You might not read this, I don’t know. I pray you will. Not because it’s anything all that great or profound, but because it’s just so important for us to stop and think. You know we have been talking about our hearts this semester and what we put them close to, how often we are not careful with where they are, or even worse- don’t even stop to consider our hearts at all. So let me ask you- stop and consider- where is your heart right now? What, in the past 24 hours, was it closest too? Let me ask you a few hard questions. What made your heart excited in the past 24 hours? What made it happy? What made it soar? What did it hope in for happiness? What did it dwell on, what did it wait on, what did it beat for? What made it feel alive? And did any of those things have anything to do with the Savior?
Im not trying to make you feel bad. Not at all. I just want you to see how tricky this is. Our hearts do hope in lots of things, and sadly, we rarely are hoping in Christ. The world offers substitutes. Listen to me- those substitutes will break your heart. And worse, they cannot save you. They will not. They will lead to your death if you give them your heart.
Really, now be honest with yourself: Have the last 24 hours shown you that you love Him most? Have you been consumed with thoughts of Him, and desperate to show Him off to the world, to let the world see your love for Him? What has the world seen of you? Do you look just like them, living for the same things? Guys- where is your hope? I ask you because I love you, and I want you to have your hope securely in Him, the only safe place to put it.
Understand that you have not in these 24 hours loved him like you should. But you know what? He has still loved you. While you did not consider him worthy of your hope, He loved you. While you did not think about how to show him off, he was caring for you. He loves you, deeper than you could understand. Jesus Christ loved you while you hated him, and died for you, taking your place on the cross, being punished for your lack of love for God. Through Him you can be right with God. You will never be punished for your wrongs, He will take them for you. He will do this to make peace between you and God. Do you want peace with God, so that one day you will get to see His face, and be with Him forever? These are things we need to think about. I pray you will.
He loves you. Think about these words from Tenth Ave North…
Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go
You can not be right with God by being good, or saying a prayer, or knowing the right facts about God. Only if you put your faith in Jesus, asking Him to let all your sin fall upon Him, and all His righteousness to fall upon you, can you be made ready to enter God’s presence. Only when you understand that you are completely unworthy of any love or good thing, and unable to satisfy God’s anger at you, and unable to be good the rest of your life, will you finally be willing to ask him to satisfy the anger, and ask Him to be good for you, that His perfect life would count for you. And when you really see how much He loves you, how much He has forgiven you, you will love Him- and living with all your hope in Him, and living to show His worth, it wont be a chore, it will be a joy. So tell me- what did you live for the past 24 hours? Or how about this- thinking about how much he loves you, what do you want to live for in the next 24?
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Boys- this week's plans...
Hey guys,
This week you will be meeting at the Firehouse at 6:30 for pizza and some hanging out. Bring $5 to cover the cost of dinner. Have fun!
This week you will be meeting at the Firehouse at 6:30 for pizza and some hanging out. Bring $5 to cover the cost of dinner. Have fun!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Girls- the plan for next week!
Hey Girls,
Since and is away we are not having Impact this wed but Jane and I thought it would be nice to meet together at 6:30 at Friendly's. Bring money for what you want either dinner and/or ice cream--whatever. Call or email me or Jane and let us know if you need a ride otherwise just meet us there. Hope to see you and that you are all doing well.
--Trish
Since and is away we are not having Impact this wed but Jane and I thought it would be nice to meet together at 6:30 at Friendly's. Bring money for what you want either dinner and/or ice cream--whatever. Call or email me or Jane and let us know if you need a ride otherwise just meet us there. Hope to see you and that you are all doing well.
--Trish
Long Lost relatives..
Hey guys!
So why did i tell you to send me some pictures? Well, i am going to be putting together a little thing we call "long lost relatives." What this means is, we want to see, if someone at impact had a long lost relative with someone else at impact, a relative that they share somehow, what would that person look like? We did this a few times in the past, and usually i just do it for my amusement, because it's fun, but i will share the results with you guys. For instance, if Jason and I had a long lost relative...
Scary, huh?! That's one of my favorites!
And what if Dan Bowers and Jason had a long lost relative?
As you can see, it get's... scary. hehe! So, as you send in the pictures, i will put together a slide show for the next Impact, and then post the results here! This should be interesting!...
So why did i tell you to send me some pictures? Well, i am going to be putting together a little thing we call "long lost relatives." What this means is, we want to see, if someone at impact had a long lost relative with someone else at impact, a relative that they share somehow, what would that person look like? We did this a few times in the past, and usually i just do it for my amusement, because it's fun, but i will share the results with you guys. For instance, if Jason and I had a long lost relative...
Scary, huh?! That's one of my favorites!
And what if Dan Bowers and Jason had a long lost relative?
As you can see, it get's... scary. hehe! So, as you send in the pictures, i will put together a slide show for the next Impact, and then post the results here! This should be interesting!...
Impact message this week. Ben spoke, and did a great job!
Message #3 10/8/08 (Mark 8:1-30)
Pray…
This semester we have been talking about the life of your heart. Guess what we will be talking about this week? That’s right the life of your heart. Where have you been putting your heart this week? Have you been putting it in the light of God’s love or have you been giving it to the world? Is the heart growing or is it dead? Is your heart attached to living things or perishing things? Tonight we are going to be talking about Jesus Christ the satisfier of hungry souls.
Mark 8:1-30
1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2"I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away." 4And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" 5And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." 6And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
11The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." 13And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
14Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." 20"And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." 21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
22And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking." 25Then Jesus[c] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26And he sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."
27And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." 29And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
You are Hungry
Two examples: what two things do they have in common?
1.Look at verse 17-20. If I could ask this group a question, this is the questions I would ask. Jesus asks the disciples why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Answer: They are hungry. They only brought one loaf so they need to get more food. Now the disciples have two options at this point. Keep in mind they have just seen Jesus feed 4,000 people on one occasion and 5,000 people another. They could one, go to Jesus and say, “Hey, we’ve seen you turn a little bit of bread into a lot of bread and we are hungry. Can you do that again?” –OR- they could do what they did: discuss how to get themselves more bread. Maybe some were saying we need to turn around. Or maybe some were saying we need to get to the other side quicker. Which do you think would have been more effective?
2.What is this plant? What is it doing? It’s starving! It has no food! Remember the first week we said that the plant died because it didn’t like sunlight or water. It only wanted to be in the closet.
1.) They are both hungry.
2.) They are both rejecting their source of food.
Everyone of you has come in here tonight as one or both of these things and I’d be willing to bet that there are a lot of you who think you are only hungry but have also rejected your source of food. Your all hungry and looking for someone or something to feed you. And look we’ve talked about this…Your hearts are hungry. There is a spot in your heart that longs to be filled and satisfied. But here is where we really start to lie to ourselves. Our hearts are hungry for the wrong things. We run from one thing to another trying to fill it up. And you fill it up with friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, popularity… and after its all over you realize, you’re still hungry. You are still hungry. . It’s like drinking salt water. You drink and for one brief second it feels good going down your throat but in a quick moment it makes you thirstier than before. And so you drink again just for a brief moment of satisfaction until eventually the salt sucks all the water out of your body and you die of dehydration. And on and on it goes one thing to another trying to fill up this hunger inside of you. All the while you fail to realize that God was meant to be that satisfier of the soul. That Jesus stands next to us asking, “why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?” As if to say, “the thing you are hungering for is right in front of you.”
Now let me ask you a question. Do you think all Jesus came to do was feed people’s mouths with food? Do you think Jesus is some kind of cosmic dispenser of worldly and fleshly comfort? A lot of people think that way. Do you think that when He fed the crowds and put His power on display for all to see that He wanted them to worship their own comfort and filled bellies? Do you think Jesus wanted people following Him because He could give them some bread? No, but that’s what He got wasn’t it? After Jesus feeds the five thousand in John 6 a group comes running to Jesus. But He knows why they are there. “Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves.” Unfortunately that is how many of you relate to Jesus. Listen, Impact is wonderful but I wonder how many of you come here thinking about who will be here? How many think about who will notice you? How many spend all their time, even now, thinking of ways to get someone’s attention. So we listen to the bands, and we carry around our Bibles and we throw in a couple Christian catch phrases. But what we are really after is someone to think that we are important. What we really want is someone to acknowledge how cool we are. Or maybe your like the Pharisess. You use Jesus to prop up your own self-righteousness.Your Christianity is tied up in all the things you do. It has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Do you see what we’ve done with this Jesus? Do you think Jesus is some kind of fast food mart that exists to simply fill your fleshly desires?! NO! He came to satisfy the hunger of your heart! But many of you don’t want your heart to be satisfied by Jesus. When you here things like being satisified by Jesus you think, “That’s boring.” Now listen…don’t forget the plant. Why is the plant starving? Why is your heart starving?
Jeremiah 2:13
For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
The Jews would use cisterns to catch water to drink when it rained. But sometimes the cisterns would break and along with water, mud would seep in creating a kind of muddy soup. God says, the sin that people have committed is that they have looked at the fountain of living water that can satisfy the thirst of their soul and they said “not good enough.” I’d rather drink this muddy water. That’s what you’ve done. Do know that about yourself? Do you know that you have passed your heart around to drink and feast upon muddy water while the God of universe offers living water that will satisfy? And listen… I know some of you are thinking, “what is all this talk about drinking and eating and being hungry?” Look at Jesus words in John 6:53
“Truly, truly I say to you unless you eat the flesh fo the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:53
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14
It’s serious. If we feed on anything but Jesus, (the world) we have no life. We are dead. If we have drank the dirty water and ate the food that does not satisfy we are dead. But those who feed upon Christ will live. This is life and death here. Do you want to know what it is to live? Feed upon Christ.. Am I calling you to become cannibals? No. I am calling you to fill that longing of your heart with what it was meant to be filled by…Jesus Christ. But Jesus is boring to you.
God Is Just to Let You Die in Your Hunger
Listen you are not victims here. You are the furthest thing from it. You’re starving and deserving of destruction because you have chosen mud over water. You chose it. There are many of you in this room longing for the food of this world, but listen…when you eat the food of this world there is no life in you. When you eat the food of the world you get death. When you eat the food of the world (sin) you get God’s wrath.This is what you deserve. It’s what I deserve. Let me remind you of a little story…Do you remember Adam and Eve? What did they get when they satisfied their craving for the fruit? Separation from God and death. Let remind you of another story. How many remember the story of the exodus?
Psalm 78:10-32
10They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
12In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God, saying,
"Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?"
21Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid lowthe young men of Israel.
32In spite of all this, they still sinned;
despite his wonders, they did not believe.
And some of you are saying in your head I don’t deserve that. “So I want a b/f and so I want everyone to like me…”
The reason you don’t understand that you deserve to destruction is that you don’t know what you’ve passed up. I say living water and you have no idea what that means. Look…how valuable is God? He is really valuable right? More valuable than anything you’ve every even conceived of in your brain. Understand that in going after your own way, you’ve said to God, “You are not good enough.” You have said in your heart that the things your feeding yourselves with are more valuable than God! It’s and insult like no other. Remember Jeremiah 2:13. Look at the verse before it. “Be appalled O heavens, at this. Be shocked be utterly desolate, declares the Lord.” Who in here hasn’t gone after the desires of their own heart? Who in here hasn’t stubbornly followed your own way and fed yourselves with the things of this world. You went after the muddy water instead of the living water. You went after idols instead of the living God. Let me sum it up for you. Because you have sought to feed yourselves with the food of this world and thus declared that God is less valuable than those things, you have chosen to starve to death and thus earned God’s destroying wrath.
God is Merciful in Jesus Christ
There are some of you that need to go home tonight without the rest of the message. Some of you don’t think you earned destruction. You’re just fine. You don’t deserve that. But there are those who understand that you are hungry and that there is nothing in this world that can satisfy that hunger but you know you need to be filled. And you want the answer. You understand the hopelessness of your situation. I’m here to tell you tonight that there is a God of mercy who longs to fill you. Despite the fact that you have turned away and satisfied yourself with the food of the world, God longs to redeem you to Himself so that you might truly be satisfied with the food He offers, Himself. Look what Jesus says when He sees the hunger of the crowd. “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.” Now listen, Jesus is not obligated to feed these people. It’s not his job. But he has compassion. They are hungry and he longs to fill them. Now again, Jesus is concerned with their physical hunger but do you really think that in that moment all Jesus wanted those people to know about Him was that he could do a cool magic trick and make lots of bread? But listen there is a problem. People that have passed up true food (God) and thus life, didn’t earn food. You don’t deserve to be given food that leads to life. Listen…your soul deserves to be forever unsatisfied running from one thing to another being disappointed over and over and over again for all eternity. That’s what you chose remember?
If God is going to give you food that leads to life, someone is going to have to die hungry. Someone has to take your place. And you may say, “O I know where he’s going with this.” Listen! This isn’t a cute story. This is the life of your heart. Someone has to die left completely apart from the satisfying power of God to be punished on your behalf. To receive your destruction. And not just anyone. God Himself in the form of Christ Jesus has to become hungry and thirsty. And thus did Jesus cry on the cross, “I thirst.”
When Christ was hanging on the cross, when God was pouring out all His wrath that you deserved on Jesus, what does Jesus say? He’s hanging on the cross and what does He say? He say’s in John 19:28 “I thirst..” I thirst! And the soldiers mock Him by giving him sour wine meant to prolong His torture. Do you understand what happened on the cross? Do you understand what was going on? Jesus comes to the earth to become hungry and to become thirsty in your place! We said earlier that God was meant to fill the hunger in your soul. That’s all Jesus knew. He had never been unsatisfied before and rightfully so. He never knew what it was for His heart to hunger or thirst. He is the King! Perfectly satisfied by the Father for all eternity. And the king becomes the poor begger dieing of hunger and thirst on the cross. Not only physical hunger and thirst but God takes away His satisfying power from Christ and He is left hungry and thirsty and then God crushes Him. And here is the amazing thing. For those that believe, God on that cross put to death your hunger and your thirst for the world leading to death. He puts to death His Son and destroys for all time the endless hunger and thirst of the heart. And Christ rises in victory and says:
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
And as a result of His death He can now say to poor hungry souls that have in their sin filled themselves with the food of this world…and for those of you that have filled yourselves with the food of the world and you have seen that it has left you hungry, despite your unsurpassed sin against Him, He says:
Isaiah 55:1-3
1"Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
Read with me again…
Mark 8:14-21
14Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." 20"And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." 21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
They didn’t know who He was. They didn’t know that He was the one that could fill them. Do you see? Do you see what they were doing? Jesus puts His power to feed them on display and they begin talking about how they will fill themselves. What will they do? How will they get more bread. And Jesus says, “Don’t you know who I am. I just fed four thousand with table scraps. I am able to feed twelve people. But you are hard of heart.” He’s not rebuking them because they are hungry. He’s rebuking them because they don’t get that He is the Christ. He’s the one that will satisfy. They don’t know who He is. And I know tonight there are some of you that will see this work of Jesus on the cross. You will see that He died on the cross, bore your hunger and your thirst and your death…. You will see that He took your hunger and he took your thirst and destroyed it so that if you would believe, you would never have to hunger again. But you will leave here tonight and start looking for ways for the world to satisfy your heart. You will take your heart and give to the person sitting next to you or the crowd at your school or some boy or girl that thinks your special.
The Blindness of Your Hungry Heart
I don’t think that it’s coincidental that in the text directly after Jesus asks Peter, “Do you not understand” he goes on to heal a blind man. We are people that need to have our eyes opened. Listen…the dead heart, the heart that feeds on this world hates true food right. It can’t see Jesus as true food because it hates him. When Christ died on the cross, for those that believe, He put that heart to death and gave a new heart that longed to be filled by Him and so live. Maybe you see that your heart is starving and you see Christ but you don’t love Him. You see that heart wants to give itself away to worthless things and that your heart longs to feed on the world. Go to God, ask for a new heart, ask Him to open your eyes to see who Christ is: son of God, sin on our behalf, the satisfier of our souls.
After Jesus heals the blind man He is walking with Peter and Jesus asks him, “Who do people say that I am.” John, Elijah, a prophet. There are many things this world tells you Jesus is. Some of you use Jesus and this group Impact that is about worshipping Him as a method to gratify your hungry hearts with the attention of men. But the real question is not who people say Jesus is. Who do you say He is? Do you believe it? Did Jesus starve in your place so that you would be filled?
Pray…
This semester we have been talking about the life of your heart. Guess what we will be talking about this week? That’s right the life of your heart. Where have you been putting your heart this week? Have you been putting it in the light of God’s love or have you been giving it to the world? Is the heart growing or is it dead? Is your heart attached to living things or perishing things? Tonight we are going to be talking about Jesus Christ the satisfier of hungry souls.
Mark 8:1-30
1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2"I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away." 4And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?" 5And he asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." 6And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
11The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." 13And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
14Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." 20"And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." 21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
22And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" 24And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking." 25Then Jesus[c] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26And he sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village."
27And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." 29And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
You are Hungry
Two examples: what two things do they have in common?
1.Look at verse 17-20. If I could ask this group a question, this is the questions I would ask. Jesus asks the disciples why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Answer: They are hungry. They only brought one loaf so they need to get more food. Now the disciples have two options at this point. Keep in mind they have just seen Jesus feed 4,000 people on one occasion and 5,000 people another. They could one, go to Jesus and say, “Hey, we’ve seen you turn a little bit of bread into a lot of bread and we are hungry. Can you do that again?” –OR- they could do what they did: discuss how to get themselves more bread. Maybe some were saying we need to turn around. Or maybe some were saying we need to get to the other side quicker. Which do you think would have been more effective?
2.What is this plant? What is it doing? It’s starving! It has no food! Remember the first week we said that the plant died because it didn’t like sunlight or water. It only wanted to be in the closet.
1.) They are both hungry.
2.) They are both rejecting their source of food.
Everyone of you has come in here tonight as one or both of these things and I’d be willing to bet that there are a lot of you who think you are only hungry but have also rejected your source of food. Your all hungry and looking for someone or something to feed you. And look we’ve talked about this…Your hearts are hungry. There is a spot in your heart that longs to be filled and satisfied. But here is where we really start to lie to ourselves. Our hearts are hungry for the wrong things. We run from one thing to another trying to fill it up. And you fill it up with friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, popularity… and after its all over you realize, you’re still hungry. You are still hungry. . It’s like drinking salt water. You drink and for one brief second it feels good going down your throat but in a quick moment it makes you thirstier than before. And so you drink again just for a brief moment of satisfaction until eventually the salt sucks all the water out of your body and you die of dehydration. And on and on it goes one thing to another trying to fill up this hunger inside of you. All the while you fail to realize that God was meant to be that satisfier of the soul. That Jesus stands next to us asking, “why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?” As if to say, “the thing you are hungering for is right in front of you.”
Now let me ask you a question. Do you think all Jesus came to do was feed people’s mouths with food? Do you think Jesus is some kind of cosmic dispenser of worldly and fleshly comfort? A lot of people think that way. Do you think that when He fed the crowds and put His power on display for all to see that He wanted them to worship their own comfort and filled bellies? Do you think Jesus wanted people following Him because He could give them some bread? No, but that’s what He got wasn’t it? After Jesus feeds the five thousand in John 6 a group comes running to Jesus. But He knows why they are there. “Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves.” Unfortunately that is how many of you relate to Jesus. Listen, Impact is wonderful but I wonder how many of you come here thinking about who will be here? How many think about who will notice you? How many spend all their time, even now, thinking of ways to get someone’s attention. So we listen to the bands, and we carry around our Bibles and we throw in a couple Christian catch phrases. But what we are really after is someone to think that we are important. What we really want is someone to acknowledge how cool we are. Or maybe your like the Pharisess. You use Jesus to prop up your own self-righteousness.Your Christianity is tied up in all the things you do. It has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Do you see what we’ve done with this Jesus? Do you think Jesus is some kind of fast food mart that exists to simply fill your fleshly desires?! NO! He came to satisfy the hunger of your heart! But many of you don’t want your heart to be satisfied by Jesus. When you here things like being satisified by Jesus you think, “That’s boring.” Now listen…don’t forget the plant. Why is the plant starving? Why is your heart starving?
Jeremiah 2:13
For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
The Jews would use cisterns to catch water to drink when it rained. But sometimes the cisterns would break and along with water, mud would seep in creating a kind of muddy soup. God says, the sin that people have committed is that they have looked at the fountain of living water that can satisfy the thirst of their soul and they said “not good enough.” I’d rather drink this muddy water. That’s what you’ve done. Do know that about yourself? Do you know that you have passed your heart around to drink and feast upon muddy water while the God of universe offers living water that will satisfy? And listen… I know some of you are thinking, “what is all this talk about drinking and eating and being hungry?” Look at Jesus words in John 6:53
“Truly, truly I say to you unless you eat the flesh fo the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:53
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14
It’s serious. If we feed on anything but Jesus, (the world) we have no life. We are dead. If we have drank the dirty water and ate the food that does not satisfy we are dead. But those who feed upon Christ will live. This is life and death here. Do you want to know what it is to live? Feed upon Christ.. Am I calling you to become cannibals? No. I am calling you to fill that longing of your heart with what it was meant to be filled by…Jesus Christ. But Jesus is boring to you.
God Is Just to Let You Die in Your Hunger
Listen you are not victims here. You are the furthest thing from it. You’re starving and deserving of destruction because you have chosen mud over water. You chose it. There are many of you in this room longing for the food of this world, but listen…when you eat the food of this world there is no life in you. When you eat the food of the world you get death. When you eat the food of the world (sin) you get God’s wrath.This is what you deserve. It’s what I deserve. Let me remind you of a little story…Do you remember Adam and Eve? What did they get when they satisfied their craving for the fruit? Separation from God and death. Let remind you of another story. How many remember the story of the exodus?
Psalm 78:10-32
10They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
11They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
12In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
13He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
14 In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19They spoke against God, saying,
"Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
20He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?"
21Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
24and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
26He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
28he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
29And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
30But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
31the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid lowthe young men of Israel.
32In spite of all this, they still sinned;
despite his wonders, they did not believe.
And some of you are saying in your head I don’t deserve that. “So I want a b/f and so I want everyone to like me…”
The reason you don’t understand that you deserve to destruction is that you don’t know what you’ve passed up. I say living water and you have no idea what that means. Look…how valuable is God? He is really valuable right? More valuable than anything you’ve every even conceived of in your brain. Understand that in going after your own way, you’ve said to God, “You are not good enough.” You have said in your heart that the things your feeding yourselves with are more valuable than God! It’s and insult like no other. Remember Jeremiah 2:13. Look at the verse before it. “Be appalled O heavens, at this. Be shocked be utterly desolate, declares the Lord.” Who in here hasn’t gone after the desires of their own heart? Who in here hasn’t stubbornly followed your own way and fed yourselves with the things of this world. You went after the muddy water instead of the living water. You went after idols instead of the living God. Let me sum it up for you. Because you have sought to feed yourselves with the food of this world and thus declared that God is less valuable than those things, you have chosen to starve to death and thus earned God’s destroying wrath.
God is Merciful in Jesus Christ
There are some of you that need to go home tonight without the rest of the message. Some of you don’t think you earned destruction. You’re just fine. You don’t deserve that. But there are those who understand that you are hungry and that there is nothing in this world that can satisfy that hunger but you know you need to be filled. And you want the answer. You understand the hopelessness of your situation. I’m here to tell you tonight that there is a God of mercy who longs to fill you. Despite the fact that you have turned away and satisfied yourself with the food of the world, God longs to redeem you to Himself so that you might truly be satisfied with the food He offers, Himself. Look what Jesus says when He sees the hunger of the crowd. “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat.” Now listen, Jesus is not obligated to feed these people. It’s not his job. But he has compassion. They are hungry and he longs to fill them. Now again, Jesus is concerned with their physical hunger but do you really think that in that moment all Jesus wanted those people to know about Him was that he could do a cool magic trick and make lots of bread? But listen there is a problem. People that have passed up true food (God) and thus life, didn’t earn food. You don’t deserve to be given food that leads to life. Listen…your soul deserves to be forever unsatisfied running from one thing to another being disappointed over and over and over again for all eternity. That’s what you chose remember?
If God is going to give you food that leads to life, someone is going to have to die hungry. Someone has to take your place. And you may say, “O I know where he’s going with this.” Listen! This isn’t a cute story. This is the life of your heart. Someone has to die left completely apart from the satisfying power of God to be punished on your behalf. To receive your destruction. And not just anyone. God Himself in the form of Christ Jesus has to become hungry and thirsty. And thus did Jesus cry on the cross, “I thirst.”
When Christ was hanging on the cross, when God was pouring out all His wrath that you deserved on Jesus, what does Jesus say? He’s hanging on the cross and what does He say? He say’s in John 19:28 “I thirst..” I thirst! And the soldiers mock Him by giving him sour wine meant to prolong His torture. Do you understand what happened on the cross? Do you understand what was going on? Jesus comes to the earth to become hungry and to become thirsty in your place! We said earlier that God was meant to fill the hunger in your soul. That’s all Jesus knew. He had never been unsatisfied before and rightfully so. He never knew what it was for His heart to hunger or thirst. He is the King! Perfectly satisfied by the Father for all eternity. And the king becomes the poor begger dieing of hunger and thirst on the cross. Not only physical hunger and thirst but God takes away His satisfying power from Christ and He is left hungry and thirsty and then God crushes Him. And here is the amazing thing. For those that believe, God on that cross put to death your hunger and your thirst for the world leading to death. He puts to death His Son and destroys for all time the endless hunger and thirst of the heart. And Christ rises in victory and says:
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
And as a result of His death He can now say to poor hungry souls that have in their sin filled themselves with the food of this world…and for those of you that have filled yourselves with the food of the world and you have seen that it has left you hungry, despite your unsurpassed sin against Him, He says:
Isaiah 55:1-3
1"Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
Read with me again…
Mark 8:14-21
14Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve." 20"And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?" And they said to him, "Seven." 21And he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
They didn’t know who He was. They didn’t know that He was the one that could fill them. Do you see? Do you see what they were doing? Jesus puts His power to feed them on display and they begin talking about how they will fill themselves. What will they do? How will they get more bread. And Jesus says, “Don’t you know who I am. I just fed four thousand with table scraps. I am able to feed twelve people. But you are hard of heart.” He’s not rebuking them because they are hungry. He’s rebuking them because they don’t get that He is the Christ. He’s the one that will satisfy. They don’t know who He is. And I know tonight there are some of you that will see this work of Jesus on the cross. You will see that He died on the cross, bore your hunger and your thirst and your death…. You will see that He took your hunger and he took your thirst and destroyed it so that if you would believe, you would never have to hunger again. But you will leave here tonight and start looking for ways for the world to satisfy your heart. You will take your heart and give to the person sitting next to you or the crowd at your school or some boy or girl that thinks your special.
The Blindness of Your Hungry Heart
I don’t think that it’s coincidental that in the text directly after Jesus asks Peter, “Do you not understand” he goes on to heal a blind man. We are people that need to have our eyes opened. Listen…the dead heart, the heart that feeds on this world hates true food right. It can’t see Jesus as true food because it hates him. When Christ died on the cross, for those that believe, He put that heart to death and gave a new heart that longed to be filled by Him and so live. Maybe you see that your heart is starving and you see Christ but you don’t love Him. You see that heart wants to give itself away to worthless things and that your heart longs to feed on the world. Go to God, ask for a new heart, ask Him to open your eyes to see who Christ is: son of God, sin on our behalf, the satisfier of our souls.
After Jesus heals the blind man He is walking with Peter and Jesus asks him, “Who do people say that I am.” John, Elijah, a prophet. There are many things this world tells you Jesus is. Some of you use Jesus and this group Impact that is about worshipping Him as a method to gratify your hungry hearts with the attention of men. But the real question is not who people say Jesus is. Who do you say He is? Do you believe it? Did Jesus starve in your place so that you would be filled?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Mark Seven- The Life of the Heart
Mark Seven
The life of the Heart
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“ ‘ This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Mk 7:1-23
intro
(At the beginning of this message I bring a plant in and show it. It is obviously not healthy. Where did I put it? Did it thrive? Was it designed to be there?)
What does this passage have to do with this plant?
Out of touch with our hearts
I want you to take one lesson from this passage- These guys had no idea where there hearts were. They thought they were with God. Near God. And yet they were totally wrong. How could they be so wrong? They thought they loved God more than any others, they thought they knew their hearts where closest to God, and yet they were so out of touch with where their hearts were that they actually were farthest away from God. They had it completely wrong! How can this be?
See, this is what I want you to see- very, very often humans do not know their own hearts. They are unfamiliar with them.
Do you know where your heart is?
What do I mean your “heart.” I do not mean just your feelings or your love. I mean that innermost part of you where your desires live, where your decisions are made, where your love resides, that very central part of yourself that defines you, your will, your all. The center of all you are. I am talking about that place in your core where all your wants are, all your longings. That part of you that wants to be loved. The real you, that is what I am talking about. The inner true self, the inner true you.
This inner self, this true you, the inner part that desires and longs, it is this part that I think you have neglected. I wonder how many of you right now really know your heart? I mean really know it- you know what it wants, you know where it has been, you know right now what it longs for. This very central part of us, this thing that really defines us, we so often are out of touch with. We get our hearts wrong.
Why?
We tend to ignore our hearts. We get so distracted with so many things that we hardly ever stop to think about the inner life of our heart. We do not stop to examine ourselves too often. We do not try and understand what we want, and why we want it. Just like these Pharisees, we have neglected to think about our hearts, and why we do what we do and want what we want.
We are so out of touch with our hearts and what they really need that we spend a good deal of time being very careless with them. We are told in the Word to guard our hearts. To be careful with them, to give them the right things, but we don’t. we ignore them.
How are we careless with our hearts?
We are careless with our hearts when we put it close to things that it was never designed to be close to. You see, what this text tonight tells us is that our hearts where designed to be near God. That is what Jesus is saying. The problem with the Pharisees is that their heart was not near Him, as it was designed to be. Jesus says this is so important that even if you make a million rules and keep them, even if you sing the greatest songs of praise, and tell all your friends about Jesus, and prayer the greatest prayers, and give the best sermons, and speak the greatest truths- even if your lips praise Him like this- if your heart is far from Him, all that you have done is in vain- it is worth nothing. Because God does not want lips that say the right things, He wants hearts that love Him, that are close to Him. That beat for Him. Is that your heart?
Have you been careless with your heart?
Really, the only thing most people know about their hearts is that they are not content. They are not ok with what they have, there is something missing that they want. (How dangerous it is, actually, when we don’t feel this way, when we feel completely satisfied with what is here!)
Tozer said this- "thirsty hearts are those whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God within them.” This feeling in our heart is a gift, and it drives us to put our heart close to things. We are driven to find something that will make it better.
What have you let your heart get close to? Where has it been?
What do I mean? Let me give you some examples-
· Some people have let their hearts get close to popularity. They want just to be admired and be thought much of. They wanted to see if their heart would grow and thrive in that light, and it certainly seems like it will, it feels right. And so under that light it goes, and we take our heart and we give it to the crowds. Imagine that- the crowds! And they trample upon it, and use it, and mold it into what will best suit and entertain them. This trampling of our heart leaves it dirty, and hurting.
· Some people have let their hearts get close to a certain person. They want the love not just of crowds, but of a certain one. You know, Impact has a position on dating for this reason. Dating is not a sin. Understand, there have been people in Impact that have dated with Impact’s blessing- two of them leaders now- Ben and Mark. But, the American idea of dating is one we encourage students to stay away from. Why? Because it is a giving of your heart over and over to different people. We try it here, and there, and before you know it again our hearts have been all over the place, dirtied, and tired.
· All of the things that we might find here to put our hearts close to will harm our hearts, because if our hearts are close to and tied to the things here, our hearts will share their fate. – look-
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.1 Jn 2:15-17
We are told not to love the things here- that is, tie our hearts to them- because if we do, we tie our hearts to something that is dying, passing away, and our hearts will share the fate of what we tie them too. Do you want an argument for not dating an unbeliever- here it is- do not tie your heart to something that is passing away, dying. All unbelievers fit that definition, and to fall in love with and date an unbeliever is to tie your heart to one who is perishing, and so your heart will share their fate. This is why being in a relationship with a believer is different- they are not passing away!
So we have put our hearts close to so many things. Like the plant I showed you, our hearts have been close to things that can not give life, and the result is that they are dying, and sick, and hurting.
The saddest situation is when someone has done that for a long time, and then gives up. Then they try and just ignore the ache in their hearts.
The way we try and fix our hearts
But for some of you, you can not ignore it. And you don’t want to. Maybe you are sitting here now thinking “yes, I have done this. I have placed my heart close to so many things, given it a bit too much to things I should never have given it.”
We realize that we have let our heart get a bit dirtied. It has been too close to things it should never be close to. Our hearts have longed and ached for things, and we thought they could get what they need if we just let our hearts get close to some of the things in the world. Yet we still ache, and in the end our heart is dirtier than before. What will we do?
Our first reaction, and maybe your reaction right now, is to say something like this to ourselves- “ok, that’s all, I am going to start to do good. I will make myself do better. I wont be a bad person anymore, I wont run after those other things, I wont dirty my heart ever again that way.”
This is exactly what the Pharisees did, and I have news for you – it doesn’t work.
Look-
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
The Jews had all these rules and regulations about what they could touch and how to wash and what to do to be clean. They wanted to do what you want to do- have a clean heart, make things right. But this does not work. Listen, I have good news for you- for those of you in here with dirty hearts that have been too close to the world, I have good news. You can not do anything to fix the problem. Now, that doesn’t sound like good news, but it is. It means that you can scrap all your plans to try and just be good and protect your heart. You cant do it. You will fail.
Why do I say this?
Because Jesus makes this clear in the rest of this passage. In the midst of all this stuff about hearts being near or far from God, and being clean or dirty, Jesus says
15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
The problem, Jesus says, is not with what you do, not with what you put your heart close to, but with your heart itself. He explains-
Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
The problem, Jesus is saying, is not that you put your heart close to the wrong things, but that it wants to be close to the wrong things, the problem is with your heart. It is dirty through and through. It will always chase after the things that will kill it. It is like a plant that only wants to be in the dark. You can try your best to keep putting it in the light, but it is always wanting to go back in the dark. It is broken. The bible makes this point so clear about our hearts-
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
Je 17:9
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Ge 6:5
Our heart will continue to return to the same things that will dirty it again. The problem is our hearts need to be close to God, but don’t like being close to God. Our hearts are broken, they like the wrong things. They like what kills them, what dirties them.
Maybe, after all, there is no hope for your heart. In fact, i think this is the case. our hearts are hopeless. They will never want what is right, they will never love God over evil, they will never live, they are dying. What hope do we have?
Jesus’ way of fixing our hearts
There is only one hope for our hearts.
Death.
We must hand this heart, and all it’s wicked desires, over to God. We must ask Him to kill it, and give us a new heart.
A new heart! This is our hope, this is what we need.
We are orphans until this takes place. we become His children when He gives us new hearts.
But how can this be? How can you have your heart be put to death?
Understand, every one of you- your heart, your heart that has longed for such evil and sinful things, that has been so close to what it should never have been close to, it will die. It must die. God’s wrath is upon your heart, for your heart has not honored God. It has been far from Him, it runs from Him. This is the heart you were born with. This is what we call sin.
And if our hearts die, we die with them. We are connected to them. We can not just have it taken out and put to death, we can not say “Lord, punish my heart, but spare me.” We are one with our heart. And yet our heart must taste death, it must be destroyed. And so we must be destroyed.
But God is so filled with love, so good, and so caring, that even though our hearts run from Him, even though we have not wanted him, while we hated him, he did a wonderful thing. Jesus Christ came and he took the punishment that you deserve because of your wicked heart and sin. He took your place on the Cross, he was punished as a substitute for all who will believe.
So now you can go to him this night and say this- “Lord, I am sick of my heart and how it runs to be close to what will never satisfy it. I am sick of how it does not want you the way it should. I know there is nothing I can do to make up for that, there is nothing I can do to fix it. And I know that I deserve to never be close to you because of it. Please, let Christ’s death be the punishment for me. Let Him be punished in my place, and give me a new heart, one that loves you and wants what is right. Make me a new creation.”
Friends, your heart must be made new. God promises he will do this!
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. Ezekiel 36:25-29
Our hearts are broken, and evil, and ever wandering, ever going their own way. And the Maker of the stars, he hears the cry of your broken heart tonight, he knows the ache in you, and he comes to set you free from it. This is the love and mercy of God- that He would love you so much that He would make a way for you to be near Him. He has made a way for our hearts to be close to Him. He has taken away His wrath, His wrath at us, by spending it on His son. Now, he will give you a new heart, a heart that is close to Him.
What should you do?
Where is your heart tonight? Is it His? Is it new? If it is not, run to Him, He is waiting to make it new! And if it is new, protect it, and keep it close to Him, and rejoice that He has done such a wonderful thing for you, and that forever your heart will get closer and closer to Him. What should you do? Well, if you are not sure if you are His child-
Realize that your heart has been far from Him, and that it can not be fixed by anything you have done. Understand that the fact that since you have been so resistant to loving Him as He should be loved mean that His anger burns against you, your heart is cut off from Him forever, it is not close, nor can it be, nor will it ever want to be. It is like a plant in the dark, it will die.
Tell Him that you need help. That you want to be close to Him. You want His wrath to be removed, and you want a new heart, a heart that does not love sin and evil anymore, but that loves Him.
Tell Him that you want Jesus’ death on the cross to count for you, and that you want Christ’s goodness to count for you too. Tell Him you want Christ to be your substitute, so that all of God’s anger at you can be poured out on the Son.
Realize that this is the case- God’s anger at you is poured out on Jesus. And realize that when God looks at you now, he sees Jesus’ righteousness and good works, they now count for you, and you are clean in God’s sight!
And rejoice that God is at work in you- let the world know it!
If you are His child-
Examine what you have been doing with your heart, and what it has been close to.
Examine where you have led others- have you led them to put their hearts close to you, or to God? To what will give life, or what will take life?
Turn from anything in your life that is trying to win your heart away from God.
Get your heart close to God so that it will thrive and not die.
Live in such a way that the world knows that He owns your heart, and that you want to be close to Him. The world you are in always is giving their hearts to the things around them. Don’t join them, live differently, let that be seen!
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