The message of the gospel is not get your heart right so that you can come to God. The message of the gospel is come to God in order that you may get your heart right. You do not come to Jesus Christ because you have a right heart. You come to Jesus Christ because you need a right heart. And you know today that you don’t have it. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. And Colin, there may be someone listening today thinking, I know I don’t have a right heart. What would you say to them? I say, well, that’s precisely why Jesus Christ came into the world. And thank God that he has not said to us, hey, get yourself right and then come to me. He said, come to me and I will put you right. I will give you a new heart. That’s the promise of the gospel. Well, today we’re going to look at all the ways in which the heart goes wrong. How does a person veer onto the wrong track? Where does it actually begin? What’s at the root of actually moving away from God and his purpose and his will for our lives? And once we’ve discovered what makes the heart wrong, the bigger thing is how Jesus Christ puts it right. There’s a message of great hope today about how Jesus changes the heart. Well, let’s get started with today’s message. Here in Proverbs chapter 23, as we continue the message, the heart gone wrong. Here’s Colin. I want to suggest to you three places where the heart most often goes wrong. I suspect these were the things, because Solomon says them here, that he was seeing emerging in the heart of his own son. The first is that the heart goes wrong with regards to who you admire. Proverbs 17, let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. Now, we’ve every reason to believe that Rehoboam in his early years conformed to the faith of his grandfather David and of his father Solomon, the faith that had been passed on, and the faith with which he was raised. But it seems from this that when Rehoboam looked at godless people, people who lived without God in their lives, it seems he found their life, their model, their example to be attractive. That’s the significance, surely, of let not your heart envy the wicked. And so here’s Solomon’s fear. He has a son who professes faith. He professes to believe the faith that was handed down from his grandfather David and now his father Solomon. But there seems to be in this son a secret longing, an attraction of his heart, a drawing of his heart to move in a different direction. Solomon says, verse 24, he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. But at this point, you see, Solomon’s not sure if he’s got a wise son or not. He fears that his son’s heart may be somewhere else. He admires the wrong people. He envies sinners. He looks up to the example of people who live without God. They’re the role models for him, and they’re the ones he wants to be like. Now I want to speak from the heart to every son and daughter of whatever age who has been raised in a Christian home. You have Christian parents or Christian grandparents. And here’s the burden of my heart today. I can think of no greater tragedy than that while people who had no knowledge of the truth in their early years and were exposed to all kinds of evils, while so many of them are pressing their way into finding peace and joy in Jesus Christ, you who have had more blessings than you may ever realize, some of you seem ready to throw it all up. That’s a tragedy. That others who had none of the blessings you have enjoyed should end up pressing into the knowledge of Christ and all the good that comes from that forever and forever. And that you, who had all the opportunity, should sit with your heart envying the wicked and end up throwing it all away. And you know what the first sign of being ready to throw it all away is? You start envying sinners. You start looking at people who live without God and you say, that’s what I want to be like. I want to be like her. I want to be like him. I see how they live and that’s how I want to live. And when I get the chance, that’s what I’m going to do. And here you are in church and that’s where some of you are right now. Second place the heart goes wrong is not simply in who you admire, but it’s in how you decide. Look at verse 18. Here’s something else that surely Solomon discerned in his son. He says to him, surely there is a future and your hope will not be cut off. Now I think that this shows to us that Solomon saw in his son a growing tendency to live only in the present and to lose sight of the future. In other words, Solomon is seeing that his son is going more and more with what he thinks and feels at any given point in time. And so what Solomon says to him in this verse is, look son, surely there is a future. In other words, don’t make your decisions in life on the basis of short-term comfort. Son, there’s a future. You make your decisions in life on the basis of long-term outcomes. Surely there is a future. Now friends, this is obviously of huge importance for us today because our culture is bombarding us with a philosophy that says, live in the moment. It seems to me to be a new phrase, but it’s around us everywhere. If it means that we are to be fully present and fully engaged in whatever we are doing at any given time, rather than have our mind distracted off at a dozen other places trying to do multiple things at the same time, then that would be a very good thing. Live in the moment. But I have noticed often enough to want to comment on this today. I have noticed the phrase, live in the moment, being used too often by people who are very clearly moving away from Christian faith. I’m trying to live in the moment, pastor. And if I understand that correctly, I think what is being said here is this. I’m going with what I feel and sometimes I feel I want to know God and sometimes I don’t. And I live in the moment. Now in a world that is constantly saying to you, live in the moment, I want you to hear the word of our Father in heaven who says to you, surely there is a future. I want you to hear that. Always remember this, friend. Your life, the life that God gives to you, comes in two very unequal parts. You have a very, very short life in time and you have a very, very long life in eternity. That’s the life that God has given to you. How short is your life in this world? Listen to how God describes it. He uses pictures so that we’ll get it. All flesh is grass. The grass withers when the breath of the Lord blows on it. How long does grass live? About a week. Then you cut it and it’s blown and it is gone. If you’ve not cut your grass for three weeks, hey, there you are, time to do it, right? About a week. That’s the image that God, our Father, gives to us. If you want to think rightly about your life, you have to think of the proportion of what you have in this world in relation to what you have in eternity. And let me put it in a picture for you. It’s like grass. That’s your whole life. If you lived a hundred years and more, that’s what your life in this world is like in relation to eternity. You haven’t got much time. You see, here’s one of the pressures, especially on younger people today. We hear all the time this phrase, don’t we? We want to be on the right side of history. Here’s our answer to that, friends. We need to be on the right side of eternity. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message, The Heart Gone Wrong. And I hope you’ll stay with us because quite soon we’ll be hearing how the heart goes right. Now this message, along with all our others, if you ever miss any or if you want to go back and hear them again, are all available on our website, which is openthebible.org.uk. There you can stream any of our previous messages completely free. Also on the website, you’ll find Open the Bible Daily. This is a series of short two to three minute reflections, a new one posted every day, written by Pastor Colin Smith and read by Sue MacLeish. And I encourage you to go and check that out because it’s a great way to start the day. Open the Bible is supported by our listeners. That’s people just like you. And this month, if you’re able to begin to support Open the Bible in this way with a gift of five pounds per month or more, we’d love to thank you by sending you a free gift. It’s a book by John White called The Fight. And it’s a very practical handbook about living the Christian life. And I’ll be asking Colin more about the book later in this broadcast. Back to the message now. Here’s Colin. Where the heart goes wrong, who you admire, how you choose, and thirdly, where you invest. Think of verse 23, where Solomon says to his son this, buy truth and do not sell it by wisdom, instruction, and understanding. Buy truth, invest truth. I wonder, since Solomon says that as he speaks with this candor to his son, I wonder if that indicates that Solomon’s son was losing interest in the truth. They would have had the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, and they would have read from that part of the Scripture that they had. I wonder if when the Old Testament books of Moses were brought out, when they were read, I wonder if Solomon saw his son’s eyes rolling in the corner of the room. I wonder if when they went to worship in Solomon’s great temple, whether Solomon noticed that his son looked as if he had absolutely not the faintest bit of interest in what was going on in all of the world. And he thinks to himself, my son’s heart’s in another place, and he’s anxious. His son once was learning the truth and showed some interest in truth, but now there seems to be no interest in it at all, and he says this, buy the truth. Notice that there is such a thing as the truth, and that it is worth whatever it costs you to get it. Solomon doesn’t tell his son what it will cost him to stand for the truth. He doesn’t know. There isn’t one of us here who knows what it will cost our children to stand for the truth or our grandchildren to stand for the truth. Not a single one of us. None of us knows. It might cost friends for you to embrace by the truth. It might cost opportunities in your life. It might cost your life. But you see what Solomon is saying to his son here. He’s saying, buy the truth at any price. Now those of you who are investors know you wouldn’t do that with anything else. With any other investment, you’d look at the price and then you’d look at the options. But what Solomon says to his son is, look, son, when it comes to the truth, it’s in a whole different category because the price is never too high for the truth because the truth has a value that is supreme because it has a value that is eternal. And your life in this world is very short. Your life in eternity is very, very long indeed. So buy the truth, whatever it costs you. You bind the truth like a belt around your waist and do not sell it. Judas sold the truth, but he’s not an example for you. No, says this wise father, the truth is worth more than anything you could ever, ever gain by giving it up. Whatever you think you will gain in life by giving up the truth, the truth is worth more than anything you will ever gain by giving up the truth. So buy the truth and do not sell it. Well, very obviously, this raises the question for all of us, men, women, fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, where is your heart today? When Jesus was asked, what is the very first commandment? What is the very first thing that God requires of every one of us? He said, love the Lord your God with all your heart. Where do you stand in relation to that first calling of God upon your life today? To love the Lord with all your heart. And you better guard your heart because from it flow the springs of your life. I pondered, do we go to the outcome of this story today or do we hold it for next week? Big, big preacher’s decision. So I did the only wise thing to do, I asked my wife. And she said, you better tell them the end of the story today. And here’s why I hesitated, because the outcome of the story isn’t good. But I’ve taken her advice and I think it’s right to follow the story to its conclusion because today we’re looking at the heart gone wrong. Next week we’re going to look at the heart getting right. If you want the conclusion of the story, you’ll find it in 2 Chronicles chapter 12 and verses 13 and 14 and the words that are used there are very, very striking indeed. So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and he reigned. So this is the son. Solomon has now died, Rehoboam is 41 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 17 years in Jerusalem. And then notice what the scripture says, and he did evil. Why did he do evil? Notice what it says, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord. He did not listen to his father’s wisdom. Think about this, and I say this for the father and for the mother who wrestles with a rebel son or a daughter and so often you go over and over what might we have done different and all of that. The wisest father who ever lived had a rebel son. In fact, if you have a rebel son or a rebel daughter or if you are anxious about a grandchild, you will want to have made a very clear note of Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 2 where God says this, I raised children and they rebelled against me. Can you take that in? God says, I raised children. He’s referring to Israel, of course. And they rebelled against me. Well, you cannot have a better or a wiser father than God. Rehoboam, I think, is one of the saddest characters in all of the Bible because he was so privileged and gave it all away. Think of this, the scripture is very precise in its language and it tells us about David who was Rehoboam’s grandfather, that his heart was wholly true to the Lord. We then read later in the story that Rehoboam had a grandson. And the same words, precisely the same words are used of him. His name was Asa and it is said of Asa that his heart was wholly true to the Lord. So here’s Rehoboam standing in the middle. He’s got a grandfather wholly true to the Lord. He’s got a grandson wholly true to the Lord. And he’s in the middle and he’s given it all away because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord. We’re going to look throughout the message next week at what it means to get the heart right. But let me just leave you with this in just two minutes. I think there are two prayers that Rehoboam’s granddad prayed that would have greatly helped him and would be of great help to any who find ourselves with a heart that is astray today. One of the reasons that David had a heart that was wholly true to the Lord was that he learned to pray like this. He asked God to search his heart. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there is any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Oh, make that your prayer today. It’s a great prayer. Lord, show me where my heart is. I don’t even understand my own heart. But you do. You’re able to look into it as no one else ever can and no one else ever will. Now will you reveal to me what you see in my heart today? Show me where I’m grieving you right now. Show me where I’m admiring the wrong people. Show me where I’m making the wrong decisions. And show me where I’m investing myself in the wrong ways. And then as you ask God to search your heart, ask God to change your heart. Oh, Rehoboam’s grandfather knew what it was to pray like this. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Friends, the message today, the message of the gospel is not get your heart right so that you can come to God. The message of the gospel is come to God in order that you may get your heart right. You do not come to Jesus Christ because you have a right heart. You come to Jesus Christ because you need a right heart. And you know today that you don’t have it. So you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom this great promise is ours. I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you. And you say, Oh God, give me a clean heart through Jesus Christ. Change me. And then God will indeed do that and he will say, son, daughter, give me your heart. We’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and the message, When the Heart Goes Wrong. We’ve been hearing about Solomon and his son Rehoboam. And after hearing about how the heart goes wrong, we’ve begun to hear how the heart can go right. And we’ll be focusing more on that in our next broadcast. So I do hope you’ll be able to join us for that. Don’t forget if you miss any of our broadcasts, or if you want to go back and listen again, you can always do that by going online. Go to openthebible.org.uk. There you can stream any of our previous messages. You’ll also find Open the Bible Daily, a short series of reflections written by Colin Smith and read by Sue MacLeish. There’s a new one every day and it’s a great way to start the day. Open the Bible relies on its listeners to keep this programme on the radio and on the internet. People like you. This month, if you’re able to commit to a new regular monthly donation of £5 or more, we would like to thank you by sending a copy of John White’s book, The Fight. Colin, who is this book written for? Well, it’s for every Christian who wants to grow and that has to be every Christian. I mean, it’s every one of us. This is just a practical handbook on how to grow in the Christian life. It has been helpful to me over many years. I first read it as a young Christian when I was a student in college. It’s still valuable for me today. John White just goes through some of the basics of the Christian life, how to pray, how to grow in holiness, how to seek the guidance and the will of God. Very practical, laid out very clearly and drawn wonderfully from his deep understanding of Scripture. It’s written in a compelling manner. And so if you’re looking for something that will help you grow in the Christian life or something that you could give to someone who needs to grow in the Christian life, this is a really helpful, practical, accessible and biblical handbook. And The Fight has stood the years of time. And I’m just delighted that there is a new edition available now that we’re able to make available to all of our listeners. So this book, The Fight, is our gift to you this month if you’re able to start a new monthly donation to Open the Bible of £5 per month or more. You can find details on our website, openthebible.org.uk. For Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick. Thanks for listening, and I hope you’ll join us again soon. What is your best defence against sin? Find out next time on Open the Bible.