Takoma Park Baptist Church, Washington, DC; November 23, 1986
By now you are probably weary of heart, this several weeks of dealing with what I have called, "heart diseases." By now you may have felt that everything that could be said about the heart in a Biblical reference had been said, maybe twice and three times. Well, I did a little research, and found in my concordance that the word heart appears in the Bible nearly 700 times. Let's see, we've been at this series now eight weeks; eight from 700 leaves -- well, you see, it's really only a small sample of all the material that is there. For the men and women of the Bible, the heart is the symbol of the very center and core of human life, the heart is the place where I do both my thinking and my feeling, it is the place where my loyalties are confirmed and my allegiances are worked out. The heart, in Biblical thinking, is that part of us that is really what God works with, what relates us to God and makes us creatures made in His image and after His likeness.
But now· you will remember, I hope, that the title of the series has been "Heart Diseases." Heart Diseases, illnesses of the heart, sicknesses of the soul. We have spoken together about the great physician and his desire that we have the core and center of our lives transformed, because there is an illness there known as sin. In our several weeks together we have exposed the unyielding heart, the cold and rigid heart. We have taken an account of the price we pay when we close our hearts to the needs of others. We have thought about the consequences of a heart in which there is a loneliness and emptiness; we have taken the scalpel to the ungenerous heart, and have dissected the compassionless heart. And so on; most of what we have thought about together during these seven weeks has had to do with the dilemmas brought on us by our sin-sick hearts, by our heart diseases. But today I want to take another approach. Today I want us to think together about the Healed Heart – the healed heart. Who are we and what are we like after the heart has been healed by the great physician whose name is Jesus the Christ? If after all, he healeth all thy diseases, what then? What can you expect from the healed heart?
To break this open for us I’ve chosen to lead you through the 35th chapter of Isaiah, surely one of the finest poetic passages in all of the world's literature. It's rich in images, it's profound in meaning, and, most of all, it brings comfort, comfort to the not-yet-healed heart, and makes some promises about what you might expect when yours is the heart that’s healed.
As I said earlier, we've spent an awesome amount of time these last few weeks thinking about the diseased heart, the sin-sick soul. But there is another approach to doing medicine, you know, there is another aspect of the care of the heart from either the physical or the spiritual standpoint. And that is what you do after the healing takes place; that is, how you can prevent the disease from coming back, how you can keep away from relapses. What do you do with the healed body in order to keep it well? What must you do for the healed heart in order to prevent more problems? And, for our purposes, from our perspective, what do you do with the heart redeemed, the spirit saved and transformed, so that disease does not take over again?
Several images are offered us by the prophet; Isaiah presents several visions of what it is to be healed. I want us to look at each of these this morning and I want us also to pay attention to Isaiah's caption over them all. I want us to see how each of these visions of a healed heart is bolstered by the prophet's reassuring word, for the theme of this chapter, the theme of my message is this: “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, ‘Fear not, be strong, behold your God will come’”. Be strong, fear not, behold your God will come. And then Isaiah continues, “Your God will come with vengeance and with recompense, but your God will come and save you.”
Say to them that are of a fearful heart; that's the prophet's word to me, to the preacher – say to them that are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, fear not, your God will come." Now watch with me how this gives some visions of a healed heart.
I
The first of the prophet's images of a healed heart calls out pictures of a broken human being, a handicapped body, for the first time able to perform as it was intended. Isaiah would say to us, to us who are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. Be strong, for your brokenness and your handicaps will be compensated. Listen to the image:
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing for joy.”
Your inadequacies, your deficiencies, can be transformed into assets; that's the benefit of a healed heart. That's the perspective of the healed heart. When your heart is healed by the redemptive power of Christ you can expect your personal inadequacies to be transformed into assets.
Joni Eareckson is a beautiful young woman whose story has by now become a kind of modern-day classic. Joni Eareckson was a young woman just about to enter adulthood, just about to enter all the possibilities and prospects that a well-prepared young woman might expect, but in a terrible accident she so injured her spinal cord that she became a quadriplegic. No longer could she use her arms or her legs at all. If you've ever even broken or injured one limb so that you could not use it, you know how awkward and how limiting that is. Can you even imagine what it might me like not to be able to use any of your limbs? As you can see, I couldn't even preach without flapping my wings about! And so everything would say, “Joni is finished.” Everything would point to a life effectively ended.
But Joni Eareckson learned some very special skills. She learned to take a brush or a pen in her teeth and slowly, painstakingly, with enormous and exhausting effort, she taught herself to use the faculties she did have for art and for others. She has by now created an incredibly lovely portfolio of art, she has been able to have it reproduced and sold to others, and in a score of ways Joni Eareckson has taught us what the healed heart is. The healed heart is one which takes us beyond our handicaps and our deficiencies and turns them into assets.
When the heart is healed by Christ, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy.
From this pulpit I know that I have said this sort of thing several times. But I must say it again, I must. If you are making excuses, if you are telling yourself and your Lord that you are worthless, that you cannot do anything, then you are denying the power of the healed heart. If you have said I am too old to be of use, then yours is not the healed heart of a Christian, no, yours is the fearful heart of a pagan. If you have said, I am too busy or I am too young or I am too tired or I am too poor to be bothered with the Kingdom, then yours is not the healed heart of a believer, no, yours is the fearful heart of an unbeliever. And God says, when I heal your heart, your deficiencies, your handicaps will be turned into assets. Your inadequacies will become something beautiful for me.
If yours is the fearful heart, then hear the word of the prophet, "Be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come and save you." If yours, on the other hand, is truly the healed heart, then hear God's call to get out of the poor little me syndrome and to claim his promise, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of' the deaf' unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing for joy.” Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God! ~.
II
The second image which Isaiah offers is the image of a barren wilderness which has become fertile, a burning desert which has become a refreshing spring of water. Be strong, you who are of a fearful heart; be strong, fear not, for waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.
What does this mean? What does this have to do with the healed heart? I believe Isaiah is telling us that the healed heart begins to see its world as a world of possibilities rather than as a world of threats. The healed heart, the transformed heart, the heart in which Christ dwells, looks at the world and sees not so much a desert, devastating and dreadful, deadly and destructive, but instead sees at least the prospect of a verdant garden. The healed heart is a heart of imagination. The healed heart is a heart of hope. The healed heart, the heart which has truly heard God's word, Be strong, feat not, that heart looks at its world and sees what could happen.
Yesterday was the 23rd anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I believe that it was Kennedy to whom is attributed the saying, though someone else said it first: “Some men see things as they are and say why: I see things as they could be and say why not?”
Christians, hear me. The healed heart, the heart that has known the transforming power of the savior, has no room for pessimism, has no place for gloom and doom. Yes, the world is ugly. Yes, crime and terror are around. Yes, even presidents and those whom we trust with public office lie to us and manipulate us -- that, by the way, should be no surprise, for the Bible admonishes us, “Put not your trust in princes.” Yes, dangers are all around. But I tell you, God is not finished yet. The God who brought Christ Jesus from the dead is not finished yet. And if you and I are His, if you and I are permitting the work of healing to take place in our hearts, we will begin to see the world not as threat but as possibility.
More than three centuries ago a little band of English expatriates, having left their home in Britain in search of freedom; having spent a few years on the strange soil of the Netherlands, struck out for the unfriendly shores of Massachusetts. Well, maybe that isn’t exactly where they intended to go, but that’s where they ended up. And while their future had to look terribly unpromising – after all, they had nothing in front of them but a wilderness, a forest forbidding and a rockbound coast – and while their fortunes from a material standpoint did not prosper – that first winter took a terrible toll, illness took an even more terrible one, and more than half of them died. Sometimes only six or seven of the hundred or so settlers were able to work. By all earthly standards they ought to have given up, they ought to have turned tail and run back to the comforts of Europe. But, said, their pastor, here we are building Zion in the wilderness .. Zion in the wilderness. And when Mayflower sailed back in the spring of 1621, not one of these healed hearts was on board to go back. Zion in the wilderness, waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
If yours is the fearful heart, then hear the word of the prophet, "Be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come and save you." If yours, on the other hand, is truly the healed heart, then hear God's call to get out of the "ain't it awful" syndrome and to claim his promise, "Waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.” Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God!
III
Finally, Isaiah offers another image, another picture of what the healed heart might expect. This time it's the picture of a safe highway, a road without obstacles or dangers, a very special kind of road. The healed heart can anticipate a highway of holiness; well, let Isaiah say it:
“And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall fly away.”
The highway of holiness, the safe way, the road, which we are called to travel. I wish I had the eloquence of angels to persuade you of this, because I for one am persuaded that in the stresses of contemporary life we perceive all kinds of dangers, we see all sorts of enemies out there, and our temptation is to deal with them with force. We think we have to be in charge, we imagine that we have to seize our places by force, and all along God says, but if your heart is healed, I will deal with the enemy. I will handle the fools who get in your way. You don't have to manage everybody. You don't have to win every game. You don’t have to worry about who gets credit or who gets ahead. The healed heart will travel the road of holiness, the road of safety, and will not be afraid.
Listen to the text, listen to this: “To those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, fear not.’ Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” What does that say? It says what another Scripture says, “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay.” God is the author of justice, God is your vindicator, and you don't have to beat down every enemy. You don't have to win every argument. You don't have to protect your image of always having it all together. God is in charge of that, thank you. God will take care of that.
This image, this picture of a safe highway is a very modern one. We can understand it. "No fools shall err therein.” No fools are going to wander on God's road, because God handled that. God did not make me my brother's keeper, he made me my brother's brother. God did not put me in charge of you and how you live your life. He put me in charge of me and made me responsible for how I ought to live my life. And the sooner we quit worrying about what to do about this person and that person, the sooner we will be healed hearts. This highway image: you cannot drive another person's car for him – and we all know there are times we wish we could run somebody off the road – but we ultimately have to drive our own cars and pay attention to our own moves. And so in life itself, we have to let God handle those who seem to be giving us such a bad time. Your God will come with vengeance and with recompense; your God will come to save you.
If yours is the fearful heart, then hear the word of the prophet, “Be strong, fear not, behold your God will come and save you. “ If yours, on the other hand, is truly the healed heart, then hear God's call to get out of the syndrome that says, "Everybody’s out to run me down" and claim his promise, “A highway shall be there, the unclean shall not pass over it, and fools shall not wander on it, but the redeemed shall walk there and come to Zion with singing and with everlasting joy.”
Thanks be to God!
Essentially this morning my plea is a plea for faith as well as for hope. Essentially what I have said is that even when the gift of salvation is offered us, we are afraid of receiving it. But when Christ enters the heart to heal it, he wants to heal it thoroughly; he wants no destructive invasions to take place. And so on this Thanksgiving Sunday, will you choose to be thankful, truly grateful, to God for what He has offered you? You no longer have to fear your shortcomings, because when he heals your heart he will help you find a way to use them. You no longer have to fear your world, you no longer have to fear the wilderness, because it can become the arena in which God is at work. And you no longer have to win every game and control every antagonist, because God has set a straight path in front of you and will deal with your supposed enemies. What can you say but thanks be to God? What indeed but thanks be to God and to His Christ, who works to heal my heart and to say to me, “Be strong, fear not, your God will come to save you.”
