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Sunday 06/07/20
Series: Do we REALLY believe?
Message – With all your Heart
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With all your Heart
Last week we learned more about the salvation of the soul, which is the work of the Holy Spirit within the believer, causing them to will and do after God’s good pleasure. Romans says we were known by God to be His children from eternity past, that He invited us to come, once we responded by viewing our knees in faith to His Son Jesus we were Justified, we were and are being sanctified which is the process of forming Christ in us which is our state of being glorified.
But how do we press on through the sufferings which sanctify into the glories of Christ being formed in us?
Well we’ve talked about this before, but one of the requirements is a pure heart and we will look at that a little today, but I do not want the title of the message to confuse you. Today’s message is “with all your heart”, but if you will stick with me for a little while this morning you will see how loving God with all your heart and having a pure heart are the exact same thing!
Now, in doing this – I’m just going to introduce it enough to entice you to seek it out further on your own, rather than teach it so completely that you feel as if the work has been done for you. I don’t want you to become like those lazy hearers of the word spoken of in James who hear, but walk away and do not DO – thus deceiving themselves.
Look with me at Hebrews 10:32-39,
“(32) But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: (33) partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; (34) for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. (35) Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. (36) For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: (37) “FOR YET A LITTLE WHILE, AND HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME AND WILL NOT TARRY. (38) NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; BUT IF ANYONE DRAWS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.” (39) But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”
The former days? What could that be talking about? Your youth in Christ, when you first came to Him.
Notice how LOVE was the motivating factor of what they did in sufferings and in entering into the sufferings of their brothers and sisters in Christ.
So endurance and patience are necessary! Why do you think that is? I mean if we are talking about a relationship, isn’t that supposed to be easy if you love someone?
It’s because we lose sight! Our souls are often fickle and run largely on desires driven by emotions. These are among the most unstable things to build a life upon!
In order for our race to end in the salvation of our souls we need to keep and maintain our focus. God LOVES our trust because it speaks volumes. True trust springs out of a settled and matured relationship, where you KNOW someone by experience and so worry and doubt have no place in that heart. Also, it speaks of a heart which has not lost desire for the object of it’s trust. Passion has been kept alive!
I don’t know if you remember how many objects in the tabernacle were symbolic of a passion that never runs dry because of the constant maintenance of the priests.
The Menorah, the bread, the incense altar. All in one way or another represented a heart of devoted worship (adoration) towards God.
Also the writer just doesn’t want us to lose sight of the fact that this is all working towards a reward. Our rewards, like we read last week, are Incorruptible, undefiled and reserved in heaven for us once we have fully seen and known Jesus for who He really is.
Those rewards include being completely conformed to His image, inheriting the kingdom that was prepared for us from the foundation of the world and entering into a new age a perfect knowledge and Union with our God As We Rule and reign with Him. John goes on to say that these are just the beginning of things that we know, by reminding us that right now we are children of God but it has not yet been revealed to us but we will be. So there is even more!
Now, when I read the words of this passage in Hebrews, especially the part of calling back to mind the early days of their love and devotion, I am reminded of the lament of God over Israel when He said in Jeremiah chapter 2.
Jeremiah 2:1-7, “(1)The word of the LORD came to me: (2) “Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: I remember the loyalty of your youth, your love as a bride–how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. (3) Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who ate of it found themselves guilty; disaster came on them.” This is the LORD’s declaration. (4) Hear the word of the LORD, house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel. (5) Here is what the LORD says: What fault did your fathers find in Me that they went so far from Me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves? (6) They stopped asking: Where is the LORD who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived? (7) I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled My land; you made My inheritance detestable.”
So let’s look at a few passages which touch on the subject of loving the Lord with all our hearts.
Turn to Matthew 22. Notice the one thing mentioned in those verses in Jeremiah which led to their wandering far from God was they stopped asking, “where is the Lord”… in other words they stopped seeking Him.
Matthew 22:34-40, “(34) Now the Pharisees came up when they heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, (35) and one of them, an expounder of the Law, asked Him as a test question, (36) “Teacher, which is the greatest Commandment in the Law?” (37) “‘THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD,'” He answered, “‘WITH THY WHOLE HEART, THY WHOLE SOUL, THY WHOLE MIND.’ (38) This is the greatest and foremost Commandment. (39) And the second is similar to it: ‘THOU SHALT LOVE THY FELLOW MAN AS MUCH AS THYSELF.’ (40) The whole of the Law and the Prophets is summed up in these two Commandments.“
Deuteronomy 10:12-17, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you except to deeply revere the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, and to worship the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul? (13) Keep the LORD’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good. (14) The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the LORD your God, as does the earth and everything in it. (15) Yet the LORD was devoted to your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them–He chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today. (16) Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer. (17) For the LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.”
Circumcise your heart = cut off all that hinders you, remove all that side steps your progress.
Deuteronomy 13:1-4, “(1) If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, (2) and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, ‘Let us follow other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us worship them,’ (3) do not listen to that prophet’s words or to that dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul. (4) You must follow the LORD your God and fear Him. You must keep His commands and listen to His voice; you must worship Him and remain faithful to Him.”
Many Christians read those words or ones like them and become discouraged. They know they are to love the Lord. They want to be faithful to Him, but like the Israelite of old they breathe a sigh of resignation saying, “it’s no use, we love foreign gods”.
What do we do?
What if I’ve already lost the purity of devoted love?
Deuteronomy 4:27-31, “(27) The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where the LORD your God will drive you. (28) There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. (29) But from there, you will search for the LORD your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul. (30) When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, you will return to the LORD your God in later days and obey Him. (31) He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them by oath, because the LORD your God is a compassionate God.”
All of these passages are referring to the same thing – a pure heart. One that is NOT divided in its loyalties.
Purity of heart and holiness are essentially two sides of the same coin.
Jesus said the pure in heart were to be envied because they would see God. Peter said that, without holiness no man will see the Lord.
So purity of heart and holiness are pointing back to the same condition of heart.
A heart that is not divided in its loyalties but it 100% focused upon God.
All other desires are pursued in light of that first heart impulse and devotion. If one loves family or friends or the world…they do so not in addition to God but because OF that love!
That one love stands before and is pre-eminent above all other loves!
Paul said to the Corinthians…
2 Corinthians 11:2-3, “(2) For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, because I have promised you in marriage to one husband–to present a pure virgin to Christ. (3) But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted from a complete and pure devotion to Christ.”
Weymouth has,
2 Corinthians 11:2-3, “(2) I am jealous over you with God’s own jealousy. For I have betrothed you to Christ to present you to Him like a faithful bride to her one husband. (3) But I am afraid that, as the serpent in his craftiness deceived Eve, so your minds may be led astray from their single-heartedness and their fidelity to Christ.”
Christ in us is our motivation to keep going
1 John 3:1-3, “(1) Look at how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God’s children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know Him. (2) Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is. (3) And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.”
Conclusion:
Growing in knowing
Philippians 1:6-11, “(6) I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (7) It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and establishment of the gospel. (8) For God is my witness, how I deeply miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. (9) And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, (10) so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, (11) filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
As we close look at all Paul said here.
Growing love in knowing & discerning.
Relationships are built upon these things. Coming to know someone and learning to discern their heart – KNOWING THEM!
According to Paul this kind of growing relationship with God focuses the mind to comprehend what is truly valuable – what really matters!
Comprehending what truly matters enables you to be pure and blameless on the day Christ is revealed in His fullness and WE will be able to rejoice because our devotion will have produced in us the fruit of righteousness!
Remember righteousness has to do with the way we think! Our souls will have been transformed by the renewing of our minds – and that brings us full circle to where we left off last week with the necessity of placing our faith in God for the salvation of our souls.
Romans 12:1-3, “(1) Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. (2) Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. (3) For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.”
I hope this message will bless you richly…not because I taught it, but because it reveals Christ. He alone is our blessing and if in any way – whether big or small, 100% accurate or even just partially so – I have revealed our great God and Savior to you in a relationally knowable way, then this was time well spent on both our parts.
We at Living Grace Fellowship encourage you to place your trust in Jesus Christ, deliberately choosing Him and bowing the knee to Him as your Master and Lord, so as to come to realize Him as your Savior.
You have a special place in God’s family & kingdom. The fact that you exist… that you are His creation, says you were in His heart, you are His delight!
If you do not know Him, please reach out to us. Give us a call at the number located on every page of this website or use our ‘Contact Us‘ page. We would be deeply honored, if you gave us the privilege of introducing you to the Lord. Neither money nor attendance at our church will EVER be mentioned.
If you HAVE been spiritually fed by this ministry and WANT to give, we truly appreciate that and you may do so here, but please understand that all the outreaches of this ministry are FREE for you and anyone to enjoy at no cost.
Blessings!
