Since Brother Victor already has read the scripture for the message, I'm not gonna read it again, but we can begin. And there are many worldly expressions that have the word heart in them. And let's just think about some of them. Have a heart, someone might say, or he is cold hearted. He is heartless. He is lighthearted. He has a heart of stone. He is downhearted. He is broken hearted. And I'm sure you could probably think of many others that use heart in similar ways. What I want us to notice in each of these expressions that the word heart is not used in the physical sense, calling someone, Broken hearted doesn't mean that somehow their heart, I mean, they're sad, you know, we understand that. And someone who's heartless, we're not saying they don't have a heart beating in there, it's that they are very cold and just thoughtless kind of people and just not very warm hearted, so to say. And it's not used in the physical sense, that's the point. And none of the expressions is speaking of the physical heart right now that's pumping blood through our bodies. The expressions are speaking of one person has defined, and I quote here, the hidden springs of the personal life. So obviously, the word heart is used in a figurative way, we can say, not literal. Now God has inspired the writers of the Bible to also use the word heart figuratively in many places. When we stop and think about it, it's only fitting that the central organ of the physical life be used figuratively to describe a person's spiritual and really intellectual center. And so it's just what it does. Today we're going to look at what God's word says about the true condition of our hearts, what God has done to change them into new hearts, those of us who are born again into his kingdom, and also what our new hearts should desire. So first we'll consider the true condition of the human heart that has not been changed by God. All the way back in Genesis 6-5, we read, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Of course, then God passed judgment on mankind. Except for Noah and his family, God destroyed the people of the earth with a great flood. Now this verse clearly teaches us that the center of everyone's being, their hearts, were evil. But this was not just true of the people in Noah's time. Jeremiah 17.9, centuries later, shows us the condition persisted in mankind after the flood. There we read, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Ecclesiastes 9, 3b also teaches us, truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil. Madness is in their hearts while they live. And after that, they go down to the dead. Over and over again, the Bible teaches us of the true condition of the human heart. It's in a lost condition. Hearts that are evil continually in intent and thought. Hearts that are so deceitful that they cannot be understood. Sometimes we hear of somebody doing something evil in the news, or maybe even someone, an acquaintance, and we say something to them. Why would they do that? You know, the Bible points out madness. There's a sense of madness. What they're doing is so self-destructive. Why would they do that? That's the evil of the heart that people don't even understand what they're doing to themselves, not just to other people. And what are, well, hearts that are separated from God because of their evil. And hearts that are really even incapable of ever coming to God because of that evil. hearts that are under the judgment of God and doomed to eternal torment unless God changes them, causes them to be born again, to see the truth of the Bible, their sin, their own personal sin, and that they're doomed to eternal judgment again if they don't turn from their sin. And of course, we know on this side of the cross and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. And this brings us to our second point, what God has done to change our hearts. One of the main texts that come to mind when we think of how it is God who must change our hearts, if we are to be changed, it's in Ezekiel 11, verse 19, where we read the words of God when he says to them, then I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them. and take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my judgments and do them. And they shall be my people and I will be their God. Yes, it's clear if we are to have changed hearts, it is God who must do the changing. We all need heart surgery, spiritual heart surgery. And he's the only surgeon who can do it. And he must put a new spirit within us. And of course, the Holy Spirit, who is God himself, the surgeon, comes inside of us and takes out that heart of stone, the old sinful heart, the rebellious heart, and the commandment-breaking heart. And he has to put a new heart of flesh, it's called, that will enable us to obey his commandments with the right intentions. And so it's to glorify him and enjoy him. But Ezekiel's not the only prophet who speaks of this. In Jeremiah 32, 40, we read where God says, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good, but I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. Yes, again, it is God who must put that healthy fear of Him in our hearts, or else we would remain in our arrogant, evil rebellion. And of course, the indication there in those verses, it comforts us that we know that once we have received our new hearts from God, we can never again turn away from God. He will continue. It will be an everlasting blessing to us. Now, Jeremiah 31, that's one of my favorite sections about things like this, speaks of God working on our hearts and helping us to understand what the fear of God is connected with. And we read there, but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And again, the idea of judgment. You've heard about the animal, they're lemmings they're called, and how like lemmings will just kind of, if they start jumping off a cliff, the other lemmings will just follow. In fact, there's an expression, you know, sometimes when you're growing up and, You do something bad and you say, well, Ralphie was doing it. And then your parent will say, well, if Ralphie jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge? You know, act like a lemming. And, you know, and so, and he said, of course, no, I wouldn't do that. But people do all the time. They follow. In fact, there are books even about investing in stocks of all things. And it's, the title is something like, the mob psychology, the psychology of how people start buying a stock, even in the idea of, they may not know much about it, but maybe they're looking and they're saying, oh, everyone's buying stock in, whatever, the mountain flavor stock, we'll say. And I say, oh look, they bought, they're buying this, they're buying this. And the next thing you know, so you know, I better get in on this. And they start, and then someone else, and it goes right down the line. And pretty soon, they're just following the crowd. the psychology of following crowds and mobs. People do it all the time. They'll start doing the same thing that other people are doing if they see there's a crowd doing it. And so the hearts tend to follow whatever's going on in this world. And, oh, well, everyone likes so-and-so. Well, I'd better like them, too, then, if I want to get along with everyone. You know, maybe it's some musical star or movie star or something, and people get caught up in all of that. Now, with our old hearts, we try to hide and rationalize our sin, you know, why it was a good idea to sin. And we didn't want God or anyone else to tell us that we disobeyed his commands. We hated godly people who showed us that we were disobedient and who called us to obedience. I can remember after I was saved, I was working in a parts department up in North Jersey, and there was this guy in there, one of the higher-ups, he was higher up than me, but he was in there and he started talking about some woman in the office in sexual terms. And I just said to him, you're a married man. And he said, you know, who are you? Are you my conscience? And he didn't like the idea that I pointed out that he's a married man and he shouldn't be saying those things about another woman. He was basically thinking adulterous thoughts and he didn't like it. And now with our new heart, well, how are we with our new hearts? Well, we agree with God now. We look at and read the Bible where God says it's sin, it's sin. And we agree with God. And even in our own lives, it's being pointed out maybe where we're sitting, maybe it's not adultery, maybe it's covetousness, not appreciating what God has given us and coveting what God has given somebody else. You know, whatever it might be, when God points it out, maybe we'll fight it a little bit, but it's wrong, it's sin. And I need to ask God to forgive me for that sin. And so with our new hearts, we start thinking differently. Now, with our new hearts, we don't rebel. In fact, you're coming here preaching. This is called preaching. And we don't have a lot of children here, but I remember one of my messages, I pointed out, I said to the children, I said, you know, sometimes maybe your parents have to punish you, maybe send you to your room, or take a privilege away or maybe even give you a little spanking, you know, which of course don't let the secular psychiatrist hear me say that, you know, because I think a little tap on the behind is And with me, I give three strikes. It would be, okay, let's strike one, and there would be a little punishment, and there was a second strike. And I said, you know, you're getting close. You got a second strike here. Now, if it goes to the third strike, I'm going to have to spank you, because you won't listen to words. I'm speaking to you, and my words are not sufficient. to get you to change your behavior. So I may have to use something that would maybe impress you a little bit more. And although actually as the kids got older I think taking away privileges or something they really wanted to do hurt more than any kind of spanking would. So anyway, it's a little bit of an aside, but the point is that we need to be rebuked. And in the Proverbs, there's a proverb that says, he that rebukes a man afterward will find more favor than he that flatters with a tongue. Because what happens is When you love somebody, you see them doing something harmful to themselves and you know that it's a sin against God, that they're going to be incurring the wrath of God, that maybe at first they don't like to be rebuked. None of us likes to be rebuked. Who likes to be rebuked? Ruth rebukes me a lot, and I've learned to just, yeah, she's probably right. She's been right so many times before, so I'm thankful that the Lord has given me a help meet for me. And she also tells me when I'm doing okay, and so I won't say that she's always rebuking me, but I really do appreciate having someone who loves me enough to rebuke me. to let me know that's not right. And I would tell the kids in the congregation, well you know what, you get spanked at home. Your parents come here and I preach a message to them that on one side might encourage them, but then it might be a spanking for them because I'm going to touch on something from God's word that they know they're doing wrong. And so it's kind of like a spanking from the pulpit because in their heads they're thinking, oh, that's addressed to me. I better do something about that. You may never know what's going on between God and their conscience, but there's a spanking going on. And so that's what happens. You come here and you're encouraged from the pulpit, but also, a loving rebuke comes because any Pastor who really knows himself knows he needs to be rebuked sometimes, too So again, I want to remind everyone now with our new hearts when we're born again into the kingdom of god As we saw in those earlier passages in ezekiel and jeremiah that God gives us new hearts, that we agree with God that our sin deserves His wrath and judgment, and we ask Him to forgive us. Then we trust in the one that God sent to suffer and die for the sins of all those who by God's grace will repent and trust in Him as Savior and Lord. We trust in Jesus Christ to save us from God's wrath. And the same blood that originally bought our salvation, and after we're saved, who knows how much life we're going to have after we're saved, that same blood washes away those sins we commit after we're Christians, because we know that We're being sanctified. The Holy Spirit is in us, revealing sin in our lives so we can ask for forgiveness and trust in Jesus and be healed again, be brought back into fellowship. And getting back to raising children again, I would send a lot of times the kids to the room and say, well, I don't want to see you for a while. And you go think about what you did. and come back when you're ready to ask for forgiveness and cleansing and we'll pray together." And so that's what they were doing, come back and I put my arm around them and pray with them and tell them they're forgiven and that they shouldn't do that again. And so that's what happens as Christians. God might send us to our room for a while. He'll separate us from, and we won't feel his warm fellowship. But when we come back and ask for forgiveness, he's a loving father. He loves more than any earthly father could love. And he puts his arm around us and said, okay, now get busy about my work now, get going, doing right. So it's something we have to deal with and you can pass it on if your parents or grandparents or an aunt or an uncle, you have friends to kind of give them a little advice about these things with their children. And also it's a way to witness to them about the love of God and Jesus Christ. So remember, this is for Old Testament believers too. And the Old Testament believers, as you've heard me say, I probably have said it, I've preached here so many times, so I probably have said it in other messages. The Old Testament believers could only trust in the grace and mercy and love of God and the grace of God and the coming Messiah to save them. We live on this side of the cross. So we as believers today know that the name of the grace and mercy and love and grace of God is Jesus. He's the Messiah, the promised Messiah. So we actually know the name of what they can only look forward to, but they trusted in the love and grace and mercy and the grace of God. That's the first evidence of our new hearts. Now, the second evidence is clearly spelled out in Psalm 139 and verses 23 and 24 where we read this. The psalmist says, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there's any wicked way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. And that's why, again, you come here to worship God, but you come here also to learn how to be led in the everlasting way and to be blessed in the keeping of his commandments and be a blessing. Now, so we must take whatever steps we need to get the sinful behavior out of our lives. It's we who must incline our hearts to the Lord by God's grace. And we should set aside time to be alone with the Lord and to meet with the Lord's people as you're doing and to grow together in him. Proverbs 2.2 says, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. So, Christian, where is your heart today? Where is the center of your being? Are you centered on your own sinful, selfish ways? Is your heart inclined to understanding and obeying God's commands? Or are you always making excuses for your disobedience? What the psychiatrist would call rationalizing. Yeah, well, it's okay if I sin this way because dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, whatever the reason is, you're rationalizing it, giving reasons. And I think what I'll do is just close with a verse of scripture. And may God grant that Hebrews 10 19 through 25 will continually be our prayer forever. And there the writer of Hebrews tells us therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from evil, an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another. And so much the more, as you see the day approaching." And it's so important. There's a sense in which I'm preaching to the choir, because you're here. and you haven't forsaken the assembling of yourself together. And just think about it, very often in scripture, God's people are called his sheep. And when can a sheep really get itself in trouble? Okay, when the flock is all here and the one sheep decides to go off by itself. When is the wolf? In fact, we can say the lion. because scripture tells us that satan goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Now we know we can't lose our salvation if we're the lords and but we are we can physically die but we're not going to lose our salvation but we can get ourselves in a lot of trouble. I was director of men at a Christian alcoholic rehab center down in Georgia for about a year. And even for all the years I've been in the ministry, I've seen a lot. And I've seen professing Christians, and I'm not going to doubt their Christianity. But I remember when I was down there and I was talking to someone, and they were talking about leaving. And, you know, it's okay, I'm doing well. I'm in here now. It was a closed thing. It was like a two-month program and that they could stay with us and get food and shelter and clothing and everything. And when I go out there, I said, well, you know, can I lose my salvation? And they said, no, you can't lose your salvation. But if you go out and get drunk and you fall on a railroad track, and your arm gets cut off by the train, that arm is going to stay cut off. It's not going to grow back. And you're going to suffer. And so things can happen out there. And people who are trying to isolate themselves from the body of Christ, And sometimes, I know it's been true of myself sometimes, you always get something from the preaching of the word or the reading of the word. But sometimes over the years, I've gotten a bigger blessing out of being with a congregation in a conversation with a brother or sister. And they might even have been talking about something else or somebody else. And in a situation, and they bring scripture to bear, and I said, wow, that's really good. You know, it's good. And a lot of times I would preach on that eventually or include it in a sermon. That's something I learned from one of the congregation. So anyway, let's. Live now as if we have new hearts. When the thoughts of sinning or whatever comes into our lives, we've got to get rid of it quickly. Put it out and think righteous thoughts. Think what God wants us to think. Think God's thoughts after him and align our thinking and our living with the Word of God. That's the way we find blessing. And we are blessings to others too. Okay, if you know somebody who's been keeping themselves away from worshipping or whatever, give them a call. And you might even remind them what I just said about, you know, You're not gonna get the comfort of God's word if you're not around God's people and hearing the preaching of God's word and the teaching, Sunday school or other lessons. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, we thank you for your great love, for your word. We pray that each one of us here has been born again into your kingdom. Lord, that we would manifest that indeed we have new hearts, hearts that love you and that love your commandments And Lord, we know Satan is always looking for some way in, some way to spoil our witness as Christians. make us wise to his devices, Lord, and that he would try to tempt us away from you, that we would run to you, run back to your word, run back to your commandments for protection as a shield about us. And so your word tells us that the shield of faith, that we can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And so bless us and make us blessings, Lord. Help us to lift each other up, Lord, when one falls, that we may help reach out and lift them up. And Lord, if anyone came in this day, not really knowing you as Savior and Lord, we pray that you'll have mercy upon them, cause them to be born again into your kingdom this day, that they would repent of their sin and trust in you alone, Lord Jesus, as their Savior and Lord. And bless us now as we partake of your supper, Lord Jesus. And we pray that you'd come soon, Lord Jesus, and pray in your precious name, amen.