Guard Your Heart (February 13, 2022)

GUARD YOUR HEART

Text: Jeremiah 17:5 - 10

Jeremiah 17: 5 - 10 Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD.  (6)  They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.  (7)  Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.  (8)  They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.  (9)  The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it?  (10)  I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.  (11)  Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay, so are all who amass wealth unjustly; in mid-life it will leave them, and at their end they will prove to be fools (NRSV).

It was the old country preacher, Vance Havner, who once said, “If God dealt with people today as He did in the days of Ananias and Sapphira, every church would need a morgue in the basement.” (Charles Swindoll. The Quest for Character. Chicago:Moody Press, 1987, p. 39). . Just imagine for a moment that were true. How many sinners would be sent to the morgue! Soon, there would be nobody left because we are all sinners! God is a merciful God precisely because He does not deal with us as we deserve because if God did deal with us as we truly deserve we would not be able to stand (Psalm 130:3 NRSV!) “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9 NRSV).

Jeremiah 17: 5 reminds us of the foolish trust that too often people will put in “mere mortals”. We did not create ourselves and we cannot prepare for eternity by ourselves! Judahs’ sins were engraved on the tablets of their hearts (Jeremiah 17:1). What sins would be engraved on our hearts? Their sin was idolatrous because they were putting faith in mere mortals rather than God. How are we any different today?

How many of us have put our trust in “mere mortals” when we should have put our trust in God? Tell me if these sound familiar? “Follow the science”. “You don’t need a mask.” “You need a mask.” “You need a shot and then you can take off the mask”. “Even if you have had the shot you now need two masks”. “It’s a mostly peaceful protest”. These are the kinds of examples of the things of “mere mortals”. Leaders, celebrities, entertainers, politicians and even we ourselves have gone astray. How many of us have put our faith in “mere mortals” when we should have been putting our faith in God?

Today we will talk about the heart and the two different trusts.

THE HEART

What about the heart? Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it?  (10)  I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings (NRSV).

1) The fool’s heart: Psalm 14: 1 says that “ The fool says in his heart that there is no God” (NIV). Without God this world would not exist! God made the world and everything in it and saw that it was good (Genesis 1:31). It was only within the sixth chapter of Genesis that God decided to start over because of the sinfulness of humanity. What did they learn? Sin left unchecked that can cause a hardened heart.

2) The rebellious heart: Unfortunately, God’s creation sinned again when they sought to build the tower of Babel, so God scattered the people all over the world and confused their language to keep them putting any energy in their building plans (Genesis 11:8- 9). There has been sin in every generation.

3) The heart of every sinner: Psalm 14:3 says, “They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one (NRSV). “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). What have we learned?

4) The deceived heart: (9)  The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it?  (10)  I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings. Is our generation behaving more wickedly than the generation before us (Jeremiah 16:12)? What does the Lord see in us when He tests our hearts and minds? Does God see us calling good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20)?