November 20th, 2016 1 A NEW HEART Terry Baldwin LAST WEEK... Pastor Rick Smail - Made powerful observation of the dry bone given life... Life started from the INSIDE and work it s way out - God works from the INSIDE outwards... to change our Actions - Man works on OUTSIDE (actions) trying to change the INSIDE...why start with the HEART?? [ Proverbs 4.23 NKJV ] Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. - NLT Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. [ Luke 6.45 NIV ] A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. [ Matthew 15.19 NIV ] For out of the heart come evil thoughts murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. God KNOWS in order to change a person.. they NEED a NEW HEART - Man continues to try it his way... Behavior Modification
- Works / Prayer / Bible / Good Deeds... - Religious activities don t change hearts... 2 (POEM) Mary had a little pig and it was white as snow, That is when it had had a bath, as you of course might know. But Mary had an awful time to keep the piggy clean, For it was just the dirtiest pig that one has ever seen. She'd wash him and she'd scrub him, till he would squirm and squeal, As if he wanted her to know it was an unfair deal. And then inside his green backyard he'd play from morn to night, Unless he happened to sneak out and lose himself from sight. And then when Mary found him he'd be blacker than ere before, So Mary'd get the soap again and scrub the pig some more. Poor Mary thought and wondered much what she could ever do Until she figured out a plan, and this she carried through. She took him to a doctor who put the pig to sleep, and then he Took his heart right out, but not of course to keep. And then he took a little lamb and took his heart out too And put it in the little pig before the piggy knew. When little piggy did awake he had no more desire To wallow in the mud again or ever in the mire. And try as hard as ere he could he never understood, How such a pig as once he was could ever be so good. And so you see, dear friends of mine, you need a new heart too, Just like the little piggy did, the old will never do. If you'll receive a brand new heart, well, here is how you may. Accept God's son as savior now and let him in today. Great example for this is example of Moses and an Egyptian Pharaoh - Pharaoh s heart grew HARD towards God... - A Harden Heart is a STUBBORN Heart EXAMPLE STUBBORN HEART: Hunting Dog / Flunked obedience school
3 #1 RESISTS THE WILL OF GOD - Moses went to Pharaoh and asked for the Israelites to go into wilderness to worship God Exodus 5.1b-2 NLT This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go so they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness. 2 Is that so? retorted Pharaoh. And who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go. - Pharaoh is sinning against God - He knows the right thing to do - Refuses to obey / Resisting what God wants - There are 2 wills at play... God s Will / Pharaoh s Will - Bible says to KNOW the right thing and NOT do it is SIN - Pharaoh continues to resist and sin - Exodus 9:34 - When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts....when we RESIST God... we are hardening our hearts #2 DOESN T LISTEN TO GOD - Exodus 7 Aaron performs miracle with rod turned to snake Exodus 7:13 (NIV) Yet Pharaoh s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
4 - Even after 3rd plague of NATS... Pharaoh s wisest advisors recognized this was God. Exodus 8:19 The magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. But Pharaoh s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.... Ignoring God hardens your heart #3 REFUSES TO HUMBLE ITSELF BEFORE GOD - Power struggle between God and Pharaoh - Who s in charge here? Pharaoh thought he was. - God always wins these contests... always! Exodus 7:14 (NIV) Then the LORD said to Moses, Pharaoh s heart is unyielding... EXAMPLE: Come to intersection and sign in front of you says YIELD... Other person coming has right of way - God always has right of way and we MUST yield to Him - AFTER several plagues came upon Egypt Exodus 10:3 (NIV) Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. Proverbs 28:14 Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
5 #4 IS UNGRATEFUL TOWARD GOD - There were times when Pharaoh seemed to soften when heat was turned up - After 8th Plague of locusts ate everything the hail didn t destroy... Exodus 10:16-17 (NIV) Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me. - When pressure and the pain were gone Pharaoh returned to a hard heart - Instead of being grateful to God that he wasn t destroyed, Pharaoh only deepened in his hardness. EXAMPLE: How many times have we experienced trouble, and we go to God and beg Him to forgive us and to relieve us from the trouble. And God is merciful and gives us relief. And before long we are back to their old way of life.... A hardened heart is ungrateful to God GOD KNOWS... The heart determines the course of our lives.. - God knows your heart!! - That is why God STARTS with the Heart! - He offers us a NEW HEART
6 [ Ezekiel 36.25-27 NLT ] Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. - This is the kind of Change God YEARNS for in each of us! Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God (Jer 24:7NKJV) - FIRST / God saves us by cleansing us from filthy sins... Blood of Jesus - SECOND / Gives us New Heart... Take away heart of stone, give heart of Flesh - Heart to KNOW God - New DESIRES - Heart to KEEP COMMANDMENTS... - Before obeyed devil... NOW obey GOD - THIRD / Holy Spirit moves in our Hearts... - Holy Spirit is given like refreshing water on parched ground, and this produces the Fruit of the Spirit - Because you have God's Spirit within, you share in the divine nature - Dogs act like dogs... WE ACT LIKE GOD, have His nature Hardening of the heart can easily happen to God s people. The Israelites... who saw Pharaoh harden his heart toward the commands of God... also hardened their hearts later as they traveled through the wilderness.
7 WE MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONDITION OF OUR HEARTS. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT TODAY. - Repeated hardness moves a man or woman farther and farther from God. [ Hebrew 3:15 ] As has just been said: Today when you hear his voice, don t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled. [ Hebrews 4:7 ] So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: Today when you hear his voice, don t harden your hearts. PRAY...