You
Good morning everyone welcome to steadfast baptist church if you could all find your seats. We'll go ahead and get started
We're gonna start this morning off in song number
452 all I need
Song number 452 all I need
Song 452 all I need sing it out together on that first verse
My
Oh
Heavenly father lord, thank you for this day
Thank you for steadfast baptist church and for pastor Shelley and his family and all the brethren that are gathered here today
Lord God, please be with those that couldn't make it this morning for sickness or any other reason and Lord God
I ask that you bless the soul winning this afternoon and help us to sing praises unto you in
Your honor and glory Lord, it's in Jesus name. I pray. Amen
All right for our second song. We're gonna go to
Song it's actually in our white handouts here our page handouts rejoice in the Lord
It's gonna be a kind of a newer one for some of us
Should pick it up pretty quickly though. It's a very popular song
Rejoice in the Lord go ahead and lift up your hand if you do not have a copy
Now sure, we'll bring one to you
Oh
Joyce in the Lord
Sing it out real loud on that first
God never moves without purpose
Oh
Good morning
Thank you so much for coming to steadfast baptist church
If you need a bulletin
If you didn't already get one of those
You can lift up your hand nice and high and one of our ushers will come by
Get you guys a bulletin on the front. We have our Bible memory passage. We're in Proverbs chapter 31
We're getting really close to finishing this
This is a unique chapter in the sense that typically we hand out the prizes
After we're done completing the entire passage
But since we already got some of the prizes in we've been rewarding those who have completed it early
So if you've already completed quoting the entire passage word perfect
You can collect your prize. We have some nice
Therm thermal. I don't know how you kill. What do you say? How does it?
Tumblers, I can never remember the stupid word tumbler. Why is it a tumbler? I don't even get it but
It tumblers and then we also have some gift card options as well. So
what if you have completed your passage you could see me after the service or
You could typically ask brother Oz he's not here this morning
But you can ask him and he can help you get that prize on the inside
We have our service and soul winning times as well as our church stats down below
Also, we have our expecting ladies list several to be in prayer for
Upcoming events the Verity Baptist youth rallies coming up
April 13th is the Shreveport Louisiana sewing marathon April 20th is a preaching class
April 29th is a homeschool field trip and
We have the details down below
There should be a sign-up sheet. We really really need you to sign up by
April 17th for this event because we have to have you know
The numbers dialed in as far as how many people are gonna be participating as well as lunch
Also, there's a baby shower for miss Hernandez on the fourth and then there's a spring swap on the fifth
If you have any items that you would like to donate or
Just give to some giveaway that have value you can bring them to the swings the spring swap
We won't be taking any donations until the Wednesday before May 5th
Okay, so I believe that's probably the second or somewhere around that timeline
Down below is the details about that specific homeschool field trip
it is
For homeschool family. So you have to have at least one child
That's five years and older that is homeschooled to participate
But if you do have one you can still bring the entire family. So there's no restriction on bringing the whole family
It's just we want this to be limited to children who are already
doing homeschooling
Also, there is some detailed instructions there. Please make sure you're reading that and
You sign up appropriately
Last time when we did this it it was kind of chaotic because there was a lot of other people participating
I I don't I can't say for sure, but we don't anticipate that being the exact same this year
So hopefully it'll be a lot more enjoyable on the back
We have the note about our prayer list and we have several people that you can be in prayer for also the exciting
Congratulations to the Yukon family on the birth of Oliver James he's born on the 30th at 648 p.m
Weighing 8 pounds and 21 inches long. Yeah
Congratulations to them people are so excited. I couldn't get through the announcement. They're already clapping so and
That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We'll go ahead and sing our third song
It's gonna be a psalm psalm
67 it's in our white handouts Psalm 67
All right, Psalm 67 in white handouts
Oh
Go ahead and turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter number three Hebrews chapter number three
You
Hebrews chapter 3 we're gonna read the whole chapter as is our custom the Bible reads
Wherefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling
Consider the apostle and high priest of our profession Christ Jesus who was faithful to him that appointed him as
Also Moses was faithful in all his house for this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses
Inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house
For every house is builded by some man
But he that built all things is God and Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those
Things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a son over his own house whose house are we if we hold fast?
The confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm under the end
Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith today if you will hear his voice
Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness
When your father's tempted me proved me and saw my works 40 years
Wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said they do all weigh air in their heart and they have not known my ways
So I swear in my wrath
They shall not enter into my rest take heed brethren lest there be any of you an evil heart of unbelief in
departing from the Living God
But exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin
For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast under the end
While it is said today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation for some
When they had heard did provoke how be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses
But with whom was he grieved 40 years was it not with them that had sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness
And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest
But to them that believe not so we see that they could not enter in
Because of unbelief let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father in heaven
I pray for the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit to be on pastor Shelly as he preaches the sermon
And I pray Lord that this message
Lord that you would use it to provoke us to action and provoke us to righteousness
We love you in a Jesus name. I pray amen
Amen I
Meant to make another announcement before I get into the sermon, but I have a praise report from evangelist urbanic
He recently sent me a picture and some info that he's already had 15
baptisms from a lot of RG's friends and family over there
And so that's pretty exciting and it's great to see that
They're trying to get settled and get everything going over there in the Philippines. So definitely keep them in your prayers and
Continue to think about them while they're over there
And really, you know that kind of parlays a little bit of what I want to talk about because obviously after getting saved
Baptism is the next step and it's a really important step and it shows that you have a desire to walk in newness of
Life to live differently and when we look at the children of Israel, they have a few different
Events that kind of picture the Christian life
They have the Passover which symbolizes salvation and how the blood was applied to the doorposts
Signifying how Christ's blood covers us and we don't have to go to hell because of Christ's sacrifice
Then they left Egypt and they walked through the Red Sea
Having water on the right hand the left hand and the cloud above them
Picturing baptism and so after they've escaped Egypt and walked through the Red Sea now, they're in the wilderness
While in the wilderness, I believe this kind of pictures the Christian life
So we have a few different pictures here of we have salvation
Then we have baptism and then we have the Christian life and really when we look at the children of Israel
They're constantly struggling with the idea of continuing to walk forward through the wilderness
through the voice of the Lord and following his
Instruction or the desire to go back into Egypt where they kind of liked being in Egypt
they feel like Egypt was more comfortable and they enjoyed certain aspects of it and
The problem is though being in Egypt was in bondage. They weren't free
They didn't have freedom
They were slaves literally
but in some way they desired that lifestyle over the freedom of
Being in the wilderness and this is how it is for the Christian life that many people sometimes they enjoy the bondage of sin
more than the freedom of Christian liberty and
They look at the Christian life as a burden as a drudgery as something that they don't really enjoy
But it's really having the wrong perspective because it's not like the slavery in Egypt
They were content. They were crying unto the Lord. They were constantly upset
They had all kinds of issues and problems. They hated slavery. They were so excited to leave that life
But then now that they have freedom and they're living the Christian life and going through the difficulties of the Christian life
Going through trials and temptations. They end up somehow
Desiring to go back to Egypt and that can happen to any one of us
We as Christians can go through this struggle of I don't really like walking through the wilderness
I'd rather live in the wilderness and I'd rather I'm sorry rather live in Egypt and rather live with the
pleasures of sin albeit its slavery its bondage and the problems that it brings and
Really what's being brought up here in chapter number three in verse eight notice this
Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness
now practically speaking for the children of Israel, it's not like they can just snap their fingers and
Journey from the wilderness back into Egypt. They can't do that
But what they try to do is they try to live the Egyptian life where they're at
So you see them doing constant problems where oh we make a golden calf
So they're kind of trying to go back to Egypt where they're at they commit fornication
They're trying to have Egypt where they're at and oftentimes Christians
Though they're trying to have sin and the Christian life at the same time and what this does is it provokes the Lord
It's the provocation, you know, we talked about the importance of salvation being free and we never want to undermine that point
We also need to make sure that we're still embracing the concept and the idea that
Repenting of sin and turning from sin is an important aspect of the Christian life
Okay. Yeah, I'm not for repenting of sin when I'm explaining how to go to heaven
But I'm all for it when we're in church and talking about the Bible and when we talk about sin
Something we have to understand is that sin still irritates God
Sin still provokes God
Sin still annoys God and he's constantly grieved with the children of Israel for their sin
And we as God's people yay, we're saved but that does not mean that God does not get irritated
Annoyed or angry with us. God is still angry at sin
God still gets provoked by sin and what is provoking it's provoking is trying to irritate someone
All of you children that have brothers and sisters, you know what this is
Okay, you provoke your brother or sister. It's where you're teasing them. You're putting your finger in their ear
You giving them a nuggy you knock over their toy. You steal their toy you take their seat
this is provoking them and it's causing them to get angry and
That irritant is the same as when we sin against God
Every time we're sitting against God, we're constantly irritating him and annoying him and
Provoking him to do something about it. And you know, of course the great thing about God is he's very patient
He's very gracious
He's very long suffering that many times you can sit here and provoke God over and over and he doesn't necessarily
Respond he gives grace he gives an option for you to repent
But
sometimes that grace runs out sometimes that long suffering runs out and God then brings the hammer and
in the
Reality is many times God does not punish right away because his punishments are very severe
You think like well, why is God waiting to to you know, give judgment on this because often his judgments are extreme
I mean think about it. Hey, they committed fornication and then what was it death?
They worshiped the golden calf death. It's like if you read the biblical punishments for a lot of sin, it's usually death
I think that's why God's often just giving a delayed sentence saying like hey
Fix this before I deal with it because if I deal with it, this is the punishment you're getting
I mean think about in Revelation when we talk about Jezebel we talked about this prophetess
you know
what was the punishment that was on the table for her for preaching lies and
Seducing her servants and committing fornication and committing adultery. He says he's gonna kill her and her children with death unless they repent
meaning many times what's on the table for us as a punishment is literal death and
We're just sitting here provoking God and just poking him and just trying to trying to mess with it
I mean think about it like driving
so what I'm thinking about in driving in driving you can make a lot of mistakes and still survive and
Often you know, I mean it's evident from a lot of you drive
No, I'm just kidding. It's evident from a lot of people out there driving. I mean, they're doing crazy things
They're making blind turns or not paying attention or looking at their phone or texting
I mean you can kind of get away with a lot of different things while driving
But here's the problem
Just one time of not getting away with it
Just one time of speeding down the highway and not looking
Could literally cost you your life
It could literally just be death as the consequence and I believe that we have to get the right
Mentality and understanding that sometimes this is how the Christian life is that you're gonna sit here and you just provoke God over and over
Well, you just keep getting away with it. But if God ends up rolling out the punishment often
it's just gonna be a literal just swift destruction a total annihilation and
So we don't want to mess with the Lord
We don't want to constantly provoke the Lord and harden our hearts
Look what it says in verse 13
But exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened
through the deep deceitfulness of sin
Here's the here's the real heart of the issue is
Why are people?
Doing this. Why would people provoke God to the point where he would literally destroy them?
The reason why is because their heart has become hardened and they no longer care about provoking God
So that's what causes them to just get to a point where they're provoking them in extreme ways or just on a perpetual basis
And so they never really stop and so God literally has to destroy them
And what we don't want to do as Christians is we don't want to allow our hearts to harden
We don't want to harden our hearts
We want to keep our hearts soft and tender towards the things of God
So I want to talk about this concept of hardening not your heart
That's the title of the sermon this morning is harden not your hearts
it's a constant reminder in the book of Hebrews and really it's the whole Bible because
Frankly speaking the Old Testament is constantly hammering this point and and notice in verse 13
It tells you what hardens your heart. What is it that hardens it the deceitfulness of sin?
Well, what part of the Bible is not talking about sin, right? You have to understand that sin
hardens your heart
You can be a saved born-again child of God and not live the Christian life
but here's the thing when you're not living the Christian life, you're gonna very have a very hard heart a
Very very hard heart and we want to be Christians that have a very soft and tender heart
Towards the things of the Lord now
It said specifically in verse number eight that they were doing this in the provocation on the day of temptation the wilderness
Well, let's go look at that for a moment. Go to Exodus 23
Go to Exodus chapter 23 all the way back and let's just get a little bit of text here on
Provoking the Lord
There's really a lot, you know, it's kind of just the whole
Section of Exodus, you know Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy
It's just a constant provocation that they're going through but look at Exodus 23 and look at verse number 20. The Bible says this
Behold I sent an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared
beware of him and
Obey his voice
provoke him not
For he will not part in your transgressions
For my name is in it now, you know who this angel is. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
Okay, and the Bible is really clear and I've references in a previous sermon when we talk about what was going on in the wilderness
they were tempting Christ and
Tempting is testing and provoking and constantly angering the Lord Jesus Christ
Notice what it says here for he will not part in your transgressions
Now again, we have to get this context
Okay, we're not talking about salvation
We're not talking about going to heaven or hell because those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ are saved
but after I'm saved if I just go out and sin and
I'm not repentant. I'm not trying to fix that. I don't even feel bad about it
Jesus Christ isn't sitting there as a mediator and saying like hey just forgive him anyways
No
You can basically build up wrath and anger with the Lord
when you're just constantly angering him and he could get to a point where Jesus isn't gonna intercede on your behalf and
God's anger may wax hot against you and he may destroy you in that moment. Okay, that's why it's literally saying beware of him
obey his voice
Provoke him not I mean think about it if as soon as I sin, I'm just immediately forgiven by Jesus
How could I even provoke him
Why would I even need to pray and ask for forgiveness
Why would Jesus Christ when he's giving the model prayer the Lord's Prayer asking God forgive us for our sins
Our daily trespass
Hey, I'm gonna forgive others as you forgiving me
Why is he forgiving you because you're asking for forgiveness and a lot of people understand this concept that aren't even saved
They think like I have to daily ask for forgiveness so that God won't be mad at me and that's true
But they think that's to acquire salvation or go to heaven that's wrong
But those of us that know that salvation is a free gift
We don't want to get on the other side of a hyper grace mentality that thinks that just because you're saved
God is pleased with you. No, no, no, no, don't provoke him beware of him
Obey him that's what the Bible is saying
Verse 22, but if thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak then I will be an enemy under thine enemies and an
adversary under thine
adversaries
for mine angels shall go before thee and bring thee in
Under the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites the Hivites and the Jebusites and I'll cut them off
So what causes them to enter in the promised land Oh bangs Jesus Christ voice
What causes them from not going into the promised land well
Disobeying being rebellious being stubborn
Provoking the Lord and we have to understand about the book of Hebrews
And this is a little bit different sermon, so I don't want to go too much into it
But the book of Hebrews is constantly bring up the idea of getting promises
Okay, go back to Hebrews for just a moment. I don't know if you kept your finger there
I should have probably said something go back to Hebrews chapter 4 actually this time. It's right there
He receives a pretty short chapter
But the promised land
pictures different things in the Bible one of the things that the promised land pictures is
specific rewards in heaven
Not salvation only that could be a certain picture in some in some cases
But it pictures certain rewards in heaven and in chapter 4 look at it
Says in verse 1 let us therefore fear lest the promise
being left us of entering in his rest any of you should seem come to or should seem to come short of it, so
You could miss out on certain promises certain rewards certain
inheritance by not serving God faithfully for your entire life
By constantly provoking him you could miss out on
Certain blessings and rewards that come from living the Christian life, and why would I want to sit here and walk?
Ten years twenty years through the wilderness and then totally just give that up
Like I want to now I want to go into the promised land
Like I don't want to spend a bunch of time in the wilderness and then quit or give up
I mean, I'm not interested in seeing like hey
I'm gonna sign up for this marathon, and I'll just run I know I'll never finish it
But I just want to try and just go a little ways
Like the only point of running a race would be to try to finish
Like it doesn't make any sense to try and run the Christian race and not finish
It doesn't make any sense to leave Egypt to just go somewhere halfway through the wilderness and stop and die
Or give up or quit or turn back no no no you need to get all the way
Dedicated and just get all the way in you don't want to be like the Titanic
That makes it halfway across the ocean and then just sinks and dies
You want to get all the way across back on the dry land again
And the reality is when it comes to the Christian life
there are a lot of promises that are offered to us that are not just salvation and if we
Constantly provoke the Lord and harden our hearts. We will not finish the Christian race
We will not receive those specific promises go go to Hebrews 6 for a second
How do you get these specific promises well
Look what it says in verse 12 that you be not slothful
But followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises
For when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater he swear by himself
saying surely blessing I will bless thee and
Multiplying I will multiply thee and so
After he had patiently endured he obtained the promise
Abraham did not have to patiently endure for salvation
Abraham had to patiently endure for the rewards and the
inheritance and the other promises notice what it says specifically in verse 12
That you be not slothful
But followers of them who through faith and patient inherit the promise says do you notice how that's a plural word there?
It's not just saying like well the only thing that matters is eternal life. No no no there are promises
That come from God
There are crowns of righteousness that come from living the righteous life and not everybody gets that
The Bible literally says that we should be careful that no man would take our crown
Not everybody's getting crowned in heaven
Hey you if you're saved are making it to heaven. We'll see you, but not everybody's getting a crown
Not everybody's getting the same house
Not everybody's getting the same job not everybody's getting the same rewards and these are eternal rewards
eternal rewards
you say well how am I gonna miss out on that because you hardened your heart and
You hardened your heart through the deceitfulness of sin
meaning that sin is
Deceitful we should not be ignorant of sin and think like oh
Well I'm better than sin or I don't even want sin anymore these Pentecostals
They're like I'm delivered from sin. You know that's a silly idea. You're never gonna be delivered from sin until you get a glorified body
that's the only time right now this old man he loves sin and
Sin is enticing it's tempting
it's something that you want, but it's deceitful because it does not give you what you think you want and
It comes with bondage it comes with slavery and it causes your heart to get hard and hard and hard to where now you don't
care about the things of God anymore go to Numbers chapter 14 Numbers chapter 14 I
Kind of think of it a little bit
You know and this isn't a perfect analogy
But I think a little bit of the Christian life can sometimes be like marriage and in the concept of
When you first start dating or you first get married
Sometimes it's really easy
and you kind of have these like extra butterflies and energy and it's what people refer to as the
Honeymoon phase, and it's just it's like almost not even effort
You just enjoy the other person, and it's just so much fun
Now if you haven't had that experience when you're dating you probably shouldn't marry them, okay?
If it's already starting off rough, okay
but
That's why people get married they enjoy that they like each other
They're excited to be around each other
and I think in some ways this can be similar to Christian life that when you first get saved or
Maybe when you first start getting zealous for the things of God sometimes
Christian life is easy and what I mean by easy is like it's exciting to go to church
Like you want to go to church you want to read your Bible you want to memorize scripture
You want to go soul winning you want to stop sinning like a lot of these things might even have been easy or fun
Or you're really zealous for but over time
They change
Just like marriage and marriage over time those feelings cannot sustain themselves
They're gonna wane and now you're just married and it's kind of the same
Hey, it was fun to be saved, but now you're just saying
Now you're just a Christian you've been doing it for a while and so
What can happen is your heart can start getting hardened towards what your spouse or even Christianity towards the things of God and?
Of course what does it in both cases usually sin is a result of why these things are happening
Specifically when it comes to the Lord, you know
It's very easy for us and for our hearts to be turned away from God and we have to be very careful
With the Christian life look at numbers 14 verse 1
and all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried and the people wept that night and all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and
Against Aaron and the whole congregation said unto them would God that we had died in the land of Egypt
or would God we had died in this wilderness and
Wherefore at the Lord brought us under this land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a pray
We're not better for us to return
into Egypt
Now think about this logic they're like man, it would've been better if we had just died
Because I don't want to go die
What?
Like why does that matter? It's like hey, I wish I had died because then it would've been better than if I died
It's like well no because this other chance even a chance to survive
You could live a little longer, but think about how how much of a crabby attitude this is it's just like man
I wish that we had just died already. They're just so frustrated about
walking through
The wilderness they're frustrated about the fact that when they finally got to the Promised Land
there's giants and
They had ten spies come back and give them an evil report and
They're frustrated because they thought the Christian life was going to be easy. Oh
Man, I wish I had just died than married my wife because it's just so hard
I mean she gets pregnant and then postpartum and then she's pregnant again
And then there's more postpartum, and we're getting older and oh man kids
And now we're tired and now inflation
And I have to just keep working and I wish I just died in the 90s when it was fun
You know the 90s is so great man
It's like that's just that's how people are
People they're just so frustrated
They're like they're almost so frustrated with their life
And it's just like really if you had died in the 90s
Then you wouldn't had all the fun experiences had today and people look at all the Giants
They look at all the problems of the Christian life or the battles that they have to go through
And they just say I don't want to go through that. I just wanted it to be easy. I
Just want marriage to be easy. I just want me to put in no effort
No energy, and it's just fun fun fun. We're just so excited. We've never had a fight before
We've never been upset with each other
Nothing's ever gone wrong every meal is perfect
When I asked my wife where she wants to go to eat she knows exactly where she wants to go every single time
She she's got it dialed in
Whenever I ask her how she's doing she always tells me exactly how she's doing. You know there's just no problem
I mean, that's what people want
but it's just not reality and
Then they just want to give up or die or just have such a bad attitude
And this is the way it is in the Christian life that people they say like well
I really like to go into church on Sunday
morning
Sunday night
Wednesday night
So winning events I mean, what do you?
Why like it was it was a lot easier when I never went to church
Let's be honest
Do you think it's easy when you don't have to go to church ever or you're going to church three times a week
Going to soul-winding events, but people like man churches my life now
Right they get all they go frustrated man reading the Bible. I don't know all this extra time to read
I don't even know how to read you know
Let alone you know
1611
Shakespeare language it's like this isn't Shakespeare, okay
He was like a queer or something so get over get over yourself. You don't have to read that I
Mean people they just get so frustrated
About the things of life, and then they just get sad depressed just woe is me
Oh, I wish that let's just let's just go back to Egypt man
The creek this is bumming me out. I don't like having to go to church. I don't like having to dress nice
I'd rather just sleep in on Sunday. I mean the NFL surely is gonna come back soon enough
We already got baseball we got stuff to do I need to make money. This is a burden
I don't like living this life, and what do they do they harden their heart?
and
Really, what is it that they desire they desire some of the things that were in Egypt that were sinful
That's what they really desire
Look at verse 4 and they said one to another let us make a captain and let us return in Egypt then Moses Aaron
Fell on their face before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel and Joshua the son of none and Caleb
the son of Jephunne
which were of them that searched the land rent their clothes and
They spake unto all the company of the children of Israel saying the land
Which we pass through to search it is
an exceeding good land
If the Lord
Delighted us then you will bring us into this land and give it us a land which floweth with milk and honey
Only rebel not ye against the Lord neither fear you the people of the land for they are bred for us their defenses
Departed from them and the Lord is with us fear them not
But all the congregation bade stone them with stones
Wow, you have the greatest men of the planet all coming together
Preaching the Word of God trying to convince them to follow God's commandments. And what do they want to do kill them?
Stone them and you know
This is the sad reality that
Pastors and preachers today that are trying to get people to go with them into the promised land
Often have to do so kicking it with kicking and screaming Christians
With Christians who are just so mad and they just murmur against the pastor
They murmur against the preachers and they're just thinking like oh, this is such a burden
This is such a drudgery the life you've set before us is so hard. We don't want to do this
We want to go back to Egypt and people with a brain in their head
People have the wisdom of God are realizing no no, you're going to be destroyed
God is going to destroy you
Come with us. The Lord is going to take care of us. We're going to have fun
I mean, we're going to enjoy
The fruit of the lamb and here's the thing in the Christian life. There are joys and rewards in this life to be had
So many people think like oh they only think about the negatives of the Christian life and they don't recognize the rewards of the Christian life
like having godly children
like having godly grandchildren
And boy, I know so many people who their children are so messed up
Their grandchildren are so messed up and it causes them pain and sorrow in their heart every single day
And you don't understand the joys of parents who have great children and great grandchildren that are serving
God and loving the Lord
But it doesn't come easy
It comes with a price you have to put a lot of effort and energy in those children
You can't allow yourself to be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and allow your heart to be turned away from the things of
God and to provoke him constantly
But it's a reality that so many people today they don't like hard preaching
Let me explain something to you people do not like hard preaching
Christians do not like hard preaching
New ifbers do not like hard preaching now. What they love is they love me to rip on joe biden, okay
When I rip on joe biden, everybody's thinking like yeah
Yes
Get him
Okay
But then you start talking about other issues and now all of a sudden the rubber meets the road
And even christians don't like hard preaching. There's a reason why it's called hard preaching if you all enjoyed it
It wouldn't be hard preaching
And let me explain something I am not here to just be your friend
People that get up behind this pulpit should not be seeing
If I can just make you happy and smile and how many thumbs up I can get it's to preach the word of
God in season out of season to reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine and you know what erin and moses
They didn't hate the children of israel. They loved the children of israel
They wanted what was best for the children of israel, but in their hearts
They'd become hardened through deceitfulness of sin and they desired sin and bondage and they're trying to drag them into the promised land
And you have to understand that there are so many great men of god
There's good preachers and good churches today that are trying to take people with them into the promised land
But many christians are so stubborn in their heart
They become hardened in their heart and they're going to quit give up and murmur against the things of god
You know, it's sad is not only when christians quit on serving god, then they have to murmur too
and complain
And they just no one ever leaves
Christianity and it's just like i'm such a backslidden bad christian
It's always excuses
There's always an excuse there's always a reason why they're not serving god well
Yeah, but it's just not you know, it's far
Right church is church is far
Or you know, I don't like this person that goes to church or whatever or I just I don't like
Uh, you know being in that specific church because the pastor uses certain words. I don't agree with or whatever
Or the pastor is always yelling or something or you know, it's it's just there's always there's all this like harassment
Like they just they always they just come up with something and there's always probably a little bit of truth to it
Right, uh, it's too cold in the sanctuary
It's too hot in the sanctuary
right
There there are people out there. They'll even be like I don't like certain people, you know
Maybe people that are racist or people that are not even just racist. They're just judgmental
They're like people are too poor or too rich or too whatever
They're they're not interested in the things i'm interested in. There's there's always an excuse
There's always a reason why people want to give up on the things of god and they'll always tell you
What they're you know, all these problems. They're just like yeah, i'm just not doing good in the christian life
Yeah, my heart's become kind of hardened towards the things of god
I've never heard that excuse i've heard every other excuse i've literally heard people people came to me and said this i'm quitting your church
Because of the toy policy you made for church
I was like what you know, I told that person I said you're not leaving because of the toy policy
That's such garbage don't don't get mad at me
For things like that people people get mad. They're like people are taking too many freebies
I've had that as an excuse
Literally someone quit church and just stopped going to church
And I asked them why and they said too many people get water out of the fridge and they're not a soul winner
Okay
Like really you're gonna give up on the things of god because of that
What what happened to that person their heart got hardened folks?
It's not that they're so mad at someone getting some some water when they shouldn't or something okay
And look should we obey rules? Yes
Are people going to mess up? Yes
Are the sins in this room worse than taking a water bottle when you shouldn't absolutely okay?
If you're going to not go to church because some people sin well, you're never going to go to church then
If you're not going to go to church because you don't like some people will enjoy your little five-person cult
And you're probably about to vote a couple people out
Because good luck getting few people to all like each other and agree even in a family
Have you ever been to a family reunion where everybody likes each other?
Have you ever been anywhere where everybody likes each other
I mean i've i've worked for companies that are really small like 10 20 employees
And you have tons of people that don't like each other in that group
I've been in plenty of churches big small and what i've always known is that some people just don't like other people
Well, I just don't want to go to church with that person okay, well, you know what don't stop going to church
Don't stop serving. God. Don't let your heart get hardened. You know, just just get over that person
Just let it go
And don't murmur against the leadership because you're a bad person
And here's here's the real thing that i'm trying to communicate is don't you fall for their murmuring?
Yeah
Don't give ear and be like yeah that does that is kind of annoying yeah, it is cold or hot or whatever
I don't even know
You're all over the place. You're just menopausal. Okay, get over it, right?
Go to hebrews
Chapter number four go back to hebrews chapter number four. We need to be careful of of sin. And so, you know
Here's the thing about this a sermon like this
is
Obviously if I just get up and say sin is bad
Everybody's going to change their life, you know, like everybody's going to totally recognize what i'm talking about
now obviously you have to be specific and I
Every sin is important. I'm just trying to give you kind of a foundation
But there are a few sins that I think the bible brings up
In this context and really hammers on
And they're never the fun ones
Because of course those are the ones that are the most
problematic for us
But we have to understand that you know part of sinning is also a lack of faith a lack of trust in the lord
Hebrews chapter 4 look at verse 7 the bible says again
He limited a certain day saying in david today after so long a time as it is said today if you will hear his
voice harden not your hearts
For if jesus had given them rest then would he not afterward have spoken of another day
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of god for he that has entered into his rest
He also has ceased from his own works as god did from his let us labor therefore to enter into that rest
Does any man fall after the same example of unbelief?
so notice
An aspect of the hardening the heart is a is a lack of belief
is a lack of belief and and I think
Honestly a reason why a lot of people sin is is stems from a lack of belief
A lack of belief and and what is the lack of belief they they lack the
Trust or the faith that what the bible says is right on a particular subject
They of course they they trust in the lord and got saved
But then they start hearing about other parts
Of how they should live their christian life and they just they don't want to trust that
They don't want to believe that that's true
Um go go to matthew chapter 13 go to matthew chapter 13
And i'm not going to talk about this that much but let's think about one of the most controversial ones like how women dress
Why is it that most women?
In this world that are christian that are saved
Refuse to dress in a way that's feminine with dresses and skirts. It's always the same thing. I don't think the bible says that
I mean that's always i've never i've never actually heard a christian lady say I know that's exactly what the bible says
But i'm just not going to do it
They never say that
What are they that's just not what the bible says, you know, and again, what is it coming from?
It's coming from a lack of belief that deuteronomy 22 verse 5 is literally telling women to not wear that which pertain to the man
Neither for a man to put on a woman's garment and they're like well, but that's ambiguous
You want it to be ambiguous because you don't want to actually do it
Because you lack belief that it's actually a commandment that god wants you to do
That's the problem. The problem isn't that the bible doesn't really explain that or teach that it's that you just don't want to believe it
And so through a lack of belief you just live an ungodly lifestyle
You just reject the commandment of god. You don't want to do what he actually said and you harden your heart towards that verse
It's not like you're sitting here saying I sincerely believe this verse and I want to do what this verse is saying
So i'm going to figure out what it means. You know, they're saying I just think it's too hard. So let's not worry about it
Or I don't really like what it's saying here. So no
It's not like they've genuinely said like i've studied this verse I prayed about it
I got on my knees and I begged god to give me the perfect understanding of this verse
And I totally came to a different conclusion and let me explain it to you
It's like I just don't think the bible says that what does it say? I don't know
I don't want to talk about it. Don't bring it up. And what is it? It's a heart issue
They become hardened towards that particular verse
What's another major issue when it comes to
Hardening your heart would be that of riches would be that of money and that's the one that really cuts to
A lot of people's heart but the bible brings this up often and look at matthew chapter 13
Verse number 18. I'm sorry 18. Yeah
Here ye therefore the parable of the sower so this is the parable of the sower
He brings up, you know several different situations
And you know the first few ones where they're not getting saved the second ones are on stony ground
But then we look at the third one in verse 22
He also the received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word
And the care of this world and the deceitfulness
of riches
Choke the word and he becometh unfruitful
Why is it that these people's hearts got hardened towards the things of god because of the deceitfulness
Deceitfulness of riches that reminds me of how it said in hebrews chapter number three how their hearts were hardened through the deceitfulness
Of sin now, here's the thing riches by themselves is not sinful
There's nothing sinful about having money. You could be the richest man on the planet and there's nothing sinful about it
Job was the richest man on the planet and also the most godly simultaneously
But let's just be honest that that is very rare
That you have people that are rich or have a lot of money and that they're very godly, okay
It happens you can meet people like this. I've known people like this, but at the same time most people
Cannot really handle riches or money and they have a desire for it
The love of money is the root of all evil as the bible says and really it doesn't even matter how much money you have
You could be the poorest person in this room and be struggling with the love of money more than the richest person in this room
Okay, but what's the problem having a love of money
And the deceitfulness of riches in the sense that you think that your life is going to be better with money
You're out in the wilderness. You got nothing. Hey back in egypt
They're thinking about possessions and all the stuff that they have and the things that they want to have
Hey, you know what? They're motivated by covetousness and money and ultimately the biggest issue here is really just covetousness in general
We look at covetousness in
The ten commandments it doesn't even just say like one thing it brings up all kinds of stuff your neighbor's house his ox his servant
His wife and really covetousness is an extreme heart issue
if you look at verse 15 here
when he's bringing up the
parable itself why
For this people's heart
is waxed gross
And their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have they closed lest at any time
They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them
What's the problem their heart is hard?
And if their heart was tender they could understand and then they could do what the lord would have them do but so many people
They don't want to listen to what the bible says
They don't want to hearken under the scripture and they just harden their heart through the deceitfulness of sin the deceitfulness of riches
And they get to a point where they're going to be destroyed of god and they're going to miss out on the promises
They're going to miss out on the inheritance that god has for them
And you know, why would you even be here this morning if you want to walk back to egypt?
Go back to egypt get out of here
But if you want to actually walk to the promised land you need to think about I need to make some changes
I need to be willing to not allow my heart to get hardened towards the things of god and look there are people in church
Whose heart is getting harder every single week
They're drifting in the wrong way
They don't want to do the things of god. Their heart is not tender towards the things of god. They're being drug here
They're just showing up out of compulsion
Or whatever and we need to make sure that we're constantly checking our hearts because where your heart is you're going to eventually be later
A lot just kept looking at sodom and eventually that's where he went because that's where his heart was aimed
That's what his goal was and there's a lot of people you can see
That their heart is not on the things of god their heart is not on church
Their heart is not on serving the lord their hearts on something else
a new sports car
Their heart is on a new house
Their heart is on something that money can buy and it's like hey, where are you?
They're working on that goal. They're not working on the things of god. You see them slowly drifting away from church
Not showing up not going soul winning not reading their bible not doing the things of god
And why it's because their heart has become hardened
And through the deceitfulness of sin and the deceitfulness of riches and it comes in and it chokes the word
And it causes the word to become unfruitful and not profitable unto them or the world
This dying and lost world
Go to luke 12 go to luke 12 for a moment
This is a huge problem in america because we it's the land of opportunity
You know when you're a slave or you're in a particular country where it's a caste system and you can't get ahead
It helps you to not actually be as covetous because you can't
But in america where we live in a capitalistic dream
You could theoretically invent something make something you can go just work a whole bunch
And and make a lot of money
And not just have money you can have things right you could have a nicer house
You could have a nicer car you could have uh
Multiple cars you could have multiple possessions and again while it doesn't matter what you own
What matters is where is your heart at?
What is it? What is it that you're trying to get are you just interested in the things of egypt?
Are you interested in the things of god?
And in luke chapter number 12, look at this command by jesus christ
I want to look at verse 15
And he said unto them take heed
And beware of covetousness for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses
This is a powerful verse
You know what? God is saying
God is not looking down from heaven at this room
And saying like this guy's net worth is better than this guy meaning he's better
Or this guy has a nicer car so he's better or this guy has nicer clothes, so he's better
He's saying no what what's important about a person is not the things that they possess
But in america, it's almost like that's what we worship. We worship people for what they possess
Oh, wow, look at this guy he possesses this awesome car he possesses this awesome house
He possesses this awesome bank account. He possesses all these different things these carnal
worldly things
Things that are not of god and we envy that person
That's where the covetousness comes in then
We're not supposed to covet our neighbor's house and our neighbor's car and our neighbors all these things and many times
You wouldn't even want it anyways
It's like man, I really covet that car it costs two thousand dollars a month. I don't want the car
It's like, you know, they they covet some possession that somebody has and they don't even want it
Let me just be honest too. You know, you think like oh man, I I covet this person's wife, but it's like
Okay, but do you really know what it's like when they're alone?
I mean everybody seems better, you know from afar
I
Wish that was my husband, but you know what he's like
You know behind closed doors. Do you know what the husband's like, you know, I wish I had those kids
You know, those kids are like buying closed doors
You know many times you covet things but if you even had them you would abhor them you would despise them
They're not even they're not what you want. It's the deceitfulness of sin
It's the deceitfulness of riches you think man my life would be so great if I just had so much more money
You don't understand that many people that have money are miserable
Many people that have these possessions hate their life
They despise their life and they realize how empty and vain it is. That's why they constantly pursue even more things
And usually the only people that figure it out are the people that climb to the very top
Because they finally realize i've run out of things to buy
And i'm still not happy i'm still I still don't have it and then for some
That caused them to even get saved some of them
Is it caused them to turn back the lord they realize that was so empty and then the other ones they end up saying
okay, now i'm just going to become a
Jew that takes over the world and destroys people because I have nothing to live for
Now they just live for power and manipulation and
Just control because they they've realized that possessions aren't are meaningless. So now they just live their lives to harm and to hurt individuals
But let me tell you something possessions will not make your life better
Possessions is not what this life is about
Beware of covetousness. Jesus Christ is not saying this because it's so easy
It is so hard for us to not desire things that we don't have
I guarantee all of us are tempted with the thoughts and ideas of constantly wondering. I wish I had this other house
I wish I can't wait to have this specific house or this specific property or this specific car
Or go on this specific vacation or have these specific clothes or have this specific item
Of value whatever it is
They're just they're just driving towards that. I can't wait to have this much money in my retirement
So I can retire look you're supposed to retire when you die
That's when you retire
And what's the point in building a huge retirement to give it to some spoiled kid?
That's going to ruin his life with it anyways
It's the deceitfulness of riches it's the deceitfulness of sin
And when we sin against god it constantly irritates him it constantly provokes him every time you choose money over god
Every time you do some kind of decision where you're saying i'm not going to go to church i'm going to work for money
That irritates god that provokes god every time you say hey i'm not going to read my bible
But i'm going to read the wall street journal so I can figure out how to make more money it irritates and provokes god
Every time you decide to make decisions for the love of money and for money and making wealth
You know what it irritates god
And at the end of the day you're hardening your heart. Don't be deceived
You may end up being where you didn't want to go. You may end up finding yourself in Sodom with lot
Because that's where you were headed. That's what you cared about rather than things of god
And you know what if you'd stayed with abraham, you still would have had the money
You still would have had the possessions. God would have still blessed you
Look, i'm not saying when you go to work don't try to make money
You better try to make money when you're at the workplace, okay
But what i'm saying is we want to make sure that we're constantly taking that hat off and we're putting on
The spiritual hat that we're putting on the heart the heart that god wants us to have a tender and a soft heart
And saying hey god am I am I making the right decisions?
We need to constantly be evaluating ourselves and saying hey how tender is my heart to the things of god
If I see something in the bible that
Rebukes my life would I change it?
We'll get it says in verse 16 here
And he spake a parable under them saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth
Plentifully and he thought within himself saying what shall I do?
Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits
And he said this will I do
I will pull down my barns and build trump tower. Oh, i'm sorry. Wait
And build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods
Look building all these great buildings and having all this money many times is a trap
And it's something someone could use to twist your arm
I mean look at donald trump. He has a lot of wealth
He has a lot of possessions and what is the enemy trying to do to him?
What are evil people trying to do them? They're trying to twist his arm and take away his possessions
And they may even be successful in doing so
I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what's going to happen
But they're trying to just take all of this. I mean I guarantee he's worked really hard for those possessions
I guarantee he did a lot of effort and energy to build all these great things
But you know what the problem with donald trump is. It's not that he has money
It's not that he's worked really hard for lots of money
You know what the problem is with donald trump and with a lot of rich people today
It's what it says in the next verse
verse next verses in verse 19
I will say to my soul so thou as much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry
But god said him thou fool
This night thy soul shall be required of thee then who shall those things be?
Which thou has provided so is he that layeth up treasure for himself
And is not rich toward god, you know, donald trump's problem is is that he's not rich toward god
I don't even know if he's saved. I don't think he's saved but
You know first problem get saved
But then even then you want to be rich toward god because you know what you're not going to take your physical possessions with you
And you could sit here and say like man
I desire to have this world's riches and money and cars and wealth and fame and all this stuff
But you know what? None of that matters if you're not rich toward god
And look, you know, it's not like god is asking you to be a slave he took you out of slavery
It's not like god is asking you to take a vow of poverty. You know what give me neither riches nor poverty
Feed me the food convenient for me. Okay, we're not asking god, please make me poor. You know what it's really really easy to be poor
You know how to be poor do nothing
Ask every homeless person
It's very easy to be poor. It's not like i'm such a godly person because i'm poor
You know, that's not really making that doesn't make anybody godly
Having riches doesn't make you godly being the most poor person on this planet doesn't make you godly
What makes you godly is following god's commandments
What makes you godly is having a tender and a soft heart towards the things of god and you know
We see extremes of people being super poor and being
Great christians and people being super rich and being great christians
And we see people having no money and being horrible christians or horrible people and people having lots of money and also being horrible
What's the problem? Where is your heart?
What is going on with your heart how is your heart doing towards the things of god right now
Are you constantly trending towards being more spiritual and more godly or have you been trending back towards more?
I need more money more wealth more things more possessions more whatever
That's what I really care about and you know what your actions tell us what your heart thinks anyways
This is where again the marriage illustration comes back into play go to first kings chapter 11 go to first king chapter 11
And you know, sometimes you hear this and sometimes it's you know, just the reality
that
your wife or your husband
May say it doesn't seem like you like me or love me anymore
And it's why because of your actions because if you're not hanging out with your spouse if you're not being sweet
If you're not doing things with them your actions start to tell us where your affections are
Where are your affections?
What are you doing?
And again, I get it like right now
Because of the economic situation a lot of people are having to put in more time and effort at work
And and that's just the reality
And there's nothing wrong with having to work more than you have in the past because we just have to pay the bills
You know that sometimes you have to gather straw at night and that's frustrating
We want to make sure and be careful that we're still keeping our main priorities a priority
That we're still thinking about god and we're still thinking about our families and our spouses and we're still making them our affections
And often what has to go is everything else literally
I'll tell you I don't get to have as much fun as I would like to
There's a lot of things I enjoy. There's a lot of things I want to do
Just even having a break. Okay in life
but
You know right now i'm not in a season of getting to do that
But I want to make sure that i'm keeping my priorities straight
I want to make sure i'm still keeping god at the forefront of my mind
I'm still i'm not allowing myself to slowly allow my heart to get hardened
Against the things of god
And we need to be careful that what we're doing with our time
is is not
Making our heart slowly grow harder because you'll eventually get so hard that you'll be a different person
Having met people. It's like they were really zealous for god. They love god
You're thinking like this is a great christian and then a few years pass and it's like a completely different person
They don't really care about church anymore
They don't really care it's like you bring up stuff in the bible and they're like, I forgot I don't remember any of that
I don't care. I don't memorize anything. I don't go soul winning. I don't do that
But boy, have you seen my new car?
Boy, have you seen my new truck? Isn't it nice?
It's like I know where their heart went and look i'm not against buy a new truck. Okay
My truck died and is gone. So I might have to get a new vehicle at some point
But you know what? That's not where my heart is
If I have to wait 10 more years to get a new truck or 10 it doesn't matter
You know, i'm not against owning things. We all have to buy stuff. Don't hear me wrong
Don't try to take this and twist this so that you don't have to actually make a change in your life
But you know what? Where is your heart and affection at?
Where are your desires at?
What are you really thinking about every day? Why wake up and i'm just thinking about a new truck every day
Well, then you have the wrong heart. I'm thinking about a new house every single day wrong heart. I'm thinking about buying this
Outfit or these clothes or this swimming pool or whatever I can't wait to go on this vacation
Then you have the wrong heart. We should be waking up and thinking about the lord
So waking up and thinking about praising god
I mean if I wake up on a sunday morning, and i'm not thinking about god. I know that my heart is not right
If I wake up on a sunday morning, and i'm making excuses of why i'm not going to go to church
My heart is not right with god
It's become hardened
And even the greatest christians ever allow this to happen
Look at first kings chapter 11 verse 1, but king solomon loved many strange women
Together with the daughter of pharaoh women of the mobites ammonites edomites zydonians and hitites
Of the nations concerning which the lord said unto the children of israel. You shall not go into them
Either shall they come in unto you for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods
Solomon clave under these in love
And he had 700 wives princesses
And 300 concubines and his wives turned away
His heart let me tell you something children
Who you marry is going to impact the direction that you go in life
Who you marry you may love god you may like church
But if you marry the wrong person you could end up not ever being a christian or faithful ever again
They could literally take your heart away
And drag you off to the catholic church drag you off into some false religion drag you off into some other
Nonsense drag you off into just being in heathen
You know, the bible's really clear on when you marry then we're not supposed to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers
You should never date an unsaved person
Unless you're just trying to get them saved. That should be the only talking points, right?
Don't get invested in someone that's not safe because you say but I love them
Okay, well, let's read a verse again verse two. Solomon clave under these in love. Did solomon love his wives?
Yes, he did. That was the problem. The problem wasn't that he
Didn't love them
The problem was that he did love them and because of his love towards them
He allowed that to change his heart and to turn his heart from god
Under them under these women and to please them and to make them happy and to satisfy them and because of his heart towards his
Wives it ended up turning his heart away from god and you know what men can allow women to turn their hearts away from god
Even women can also marry the wrong guy and allow their hearts to be turned away from the things of god
They chase after the things that their husband chases after money
Wealth possessions and they no longer care about serving god they no longer care about proverbs 31
They care about
possessions
about beauty about vanity
But you know what beauty fades possessions fades, you know, if you sow to the flesh you're going to reap corruption
You invest in your physical body. Here's a problem
It's going to get older
You get implants they're going to sag
You know these guys that give these weird implants in their body
Like men are getting implants like calf implants
You're gonna look like a weird old man, okay?
Tattoos they're gonna fade
You're gonna fade your hair's gonna fade. You may even just lose it all
Jason just already embraced it. Okay, just be like brother. Jason. Okay, he's good
He's he doesn't he doesn't have to worry about he's he's already solved the corruption. He doesn't need to worry about
Any other more, you know, he's not sowing into that part of his life. He doesn't even care
Why why should we care and look i'm not saying don't work out
I'm not saying don't be healthy
But i'm just saying like even if I worked out as much as I possibly could eventually i'm gonna lose that strength
It's gonna see corruption if I build a brand new house, it's only gonna be brand new for one day
And as soon as my kids come in it's gonna see corruption
You buy a new car it's gonna see it smells amazing. I mean new car is amazing smell. I don't know
I just love it. You know, it's also an amazing smell the tennis ball can oh, man
Who's with me on this one? Okay, you pop open a brand new can of tennis balls
It just smells amazing
But as soon as you get that tennis ball out and you hit it on that dirty court
You don't want to touch that thing ever again
It sees corruption
You know, there are things in this life that don't see corruption like the souls that you got saved
Like the works that you did for christ
And you know what? I don't think church sees corruption either if we're doing it right it gets better
But if your heart gets turned away from the things of god you could hate it
Look at verse nine in this chapter. It's kind of a sad verse but it's a reality and the lord was angry with solomon
Because his heart was turned from the lord god of israel
And this is what this was a sad thing for me this is the saddest part of the verse
Which had appeared unto him twice?
He's saying like solomon was a great man of god the lord literally appeared to him twice
And he allowed his heart to get turned away from the things of god
I've god's never visited me if he's visited you go back to the pentecostal church, okay?
I've never had that kind of experience i've had incredible experiences with the lord
The holy spirit has taught me a lot of things in the bible and I love the lord
But at the same time like I don't have this type of encounters that solomon did
If his heart could be turned away from god, I mean he's literally
Had the lord appear to him and he turned away from him. How much more could that happen to us?
But let me explain something. It doesn't happen overnight solomon didn't change overnight
It's just one bad decision after another bad decision. He just slowly let your heart get
I mean it took a while to get a thousand wives folks
so
And just one after another one after another and you know what
It takes a while to make money. It takes a while to get possessions
It takes a while to get all these things
But just every single one of those decisions if that's where your heart is
You just keep hardening it and hardening it and hardening it to where now
I don't care about the things of god
Go to psalm 62 go to psalm 62 the two things of the bible just constantly hammers
And there's so much more bible we can talk about but two things that really hammers is just money
And women and again that applies obviously for women to husbands or men
but
Often what will turn our hearts away?
from the lord and causes us to just have a heart and heart towards the things of god is
riches
Carnal relationships
And we have to be very careful and guard our hearts and try to keep them tender towards the things of god
Look at psalm 62 verse 10
Trust not an oppression
And become not vain and robbery if riches increase set not your heart upon them
If you start making a bunch of money you better be really careful
Where your heart is you get a big promotion at work?
You better be careful where your heart is you get a nicer house
You better be careful where your heart is you get a nicer car
You better be careful where your heart is and you better not trust in riches
You better not get your heart settled and thinking about and just concerned with well
I really like the endorphin high of this new thing
Because let's be honest you go out if we go out and take you and buy a brand new car. You're gonna feel good
It's fun
It's exciting
You buy a new house and you move into it. It's way better than the last one. It's exciting
It's fun. But here's the thing that cheap thrill is going to evaporate pretty soon
And so what many people are doing is chasing that high just like a drug addict
And these have to buy another thing and then another thing and then they get such a high for buying new cars now
They just lease them like I just want a one-year lease because I can't stand having a car that's older than one year old
So then they just have to get a new car new car new car new car new car
But it's just it's a vain exercise folks
Where is your heart this morning?
Where is your heart tonight?
Where is your heart wednesday night?
Over way back to psalm 7. Let's look at a few more verses here
Sometimes we need to be met with an uncomfortable truth that maybe our heart
Is in his tender to the things of god as it should be
And we should work on that we should be willing to change, you know what god likes
Is the right heart?
Look at psalm 7 verse 9
Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end
But establish the just for the righteous god trieth the hearts and reign
My defenses of god which saveth the upright in heart notice
Whom god loves is those who are upright in heart and what I love about the uprightness of heart is this
You could have been pretty sinful in the past
But now you're upright in heart
So it's not so much about how sinful you've been
It's where are you at right now? What is your heart like right now and try to be honest with yourself
Is your heart right with god right now
Were you more?
Right with god in the past was your heart more right with god
Last year two years ago five years ago five years ago. You said man
Nothing's gonna stop me from serving god. I'm so dedicated to church. I'm so dedicated reading the bible
I'm, so dedicated to memorizing scripture. I'm so dedicated to soul winning
I want to get people saved and win them to christ
but now right now your heart's thinking about
I need to buy this and I want to get this and I can't wait to have this and I need more and I want
This other I wish I had this other thing in my life. This is all the hypotheticals
Well, I wish I was married to this person or I wish I had that or you
Where is your heart this morning when you're waking up? What are you thinking about? What are your desires on?
Is your heart right with god
Look at psalm 12 verse 1
Help lord for the godly man ceaseth for the faithful fail from among the children of men they speak vanity
Everyone with his neighbor with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak boy?
If I had a church member for every person that told me they want to be a church member we'd have a big church
But you know what it's a double heart isn't it and here's the question where is your heart at
Where is your heart at go to psalm 34
Look at verse 18 the lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart
And save as such as be of a contrite spirit
Man what you're saying is kind of breaking my heart pastor. Shelly well good
Notice what the bible says the lord is not the lord gets close to people
That are of a broken heart
You know what the church and the bible should do it should constantly break up the fallow ground of our heart
It should try to keep the soil tender towards the things of god
Go to psalm 51 go to psalm 51
You know, I love preaching against
The enemies of the lord, it's fun. It's exciting, but sometimes we also need to do some self-reflection
Say is there something I need to change in my life?
And you know you want to be close to god. Well, you know what you need to break your heart a little bit
And what does your heart want your heart wants to be carnal and do carnal things and have all the stuff I was talking about
But the broken heart says, you know what those things are taking me away from god
I need to get my priorities straight. I need to start thinking about what god wants for my life
Time goes fast folks
So so fast your children grow up so so fast
Don't allow your heart to slowly get hardened and you find yourself in a place that you didn't want to be
Maybe you need to break some things up psalm 51 look at verse 10
Creating me a clean heart. Oh god and renew a right spirit within me
We need to cleanse our hearts. We need to break up our hearts. We never contrite heart look at verse 15
Oh lord, open thou my lips and my mouth shall so forth thy praise
For thou desirest not sacrifice
Else would I give it
Thou delightest not in burnt offering
The sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart. Oh god
Thou will not despise
God is not mad at you for all your sins. He's mad at you for not taking ownership for them
He's not mad at you for the fact that you aren't perfect. He's mad at you that you don't want to be perfect
He's not mad at you that you've gone astray he's mad at you that you want to stay astray
God is not not despised does god does not despise or have ill will towards the broken and the contrite spirit
And let us evaluate ourselves and say where am I at on my spiritual journey?
If i've been allowing my heart to get hardened the bible is saying harden not your hearts
It's so easy for us to pick the children of israel apart. But how are you doing?
Quit worrying about everybody else quit worrying about this wicked government quit worrying about maga quit worrying about who's going to be elected
Quit worrying about how much money you're going to make quit worrying about the election quit worrying about wars
Quit worrying about when is the anti-christ coming and worry about one thing. Where is your heart at?
Do you have a broken and a contrite heart do you care about the things of god
What direction are you headed in and you know what if you're not headed in the right direction?
Change repent
Don't have an evil heart of unbelief. Don't turn away from the lord. Don't keep stacking up grievances
Don't keep allowing it to fester to where you're not going to produce anything and become unfruitful and say I have all these riches
But you are not rich toward god
Let us patiently endure so that we can inherit the promises
And don't be like the children visitors I want to stone the preacher after that sermon
Say let's go into the promised land
Let's close in prayer. Thank you. Heavenly father so much
for giving us the scripture and giving us this word of god and
I know that the life that you have for us in the christian life is a blessed life a life with much joy and happiness
But I pray that we would not allow our hearts to be set
on enjoying the deceitfulness of sin and the pleasures of sin and
Desiring to go back to egypt. I pray that you would help to break up
Any fallow ground in our hearts this morning
I pray that you'd help those who recognize that they have a hardened heart that they'd be willing to make a change
Read their bible more go to church more take christianity seriously
So many distractions out there and I pray that you would help constantly remind us of the importance of having a broken and contrite spirit
Of not being covetous of all the things that we could possibly have but rather desiring the things of god
And that we would choose to serve you faithfully all the way under the end in jesus name we pray amen
Amen, all right. So for a final song we're to go to 437 battle hymn of the republic
437 battle hymn of the republic
Song four three seven battle hymn of the republic
Sing the glory of the coming of the lord
He is rambling out the vintage where the greats don't wrap the store
He has loosed the painful writing of this terrible strict storm
His truth is marching on
Glory glory hallelujah
His truth is marching on
I have seen him in the watch part of the hundred circling hands
They have built him in an altar in the evening news of death
I can read his writings and his cries again in fair request
His day is marching on
Glory glory hallelujah
His day is marching on
He is selling forth a trumpet that shall never sound retreat
He is shifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat
Oh we strip my soul to enter in the jubilant might be
Our God is marching on
Glory glory hallelujah
Our God is marching on
In the beauty of the living, Christ was born across the sea
With the glory in his laws, a man should save his human being
As he died to make them whole, he let us die to make them free
While God is marching on
Glory glory hallelujah
While God is marching on
Glory glory hallelujah