INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• I want you to take a moment to think about some words that you associate with the word love.
• Last week we gleaned from John 3:16 that our God loves. One of the things that I think of when I think of the word love is GIVING.
• My friend Billy appeared to be a picture of health. He was in his late 60’s when I met him.
• Billy led a very healthy lifestyle, and he really was a picture of self-discipline.
• Billy looked healthy and looked like he would be able to farm for another 20 years or more.
• Sometimes we can look very healthy and not be as healthy as we thought.
• A person may think that he does not need what God gave because they have lived a good live, were loved by many and did not do anything majorly bad.
• Billy lived a good life, he took care of himself, but Billy had a problem, I believe all the males in his family had died in their early sixties because they all had been born with bad hearts.
• For Billy to continue to live, he was going to need a heart transplant.
• Billy was in his late 60’s and what were the chances he was going to get a heart at his age. SLIM AND NONE!
• Imagine if the doctor told Billy that he would be willing to trade hearts with Billy!
• He would take Billy’s diseased heart and replace it with his healthy one.
• No doctor would do that or is there one?
• SLIDE #2
• Where do you find such a physician? You can reach him at this number—3:16. At the heart of this verse, he deals with the heart of our problem: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” What does this mean?
• Why did we need to have God give up His one and only Son? I think it is hard for many people to see the need because they feel like they are good people, good enough to win God’s love and favor.
• Today as we continue to use the Rosetta Stone of the bible to unlock what God wants us to know about Him, we are going to look at the second part of this great passage.
• Why is this passage so important?
• How can the death of Christ mean life for us? The answer begins with a heart exam.
• Let us examine our unholy heart.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. OUR UNHOLY HEART.
• Sometimes it takes a heart exam in order to detect a problem.
• Many will try to diagnose their own hearts. The problem with doing that is we cannot see what is really going on and if we could we may not understand what is happening.
• SLIDE #4
• Jeremiah 17:9 ( ESV ) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
• Our spiritual cardiologist is always examining our hearts for us.
• If you have a heart issue, you want to go to someone who knows the heart, to one who specializes in working with the heart.
• Our hearts are infected with a disease that will inflict a death sentence upon us. That disease is sin.
• SLIDE #5
• Mark 7:21-22 ( ESV ) For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
• SLIDE #6
• Romans 3:10-11 ( ESV ) as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
• This seems hardcore; could it be that God is exaggerating?
• Is it true that ALL of us have a heart problem? What about Mother Theresa? What about Billy Graham?
• There must be exceptions!
• There are none
• SLIDE #7
• Romans 3:23 ( ESV ) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
• Sin is not a popular thing to talk about even in church today. It is a problem that we want to ignore. We are good at ignoring problems in life. We can bury things like weight issues, health issues, relationship problems, and the list goes on.
• It is easy for us to look at others and see a problem, we can see that Adolph Hitler, or others like him have or had a heart problem, a problem with sin, but NOT ME!
• Look at all the terrible things that have happened and are happing in the world we live in. These atrocities are ALL a result of sin.
• It is not only the atrocities, but all the ways we miss the mark with God.
• In our Romans 3:23 passage, we are told that we have ALL fallen short. The word sin literally means to MISS THE MARK.
• God has set a target before us and we have ALL missed it.
• We can deny it all we want, but the heart problem is universal. Ignoring a problem does not make it not exist.
• Let us make this personal for a moment.
• Do this exercise with me for a moment.
• SLIDE #8
1. “You must not steal” (Exod. 20:15 TLB). Have you ever stolen anything? A paper clip, parking place? Thief.
2. “You must not lie” (v. 16 TLB). Those who say they haven’t just did.
3. “You must not commit adultery” (v. 14 TLB). Jesus said if you look at a woman with lust, you’ve committed adultery in your heart (Matt. 5:28).
4. “You must not murder” (v. 13 TLB). Before you claim innocence, remember, Jesus equates murder with anger. “Anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder” (Matt. 5:22 MSG). We assassinate a dozen drivers on the morning drive.
• OPPS, this is not looking good.
• It looks like we need some help, we need a heart transplant, but from where?
• Where can we find a healthy heart?
• Let us look at a healthy heart. The heart of Christ. Let us contrast our heart with His!
• SLIDE #9
II. CHRIST’S HOLY HEART.
• We may figure out that we have a heart problem (figuratively speaking). We may do some things that help us to see we have a problem in our lives that needs to change.
• Maybe we have driven someone out of our lives that we loved, maybe we made a mistake that cost us our freedom?
• When my friend Billy found out that without a transplant the heart that he had was not going to allow him to live much longer, he was in need of healthy heart, he did not need another disease riddled heart.
• When you realize that you do have a heart issue, what do you do about it? Where do you go? Some will go to twelve step programs. (There is nothing inherently wrong with these programs). Some will decide on their own that they are going to change only to continually fail.
• When you look at the claims that Jesus made during His life, do not let this one slip by you.
• SLIDE #10
• John 8:46 ( ESV ) Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
• Jesus is telling them that He was sinless perfect, that His heart was without defect, there was no sin found in Him.
• Who else can legitimately make that claim?
• If I were to make that claim, hands would go up all over the place, however; when Jesus said it, NO ONE could raise a hand!
• Peter, who spent three years of his life with Jesus, Peter was part of Jesus inner circle. Look at what he said about Jesus!
• SLIDE #11
• 1 Peter 2:22 ( ESV ) He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
• This is the standard God sets and expects for citizens of heaven. The standard is Jesus. There has never been anyone like him.
• John 3:16 calls him: the “one and only Son”. “For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only Son…”
• The Greek word for “one and only” an adjective compounded of monos (“only”) and genes (“species, race, family, offspring, kind”).
• Though God is the father of all humanity, Jesus alone is the monogenetic Son of God, because only Christ has God’s genes or genetic makeup.
• The familiar translation “only begotten Son” (John 3:16 NKJV, NASB) conveys this truth.
• When parents conceive a child, they transfer their DNA to the newborn. Jesus shares God’s DNA.
• Jesus isn’t begotten in the sense that he was born or began, but in the sense that he and God have the same essence, eternal life span, unending wisdom, and tireless energy. Every quality we attribute to God, we can attribute to Jesus.
• Imagine you are in Billy’s situation, you are not going to live very long without receiving a new heart.
• The doctor comes to you and says I have two available, you need to pick one.
• One of the hearts come out of a person who have 5 heart attacks and he basically had gravy for blood. On the other hand, I have one who came from an Olympic swimmer who took great care of himself.
• Which one would you take?
• When you take on the heart of anyone else but Jesus, you are choosing wrong!
• Jesus was God’s unique and sinless Son: the only one with a holy heart.
• Can’t God just ignore our sin? As our judge, there must be a penalty to pay for sin.
• God’s commands are not suggestions, they are what He wants from us, because what He wants from us is what is BEST for us!
• SLIDE #12
• Hebrews 12:14 ( ESV ) Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
• Jesus said the pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8). Where does that leave us?
• It looks like we need a heart exchange!
• SLIDE #13
III. THE GREAT HEART EXCHANGE.
• When Billy was in need of a heart, he needed a miracle, at this time he was 69 year old. He needed hope.
• We can draw hope from a small five letter Greek word that is used frequently in the Bible.
• The word in the original is HYPER, which we translate “FOR”.
• This preposition is used frequently to describe the work of Jesus!
• SLIDE #14
• “Christ died for [hyper] our sins . . . ” (1 Cor. 15:3).
• “Jesus gave himself for [hyper] our sins” (Gal. 1:4 NCV).
• “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for [hyper] us” (Gal. 3:13 NASB).
• Before his death, Jesus took bread and explained: “This is my body given for [hyper] you” (Luke 22:19). And presenting the cup, he explained: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for [hyper] you” (v. 20)
• When you give your life to Jesus, He will exchange your worn out, sin riddled heart for His!
• SLIDE 15
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 ( ESV ) For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
• Jesus wants to give you a heart that will last for an eternity! When you take on Jesus, you will be CHANGED! Everything about you changes!
• SLIDE #16
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 ( ESV ) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
CONCLUSION
• My friend Billy got his heart over 10 years ago. At the time Billy was the oldest heart transplant recipient either in Missouri or the nation.
• For Billy to get a new heart, unfortunately someone had to die.
• For you to get a new heart from God, someone had to die, that someone was Jesus!
• He died for you! The good news is that He is ALIVE! He wants you to be with Him forever!
