C3K Church
Heart Conditions
Okey dokey. Let's get to the word tonight. I want to pray. I want to preach sorry. Speak about heart conditions. When you read that you are, oh no. Heart conditions. Heart conditions could be negative or positive, okay? But I want to do a little series on the heart. I don't know if you know this, but the songs that we sang tonight, I probably think every song mentioned the word heart in a different context, but it mentioned heart. And so I want to talk about heart conditions. Now there's natural heart conditions, but there's also spiritual heart conditions. So obviously that's what I want to talk about. When you talk about natural heart conditions, there's so many things that can affect the heart. And there's so many things that can affect our heart spiritually too. So I just want to have a look at that. And you know, when you talk about heart or a person, when the world looks, they judge by the outward. They judge by the outward look and they look at the outside. They're impressed. They're often impressed by outside appearance. Sometimes they're repulsed by outward appearance. You know, some people can't handle being around people who are disabled, or they can't handle being around people who look a certain way, or from a certain place. You know, they just judge by that and they're repelled by it. Some people only focus on the outward. And so the first script that I want to go to actually alludes to that and points to that. And it's about when God sent one of his prophets, Samuel, to choose the next king of Israel after Saul. And we've read this script to before, but I want to go to it. It's a passage that I think is really important. So the Lord said to Samuel, because Samuel said, Oh, this one, the firstborn, the oldest, he's really something. He must be the next king. But the Lord spoke to Samuel. I don't know if he spoke in his ear or his heart or what, but he spoke to him and he said, Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature. In other words, so he must have been quite handsome. He must have been strong, a bit like you, handsome, strong, tall. Sorry, because the Lord said, I've refused him. He's not the one for the Lord does not see as man sees. So Samuel was saying, just like people see, he was looking at the outer man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Okay. So now all these other brothers are standing there as hopefuls to be next king. But of course, none of them were chosen. And, you know, they chose David from out in the fields, the youngest, the little shepherd guy out in the fields. He was the one. So what was wrong with these other brothers? Was there something wrong with them? Well, they didn't measure up in some ways. And later, if you read through the book of Samuel, you read that David, who was chosen, went out to the front line of battle and that brother, who they thought was going to be king, was the one who actually came against David and said, what are you doing here? Which in your heart? But it was actually what was in the other brother's heart, the older brother's heart that came to the fore and the Lord knew that it was in there. So God looks on the heart and he wants us to do the same. You know, we don't know. We don't always know what's in our hearts. Most of us think we've got a good heart. We do. We think we've got a good heart. And most of us do pretty much, but there can be some things in there that cause us to have unhealthy hearts. So this week, I want to look at unhealthy hearts and just look at some of these things and just measure ourselves against it. Look on the inside and let the Lord prompt us if there's something that needs dealing with, because you know, we don't want to go through life the same way, making the same mistakes or the same decisions or being the same. We want to grow, yeah? We want to be different. We want to improve. We want to make progress. And most of that starts in here, but we've got to be able to see it. Okay? So if the Lord shows us something, we can deal with it. All right? So let's go and have a look at some of these heart conditions and where did it start from? It started from Lucifer. When he fell from heaven, he became the devil on the earth. Why? Because God said this, you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. In other words, my position is not enough. I want higher. I want more. I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. In other words, I'm going to be like God. But this what the Lord said, yeah, you will be brought down to Sheol. You're not going to go to the highest heights. You're going to go to the deepest depths to Sheol, to hell, basically, to the lowest depths of the pit. Why? Because he had pride in his heart. He had pride. He said, I will, I will, I will. I'm going to be just like God. And so this is where it all starts from. And when he fell to the earth, you know, he's challenging God here. And when he fell to the earth and he's met with Adam and Eve, he challenged God then. He challenged them to be proud too, to challenge God. Did God really say that? He challenged them. Okay, he was against the Lord. He wanted them to be against the Lord. He wants us to challenge God. He wants us to be against the Lord as well. And so that's where it all started. Let's go and have a look at a few more scriptures. In the book of Deuteronomy, so we're talking, that was a proud heart. Now, this is the Lord speaking through Moses and he's telling the people of Israel, when you have eaten and are full and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them. And when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied. So he's basically saying when things are going really, really well for you. Okay? When your heart is lifted up. In other words, things are going so well, they're thinking, Oh, God, I don't need God. When your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, he's saying when things go well, and then you begin to say, You know what? I don't know. We don't need God anymore. We're doing great. We're doing fine. And they forget the Lord. They forget that he brought him out of slavery out of that dark place out of bondage through the wilderness. He said, then you're saying your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. So they are saying, We don't need God. We did this all by ourselves. We don't need him. And so they're forgetting him. They're ungrateful. They're not giving him the credit, but they're taking the credit, my power and my might. I did this all by myself. God didn't do that. I did it. We did it. And they forget the Lord. He's saying that is basically a hard heart, a forgetful heart. Do we do that? Maybe sometimes we do. When things are going really well, we forget the Lord. Then things get really grim and tough. And you start to pray. That's kind of human nature. You think, gosh, these people were really bad. But you know, sometimes we do it. You know, sometimes we think, you know, I haven't prayed for a while. I haven't read the word for a while. Things are going okay. And then something bad happens or you get sick or whatever, not that sickness is, you know, the issue here. But sometimes these things happen and then we push back to the Lord and we remember him. Okay. In Proverbs chapter 28, it says this, happy is the man or woman person. Happy is the person who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. So here we're talking about a hard heart. A hard heart against God. Happy is the man who's reverent towards the Lord, reveres God, respects the Lord, honors God. Happy is that person. But those who harden their heart against the Lord will fall into calamity. What does that mean? There's problems are going to happen. Things are going to happen when you don't honor the Lord. Is that a threat? No, it's a statement. There's a difference. It's not a threat. The word of God doesn't threaten us. It makes statements. It gives warnings. It gives direction. It gives correction. It helps us. You know, whenever you buy a new product, you don't know how to use it. You open it up and you mostly, most people do. They read the instruction manual. If you don't and you start trying to do things yourself, guess what? You get frustrated, you have problems and you can wreck it totally. All right. Who doesn't like reading directions? I know some people who do. Okay. Let's get to the next one. Another heart condition. Okay. We're talking about heart conditions. Pride, hardness. Now what? This is the writer of Hebrews in the New Testament. He says, "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." Now, this is talking to believers, people who are supposed to believe in the Lord, but he's saying, "Just be careful that you don't harden your heart, that you don't start challenging and questioning, letting unbelief come in." Because it's an evil thing. The opposite of evil is good. It's a good thing to believe, to have unbelief. It's called an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. There's so much unbelief that you depart from the Lord. This is not talking about people who don't know God. This is talking about people who actually do know the Lord, but for whatever reason, maybe God didn't answer your prayer when you wanted it. Maybe he didn't heal you as quickly as you wanted. Maybe these things happen and then unbelief begins to creep in. Then it actually causes you to depart from the Lord. That's an evil heart. He's warning and just be careful. Just be careful of these things. Jesus often addressed the heart condition and it was only of the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the supposed to be spiritual people who were the ones that he would rebuke. He didn't rebuke the sinners as such. He rebuked those who should have known better because why? Their hearts were hard. The Pharisees. They were called the Pharisees. Their hearts were hard. Their hearts were called. Even in the synagogue one day, it was the Sabbath. It was like to us. It's like a Sunday. There was a man who needed healing. Jesus healed him. The Pharisees were angry because there was hardness in their hearts. They were called. They didn't care about the man. He said, "You care more about the die and the tradition and the legalism. You don't care about the person. Their hearts were hard and cold." He rebuked them for all that. He was actually called a friend of sinners. A friend of sinners. Why? Because he wanted them to be saved. Okay. This is in Psalm 51. This is where King David had gotten into sin with Bathsheba. He'd had her husband killed and he was lusting after this woman. He took her illegally and then he began to repent. Eventually he began to repent. This is what he said. "Hide your face." He's speaking to the Lord. "Hide your face from my sins." Now let's don't look at me. I feel disgusted by what I've done. Blot out all my inequities. Now let's forgive me and cleanse me. Creating me a clean heart. Why? Because he felt his heart was unclean. Creating me a clean heart of God and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Now in other words, help me to be strong and steady and make right decisions because he really blew it at this particular time and he felt unclean before the Lord. He knew God was a holy God and he said, "Create me a clean heart. I feel like my heart is unclean. Don't even look at me. Hide your face from my sins." Sometimes when we do things, we feel like our... We feel that. Your heart gets heavy. You know what I'm saying? Your heart gets heavy sometimes. When you say something or do something, you know you shouldn't. You feel unclean. You feel heavy or whatever. You feel like, "God, don't even look at me. I feel so ashamed." But at the same time, you're saying, "Please look at me and wash me clean." That's exactly what he's doing. That's exactly what he's doing. He said, "I want a clean heart." When you've got a clean heart or a clear conscience, you feel light and you feel good about yourself. You feel like you can look people in the eye. You know, sometimes before we get saved and we've got a lot of sin in our lives, it's very hard to look into people's eyes. Unless you've got a really hard heart and you can look at them and just lie, some people can do that. They can look you in the eyes and just we call it "lie through your teeth." They lie through their teeth. They can look you in the eye and lie through their teeth. That is a really cold heart. That's a heart of stone. Okay. Let's keep going. What else does it talk about here? It's in hearts. Psalm 17 verse 9. Okay. This is talking about being, this was David when he was being chased by his enemies. He said, basically, "Lord, help me. Save me." From the wicked who oppressed me, from my deadly enemies who surround me, they have closed up their fat hearts. Fat hearts. They have closed up their fat hearts with their mouths, they speak proudly. You know, being a natural, fat is a bad thing for your heart. Interestingly, this is, I think, the only reference in the Bible to fat hearts, not talking about fat in the heart, but their hearts are fat. They're closed up. They're clogged up. They're full. They're full of hate. They're full of vengeance. They're full of oppression. They're full of all these wicked things coming in. It's David. He's saying, "They've closed up their fat hearts and out of their mouth comes all these terrible things." There's some people who are like that. They've closed their hearts and they're full and clogged up. Their hearts are fat with nastiness and horrible things. It comes out of their mouths. It's a terrible thing. He's saying, "Lord, deliver me from these people with closed up fat hearts." You'll probably never forget that. Psalm 81, another condition of the heart. He says, "My people," this is what the Lord is saying. He said, "My people would not heed my voice." He was talking about the children of Israel when they were disobedient to him. "And Israel would have none of me." In other words, they didn't need God. They went through their stages of wanting God, not wanting God, not wanting God, not wanting God. So what did the Lord do? He said, "So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own councils." Some of us can be very stubborn. We can be stubborn. You can be stubborn in the right things, but you can also be stubborn in the wrong things. But the Lord said, "Don't keep refusing me, rejecting me, rebelling against me." So I just said, "Okay, you want to be stubborn? Go ahead. Go ahead." He said, "I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own councils." What does that mean? To do what they wanted to do. You want to do it your way? Go ahead. Sometimes we say, "You know, don't tell me what to do." We say that sometimes when our parents and people say, "Don't tell me what to do. I want to do it my way." Go ahead. But he gave them over and then of course they wandered in the wilderness and they had all kinds of problems and they went into captivity and finally came back to the war. But see, God will allow us sometimes. If we stubbornly resist him, he will allow us. You want to do it your way? Okay. You do it your way. Let's see what happens. See what happens. He doesn't control us. He doesn't control us. He leads us, he guides us, he directs us and sometimes he just takes his hands right off and says, "Go ahead. I'll see you later." Because just a matter of time we come back every smile. Okay. I think this is the last one I want to share in Psalm 34. It's interesting that most of these come out of the book of Psalms. These are actually songs. These are actually songs. Usually you think when you write songs, it's like, "Happy, happy, happy is my soul." But these are songs that most of them talk about stubborn heart, proud heart, hard heart. But David sang these. The Lord is near. This is the one that I really want to finish up on because you might be sitting there thinking, "What a horrible sermon." But I want to finish on this one. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, a broken heart. And he saves such as have a contrite spirit that means humble, humble. We've been talking about humility the last few weeks. He will save those who are humble, who will come to him to come to me, all who labor and heavy laden. I'll give you rest for your souls. Learn from me. There says this, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." In other words, just because we're believers, doesn't mean we're not going to have problems. We're not going to have trials and challenges and struggles. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers him, delivers us out of them all. That's a really good part. Sometimes our heart feels like it's breaking or broken or disappointed, but shattered, brokenness because of disappointments, brokenness because of delays, brokenness because of afflictions and harm and hurt. These things, things that people say to us, things people do to us sometimes, that breaks our heart. But it says, "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart." And he's there to deliver us out of everything that we're going through, everything, delivers in out of them all. That's what I want to end up on tonight. So Lord, I just thank you for your word tonight. Lord, we've looked at a few of these conditions that afflict the heart. And Lord, we want to just ask you right now to examine our hearts. Lord, as we've been going through this, is there any pride in us? If there's any hardness, if there's any coldness or unbelief, if there's any uncleanness or sinful thoughts, any lust or greed, Lord, if there's any fatness in our hearts, we've closed up, we've clogged up with bitterness, bad things in there. Lord, if there's any stubbornness, resistance, Lord, show us, show us. And Lord, just like David, like King David, we can say, "Lord, forgive us, cleanse us, create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit in us." Lord, it's as simple as coming to you. Lord, if there's brokenness because of any of these things, you are near to us and you will deliver us from all of them. Father, I just pray for each and every one of us. Many of the afflictions that perfect are your ways and greatest should deliver us. I pray you just minister, each and every one more. And Lord, I also pray for anyone who may have a physical heart condition, whether they know about it or they don't know about it. Sometimes there's things going on within our systems, our physical bodies, that we're not even aware of. So Lord, I pray that you just touch heal, minister to those places. Lord, anyone who may have blood pressure or any blockages, high cholesterol, any kind of issues, heartbeat issues. Lord, any history of family heart issues. Father, I pray that you would just set us free and heal us from those things. It doesn't have to come down the family line because we belong to the family of God. We belong to you. But any changes needed, change your hearts because we won't have a heart like you, not like the Pharisees, heart and cold, but the heart of Jesus, full of love and full of compassion, full of mercy. We bless you and thank you Lord. Thank you, Jesus name. Amen. Okay. Have an awesome week. Bye everyone online. Welcome back.