Proverbs chapter 23, and we're going to read from verse 23 in the chapter. Verse 23, buy the truth and sell it not. Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice. My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. Amen. A reading short this evening. May God bless it to our hearts. A wee word of prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you tonight that there's a saviour from all sin, if you'll only let him in. We thank you tonight for the divine call to the human heart. My son, give me thy heart. We pray tonight that hearts will be touched and stirred and opened. Oh God, come to this meeting house, we pray, and make bare your mighty arm and speak with the voice that wakes the dead and make thy people hear. Help us now as we go forth in the gospel. We pray also, O God, for Philip, and Cherith, and Anna, and Cherus, that your gracious hand will be upon them this incoming week, that you'll go before them as they head back to Perth. We pray that you will give them travelling mercies and give grace in their departure. We pray that you will help them when they get there take up the work of God again. And that, Lord in heaven, that you will prosper their hand. And that, Father in heaven, that you will add to your kingdom many precious souls. We think of the radio ministry in New South Wales. We think, Lord, of the evangelistic efforts on the streets of the city centre. And we pray, O God, that every effort made in your name will be exceedingly fruitful. Lord, that you will make Philip and Cherith and their girls the ministry there in Perth, like it was said of Joseph of old. Joseph, his branches ran over the wall. O God, visit the vine, we pray. And we pray that you will do great things in the city of Perth and across Western Australia. We pray that the work in Perth will become a mother church, and there in Western Australia. Father in heaven, there will be inquiries on Philip's phone of those saying, come over and help us. Father in heaven, thank you for your hand upon us already in this meeting. Pray for your touch just now. We pray for an increasing sense of your presence. The Lord will make himself known. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. our text for tonight, is the words of verse 26 that we have read together, "'My son, give me thine heart.'" This precept is penned by Solomon under the name of wisdom that he uses back in chapter 8 and the verse 12. That is a reference to Jesus Christ, who, of course, is wisdom personified. And here is wisdom. speaking to us this evening in this congregation. Wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ, he stands at the door of the human heart, not like a beggar, not like a door-to-door salesman begging, looking for donations. No, my son, give me thine heart. The word heart here is not literal. It's a figure of speech. a figure of speech used by the sacred penman to denote the faculty of the human soul. And here we have the Lord looking for the heart, the souls of men and women that he might come in, that he might cleanse and wash and forgive. It's always an encouragement when you and I hear a word of testimony. For when we hear a word of testimony, you're hearing of the gospel in action. You're hearing of how the gospel works and how it outworks in a person's soul. We're always encouraged when we hear a word of testimony, especially we seem to be more thrilled to hear a testimony of somebody, say, from the very depths and the filth of sin. How true are the words of the hymn that we often sing. What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart. And friends, that was exactly so for Peter Baltas. Peter Baltas was a member of the 1980s heavy metal rock band called Accept, a heavy metal rock band from Germany in the 1980s. It was their lyrics and their acts that inspired Guns N' Roses and Metallica and Motley Crue to sing their filth as well. That group, except, were the hottest heavy metal band in Europe in the mid-1980s. And Peter Baltas was the leading heavy metal bass player of the year in 1985. And though he had never tried drugs, he drank constantly as the band was always on the road. The bus that they traveled on was like a pub on wheels. Like many heavy metal bands of the 1980s, except videos that they produced, they showed images of a burning cross. of other anti-Christian symbols as well. And although Peter Baltas was an atheist, he and the lead guitarist in the band were particularly drawn to church buildings. They loved architecture. And when they were on tour, they would have sat in different public church buildings just to hear the silence as people come in for private prayer. He was living the typical life of a rock star at that time. His life was run with alcohol and fame and money and women. And one day, a very attractive lady turned up at one of his shows. And very boldly, he went down from the stage after it was over, and he asked her if he could have his photograph taken with her. Her name was Johanna. They exchanged phone numbers. The relationship began. Story goes on. That relationship blossomed. They got married. And they settled down outside Philadelphia in America. And with married life and two children at home, Peter Baltas was tired of the music business. And so he took a backward step from it. He concentrated on the home life and also worked in helping to manage a young up-and-coming rock band from Philadelphia at that time. And then suddenly, tragedy struck. They were due to have a rehearsal with the young band in a storage facility in the city. Peter Baltas was late in coming. The lead singer of the group and the lead guitar player were there early. They lit up the gas heater and bang, There was a gas explosion. Place was demolished. The two young people, they perished in the fire. And for once, Peter Baltas started to think of other people. His whole world had caved in. He had been a successful heavy meddler in everything that came off with it. He was full of pride. He testified after his conversion that pride comes with the business. He said, pride is all you have, and that's what you live off, and that's how you make your money. And now for the first time, his pride was shattered, and he started to think of other people. He was confronted also with his own mortality, and he began to look for answers. And one Sunday, just totally out of the blue, he and Johanna decided, we'll go to church. Went to a church and sat up in the gallery beside an exit door, feeling very, very uncomfortable, ready to leave at any moment. But they stayed on. Later on in that week, two members of that church paid them a visit. Conversation came round to spiritual things, started to talk about God, about life and salvation, and where Peter's life was going. And Peter told them that, I'm an atheist, I don't believe any of it. He got so aggravated with the two church visitors that he asked them to leave and never come back. When they left, he started to feel guilty at what he had done. He started to feel empty, and thought of how lovely these people were to me. They brought foodstuffs for our family. They did no harm to me, and yet I threw them out. He felt guilty. A week later, those two church visitors were back, And this time, Peter Baltas was ready to listen. They said to him, the last time we were here, we could detect there's something wrong with you. Peter opened up about the explosion and the two friends that had died in the fire. Those two men witnessed to Peter about the love of Christ and how his heart could be changed. And Peter listened. His demeanor changed. He began to become sweaty. He began to become serious. And at the end of the conversation, the two men asked him, would you like to become a Christian? That day, Peter Baltas accepted the Lord into his heart. In his own testimony, he said, the next day, I never smoked a cigarette and drank a beer or any alcohol. I haven't touched it since, and that's 12 years ago. My life has been completely changed. Later on that week, Johanna got saved. He began to witness for the Lord and do work for Him. He said in his testimony, I'm going to reach people that nobody would ever think of reaching. Who cares about heavy metal fans? Most people think, I'll let them go to hell, for they're there already. As Peter Baltas thought back to the day that he was saved, he said, at that particular moment, I was broken. I had nowhere to go. I was famous and supposed to be powerful, but I had nothing. I was zero. What a wonderful change in his life had been wrought since Jesus came into his heart. He had light in his soul for which long he had sought since Jesus came into his heart. He heard the divine call, my son, give me thy heart. And folks, what the Lord did for that heavy meddler from Germany, He can do for maybe for clean-living sinners in this meeting, and for you who are listening on the Internet as well. The Lord can change. He can give you purpose in life and something worth living for. Cleanse your heart, save your soul, and make you His child. Make your heart as white as snow." I'd like to direct your attention this evening to these words in verse 26, "'My son, give me thy heart.' We are considering together the divine call to the human heart." Notice with us, first of all, there is sympathy in this call. You can feel it in the very words that are said here, the tone of the words, the sympathy expressed. My son, give me thy heart. There's love pouring out in this expression. There's compassion here. There's the sympathizing Jesus. You can detect a tenderness in this tone and a voice of pity. And when God gives this call, He does so because He is love. God is love. If you desired love from another person, you do so because there is a love in your heart toward him or her. Some of you know what that's like when you began your court in death. There was a love in your heart for someone else, you're looking for that love in return. And folks, there's an affection here in what the Lord is saying and a sympathy to speak tenderly. And that's how the Lord addresses sinners in this meeting tonight. What an act of infinite condescension that God should love any of us in this meeting. And yet He says, My son, give me thy heart." Isn't it very strange when you and I begin to think of it? Because it's always the other way around, isn't it? It's always you and I asking the Lord for something. We pray to the Lord that He would heal someone in our family that's not well. We pray to him as he taught us in the Lord's Prayer to give us our daily bread. Lord, open up that door for me in this job interview I'm going to this week. Lord, help me to pass my driving test. Lord, help me to get the marks that I need in my exams. You and I are always doing the asking, but here's the other way around. It's the Lord doing the asking to you. And what poor creatures you and I are. How amazing it is, folks, that the Lord would want to have anything. to do with any of us. For us fallen sinners, by nature, our hearts are dead. They are corrupt. They are twisted, just like that of Zacchaeus. You and I, awkward individuals in our sin, hard and unresponsive. There's nothing to recommend you and I to the Savior this evening. Lost in our sin, hearts that are the fountain of all impurity and uncleanness. by nature alienated from him. Yet the Lord would want to be associated with you and I. You and I have been born with a sinful heart because of the natural bias of our heart. Our bias. You know what the bias is in the game of bowls. When you throw that bowl down the green, there's a bias towards the jack. There's a bias in our heart towards sin, and that's because of the fall. Whenever God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, don't let anybody tell you that he created them in a sense of balance, where they could tip either way depending on the force put upon them. No, they were created wholly inclined toward God, in perfect holiness and righteousness, and when sin came, the pendulum went that way. fully, wholly the opposite way. And the bias of our hearts, folks, is naturally toward that which is corrupt and that which is sinful. Every single man and woman and boy and girl, that's how we are. You know, folks, if every single one of us in this meeting gave our heart to Jesus Christ, would He be then the richer for it? Would He be then the greater for it? Not one bit. God is too great for any of us to add to his greatness. God is far too good for any of us to make him better. And God is already rich, and yet he wants to be associated with you and me. Psalm 50, verse 10, it tells us every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle in a thousand hills. The Lord's already rich. What has he got to gain from getting you? We read in Haggai chapter two in the verse eight, the silver is mine and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. And yet the Lord gives us this divine call. And folks, it's not for his benefit. It's for yours. It's for yours. Yes, the Lord will gain a son and again a daughter in the family of God. And how sweet it is to know, as a believer, that I am a son or a daughter in the family of God. How precious lost sinners are in His sight, that the Lord Jesus would be willing to leave His heavenly home and come into a sinful world like ours, and give His life for our ransom. What love it was that sent Him to the cross. As the modern hymn tells us, I believe it's very well written, His blood was the payment, His life was the cost. We stood neath a debt that we could never afford. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more. Why is it more? because his love goes deeper than you will ever know. His love goes deeper than any man or woman's sin. God so loved the world. that He came into this world, sent His Son to take upon Himself human nature. He wore a human soul within His ribcage, and that human heart was pained with sorrow upon the cross as our iniquities were laid upon Him, pressed under with the weight of our sin. He cried out, overwhelmed with grief at the last, when He fulfilled the words of Psalm 69, verse 20, "'Reproach hath broken my heart.' I am full of heaviness, and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none." You think of the anguish that the Lord Jesus went through upon that middle tree. He gave his heart for you, and I wonder, would you give yours to him? My son, give me thine heart. Words of sympathy in this expression. Terms of endearment are used here, and there's a warmth God is showing towards the sinner. God wants you to turn from your sin in faith and in repentance. If you desired love from another, as we've said, you do so because there's a warmth in your heart toward that person. And that's exactly so with the Lord tonight regarding you. Let's look secondly tonight at the seeking in the call. Of course, it's the Lord who's doing the seeking. My Son, give me thine heart. The Lord sees the sinner tonight as his lost child. Just like the lost son that we read of in Luke chapter 15, we know him as the prodigal son. You know the account, I'm sure, of how he was lost in the world and lost in sin. He had made shipwreck of his life, wasted his substance with riotous living. His reputation was completely shot. He was left penniless and broken, and yet the Father was seeking for him. And when he saw him a great way off, he ran to meet him and to welcome him home. He had messed up. And folks, which of us haven't? We have all messed up in life. That young lad messed up terribly in sexual sin, drunkenness, infidelity and immorality. Lord had reached home. The other brother knew. My wee brother spent a substance with harlots. And the father knew that too. How embarrassing that must have been. And yet the father loved him. And they yearned for him to come home. Longing in our heavenly Father's heart for you this evening, friend. He knows your background. He knows what you've thought, who you've been with. He knows what you've said, where you've been. He's acquainted with all your ways. And yet tonight, he's still seeking. My son, give me thy heart. There are many attractions. that crave after the human heart, and many's a soul has been ruined by giving in to those bad choices. We stopped our reading tonight at the verse 26. We didn't read on. Maybe some of you did. You notice what's said in verses 27 and 28. As many as a person has lost their way in that kind of living, isn't there? Just like the prodigal son, world of immorality, it seems so attractive, craved after it in the heart, and they gave their heart to it. There's another destroyer of souls mentioned in this chapter after verses 27 and 28. You'll notice it in verses 29 to 32. It's strong drink, alcohol. Many's soul has been lured into the sinful world of alcohol dependence. It's damaged their health, and it's ruined their reputation, and it's maybe ruined their home, maybe ruined their work. Craved after these things and went away. Just over a year ago, in our local paper there in West Tyrone, there was an article carried about the dangers of gambling. profiled a young footballer from the Fermanagh and Western League. About two months before the article was written in our local paper, he had placed a bet, 150 pound stake, on Man United beating West Ham in the FA Cup, and he lost. His addiction began at the age of 12, when he put 10p into a fruit machine, and he got five pound in return. And from that, he was hooked. From the ages of 12 to 19, he used fruit machines and poker machines. His father used to give him 20 pounds to do him for his dinner money at school, and he blew it all on gambling. As a teenager, he got a job at a pub on a Sunday morning, cleaning up the beer bottles that were lying about from the night before. And for that couple of hours, he got 14 pound for it. And after leaving the pub on the Sunday morning with his 14 pound, headed to the bookies, and it was gone in half an hour. He always craved for more. It got worse when he got a full-time job. The fruit machines now went up to two pound a go. And he wouldn't think twice of blowing 100 pound in half an hour. One Friday evening, he blew 250 pound and thought nothing of it. And during lockdown, He downloaded a gambling app on his phone. One Friday night, he blew 500 pound. He didn't even know it. There are many pulls on the human heart this evening. Friend, there's a battle for your heart and your soul. A battle for your heart and soul in this meeting tonight. Yes, the world is pulling one way, and sin is pulling, and then there's the Lord calling. And there's the call in salvation. Friends, tonight, the devil wants to make an example of you. He wants to ruin your soul and to take you to a lost eternity. But the Lord is calling, my son, give me thy heart. Give me thy heart that I might save it. Give you a purpose in life, life worth living for. Hymn number 337 in our hymn book, He carries these words, I yielded myself to his tender embrace. And faith taking hold of the word, my fetters fell off and I anchored my soul. The haven of rest is my lot. I yielded myself to his tender embrace. I wonder, friend, will you do that? Yield yourself. There's a battle going on, isn't there? You can hear that still small voice right now. You know what you ought to do. You've heard this message many times before. Maybe some of you are reared in a very respectable home. And the Lord's calling, and you know it. And there's a battle going on right now. My son, give me thy heart. I wonder what you say tonight, Lord, I'm coming home. Lord, I give myself away. Make me your child. There's a call tonight. the divine call to the human heart. There's the sympathy in the call and the seeking in the call. Lastly, there's the submitting to the call. You know, folks, our submitting to the call should be, Lord, you're seeking for me. Then, Lord, I'll seek for you. I give myself away. It is all that I can do. The Lord's looking for a decision tonight. You know, folks, it's decision time. Some people take their Calvinism away out on a limb, and they say, well, you can never say that salvation's a decision. You know, folks, it's the job of every preacher to bring a sinner to a decision point, make your mind up, your choice. We have now arrived at that. It's decision time. And what will you do? with Jesus which is called Christ. An empty heart is a heart that the devil will enter into and find a home. I'm sure around Kilkeel in this part of County Down, there are derelict houses in society. You all know what a derelict house is. You look at a derelict house and after a while, it becomes run down and all grown over. And then after a while, a group of lads will gather around, and that's where antisocial behavior takes place. And the windows of that place are smashed, and there's graffiti written all over it. And then inside, those young people, that's where they'll practice their sin and maybe their weed-taking and so on. An empty heart, an empty home, the devil will come in. You know, friend of the Lord, it's not in your heart. Your heart's an empty heart. And you can be sure of one thing, that the devil will write his graffiti all over your life. And all the filth that the devil would want you to do, he'd place it right in front of you and tempt you and lure you away. That's what he'll do to a derelict soul. Maybe you're a derelict soul in this congregation this evening. You know, friends, to your derelict soul, the Lord wants to take up residence. And I wonder, will you let him in this evening? When should you do it? Well, the Bible tells us that now is the accepted time. And now is the day of salvation. So many decide, well, I'll wait. But how indefinite is that word, wait? How long should you wait for? because when you wait, there's never the right time, isn't that right? There's always tomorrow, and there's always a putting off. Folks, we need to submit now to God's call, and we need to do it believingly, believingly that Jesus died for me, and we do it thoroughly. We give him all of our heart. Some people will try to give the Lord a piece of their heart, You know, if you lost a piece of your heart, you wouldn't live. The Lord's not looking for a piece of your heart. He's looking for all of it. And folks, wherever your heart is, it's in the wrong place if it's not in Christ. And therefore, we tell you tonight, go and get it. And bring it to the cross. And give it to the one who died on the cross to save it. Very often in this country, we're used to the cry of no surrender. Well, there's friends, there's a time when it's right to surrender. And tonight's the night to hoist up the white flag, to throw in the towel, and say, Lord, I'm coming home. Lord, come and take possession of my heart. Save me, Jesus, and save me now. That's exactly what Kelly Carroll did when she discovered the real lover of her soul, and she gave her heart and life to Jesus Christ. As a young girl, she feared the unpredictable temper of her father. Her father could be very kind, but with the slightest transgression, he would fly off the handle and become very violent. Kelly's mother walked out of the family when she was just age two. And as a child, she was a lonely wee girl. She recalled one occasion of quarreling with her elder sister, and how her father beat her with a belt and threw her up against a wall, and she was left with a black eye. The neighbors heard the commotion in the house. and she had welts and bruises all over her body and her legs and arms to prove the beating that she got. She was warned by her father never to tell anyone, and if she did, well, she'd be really in for it. She spoke of her self-esteem as a child being non-existent, and she felt very, very detached. Age of 12, her father remarried, and for the first year, everything was grand and then bang, Her new stepmother saw Kelly and her sister as surplus to requirements. They were in the way in their relationship. She was now a 13-year-old, and she begged for her dad to look out for her real birth mother. They had discovered that her birth mother had since remarried, and so Kelly was moved off to New York. The birth mother was very good to her. She started doing very well at school and made a few friends, and then, bang, again, her new stepdad starting abusing her. And her real mother asked her to leave. She was in the way of the relationship, and so she was sent back to her father. Poor Kelly was put into foster care, and she dropped out of school. She says, I felt like an unwanted puppy dropped off at the pound. Brokenhearted, she became a very rebellious young teenager and rules didn't matter. And in order to get over the pain, she started the partying lifestyle, drinking and smoking marijuana. She was in and out of different care homes. And at the age of 17, she became pregnant. Moved in with the father of her child. Time passed. 20 years passed. Kelly had three failed marriages and two children to raise on her own. She tried suicide, and she remembered crying out to God, Lord, I cannot go on like this anymore. She did remember back to her childhood, few of the places that she found comfort in was actually in church. She remembered some Bible stories and memory verses that she'd been taught in Sunday school. Sunday school teacher, children's meeting worker who'd never give up. You're doing a wonderful work for the Lord." Kelly remembered it. After all of those years and from rock bottom, she cried out to God to come into her heart. She wondered how anybody would actually love her. And she did struggle to give up the drugs and the alcohol. Things weren't perfect at the start. But God was not finished with Kelly Carroll. And folks, There were those that she needed to forgive in her life, and right at the top was her dad. And she plucked up the courage and faith to go and confront him. And there's that broken, little, blonde lassie, a life ruined, a derelict, that the devil came in and wrote this graffiti all over. She heard the divine call to the human heart, my daughter, give me thy heart. Her favorite verse of Scripture, Psalm 27, verse 10, "'When my father and mother forsake me, "'then the Lord will take me up.'" There's a tragic story of abandonment and rejection by those who should have loved her the most. We have started tonight with an illustration. We have finished tonight with an illustration. The message has been bookended by an illustration to show to you that the gospel works. Jesus saves. He can lift a sinner out of their sin. Folks, the gospel works. My son, give me thy heart. The Lord gave his heart for you. Would you not give yours to him? I trust tonight that the Lord will speak to your soul. He's the real lover of your soul. Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly. Will you fly to Jesus Christ this evening? Come and be saved. Come and be born again. The gospel works. Jesus saves. There's a divine call to the human heart, the sympathy in the call, the seeking in the call, and the submitting to the call. I wonder who's going to have your heart tonight. May the Lord have it. Let's close our meeting in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you this evening for your presence. Thank you, Lord, for help given in the meeting. Thank you, Lord, for the attention that each one has given to your word. We thank you, Lord, for the simplicity of your word. And Lord, the exhortation that we find here and the very tone of these words, my son, Give me thine heart." We thank you tonight that the Lord wants to be associated with us. He wants to make us his child. Maybe there's a derelict in this meeting tonight, a very respectable derelict, how the devil will come in and he'll write us graffiti all over our life. Lord, we pray that that derelict home will be occupied this evening. The Lord will come in. Make everything new. O God, come this evening, we pray. We ask that by the power of your Spirit, you will implant this gospel text in Proverbs 23. Upon the lives of sinners in this meeting, sinners on the internet, maybe somebody will hear this message in due course, somewhere down the line. Lord, bring that sinner into your kingdom, we pray. We thank you tonight. that the gospel works. We have seen, by way of two illustrations this evening, the gospel in action. And Lord, there's many, as they sit here in the closing moments, they know the reality of the gospel in action in their heart. And we pray tonight for an opening of the human heart, just like Lydia's at the Riverside in Philippi. Part us now with your blessing. Take us to our homes in safety. Watch over us, Lord, in the week that is to come. Keep us all in the hollow of your hand. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.