02:57,639 –> 00:03:02,339 brings light to the mind, which is what we thought about last week, he brings life to 31 00:03:02,339 –> 00:03:07,020 the heart and he brings strength to the will. He never does one without the other. Why? 32 00:03:07,020 –> 00:03:14,020 Because the Lord Jesus Christ is about redeeming you and you are a person with mind and heart 33 00:03:15,259 –> 00:03:21,000 and will that can be distinguished but never be separated. They function differently but 34 00:03:21,000 –> 00:03:26,520 they never actually act independently. So, in other words, if your mind has been regenerated 35 00:03:26,520 –> 00:03:31,460 so has your heart and so has your will because Christ deals with you as a person. He saves 36 00:03:31,460 –> 00:03:37,240 you, not just a part of you. There is no such thing as a person who is half regenerated. 37 00:03:37,240 –> 00:03:43,860 Either you’re in Christ or you’re not yet in Christ but it is either one or the other 38 00:03:43,860 –> 00:03:49,539 and never part and part. And that makes sense if you think about it because if you think 39 00:03:49,539 –> 00:03:54,500 about your own life you’ll soon become very aware that your heart, your mind and your 40 00:03:54,500 –> 00:04:00,419 will are inseparably interconnected. What you think and what you feel and what you 41 00:04:00,419 –> 00:04:05,500 desire and what you do, they are woven together so that though they may be distinguished they 42 00:04:05,500 –> 00:04:13,100 can never be separated. They are wrapped around each other distinguishable and yet inseparable 43 00:04:13,100 –> 00:04:19,820 like the Sun’s heat and the Sun’s light. They are distinct but the one never exists 44 00:04:19,820 –> 00:04:25,519 without the other.” Now I want you to see this in the Bible and I want to show you why 45 00:04:25,519 –> 00:04:31,440 it is very important in just a moment’s time and to explain how my own understanding of 46 00:04:31,440 –> 00:04:36,279 the Bible has changed quite radically in regard to this point and for some of us I hope that 47 00:04:36,279 –> 00:04:43,200 may be the case for you too. Let’s just start then with Second Corinthians in chapter four 48 00:04:43,200 –> 00:04:47,160 which was really the passage that we looked at last week and I wonder if you noticed this 49 00:04:47,420 –> 00:04:54,420 last week. The God of this age, that was Satan remember, has blinded the minds of unbelievers 50 00:04:54,920 –> 00:04:58,700 so they cannot see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 51 00:04:58,700 –> 00:05:05,720 Okay they can’t see Him. So what does God do to cure a blinded mind? Verse six, God 52 00:05:05,720 –> 00:05:10,679 who said let light shine out of darkness made his light shine in our hearts. Well that’s 53 00:05:10,679 –> 00:05:16,480 a surprise isn’t it. The blindness is in the mind, what does God do about it? He shines 54 00:05:16,480 –> 00:05:23,500 his light into the heart. For God’s light in the heart brings sight to the mind because 55 00:05:23,500 –> 00:05:29,320 they’re inseparably connected, you see. Let’s look at Ephesians chapter four in verses eighteen 56 00:05:29,320 –> 00:05:34,359 and nineteen, another example of how closely these are bound together in scripture. Paul 57 00:05:34,359 –> 00:05:39,440 begins with a statement about the mind, about the understanding. He says, they are darkened 58 00:05:39,440 –> 00:05:43,279 in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of ignorance that 59 00:05:43,440 –> 00:05:50,440 is in them due to what? The hardening of their hearts. So now Paul is telling us that behind 60 00:05:52,299 –> 00:05:57,299 darkness in the mind, behind the inability to see the glory of Christ lies what? A hardening 61 00:05:57,299 –> 00:06:03,559 of the heart because these two are wrapped up together. Here’s something very fascinating. 62 00:06:03,559 –> 00:06:09,619 I wonder if you’ve noticed it. In Mark chapter twelve and verse thirty where the Lord Jesus 63 00:06:09,700 –> 00:06:16,100 has been asked. What is the greatest commandment? The Lord Jesus answers by quoting from Deuteronomy 64 00:06:16,100 –> 00:06:21,339 chapter six and verse five and you’ll remember what he says. He says the greatest commandment 65 00:06:21,339 –> 00:06:28,339 is that you love the Lord your God with all heart and soul and mind and strength. Take 66 00:06:28,739 –> 00:06:35,200 him straight from Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5. Except that when you look back to Deuteronomy 67 00:06:35,200 –> 00:06:39,619 6 verse 5 and you can check this out if you want to. You will find that what it says 68 00:06:39,859 –> 00:06:46,859 there, what Moses says is, love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength. 69 00:06:47,399 –> 00:06:54,399 Moses never mentions the mind. So why does the Lord Jesus add the mind to Moses best 70 00:06:54,679 –> 00:06:59,559 known commandment, the commandment of God through Moses? Why when Moses doesn’t mention 71 00:06:59,559 –> 00:07:05,820 the mind does the Lord say heart and mind. Oliver Barclay explains, I quote from him, 72 00:07:06,720 –> 00:07:13,720 the range of meaning of the Hebrew word translated heart, that’s the word that Moses used, translated 73 00:07:14,839 –> 00:07:21,839 heart narrowed so much over time that Greek needed two words, heart and mind, to say what 74 00:07:22,739 –> 00:07:28,079 was covered in the Old Testament by the one word heart. In other words, when you read 75 00:07:28,079 –> 00:07:32,839 the word heart in the Old Testament what Oliver Barclay is saying is you need to read heart 76 00:07:32,899 –> 00:07:37,760 stroke mind because we tend to think of them as two separate compartments, the Jews never 77 00:07:37,760 –> 00:07:43,600 did. They understood that what you think and what you feel are inseparably bound up together. 78 00:07:43,600 –> 00:07:47,220 And if you think about the reality of your own life you will realize that, of course, 79 00:07:47,220 –> 00:07:53,899 that is a profound insight into human personality. So, I put it this way, there is more of the 80 00:07:53,899 –> 00:08:00,899 heart in the mind and more of the mind in the heart, than is commonly supposed. You 81 00:08:01,399 –> 00:08:06,679 cannot change the one without the other. There’s no such thing as truly changing a person’s 82 00:08:06,679 –> 00:08:11,679 mind without changing their heart or truly changing a person’s heart without changing 83 00:08:11,679 –> 00:08:18,679 their mind. Now, that discovery has been profoundly important for me. It has changed the way 84 00:08:19,500 –> 00:08:24,940 that I try to help people. It has changed the way in which I think about my own spiritual 85 00:08:25,019 –> 00:08:32,020 life and growth. Let me tell you how. I was brought up with teaching that said—here 86 00:08:33,539 –> 00:08:40,539 was one way it was put. See if you recognize this. The longest journey in life is the 18 87 00:08:42,760 –> 00:08:48,280 inches between your head and your heart. Anyone heard that sort of thing said before? Oh yes. 88 00:08:48,280 –> 00:08:53,760 A lot of us have been brought up on that. The longest journey in life, eighteen inches 89 00:08:53,859 –> 00:08:59,820 between your head and your heart. Now think about what that is saying. It is saying that 90 00:08:59,820 –> 00:09:06,080 what you think and what you feel are completely different. They are disconnected. They’re 91 00:09:06,080 –> 00:09:13,080 a long way apart and that leads people and there are people all over church world who 92 00:09:14,539 –> 00:09:21,539 say this kind of thing. Well it’s in my head but it’s not in my heart. Ever heard that 93 00:09:21,739 –> 00:09:28,739 said? I think maybe my head’s converted but I’m not sure my heart is. Ever heard that 94 00:09:29,260 –> 00:09:36,260 said? Many Christians feel that the gospel somehow hasn’t really changed them so here’s 95 00:09:37,659 –> 00:09:42,380 what happens. They spend the rest of their lives running around looking for emotional 96 00:09:42,380 –> 00:09:49,380 experiences that somehow will change them. Now let me ask you this. Think about this. 97 00:09:49,400 –> 00:09:54,840 If someone said to you you know Christianity is in my head but I don’t think it’s in 98 00:09:54,840 –> 00:10:01,340 my heart how would you try to help them? Cause I’ve completely changed as I’ve tried 99 00:10:01,340 –> 00:10:06,679 to learn from the Bible how to answer that question. How would you help someone who said 100 00:10:06,679 –> 00:10:10,799 it’s in my head but it’s not in my heart? See at one time I would’ve said well let’s 101 00:10:10,799 –> 00:10:16,380 pray together that it will get into your heart. Now I do something different. I say well now 102 00:10:16,380 –> 00:10:23,619 wait a minute you tell me about the faith that’s in your head and here’s what I’ve 103 00:10:23,619 –> 00:10:30,460 found. When I ask that question it immediately becomes very obvious that the problem isn’t 104 00:10:30,460 –> 00:10:35,840 that the truth needs to make the long journey from the head to the heart. The problem is 105 00:10:35,840 –> 00:10:40,440 that the truth that has been grasped in the mind simply isn’t big enough to capture 106 00:10:40,599 –> 00:10:46,320 the heart. What happens when one asks that question invariably is a person begins to 107 00:10:46,320 –> 00:10:52,260 speak some very general platitudes about God that are no where near the dimensions of the 108 00:10:52,260 –> 00:10:57,719 glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The reason that it’s not living in the heart is it’s 109 00:10:57,719 –> 00:11:03,059 not living in the head either. What has been grasped is not the gospel of our Lord and 110 00:11:03,059 –> 00:11:09,859 Saviour Jesus Christ. Do you know Jonathan Edwards says a great picture that has helped 111 00:11:09,900 –> 00:11:19,940 me in this so much. He says you can know that honey is sweet by reading about it in a book. 112 00:11:20,039 –> 00:11:25,840 But you don’t really know that honey is sweet until you have tasted it in your mouth. It’s 113 00:11:25,840 –> 00:11:30,700 very profound. What he’s saying is that there are two different kinds of knowing. James 114 00:11:30,700 –> 00:11:37,280 reminds us that the devil knows that there’s one God. That’s not going to be life changing. 115 00:11:37,280 –> 00:11:43,340 The devil knows that Jesus died on the cross and that he rose again. So when we talk about 116 00:11:43,340 –> 00:11:47,119 knowing God, it has to be something more like that. 117 00:11:47,239 –> 00:11:53,000 Otherwise, it’s simply going to be like knowing that honey is sweet because you’ve read a book but you’ve never tasted it in your mouth. 118 00:11:53,440 –> 00:11:59,440 The Bible makes it very clear that we are to taste and see that the Lord is good. 119 00:11:59,460 –> 00:12:03,679 And tasting, as it were, involves the mind and the heart—the head and the heart. 120 00:12:03,940 –> 00:12:10,000 It touches the reality of the inner life of a man or a woman or a young person. 121 00:12:10,000 –> 00:12:15,900 There are many people who are going around assuming because they have heard certain Christian truth that that makes them Christian, 122 00:12:15,900 –> 00:12:18,799 whereas in actual fact, the life of Jesus Christ isn’t there. 123 00:12:22,460 –> 00:12:27,960 I heard Tim Keller make this point recently. I thought very helpfully—he said, 124 00:12:28,479 –> 00:12:30,559 Suppose someone says to you, 125 00:12:30,559 –> 00:12:34,000 I know that God loves me, but I hate myself. 126 00:12:36,059 –> 00:12:39,880 You ever heard anyone say that? I have. 127 00:12:39,880 –> 00:12:46,219 He says that if Jonathon Edwards were trying to help that person, 128 00:12:46,219 –> 00:12:49,479 he would say, 129 00:12:49,500 –> 00:12:52,640 You don’t really know that God loves you. 130 00:12:52,640 –> 00:12:54,859 You think you do. 131 00:12:54,859 –> 00:12:57,299 But you don’t really know that God loves you, 132 00:12:57,299 –> 00:13:02,760 because if you were living in the knowledge of the love of God right now, 133 00:13:02,760 –> 00:13:08,260 you would not say that you hate yourself. 134 00:13:08,260 –> 00:13:13,500 Not if you know the love of the sovereign king of the universe, 135 00:13:14,719 –> 00:13:16,940 touching the reality of your experience. 136 00:13:20,460 –> 00:13:27,320 Now the interpenetration of the mind and the heart are so deep 137 00:13:27,320 –> 00:13:31,340 that it is hard to tell them sometimes apart. 138 00:13:31,340 –> 00:13:33,840 And the wonderful truth 139 00:13:33,840 –> 00:13:36,340 that we’re trying to get at over these three weeks, 140 00:13:36,340 –> 00:13:38,539 and it would be an awfully long sermon if we did it in one, 141 00:13:38,539 –> 00:13:41,140 so we’ve got to get at it in three, 142 00:13:41,140 –> 00:13:43,099 is that through the gospel, 143 00:13:43,099 –> 00:13:46,979 the Lord Jesus Christ brings new life 144 00:13:47,020 –> 00:13:49,380 to the mind, the heart and the will to you. 145 00:13:50,539 –> 00:13:51,940 Not just to a part of you, 146 00:13:51,940 –> 00:13:54,400 not to a department of your life. 147 00:13:55,780 –> 00:13:57,780 But to you, making you a new person, 148 00:13:57,780 –> 00:14:00,340 a new creation in Jesus Christ. 149 00:14:00,340 –> 00:14:01,739 So Christ changes what you think. 150 00:14:01,739 –> 00:14:03,299 Christ changes what you feel. 151 00:14:03,299 –> 00:14:06,859 Christ changes what you choose. 152 00:14:06,859 –> 00:14:09,679 And these are not separate Works of the Holy Spirit. 153 00:14:09,679 –> 00:14:14,299 These are the dimensions of the miracle of regeneration 154 00:14:15,099 –> 00:14:17,859 that is the very centre of our focus in the Bible. 155 00:14:17,859 –> 00:14:20,380 Now I hope that’s stimulating to your mind. 156 00:14:20,380 –> 00:14:22,520 I hope that helps you to think freshly 157 00:14:22,520 –> 00:14:25,080 about yourself and about helping other people. 158 00:14:25,080 –> 00:14:29,979 It has been profoundly helpful and life-changing to me. 159 00:14:29,979 –> 00:14:32,979 Now then, let’s focus it in on the great promise of God 160 00:14:32,979 –> 00:14:35,700 as it relates particularly to the heart. 161 00:14:35,700 –> 00:14:38,500 Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 26. 162 00:14:38,500 –> 00:14:40,440 Look at what God says. 163 00:14:40,520 –> 00:14:44,200 I will give you a new heart 164 00:14:45,320 –> 00:14:47,919 and put a new spirit in you. 165 00:14:47,919 –> 00:14:51,679 I will remove from you your heart of stone 166 00:14:51,679 –> 00:14:56,679 and I will give you a heart of flesh. 167 00:14:56,679 –> 00:14:59,219 Now, just for a moment, let’s begin by trying 168 00:14:59,219 –> 00:15:03,500 to identify what is meant by the heart. 169 00:15:03,500 –> 00:15:06,559 Many people of course associate the heart purely 170 00:15:06,559 –> 00:15:08,500 with feelings and with emotions 171 00:15:08,500 –> 00:15:10,020 and it certainly includes that. 172 00:15:10,020 –> 00:15:12,640 It’s a very important dimension of our life 173 00:15:12,640 –> 00:15:14,979 but the heart of course is much more 174 00:15:14,979 –> 00:15:17,539 than our feelings or our emotions. 175 00:15:17,539 –> 00:15:20,280 I find a helpful way to define it is simply this, 176 00:15:20,280 –> 00:15:24,500 that your heart is the control center of your life. 177 00:15:24,500 –> 00:15:28,619 It is the fountain of motivation 178 00:15:28,619 –> 00:15:32,960 that drives, guides what you do, what you choose. 179 00:15:34,739 –> 00:15:37,739 Proverbs, chapter four in verse 23 puts it this way. 180 00:15:37,840 –> 00:15:40,500 Above all else guard your heart 181 00:15:40,500 –> 00:15:44,020 for it is the wellspring of your life. 182 00:15:44,020 –> 00:15:45,179 That’s it right there. 183 00:15:46,119 –> 00:15:48,780 Your whole life flows from the heart 184 00:15:49,659 –> 00:15:53,099 and therefore from where the heart is set. 185 00:15:53,099 –> 00:15:55,919 You remember Woody Allen’s famous phrase. 186 00:15:56,840 –> 00:16:00,580 The heart wants what it wants. 187 00:16:00,580 –> 00:16:03,359 And Woody Allen was absolutely right. 188 00:16:03,359 –> 00:16:05,700 What the heart wants will be the fountain of life. 189 00:16:05,700 –> 00:16:07,820 That’s what Proverbs is saying. 190 00:16:07,820 –> 00:16:10,400 Where the heart goes you go ultimately. 191 00:16:11,460 –> 00:16:13,520 Therefore the Bible says guard your heart 192 00:16:13,520 –> 00:16:16,859 for it is the wellspring of your life. 193 00:16:16,859 –> 00:16:19,760 The prevailing desires of your heart 194 00:16:19,760 –> 00:16:23,599 will govern the direction of your life, period. 195 00:16:25,719 –> 00:16:27,219 It’s true of every human being 196 00:16:27,219 –> 00:16:31,700 so it is so important to know our own hearts. 197 00:16:31,700 –> 00:16:33,080 Having defined what the heart is 198 00:16:33,080 –> 00:16:35,580 let’s move on quickly now to ask the question 199 00:16:35,580 –> 00:16:38,440 why does the heart need changing? 200 00:16:38,440 –> 00:16:41,159 And I want you to notice in this verse here 201 00:16:41,159 –> 00:16:45,000 that the Sovereign Lord speaks to us 202 00:16:45,000 –> 00:16:47,479 about a heart of stone. 203 00:16:47,479 –> 00:16:50,780 Do you see that in Ezekiel 36, 26? 204 00:16:52,280 –> 00:16:57,280 I will remove from you your heart of stone. 205 00:16:59,440 –> 00:17:01,200 Now let’s think about this stone. 206 00:17:01,200 –> 00:17:02,940 Stones come in many varieties. 207 00:17:02,940 –> 00:17:06,920 Some of them are worthless, you know, clog up the garden. 208 00:17:06,920 –> 00:17:08,719 Others are beautiful, granite. 209 00:17:10,040 –> 00:17:11,599 Some are cherished. 210 00:17:12,900 –> 00:17:16,939 Sapphires, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, 211 00:17:16,939 –> 00:17:21,619 stones that become symbols of our life. 212 00:17:23,599 –> 00:17:28,599 I want us to understand how the stone of the human heart 213 00:17:28,760 –> 00:17:32,640 keeps people from following Jesus Christ. 214 00:17:32,739 –> 00:17:35,020 And I think it’s more helpful to be specific 215 00:17:35,020 –> 00:17:37,479 in this from the Bible than to kind of general. 216 00:17:37,479 –> 00:17:39,300 So let me offer to you here, 217 00:17:39,300 –> 00:17:41,099 thinking about the stony heart 218 00:17:41,099 –> 00:17:43,140 that God says he’ll take away, 219 00:17:43,140 –> 00:17:48,140 I want us to see six rocks that resist Jesus Christ. 220 00:17:50,040 –> 00:17:53,540 Six conditions of heart, settings of heart 221 00:17:53,540 –> 00:17:56,219 that actually keep many people 222 00:17:56,219 –> 00:17:59,819 from following Jesus Christ in their lives. 223 00:17:59,819 –> 00:18:01,599 And I’ll give you scripture for each of them. 224 00:18:01,599 –> 00:18:04,400 Here’s the first, peer pressure, 225 00:18:04,400 –> 00:18:06,540 John chapter five and verse 44, 226 00:18:06,540 –> 00:18:08,780 Jesus says to a crowd of people. 227 00:18:08,780 –> 00:18:10,540 It’s a large crowd, that’s very important. 228 00:18:10,540 –> 00:18:13,339 He says, how can you believe 229 00:18:13,339 –> 00:18:15,300 if you accept praise for one another 230 00:18:15,300 –> 00:18:17,119 yet make no effort to obtain the praise 231 00:18:17,119 –> 00:18:18,939 that comes only from God? 232 00:18:19,780 –> 00:18:21,119 You see what he’s saying? 233 00:18:21,119 –> 00:18:22,420 Here you are, a big crowd, 234 00:18:22,420 –> 00:18:24,000 and what really matters to you folks, 235 00:18:24,000 –> 00:18:28,420 Jesus said to them is that you are praised by one another. 236 00:18:28,420 –> 00:18:30,160 That’s the big thing that you’re after. 237 00:18:30,160 –> 00:18:32,500 You want to be approved by other people. 238 00:18:32,500 –> 00:18:34,540 It’s very difficult to stand out from a crowd, 239 00:18:34,540 –> 00:18:37,640 but how can you believe if the set of your heart 240 00:18:37,640 –> 00:18:39,459 is on the approval of other people? 241 00:18:40,819 –> 00:18:42,459 Now, friends, it is always difficult 242 00:18:42,459 –> 00:18:44,920 to stand out from a crowd, isn’t it? 243 00:18:44,920 –> 00:18:48,260 It’s difficult in high school. 244 00:18:48,260 –> 00:18:50,180 It is every bit as difficult 245 00:18:50,180 –> 00:18:52,800 for professors, academics, in a university. 246 00:18:53,760 –> 00:18:56,000 For the intellectual elite, 247 00:18:56,380 –> 00:19:00,880 it’s do not believe, and for one professor 248 00:19:00,880 –> 00:19:03,239 to stand out in a secular university 249 00:19:03,239 –> 00:19:06,839 and to live under the banner of Jesus Christ 250 00:19:06,839 –> 00:19:08,619 is extremely difficult to do. 251 00:19:09,819 –> 00:19:11,199 It’s the same in public life, 252 00:19:11,199 –> 00:19:14,079 wherever political correctness reigns. 253 00:19:15,040 –> 00:19:18,380 And it is as true in business 254 00:19:18,380 –> 00:19:19,979 as it is on the building site. 255 00:19:20,020 –> 00:19:24,979 So the desire for others to think well of you 256 00:19:24,979 –> 00:19:27,880 in the crowd with whom you find yourself, 257 00:19:27,880 –> 00:19:30,300 if that’s the prevailing desire of your heart, 258 00:19:30,300 –> 00:19:32,140 it will determine the direction of your life 259 00:19:32,140 –> 00:19:35,140 and it will keep you from following Jesus Christ. 260 00:19:35,140 –> 00:19:37,180 It keeps many, how can you believe 261 00:19:37,180 –> 00:19:39,439 if this is what matters to you? 262 00:19:39,439 –> 00:19:40,280 Jesus says. 263 00:19:41,260 –> 00:19:44,020 Number two, money. 264 00:19:44,020 –> 00:19:46,459 Jesus is very specific about this. 265 00:19:47,420 –> 00:19:49,060 Mark 10, 25. 266 00:19:50,040 –> 00:19:55,040 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle 267 00:19:57,060 –> 00:20:01,739 than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. 268 00:20:01,739 –> 00:20:03,540 These words of Jesus are so stark, 269 00:20:03,540 –> 00:20:08,180 we almost need to pause and just let them sink in. 270 00:20:08,180 –> 00:20:13,199 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle 271 00:20:13,239 –> 00:20:18,040 than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. 272 00:20:20,000 –> 00:20:22,640 Now remember that Jesus spoke these words 273 00:20:22,640 –> 00:20:24,859 immediately after a conversation he had had 274 00:20:24,859 –> 00:20:26,920 with a young person who was very wealthy. 275 00:20:26,920 –> 00:20:28,780 We call him the rich young ruler. 276 00:20:29,780 –> 00:20:32,680 And what Jesus is teaching to his disciples here 277 00:20:32,680 –> 00:20:36,280 after he challenged that person about giving up money 278 00:20:36,280 –> 00:20:39,339 in order to follow Jesus Christ, 279 00:20:39,339 –> 00:20:41,239 Jesus is telling his disciples, 280 00:20:41,959 –> 00:20:46,959 if your heart is set on money and what it can buy, 281 00:20:48,619 –> 00:20:51,900 you will not be able to enter the kingdom of God. 282 00:20:54,180 –> 00:20:59,180 Being wealthy had captured the rich young rulers heart. 283 00:20:59,959 –> 00:21:02,219 And that is why when Jesus challenged him, 284 00:21:02,219 –> 00:21:03,060 he walked away. 285 00:21:03,060 –> 00:21:04,520 He was very sad about walking away, 286 00:21:04,520 –> 00:21:07,219 but he walked away nonetheless. 287 00:21:07,219 –> 00:21:08,239 So we draw from that, 288 00:21:08,239 –> 00:21:10,099 Jesus draws from that this principle. 289 00:21:10,719 –> 00:21:15,219 That if your heart is set on becoming wealthy 290 00:21:15,219 –> 00:21:16,939 or staying wealthy, 291 00:21:18,939 –> 00:21:21,500 it will keep you from following Jesus Christ. 292 00:21:21,500 –> 00:21:23,699 I see no other way to understand this. 293 00:21:25,619 –> 00:21:26,859 If your heart’s set there, 294 00:21:26,859 –> 00:21:29,420 remember the new testaments says the love of money 295 00:21:29,420 –> 00:21:31,180 is the root of what? 296 00:21:31,180 –> 00:21:32,140 All kinds of evil. 297 00:21:33,160 –> 00:21:35,780 So if your heart is set on money, 298 00:21:35,780 –> 00:21:38,660 you’re not followed far after Jesus Christ, can’t be. 299 00:21:38,660 –> 00:21:41,119 Will be a rock that will stop you in your heart. 300 00:21:43,699 –> 00:21:46,500 Third, loved ones. 301 00:21:46,500 –> 00:21:47,660 Boy, these are tough. 302 00:21:48,920 –> 00:21:50,939 Matthew 10 37. 303 00:21:50,939 –> 00:21:53,119 There never were words quite like the words of Jesus. 304 00:21:53,119 –> 00:21:54,880 No one ever spoke like this. 305 00:21:56,060 –> 00:21:59,020 Anyone, Jesus says, who loves his father or mother 306 00:21:59,020 –> 00:22:00,859 more than me is not worthy of me. 307 00:22:02,319 –> 00:22:05,119 And anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me 308 00:22:07,099 –> 00:22:08,319 is not worthy of me. 309 00:22:09,540 –> 00:22:11,619 Now, there are many folks, 310 00:22:11,619 –> 00:22:14,160 I think right now some folks I know well, 311 00:22:14,160 –> 00:22:17,800 there are folks who will not become followers of Christ 312 00:22:17,800 –> 00:22:21,180 because of loyalty to a loved one, either dead or alive. 313 00:22:22,760 –> 00:22:23,599 It’s a reality. 314 00:22:23,599 –> 00:22:25,839 It’s what Jesus is talking about right here. 315 00:22:28,000 –> 00:22:32,520 A husband or wife has died and they did not follow Christ 316 00:22:32,520 –> 00:22:35,199 and now you’re continuing and you feel that 317 00:22:35,199 –> 00:22:37,400 if you did follow Christ you’re being disloyal to them, 318 00:22:37,400 –> 00:22:39,000 you won’t do it for that reason. 319 00:22:40,280 –> 00:22:41,880 You have a husband or a wife living 320 00:22:41,880 –> 00:22:43,640 that they’re not a Christian and you know 321 00:22:43,640 –> 00:22:45,719 that following Christ would introduce attention 322 00:22:45,719 –> 00:22:47,000 to your marriage that isn’t there now, 323 00:22:47,000 –> 00:22:48,119 so you won’t do it. 324 00:22:49,979 –> 00:22:51,780 That’s what Jesus is speaking about. 325 00:22:53,800 –> 00:22:56,420 Previous generations, perhaps for many years 326 00:22:56,420 –> 00:22:59,979 in your family history, have not been Christian, 327 00:23:01,239 –> 00:23:03,040 and now you’re drawn to Jesus Christ 328 00:23:03,040 –> 00:23:06,060 but it’s going to mean a break with your whole heritage. 329 00:23:07,599 –> 00:23:10,040 And it is really hard for you to step out 330 00:23:10,040 –> 00:23:11,300 and follow Jesus Christ, 331 00:23:12,359 –> 00:23:13,599 and there may be great cost for it. 332 00:23:13,599 –> 00:23:17,839 You may well find yourself cut out of an inheritance, 333 00:23:21,079 –> 00:23:23,119 or you have given your heart to a boyfriend 334 00:23:23,119 –> 00:23:26,260 or to a girlfriend or even to a group of friends 335 00:23:26,260 –> 00:23:28,660 who do not love Jesus Christ, 336 00:23:29,800 –> 00:23:33,400 and that keeps you from following Him. 337 00:23:33,400 –> 00:23:37,199 There’s a rock right there in your heart, stone. 338 00:23:37,199 –> 00:23:38,839 You’re stumbling on it. 339 00:23:38,839 –> 00:23:40,300 You make no progress. 340 00:23:40,300 –> 00:23:42,040 That’s what Jesus is talking about. 341 00:23:43,599 –> 00:23:44,760 A stony heart. 342 00:23:47,800 –> 00:23:49,500 Folks, if another person, 343 00:23:51,020 –> 00:23:52,560 even the one you’re married to, 344 00:23:53,599 –> 00:23:56,000 keeps you from following Jesus Christ, 345 00:23:56,000 –> 00:23:58,520 you are being controlled by that person, 346 00:24:01,040 –> 00:24:03,920 and in effect, they are functioning as your God. 347 00:24:06,099 –> 00:24:06,939 That’s the reality. 348 00:24:07,359 –> 00:24:08,800 That’s what Jesus identifies here. 349 00:24:10,359 –> 00:24:11,199 That’s three. 350 00:24:11,199 –> 00:24:13,239 Can you handle three more? 351 00:24:13,239 –> 00:24:14,479 Tough stuff, isn’t it? 352 00:24:14,479 –> 00:24:15,780 But we’re talking about a stony heart, 353 00:24:15,780 –> 00:24:16,839 we’re talking about something real, 354 00:24:16,839 –> 00:24:19,020 we’re talking about why millions of people 355 00:24:19,020 –> 00:24:20,560 do not follow Jesus Christ. 356 00:24:23,660 –> 00:24:25,420 Number four, comfort. 357 00:24:25,420 –> 00:24:26,839 What about this one? 358 00:24:26,839 –> 00:24:29,000 Jesus speaks directly to this. 359 00:24:30,099 –> 00:24:32,560 Anyone, that’s universal, 360 00:24:32,560 –> 00:24:37,160 Anyone who does not carry his cross 361 00:24:37,160 –> 00:24:40,239 and follow me cannot be my disciple. 362 00:24:40,239 –> 00:24:42,859 These are categoric statements, aren’t they? 363 00:24:45,160 –> 00:24:47,119 In other words, carry your cross, 364 00:24:47,119 –> 00:24:49,640 that’s gonna be painful, that’s what Jesus is saying. 365 00:24:49,640 –> 00:24:51,260 I’m gonna be crucified. 366 00:24:51,260 –> 00:24:53,079 And if you’re going to follow me, you’re going to suffer, 367 00:24:53,079 –> 00:24:54,699 you’re going to experience pain 368 00:24:54,699 –> 00:24:57,459 that would not otherwise be in your life because of it. 369 00:24:58,599 –> 00:25:00,920 Everyone who honors Jesus Christ 370 00:25:00,920 –> 00:25:02,739 will be persecuted in this world. 371 00:25:04,199 –> 00:25:06,079 And so if your heart really is set 372 00:25:06,079 –> 00:25:08,160 on maintaining a comfortable life, 373 00:25:08,160 –> 00:25:11,599 it will keep you from following Jesus, inevitably. 374 00:25:11,599 –> 00:25:13,319 Because there will be a cost, Jesus said, 375 00:25:13,319 –> 00:25:15,199 there will be pain, there will be sacrifice 376 00:25:15,199 –> 00:25:16,300 in following him. 377 00:25:16,300 –> 00:25:20,959 If your heart always moves you to choose the easiest path, 378 00:25:20,959 –> 00:25:22,699 you cannot follow Christ far. 379 00:25:22,699 –> 00:25:25,800 The broad road will be more to your inclinations. 380 00:25:26,380 –> 00:25:31,380 Number five, I’ve called this one a cherished sin. 381 00:25:34,579 –> 00:25:38,660 And I’m thinking here of John 3, verse 19, 382 00:25:39,640 –> 00:25:42,219 where John says, this is the verdict that light, 383 00:25:42,219 –> 00:25:44,839 he’s referring to Jesus, has come into the world. 384 00:25:44,839 –> 00:25:47,319 But men loved darkness instead of light, why? 385 00:25:47,319 –> 00:25:49,439 Because their deeds were evil. 386 00:25:50,500 –> 00:25:52,760 In other words, the reason that certain people 387 00:25:52,760 –> 00:25:54,880 did not follow after Jesus Christ 388 00:25:54,939 –> 00:25:58,000 was because of specific things they were doing, their deeds. 389 00:26:01,439 –> 00:26:02,280 How many people, 390 00:26:02,280 –> 00:26:04,479 I’ll take one example that’s a very obvious one. 391 00:26:05,719 –> 00:26:10,719 How many people have been kept from following Christ 392 00:26:12,040 –> 00:26:15,500 because their heart is set on pursuing 393 00:26:15,500 –> 00:26:18,939 whatever their sexual impulse may be? 394 00:26:22,239 –> 00:26:23,959 Jesus was a single man. 395 00:26:25,479 –> 00:26:28,060 He was never intimate with anyone, 396 00:26:29,479 –> 00:26:34,479 yet, he loved more deeply and lived more fully 397 00:26:37,280 –> 00:26:40,199 than any person who has ever lived before or since. 398 00:26:40,199 –> 00:26:41,099 Think about that. 399 00:26:43,280 –> 00:26:47,359 But we live in a culture that has made 400 00:26:47,359 –> 00:26:50,599 a God of gratifying sexual appetite, 401 00:26:50,599 –> 00:26:52,280 whatever form that may come in. 402 00:26:52,939 –> 00:26:56,160 That has become a God for many people. 403 00:26:56,160 –> 00:26:58,979 If that is what matters to you most, 404 00:26:58,979 –> 00:27:02,140 it will keep you from following Christ. 405 00:27:03,280 –> 00:27:08,280 Men would not come to Christ because their deeds were evil. 406 00:27:09,839 –> 00:27:12,939 Here’s number six, it’s, perhaps, the most obvious of all. 407 00:27:12,939 –> 00:27:16,900 It’s the self and this goes right back 408 00:27:16,900 –> 00:27:20,439 to the very first temptation in the garden of Eden. 409 00:27:20,479 –> 00:27:22,859 Remember that at the beginning of the Bible, 410 00:27:22,859 –> 00:27:25,040 Satan questioned, did God really say 411 00:27:25,040 –> 00:27:27,400 that you weren’t to eat of the fruit of the tree 412 00:27:28,560 –> 00:27:30,219 and Eve says, well, there’s going to be judgment 413 00:27:30,219 –> 00:27:33,079 and so forth, oh, no, no, you will not surely die. 414 00:27:33,079 –> 00:27:37,219 These first two suggestions undermined Eve’s resolve 415 00:27:37,219 –> 00:27:39,900 to obey God but it was the third temptation 416 00:27:39,900 –> 00:27:42,979 that really hooked her and what was that? 417 00:27:42,979 –> 00:27:44,459 Genesis three, five. 418 00:27:44,459 –> 00:27:46,140 God knows that when you eat of it, 419 00:27:46,140 –> 00:27:49,459 your eyes will be opened and you will be like God. 420 00:27:51,439 –> 00:27:52,439 See, what Satan was saying, 421 00:27:52,439 –> 00:27:54,880 why should God be God and not you? 422 00:27:54,880 –> 00:27:56,719 Why shouldn’t you be God, Eve? 423 00:27:56,719 –> 00:27:58,239 Be God of your own life? 424 00:27:58,239 –> 00:27:59,459 Rule your own life, you can decide 425 00:27:59,459 –> 00:28:01,199 what’s good and evil for yourself. 426 00:28:04,099 –> 00:28:06,880 You cannot be a worshipper of God 427 00:28:06,880 –> 00:28:09,359 if you’re set on being your own god for yourself. 428 00:28:11,800 –> 00:28:15,359 The desire to be our own god is a stone in the heart 429 00:28:15,359 –> 00:28:19,739 that resists Jesus Christ to the last 430 00:28:21,439 –> 00:28:25,239 So folks, what may keep you from following Christ? 431 00:28:25,239 –> 00:28:28,099 There must be a good number among us 432 00:28:28,099 –> 00:28:32,800 who are not following Jesus Christ, 433 00:28:32,800 –> 00:28:36,119 who are not living in the joy of his Gospel 434 00:28:36,119 –> 00:28:38,119 and what is it that is holding you back? 435 00:28:39,359 –> 00:28:44,280 What form of stone is at the very core of your being? 436 00:28:45,199 –> 00:28:47,800 Peer pressure, money, 437 00:28:48,060 –> 00:28:50,079 what is it that keeps you from doing it? 438 00:28:50,079 –> 00:28:51,119 Is it loved ones? 439 00:28:53,000 –> 00:28:55,319 Is it comfort, is it a cherished sin 440 00:28:55,319 –> 00:28:56,920 that you don’t want to give up? 441 00:28:58,599 –> 00:29:00,920 Or is it simply that you wanna be your own God? 442 00:29:02,199 –> 00:29:05,199 You know, Al Mohler of the Southern Baptist Seminary 443 00:29:05,199 –> 00:29:06,839 has a very good way of putting this. 444 00:29:06,839 –> 00:29:10,400 He says, our culture always tells us 445 00:29:10,400 –> 00:29:14,699 that the problem is out there and the answer is in here. 446 00:29:14,699 –> 00:29:15,540 And you know that? 447 00:29:15,540 –> 00:29:16,839 The problem’s always other people. 448 00:29:16,839 –> 00:29:19,060 What this person did to me and I was, 449 00:29:19,060 –> 00:29:20,719 you know, that happened to me 450 00:29:20,719 –> 00:29:22,579 and it’s always someone else’s fault. 451 00:29:22,579 –> 00:29:24,260 And what’s the answer, what our culture says? 452 00:29:24,260 –> 00:29:25,979 Well, you need to find it inside of yourself 453 00:29:25,979 –> 00:29:27,880 and so forth and so on. 454 00:29:27,880 –> 00:29:32,880 The culture says to us that the problem 455 00:29:33,099 –> 00:29:35,640 is always out there and the answer’s always in here. 456 00:29:35,640 –> 00:29:37,819 What the Bible says to us is exactly the opposite. 457 00:29:37,819 –> 00:29:39,500 The Bible says the problem’s in here 458 00:29:40,660 –> 00:29:42,819 and the answer’s out there in Jesus Christ. 459 00:29:43,780 –> 00:29:45,219 The problem is in my eart, 460 00:29:45,219 –> 00:29:46,680 the heart that we’re born in nature. 461 00:29:47,300 –> 00:29:48,760 The heart of stone. 462 00:29:48,760 –> 00:29:51,800 And God says, I will take away from you 463 00:29:51,800 –> 00:29:52,800 your heart of stone. 464 00:29:52,800 –> 00:29:55,099 Here’s the heart of the problem. 465 00:29:55,099 –> 00:29:57,160 Here’s why you do not make progress 466 00:29:57,160 –> 00:29:59,160 in the life that I’m calling you to. 467 00:29:59,160 –> 00:30:02,180 There are six rocks that resist Jesus Christ 468 00:30:03,199 –> 00:30:07,160 and they’re buried deep within the very nature 469 00:30:07,160 –> 00:30:11,699 that is ours as a result of the fall. 470 00:30:11,699 –> 00:30:13,719 Now, that was all asking the question, 471 00:30:13,719 –> 00:30:16,199 why does the heart need change? 472 00:30:16,579 –> 00:30:18,099 It’s asking the question, 473 00:30:18,099 –> 00:30:19,040 how can then the heart be changed? 474 00:30:19,040 –> 00:30:22,040 And I want you to notice the power of this verse. 475 00:30:22,040 –> 00:30:25,599 Do you notice how God says that He will do it three times? 476 00:30:25,599 –> 00:30:28,099 He says, I will give you a new heart 477 00:30:28,099 –> 00:30:29,640 and put a new spirit in you. 478 00:30:29,640 –> 00:30:31,819 I will remove from you your heart of stone 479 00:30:31,819 –> 00:30:33,239 and give you a heart of flesh. 480 00:30:33,239 –> 00:30:35,500 I will put my spirit in you and move you 481 00:30:35,500 –> 00:30:38,280 to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 482 00:30:38,280 –> 00:30:40,760 This is marvelous good news folks 483 00:30:40,760 –> 00:30:43,339 because when we look at the intensity 484 00:30:43,339 –> 00:30:46,540 of the problem in our own hearts, 485 00:30:46,540 –> 00:30:48,420 what we begin to see very quickly is, 486 00:30:48,420 –> 00:30:51,140 I can’t change this. 487 00:30:51,140 –> 00:30:53,640 But what the sovereign Lord is saying to us here 488 00:30:53,640 –> 00:30:55,780 in this marvelous promise is He is saying, 489 00:30:55,780 –> 00:30:58,500 I can and I will. 490 00:30:58,500 –> 00:31:01,560 I will do for you what you cannot do for yourself, 491 00:31:01,560 –> 00:31:04,599 I will bring a fundamental change to your very nature. 492 00:31:04,599 –> 00:31:06,619 That is what regeneration is. 493 00:31:09,599 –> 00:31:12,040 So I want to encourage you here and invite you. 494 00:31:12,880 –> 00:31:15,359 You see stone in your own heart? 495 00:31:17,339 –> 00:31:21,920 Think about what Christ offers to you in the gospel. 496 00:31:24,300 –> 00:31:27,079 And now come to Him and tell Him the problem. 497 00:31:28,500 –> 00:31:30,359 You can come to Him today like this. 498 00:31:30,359 –> 00:31:32,300 You can ask Him to change your heart, 499 00:31:32,300 –> 00:31:34,540 you can hold Him to this promise. 500 00:31:34,540 –> 00:31:38,280 You can say, I see in the Bible this is what you have said 501 00:31:39,280 –> 00:31:42,239 and I’m claiming this promise right now. 502 00:31:44,380 –> 00:31:48,560 Release me from the fear of what other people think 503 00:31:49,640 –> 00:31:54,560 and let me live for the praise that comes from you alone. 504 00:31:56,579 –> 00:31:59,959 Sever in me the love of money 505 00:32:01,380 –> 00:32:03,599 that is the root of all kinds of evil 506 00:32:03,699 –> 00:32:08,699 and set me free to be a wise and a generous steward 507 00:32:09,540 –> 00:32:13,060 of whatever you may trust to me in my life. 508 00:32:13,060 –> 00:32:14,699 Do that in me. 509 00:32:14,699 –> 00:32:16,800 Lord, because I can’t change my heart. 510 00:32:16,800 –> 00:32:18,300 We’re just greedy to the core. 511 00:32:20,160 –> 00:32:23,780 Break the power of other people controlling my life 512 00:32:23,780 –> 00:32:28,439 dead or alive and let me live for you alone. 513 00:32:28,479 –> 00:32:34,219 Redeem me from the constant compromise of a life 514 00:32:34,219 –> 00:32:36,859 that always chooses the easiest path. 515 00:32:38,900 –> 00:32:41,579 And make me ready to take up my cross to follow you. 516 00:32:43,500 –> 00:32:49,500 Deliver me from a life of gratifying my own lusts 517 00:32:49,500 –> 00:32:52,439 and desires and lead me with joy 518 00:32:52,439 –> 00:32:54,099 into the path of purity. 519 00:32:54,199 –> 00:33:01,040 And save me from the idolatry of seeking to be my own God 520 00:33:01,040 –> 00:33:04,160 and bring my life under your Sovereign rule.” 521 00:33:05,979 –> 00:33:07,619 You can come to God like that right now. 522 00:33:07,619 –> 00:33:08,680 Look at His promise. 523 00:33:11,040 –> 00:33:17,520 God says, I will remove your heart of stone. 524 00:33:20,800 –> 00:33:21,939 And if that’s not the case, 525 00:33:22,619 –> 00:33:25,680 and if that’s the promise of the Creator God, 526 00:33:27,300 –> 00:33:30,199 who sent His Son into the world for you. 527 00:33:31,640 –> 00:33:35,520 Why should you not come and claim that promise 528 00:33:35,520 –> 00:33:38,959 and receive the good of it today? 529 00:33:41,680 –> 00:33:45,280 Now in these very last moments I’ve got one more question. 530 00:33:45,280 –> 00:33:47,839 Because not only does God say, 531 00:33:47,839 –> 00:33:49,979 I will remove from you the heart of stone, 532 00:33:49,979 –> 00:33:50,880 that’s wonderful, 533 00:33:52,599 –> 00:33:53,839 but He says something else. 534 00:33:53,839 –> 00:33:57,420 He says, to all who will come in this promise, 535 00:33:57,420 –> 00:34:00,760 He says, I will give you a new heart. 536 00:34:01,739 –> 00:34:05,319 I will give you a heart of flesh. 537 00:34:05,319 –> 00:34:07,439 So in these last moments, let’s ask the question, 538 00:34:07,439 –> 00:34:09,060 if you were to come to Jesus Christ, 539 00:34:09,060 –> 00:34:11,780 if you have come to Jesus Christ, 540 00:34:11,780 –> 00:34:14,540 if you have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, 541 00:34:14,540 –> 00:34:15,959 if by God’s grace that is 542 00:34:15,959 –> 00:34:18,719 what is happening to you right now, 543 00:34:18,719 –> 00:34:20,719 then what is the new heart that He gives 544 00:34:20,760 –> 00:34:22,979 as He takes away the heart of stone, 545 00:34:22,979 –> 00:34:24,580 as He makes you a new person 546 00:34:24,580 –> 00:34:26,439 at the very core of your being? 547 00:34:26,439 –> 00:34:27,379 What’s it like? 548 00:34:27,379 –> 00:34:29,820 I found it helpful to think of it this way. 549 00:34:30,699 –> 00:34:32,320 You know, your heart, your physical heart 550 00:34:32,320 –> 00:34:35,419 in your body has four chambers. 551 00:34:35,419 –> 00:34:36,340 And just thinking about 552 00:34:36,340 –> 00:34:38,100 what the Scripture has to say about this, 553 00:34:38,100 –> 00:34:40,120 I find it just very helpful to say 554 00:34:40,120 –> 00:34:44,699 the new heart, what Jesus Christ gives to a person 555 00:34:44,699 –> 00:34:47,419 in this recreation of your inner life, 556 00:34:47,419 –> 00:34:49,939 the new heart has four chambers. 557 00:34:49,959 –> 00:34:52,020 Four chambers of the new heart. 558 00:34:52,020 –> 00:34:55,500 Very, very briefly, number one, it is a humble heart. 559 00:34:55,500 –> 00:34:57,860 When Christ says, I will give you a new heart, 560 00:34:57,860 –> 00:34:59,580 it’s a humble heart, why? 561 00:34:59,580 –> 00:35:02,780 Because the Gospel excludes all boasting. 562 00:35:04,260 –> 00:35:06,239 You didn’t generate this heart. 563 00:35:07,139 –> 00:35:08,300 It’s given to you. 564 00:35:09,300 –> 00:35:11,419 You did not earn it. 565 00:35:11,419 –> 00:35:13,699 It’s the gift of God’s grace, 566 00:35:13,699 –> 00:35:16,760 which is why Paul says, when he writes to the Corinthians, 567 00:35:16,879 –> 00:35:21,280 what do you have that you did not receive? 568 00:35:22,280 –> 00:35:25,520 When a man or a woman is regenerated, 569 00:35:25,520 –> 00:35:28,159 the first instinct of the new heart 570 00:35:28,159 –> 00:35:31,639 is to recognize that all my good is in Christ 571 00:35:31,639 –> 00:35:34,560 and all that I have comes from him. 572 00:35:36,879 –> 00:35:39,399 And, then, it’s a believing heart. 573 00:35:39,399 –> 00:35:41,760 Romans 10 in verse nine and 10, 574 00:35:41,760 –> 00:35:44,239 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord 575 00:35:44,239 –> 00:35:46,040 and believe in your heart, 576 00:35:46,040 –> 00:35:47,600 not just believe in your heart 577 00:35:47,600 –> 00:35:50,120 that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, 578 00:35:50,120 –> 00:35:52,120 for it is with the heart that you believe 579 00:35:52,120 –> 00:35:54,239 and are justified and it is with the mouth 580 00:35:54,239 –> 00:35:56,159 that you confess and are saved. 581 00:35:57,199 –> 00:35:59,340 So, when God gives you a new heart, 582 00:36:00,520 –> 00:36:04,800 that heart has the chamber of faith 583 00:36:06,760 –> 00:36:10,320 that pumps and beats the very core of your life 584 00:36:11,120 –> 00:36:14,120 so that you trust in the atoning death 585 00:36:16,760 –> 00:36:19,280 of the Lord Jesus Christ for your sins. 586 00:36:19,280 –> 00:36:22,679 You find peace through him, you feed on him. 587 00:36:23,919 –> 00:36:27,080 You are drawn to him, you find him to be sufficient, 588 00:36:27,080 –> 00:36:32,080 you have confidence in him, you are thankful for him. 589 00:36:34,840 –> 00:36:36,760 The new heart is a loving heart. 590 00:36:37,939 –> 00:36:40,300 You know, when Christ gives a new heart, 591 00:36:40,340 –> 00:36:43,300 the new heart loves him and loves others. 592 00:36:43,300 –> 00:36:45,800 One Peter 1 in verse eight, 593 00:36:45,800 –> 00:36:47,860 though you have not seen Christ, 594 00:36:47,860 –> 00:36:49,620 not one of us have seen Jesus, 595 00:36:50,659 –> 00:36:52,959 yet, if you’re regenerated by the spirit of God, 596 00:36:52,959 –> 00:36:55,419 you love him, you really do. 597 00:36:55,419 –> 00:36:59,219 When you are a new person in Christ, you love the savior. 598 00:36:59,219 –> 00:37:01,899 Not only do you love the son, but you love the father. 599 00:37:01,899 –> 00:37:05,340 The spirit within us cries out, Abba, Father 600 00:37:05,340 –> 00:37:06,760 and having that love that comes 601 00:37:06,760 –> 00:37:09,060 from God and is reflected back to God, 602 00:37:09,120 –> 00:37:13,419 the new heart has a new source of love for other people 603 00:37:13,419 –> 00:37:17,120 including those who are not very loveable. 604 00:37:18,360 –> 00:37:19,800 And fourthly, it’s an obedient heart, 605 00:37:19,800 –> 00:37:22,679 you see that most clearly I think right here in Ezekiel, 606 00:37:22,679 –> 00:37:25,399 I will give you a new heart, I will put my spirit in you 607 00:37:25,399 –> 00:37:29,719 and I’ll move you, what, to follow my decrees 608 00:37:29,719 –> 00:37:32,239 and be careful to keep my laws. 609 00:37:32,239 –> 00:37:33,879 In other words, when you are regenerate, 610 00:37:33,879 –> 00:37:36,340 the Christian life is not some kind of massive effort 611 00:37:36,340 –> 00:37:37,540 to a new morality. 612 00:37:39,300 –> 00:37:43,040 It is the outflow of a heart that so loves Jesus 613 00:37:43,040 –> 00:37:46,179 that as Paul says, we make it our aim to please him. 614 00:37:46,179 –> 00:37:47,840 That’s why David even in the Old Testament 615 00:37:47,840 –> 00:37:49,500 because he had the new heart said, 616 00:37:49,500 –> 00:37:53,439 oh how I love your law, how I love your law. 617 00:37:55,020 –> 00:37:57,379 I will give you a new heart 618 00:37:58,620 –> 00:38:01,320 and I will put a new spirit in you. 619 00:38:01,320 –> 00:38:04,620 I will remove from you your heart of stone 620 00:38:04,620 –> 00:38:07,280 and I will give you a heart of flesh. 621 00:38:07,320 –> 00:38:09,020 I will put my spirit in you 622 00:38:09,020 –> 00:38:11,600 and I will move you to follow my decrees 623 00:38:11,600 –> 00:38:13,800 and be careful to keep my laws. 624 00:38:13,800 –> 00:38:16,120 Isn’t this the most marvelous promise 625 00:38:17,479 –> 00:38:22,479 of real transformation from the inside of your life out. 626 00:38:24,719 –> 00:38:27,139 What do you know of this in your life? 627 00:38:27,139 –> 00:38:28,520 What do you really love most? 628 00:38:28,520 –> 00:38:29,560 What’s driving you? 629 00:38:31,840 –> 00:38:33,739 What is the thing you’re really after? 630 00:38:34,620 –> 00:38:39,620 Is it the heart of stone or is it the heart of flesh? 631 00:38:43,439 –> 00:38:45,540 You know C. S. Lewis’s marvelous story, 632 00:38:45,540 –> 00:38:46,939 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 633 00:38:46,939 –> 00:38:49,699 some of the kids would have seen the film 634 00:38:49,699 –> 00:38:50,520 and many of us will. 635 00:38:50,520 –> 00:38:52,179 You remember towards the end of that story 636 00:38:53,479 –> 00:38:57,340 when in this land of Narnia where it’s always winter 637 00:38:57,340 –> 00:38:59,899 and it’s never Christmas. 638 00:39:00,320 –> 00:39:04,580 And Aslan comes into that world to Aslan, the lion, 639 00:39:04,580 –> 00:39:06,280 who speaks to us of Jesus Christ. 640 00:39:06,280 –> 00:39:10,580 He goes to the table where his life is laid down 641 00:39:10,580 –> 00:39:14,139 and then marvelously speaking of Christ, he rises again. 642 00:39:14,139 –> 00:39:15,060 And after that, 643 00:39:15,060 –> 00:39:18,379 the children go with him to the palace of the White Witch 644 00:39:18,379 –> 00:39:19,879 and when they reach the courtyard, 645 00:39:19,879 –> 00:39:21,080 they find that the witch 646 00:39:21,080 –> 00:39:24,719 has turned all the animals into what? 647 00:39:24,719 –> 00:39:26,060 Stone. 648 00:39:27,020 –> 00:39:31,479 And there, they stand lifeless and powerless. 649 00:39:33,000 –> 00:39:38,080 And Louis simply says Aslan breathed on them. 650 00:39:40,300 –> 00:39:44,540 And the breath of his life brought new life to them. 651 00:39:47,379 –> 00:39:50,060 And the Lord Jesus Christ is saying here, 652 00:39:51,139 –> 00:39:54,379 he can bring new life to you. 653 00:39:55,139 –> 00:39:57,100 Let’s pray together, shall we? 654 00:39:58,560 –> 00:40:00,020 Father, we thank you right now 655 00:40:00,020 –> 00:40:03,860 for this amazing, amazing promise. 656 00:40:05,580 –> 00:40:07,699 And some of us are wanting in this very moment 657 00:40:07,699 –> 00:40:11,260 to say, I recognize the heart of stone, 658 00:40:13,699 –> 00:40:15,979 and I’m asking that by your grace, 659 00:40:17,060 –> 00:40:21,159 you will do this transforming work in me. 660 00:40:21,840 –> 00:40:26,120 Give me a heart of flesh and move me 661 00:40:27,320 –> 00:40:29,879 in the direction of your decrees and of your laws. 662 00:40:32,280 –> 00:40:34,120 Breathe on me breath of God, 663 00:40:35,280 –> 00:40:36,840 fill me with life in you, 664 00:40:37,760 –> 00:40:41,320 that I may love what thou dost love and do. 665 00:40:42,639 –> 00:40:46,000 What thou wouldst do through Jesus Christ our Lord, 666 00:40:46,000 –> 00:40:47,679 we ask these things. 667 00:40:47,679 –> 00:40:49,800 God’s people said amen. 668 00:40:49,840 –> 00:40:50,679 Amen. 669 00:40:53,479 –> 00:40:54,719 You’ve been listening to a sermon 670 00:40:54,719 –> 00:40:57,120 with Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 671 00:40:57,120 –> 00:41:02,120 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN365 672 00:41:02,399 –> 00:41:05,899 or visit our website, openthebible.org.