How is your Heart?
(Start out by taking the label off a can of cat food and then placing that label over the label of a can of tuna. Then open up that can of tuna with the cat food sticker on the outside, and begin eating it. Then revel that it is tuna)
1 Samuel 16:7
I began preparing this sermon as my Dad laid in the hospital needing repairs on his own heart. Dad had lived, what we thought, a healthy life. But upon a catheter we found that he had not one, but four blockages. And on top of that we discovered that he also had an aneurysm that was so large the Dr. said that he didn’t know how he was still alive. My point being that just as it is important to examine your physical heart, it is even more important to look at your spiritual heart.
You can have a strong physical heart and live to be 100 but it doesn’t do you any good if you don’t have the right spiritual heart. If you have the right spiritual heart then you can die today and you will ok, because we all know that you will be in a better place.
Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
So today, let’s do a catheter this morning and look at our hearts and determine what is necessary for us to have a healthy spiritual heart as well.
Read with me if you will 1 Samuel 16:7
A little background here, The Lord had told the Prophet Samuel to go to the house of Jesse to anoint the next king of Israel. Upon his arrival Jesse sent what he thought was a shoe in, his oldest son Elib. Now there were probably several reasons why he thought that he would be the one selected. First he was the eldest of the sons. It was the customs at that time that eldest son would be the one to inherit the throne. And we know that David was a good-looking guy and evidently it ran in the family. Being the eldest, he was probably the biggest, strongest in the family. But God told to Samuel not to look at the outward appearance, but rather look at the heart. Not the physical heart but the spiritual heart.
But why did He choose David rather than Elib? The Bible tells us that God chose David because he had heart like His. Saul the first King of Israel did not have Gods heart. He told Saul that was what He was looking for.
1 Samuel 13:14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.
So what does God look at when He looks at your heart? First He looks at …
The ownership of it
You may have heard or have been asked the question, “Have you asked Jesus to come into your heart?” That is one of the terms used to ask you if you have ever entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, “Been saved” as we call it. And we do so by asking Jesus into our heart.
Romans 10:9-10 That is you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your HEART that God has raised Him from the dead, you WILL be saved. For with the HEART one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Like I stated earlier, it really does not matter if you are as strong as an ox or as good looking as any beauty queen, all that and a dollar might buy you a cup of coffee (unless you drink Starbucks). Unless you give your heart to Jesus you are living on dangerous ground. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, or where you live, or what kind of job you have, or how much money you have. You cannot take any of that with you.
So have you given Him your heart? If not my prayer is that you will before this day is over. If you already have given Him your heart, then the next point is…
What shape is it in?
You see how your heart is reveals how you are.
Proverbs 27:19 As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.
The heart reflects what we are. If you have the right relationship with God then you have a healthy heart, a good heart, a heart that is pleasing to God. And just as you need to exercise to have a healthy heart, you need to exercise to have a healthy spiritual heart as well. And by exercising I mean using your heart for the Lord.
How do you have a healthy heart?
The first way and one that we have already covered is to have a delivered heart. What I mean by that is that you have entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Then you need to have a humble heart. James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. A healthy heart is one that knows that within themselves we can do nothing and, but we could do any thing that God wants us to do. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Nothing without Him, anything with Him, that’s humility.
Also to have a healthy heart you need to have a willing heart. God never ask you for you ability. He asks you for you availability. He will never ask you to do something without first providing the means and method in which to do it with.
You need a pure heart. Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart. A pure heart is one that does the will of God. That’s what David prayed for in Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart. And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
There are two things about this verse I want to point out. The word create is the same word as used in Genesis 1:1. David was asking for his heart to be renewed. Only God can be the source of such a renewal. Then with the use of the word steadfast, means that we continue. The runner who wins this race might not be the one who runs the fastest. But in order to have a pure heart we need to consistently seek God and to do His will.
But what if your heart is unhealthy one. Satan desires your heart just as God does. Matthew 15:19-20a For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies, These are the things that defile a man.
An unhealthy heart is one that leads to my next point.
Do you need a change of heart?
Ephesians 4:17-24 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk. In the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
How do you change a heart? Remember we are not changing the muscle that pumps the blood through our veins. The heart here is you, the inner being. So in order to change your heart, you have to change you.
In the physical heart you have what they call the hardening of the arteries. It is caused by what you put into your body or your lack of exercise. The hardening of spiritual hearts can be the same way.
First you have those who harden their hearts from His Salvation. Psalm 95:7b-8 Today, if you will hear His voice: Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness. So then He ends the verse with the punishment for there harden hearts in vs. 11 They will not enter My Rest.
So today if you have never given your heart to Jesus, do it today. Stop making excuses of why you can’t and find the rest that only He can give.
Then you can need a change because of a blockage in your heart. Thus prevent your heart to work properly. This blockage is sin. God cannot use you with sin in your life. That is why we continually need to ask forgiveness for ours sins. By doing so we can be used for and by God.
This leads me to my final point.
The Cleaning needs to be on both sides
Matthew 23:25-26 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of exhortation and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside may be clean also.
You can fool some people most of the time. You can even fool your pastor and others in the church. You can even fool your family and your closest friends. But you can never fool God. God knows your heart. He knows your secrete thoughts. He knows your hidden sins. It doesn’t matter how clean you are on the outside if your inside is dirty.
At the beginning when you thought that I was eating the cat food when it was really tuna. What would be worse is that I would be eating cat food out of a tuna can.
And the same is true with our spiritual heart. Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior? I don’t care who thinks you are saved. It is a personal relationship. Please don’t let your pride, or your excuses, or anything prevent you from accepting Him today.
2 Corinthians 6:2b Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of Salvation.
Maybe you have some blockage in your heart. Sin that separates you from your creator, God all mighty. Restore that relationship today. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.
All unrighteousness; No matter what you what you have done. What can wash away sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Let’s pray.
