Create in Me a Clean Heart

Thank you, Tracy, for that beautiful music. That was wonderful. The words were certainly very meaningful, and she did just a wonderful job. So thank you again very much. Before I begin the sermon, I also wanted to just express my thanks for the weekend last, last weekend, the regional weekend. Heard so many wonderful comments from people that were visiting, and also some of you as well. I just wanted to thank everyone. I know it was a team effort. I appreciate all of you and the hard work that went into making the weekend such a great success.

So again, we appreciate that, and thank you very much. Brethren, a 2006 medical study revealed just how difficult changes for people. According to the study, roughly 600,000 people have heart bypasses, that is, open heart surgery, every year in America. These people are told after their bypasses that they must change their lifestyle. Probably many of them were told years before that they would develop heart trouble unless they changed their lifestyle. Now, recently I heard in the hospital that doctors don't get that many patients that are in their late 60s or 70s because generally they're coming in at age 40 or 50.

So that was a little shocking to me. I thought surely it would be the older ones, but it's actually quite a few that are younger that are having these heart issues. And the heart bypasses, frankly, it's a temporary fix. If they don't want to develop more heart problems, then a patient must learn to change their diet, perhaps.

Sometimes people have a great diet and they still have a heart issue. So it doesn't mean that everyone that goes in for a heart bypass hasn't taken care of their diet. It doesn't mean they haven't exercised. I understand that. Some people could be graded exercise. They could have a wonderful diet and they still might have some kind of a weakness in their heart. But in general, often heart problems are brought about by a person's lifestyle. For example, many people are told to quit smoking. Many people are told to quit drinking to excess. Many people are told that they really do need to do some exercise and that they do need to do something to reduce the stress in their lives.

So they have to change their normal lifestyle. In essence, to many people, doctors are saying either change or die prematurely. Die sooner than you would otherwise or change your lifestyle. Now, you would think that a near-death experience would forever grab the attention of all patients. You would think that they would vote for serious change in their lives. You would think the argument for change would be so compelling that the patients would make the appropriate lifestyle changes, those alterations that were necessary to allow them to be healthier. But sadly, according to the study, that is not the case. And by the way, this was again a study done in 2006 and it was mentioned in a book entitled Simple Church.

It was submitted by Bill White from Paramount, California, and the authors of the book were Thomas Rainier and Eric Geiger. But in it, they said, sadly, that is not the case. In fact, 90% of the heart patients that have bypassed surgeries don't change their lifestyles. They remain the same, living the status quo. And study after study indicates that two years after heart surgery, most patients have not significantly altered their behavior.

Maybe for a few months, but in two years, most of them have gone back to the exact lifestyle. They're continuing to smoke, they're continuing to drink to excess, and that sort of thing.

About 90% of heart patients really don't make significant changes. So instead of making changes for life, they are in essence choosing death. There is a scripture that talks about choosing life or choosing death. I guess that shouldn't be too surprising to us. It's in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 30. So change is very difficult. The majority of the heart patients choose not to change. Again, they act as if they would rather die than have to change.

So how about you? Are you one of the 90% that would refuse to change their lifestyle for the better? Are you one of the 90% or are you one of the 10%? Are you one of the 10% who is open to change, who's willing to change, and able to change? Those are good questions to ask ourselves, especially with Passover coming, because we know that our calling in life is to change, to make some dramatic changes in our lives, and to keep those changes for a lifetime, to change our lifestyles.

Do you know what the number one killer in the world today still is? Is it cancer? Is it car accidents? Is it natural disasters like tsunamis or hurricanes and tornadoes all rolled into one? Is it smoking? No, it's heart disease. Heart disease remains the number one killer in the world. As there often is, there is a very interesting parallel between the physical and the spiritual.

God often uses the physical to teach us about the more important spiritual issues in our lives. Now, this is certainly true when it comes to the human heart. We all have a human heart. Everyone in here has a heart. But there's also what I will refer to as a spiritual heart that God wants us to develop.

He wants us to develop our spiritual hearts. So, brethren, how strong and vital is your spiritual heart? How clean and pure is your spiritual heart? I'd like to take a phrase from Psalm 51, verse 10, as the title for today's sermon, Create in me a clean heart. That's what King David said. Create in me a clean heart, O God. David knew that he was in desperate need of a cleaner heart, a purer heart. Brethren, we're all called to change our stony hearts to soft, malleable spiritual hearts.

God will create a new heart in us as we yield to him and as we allow his spirit to change us. Yes, we do have a part to play. We have to yield to God and to his spirit.

With Passover just a little over three weeks away now, it is imperative that we have a thorough heart exam, that we stop for a moment and consider the condition of our hearts. How clean and how pure is your spiritual heart? So, that's what this sermon is all about.

How to change from a heart that the Bible says is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked to a clean and pure heart. Now, we're familiar with Jeremiah 17. You've heard it quoted, I'm sure, many times, but let's go there and read a little bit of it in context. We'll read a little bit more than is normally read about Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17, verse 5. Jeremiah 17, verse 5. Thus says, The Eternal, cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, I mean, Jeremiah 17, verse 5, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Eternal.

A heart that departs from the Eternal is certainly not a spiritual heart. We want a spiritual heart that turns toward God, not away from him. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parks, places, and the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Eternal, and whose hope is in the Lord or the Eternal. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought.

It has deep roots, and it's able to draw water deep within the earth, and stays healthy as a result. Nor will it cease from yielding fruit. Now, that's the first thing that happens in a drought, is a tree or a plant stops yielding fruit. That's the first thing. It goes into survival mode. But what it's saying is that there are trees that have deep roots that can resist the drought, and stay healthy, and bear fruit, even in a drought.

Obviously, the implication is that we, spiritually, need to have deep roots as well. And we need to be able to bear spiritual fruit, even when we're being persecuted, and tremendous trial is upon us. We need to be strong and faithful during those times of great trial and test. Verse 9 is the verse often quoted, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. In other words, we do reap what we sow. God is not a liar. God does fulfill his promises, and we do reap what we've sown. Now, saying that, we know that God is very merciful as well, but we do pay a price. And we also are blessed when we obey God.

When we disobey God, we pay a price for that. Be sure your sins will find you out. But when we obey God, and follow Him, and love Him, and love His children, then there's also a great blessing that comes along with that. And God strengthens us, and gives us a much purer spiritual heart. Now, in Matthew 5, and you don't need to go there, because I'll just quote it very quickly. It says, blessed are the pure in heart.

This is what Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Now, we know that no one has seen God the Father at any time, but all who develop pure hearts will spend an eternity with God and with Christ.

So, it is wonderful to have a pure heart, a clean and a pure heart. So, the first step in changing your heart from one that is deceitful. The human heart is deceitful. It's desperately wicked. It's deceitful above all things. We can't know just how desperately deceitful our heart is, because oftentimes we're deceived. God has to show us.

So, the first step in changing your heart from one that is deceitful and wicked to one that is pure and clean, is to believe what God says about your heart, your human heart. You've got to believe it. You've got to realize and understand that your human heart is deceitful.

It's desperately wicked. And that is the condition of your human heart. In Genesis 6, when it talks about how the Eternal looked down and saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thought of his heart, it says every intent of the thought of his heart. The heart and the mind are very closely woven together in the Bible. The heart is the seed of our emotions. We think with our minds, our brains, and they work in conjunction together. I don't fully understand how that all works, but I know the Bible talks about it.

There is a link between one's heart and their mind. It says the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was angry that he had made man on the earth. He was grieved in his heart. But of course, we know that Noah found grace in God's sight. There are people who do walk with God like Noah, like Enoch. In the Old Testament, there were some that had the Spirit of God and that yielded to the Spirit of God.

In today's world, we have more people, frankly, that are being given the Spirit of God, but still relatively few people on the earth are truly being led by the Spirit of God and have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. But God takes note of those who walk with him and who have a pure heart. Or at least, they're moving in that direction. Their spiritual heart is becoming more and more pure. They're putting those evil thoughts away. They're following what the Bible says we ought to be doing as God's children and God's people.

In Genesis 8, verse 21, it said, The Lord smelled a sweet aroma because Noah, after the flood, built an altar. And he sacrificed to God, and God smelled this, and it was a soothing aroma to him. And the Eternal said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. So even a small child will have these tendencies to lie, to steal, to do those sorts of things. This is what the Bible teaches us. To think that your child is pure, completely pure, is certainly naive. That isn't what the Bible teaches. It says, The thoughts of our heart are evil, even from our youth.

That doesn't mean our children aren't also sweet and innocent in many ways, because it also says that we need to become like children. So you have to read the Bible for all its worth, and understand what it means in every particular context. So there has to be a proper balance in understanding God's Word. My own life's experience has proven to me the truth of these words. When I was 18 years old, God began to really call me and work with me at that time, to work with me very intimately.

I was being drawn to God, I was responding to God, but I was also resisting God at the time. I developed a personal relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ, and I began the process of changing my young 18-year-old evil heart to a clean and a pure heart. And at age 60, I am still in the process of changing a potentially evil 60-year-old heart into a pure and clean heart.

I'm not there yet. I'm still fighting the good fight. And we're all fighting the good fight. We're all striving to become more pure, more clean, more righteous, more faithful. And we must continue to fight the good fight. And God will give us victory in the end, ultimately, if we're truly yielded to Him and to His Spirit in us.

So, at age 18, I came to see and to believe that I was very selfishly motivated. As a teenager, I had to look inside my heart and my mind, and I had to admit that I was very, very selfishly motivated as a teenager, and that I needed to make changes in my life. And I needed to commit myself to something greater than my own pursuits, my own human pursuits. So, I made those decisions early in my life. I'm grateful that I did. It's been a wonderful blessing. It doesn't mean that it hasn't been a bumpy road at times, because surely it has been.

But I'm grateful to God that I'm continuing to move down that road that leads to eternal life. And true happiness in God's kingdom for eternity. It is my continual prayer that God will create in me a clean heart. And that's my continual prayer for all of you, that God will create in you a pure, clean, spiritual heart that turns to Him and to His Son, Jesus Christ. Some years ago, when my son Matthew was age 5, that's been quite a while ago, he's in his 30s now.

At about age 5, he said something to me that I found to be extremely profound. It was after I had to discipline my son, I had to correct him, because even though I love him greatly, and because I love him greatly, I had to correct him, because he had broken a rule, a law, he had disobeyed me.

I can't even remember what it was about. But I remember something that my son said afterwards. He was contemplating everything. And he said to me, Dad, it's hard to be good. It is hard to be good. You know, I find that even true today, it's not easy to be good. It's difficult. It's hard. It's a struggle. So, at 5 years old, my son basically acknowledged that he had a heart that was deceitful, above all things, and desperately wicked. It was hard to be good. It didn't come naturally. In Numbers chapter 15, there was a man who had broken the Sabbath, and they went to God and asked what should be done with him. He was gathering sticks on the Sabbath.

He was in direct violation against what God had told them was appropriate and acceptable to do on the Sabbath. And God told him to take him out and stone him. And that's what they did. They took him out and stoned him. This is the children of Israel. And in verse 39, if we'll go there briefly, Numbers chapter 15 verse 39.

Now, I know that seems harsh today. We are living at a different time. We're under the New Covenant. It's not the same. This was the children of Israel that were in a relationship with God. They were to be an example to God. They were to work together to set an example for the whole world. They failed miserably in doing that. I'm sure God was trying to get through to them and set an example here about how serious he was about violating his covenants and his laws and his commandments.

And in Numbers chapter 15 verse 39, here it says, And you shall have the tassel that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord. So it was an outward sign to remember God's commandments that they were told to do at that time. To remember the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined.

And that was so true about the children of Israel. They committed spiritual idolatry and adultery, and they were just very disobedient and rebellious toward God. So that you will not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined. And that you may remember and do all my commandments and be holy for your God.

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God. And God is a holy God. And we are to become like Him. Now, we don't live under the same set of rules now. Obviously, we don't take people out and stone them when they sin against God. That doesn't mean they won't pay a price for their sin, because God is well aware of everything that goes on in our lives.

But God loves us, and Christ died for us. And because of that wonderful sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our sins may be forgiven. When we go to God with a repentant heart and a repentant mind, then our sins are forgiven. And the death penalty is not exacted upon us at that time. But God is deadly serious about His laws and His commandments. They cause the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. So, it is very, very important that we do not take God's law lightly, and that we do not take His commandments lightly.

In Jeremiah 31, God says, I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah and with the house of Israel. And that new covenant is actually begun within the Church of God. We are under the new covenant. In Jeremiah 31, but it is also talking of a time in the future when Christ returns, there will be the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

God is going to write His laws in their hearts and in their minds. Jeremiah 31, let's take a moment to look at that. Jeremiah 31, beginning in verse 34. Jeremiah 31, verse 34. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, No, the Lord, for they shall all know me. Now, this isn't true today. Not all people know the Eternal. They don't understand who God is. But that time is coming. They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.

Their sin I will remember no more. Thus says the Eternal, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea and its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is His name. Looking down into verse 30.

I didn't want to read all that. Let's see. Yeah, actually I wanted to stop right there. Let's just leave it at that. I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah, with the house of Israel. Verse 34. I will write these things in their hearts and in their minds. And then in Ezekiel 36, it says, A new heart I will give you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. That's in Ezekiel 36 and verse 26. God is in the process of taking the stony heart away from those who are to be the firstfruits, those who are called now and chosen to receive the Spirit of God.

At this time, God is taking the stony heart out and replacing it with a malleable, soft heart that turns to God. And that is the type of heart that you and I need to have. A soft, malleable, loving, kind, compassionate, but also an obedient heart, yielded to the Spirit of God.

So that first point is the first step. Again, the first step in changing your heart from a deceitful one to a pure and clean heart is to believe what God says. He says the human heart is deceitful. It's wicked. And we need to learn to change our thinking. Remember what it says in Philippians 2.5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

We are to put on the mind of our Savior Jesus Christ, who never sinned, who was sinless. So this is a battle that we must fight every single day of our lives. And we must be willing to admit when we sin. We must be willing to take ownership for our sins, for our evil thoughts, for our evil ways. We must go to God and pray for repentance when we sin, and pray that God will grant us repentance. And of course, He's going to do that if we have a heart that turns to Him when we sin. We should strive not to sin. Yes, it's far better not to sin, obviously.

Far better not to sin, but because we are all still flesh, there will be times when we will sin against God. But if we become hard-hearted and try to hide the fact that we've sinned and don't admit it, that's when we're in real jeopardy of God taking His Spirit away from us. So, brethren, we do need to take these things seriously. The first step, again, is to know that you have a deceitful, wicked heart.

Secondly, the second step in changing our heart from one that is deceitful and wicked is to make a lifelong commitment in the waters of baptism. Now, I know many of you have done that. In fact, most of you here have already done that. You've made that commitment, but some have not yet made that commitment. So, I would encourage you, after proper counsel, after you really fully understand what it is you're getting yourself into, and you know what God expects, then make that commitment. Be baptized. Receive God's Holy Spirit. Be sanctified and set apart for a special, holy purpose.

To become like God and to change that wicked, evil heart to one that is pure, you cannot do it without God's help. You can't do it without His Spirit. It takes the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is what sanctifies us and sets us apart. It is that earnest, that down payment that makes it possible for us to enter God's kingdom. When Christ returns, those who are dead in Christ will come out of the grace first.

They will rise to meet Christ in the air. Those who are alive will be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, if they have that Spirit of God dwelling in them when Christ returns. So, we do need to make a lifelong commitment to obey God and follow Him.

On the day of Pentecost, probably in 31 AD, thousands of people were pricked in their hearts. It says they were pricked inside their human hearts by God's Spirit that was working in them. Not yet dwelling in them, but working with them and pricking their hearts and calling them into a life of faithfulness and obedience. So, they ask, what shall we do? And what did Peter say in Acts 2, verse 38 and 39?

Peter said, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit will be given those who truly repent of their sins and are going to change their lives and are committed, the 10% who are committed to changing.

I don't know what the percentages are in this regard, but I know the percentages are pretty low, really, of those who truly accept God's Spirit in our state and stay faithful. I don't know, again, what the percentages are. God knows. But I know that it is important that we do stay faithful. And God may not give His Spirit to many people because they won't respond. Even some who are baptized, if they really haven't repented, if they haven't truly accepted Christ as their Savior, then God's not going to give them His Spirit in the first place. God knows one's heart. He looks at our heart and knows whether or not we're repentant people and whether or not we've accepted Christ as our Savior.

So God is in control of all that, and thankfully, He is. God knows His children. So the promise is yours to accept or reject. God has a promise. You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. If you've repented of your sins, if you've accepted Christ as your Savior, then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And if you make this commitment in faith, you will stay faithful if you stay close to God and make it your daily walk and are humble and yielded to God's Spirit within you.

So as we yield, God's Spirit changes our heart. But we have to be willing to yield and to submit and, frankly, to learn to surrender to God and to allow God to guide us, to direct us. We must acknowledge Him in all that we do, in every step that we take. That's our goal in life, is to acknowledge Him in all things and to walk faithfully with Him. On that day of Pentecost, over 3,000 people made this lifelong commitment and were baptized as a symbol of that commitment. No doubt they were all persecuted for the choice they made that day.

Undoubtedly, some of them even lost their lives and were martyred for their beliefs and for their commitment. The commitment that they made to change their hearts. Even the Apostle Paul was persecuting some of them himself for a time until he was struck down on the road to Damascus. So they were persecuted because the human heart is desperately wicked. Paul had to realize that his human heart was deceitful and desperately wicked.

He was persecuting the very people of God, the children of God. Are we any different from Paul? We all have that same struggle. Now, in my own life, at age 19, I made that lifelong commitment. I was baptized at that time. I didn't grow up in God's church, but I was young. I was a teenager. God showed me at a very young age that I did need to change my life for the better. I've never regretted that decision. I know all of you who have been faithful in the church for so many years, you haven't regretted that decision. You can identify with what I'm saying because you have your own story of how God called you and how he chose you, how he sanctified you, how he set you apart, and how you've been learning to walk with him, and that God is changing your heart step by step.

You're becoming purer in the way that you look at things and the way that you think, and how you treat one another, and how you yield to God, and how you become faithful and obedient in greater ways than you're able to in the past. So it's a testimony to God's Spirit working in you and with you, and you also yielding to God's Spirit in your life.

Also, I came to hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God. There was a fervency, a zeal that God gave me. And it's still there today, and I'm so grateful that it's there. And it's precious to me. We all must be zealous and faithful as we walk with God and as we yield to Him and surrender ourselves to Him more fully.

So a major key to changing, to overcoming, and growing spiritually is to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to have that zeal within us. Only then will we be able to have a clean heart, a pure heart. And I say that, and there are times when I'm so discouraged by my own actions because I'm not perfect. I fall short of God. I fall short of His glory, His perfection. And that's, of course, when I need to go to my knees and ask God to forgive me for wrong thoughts and wrong actions.

Brethren, if you desire to please God and serve Him, you'll learn to feed your spiritual heart. And that's actually the third step, is learning to feed your spiritual heart. The second step is making that lifelong commitment. And the third step is then knowing and realizing that you have to continually feed that spiritual heart with the things that will allow it to become pure, that will allow it to flourish, that will allow it to become softer and more malleable and more yielded to God. So I'd like to introduce the third step to changing your heart by sharing with you an old Indian legend. Some of you, no doubt, probably most of you have heard this legend before. A grandfather was talking to his grandson. He said, Grandson, there are two wolves living in my heart, and they are at war with each other. Two wolves in my heart, they are at war with each other. One is vicious, one is cruel, the other is wise and kind. Grandfather said the alarmed grandson, which one will win? The wicked one, the evil one, the vicious one, the cruel one, or the one that is wise and kind and loving?

The grandfather paused for a moment and said, the one that will win is the one that I feed. It's the one that I feed. If we feed the Spirit of God by yielding to God's Spirit, if we yield to God's Holy Spirit, then we're feeding our heart on something that's strong and good and right and pure. So the third step is to changing your heart from a deceitful, wicked heart to one that is pure and clean, is to continually feed your heart with pure, clean thoughts and actions. That's what you need to be meditating upon and dwelling upon. And of course, also keeping company with people of like mind as best you can. That doesn't mean we can come out of the world. It doesn't mean that we cut ourselves off from the world. No, we have to rub shoulders with people. And remember, God loves all people. We need to set an example. We need to be a shining light to the people around us. Not cut ourselves off from them, but set a wonderful example. But we also have to spend adequate time with each other so that we can be strong and faithful for all people. So again, that third step is to feed. In Philippians 4, verses 6-9, and again, you've heard me talk about this Scripture many times in Philippians 4, verses 6. It tells us what we should meditate upon. But are we doing it faithfully? Are we really practicing this verse in our lives? I guarantee if you're practicing these verses that are given here, inspired by God, written by Paul, in Philippians 4, verse 6, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So this is a person that is seeking God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their might. They're turning to God with their hearts and their souls and their minds. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts. God will guard your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ. And that's how we can change our hearts by guarding our minds, by being careful what we do with our hearts and minds. And finally, brethren, Paul says, whatever things are pure, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report. If there is any virtue, if there's anything that's praiseworthy, then think on those things. Meditate on those things. Don't allow yourself to feed on Satan's thoughts and his actions.

Satan is the prince of the power of the air. He broadcasts in moods and in attitudes. You have to fight back. You have to be tuned in to God's wavelength, if you're going to have a pure heart and a pure mind. So, honestly, look at yourself. Evaluate your heart and your mind. Just pass over season and repent.

Repent where you fall short. Ask God to give you a clean heart, a pure heart, one that is truly turned to God.

The third step, again, in changing is to feed ourselves with pure, clean thoughts and actions. The fourth step in changing our heart to one that is pure, clean, is to keep that commitment that you made at baptism. Keep it every single day. Be ever mindful of that commitment. God gives us a yearly reminder. But, you know, if we're straying from God, throughout the year, eventually we're going to stop keeping the Passover. Eventually, it's going to happen to us, as it's happened to so many others who once sat in the same type of chair you're sitting in. It's so important that we are faithful to this commitment that we made at baptism. If we yield to God and allow Him to help us, it is possible to never turn from that commitment. Repentance is the key to never turning a daily repentance, a daily seeking God and repenting continually. Every time we sin, our heart should be smitten. Our heart should be stricken. We should say, Father, what can I do as our heart is pricked by our sins? Every single day, every single sin, every ungodly thought, we're to bring every thought into captivity, unto the obedience of our Savior Jesus Christ. That is just exactly what it means. We have to be vigilant, ever vigilant, ever, ever vigilant, or Satan will get a foothold in our lives and we'll begin thinking like him. Destructive thoughts. He is the destroyer. We must not give Him any place. Resist the devil, resist Satan, and he will flee from you. But if you don't resist him, and that means every day, every thought, if you don't resist him, then you're drawing nearer to him. The Bible says, draw near to God. He will draw near to you. You draw near to Him by analyzing your every thought. That's why Christ said what He did in the Sermon on the Mount. He showed that if a person looks at a woman to lust for them, they've already committed adultery. If they harbor hatred and resentment, they've already murdered that person in their hearts. And you can take every one of God's Ten Commandments and you can see the Spirit of the Law there. And that's what we need to be doing this Passover season. We need to dissect those Ten Commandments and ask ourselves, where have I been falling short? What have I been doing? Let's repent of these evil thoughts, these evil actions that so easily beset us, the sin that easily besets us. Let's be honest with ourselves. Sin easily besets us. We have to turn from our sins. This Passover season, let us walk worthy. Remember the Passover, the sermons I've been giving, three sermons about walking worthy. Let's keep the Passover worthily, in a worthy manner. Brethren, with God's help, we can all do this. With God's help, we can all be faithful. I implore you to repent of your sins and to draw near to God. For He will truly draw near to you. I don't have time to go through Psalm 51. I ask that you do that this Passover season. Go through it verse by verse. David was called a man after God's own heart. And it's largely because of the attitude that's displayed when he finally owned up to his sin. And, frankly, it took him a while. And he was in jeopardy of having the Spirit of God taken away from him. Let's be careful not to go down that road, brethren. We have God's Spirit working with us, dwelling in us. Let us draw nearer to God. Let us be faithful to God. So, brethren, God does look on the heart, and so should we this Passover season. Ninety percent of those who have heart bypass surgery don't change their lifestyle dramatically. But remember, there are 10 percent who will change. There are 10 percent who do change. We have to be among those 10 percent spiritually who will change, who will repent of their sins.

Once upon a time, there was a man who was in a hospital bed on the eve of open heart surgery. A man asked his cardiologist, this man asked him, Can you fix my heart? Can you fix me, Doc? The physician, who was known for being short and to the point, didn't have great bedside manner, said, Sure, certainly, I can fix your heart. Well, after the very long surgery, after the man who had the bypass surgery came out of his anesthesia, after he went through recovery, and the doctor was talking to him, he asked the doctor, He said, Doctor, in light of the blocked arteries that I had when I came into the hospital, How much blood supply do I now have? You know, how much do I have? The doc said, As much as you'll ever need. That's all he said, As much as you'll ever need. So, of course, the wife had to get involved, and she asked the doctor, What about my husband's future quality of life? What can we expect? The doctor paused, and he said, I fixed his heart. The quality of life is up to him. The blood was flowing through the veins, but how was he going to live the rest of his life? Was he going to live in a manner that would keep that blood flowing? Or would he go back to that lifestyle that was hurting him, that was killing him? These are good questions to ask ourselves in regard to our spiritual heart. The quality of our lives is largely up to us individually. We make choices that affect our lives. We've all made wrong choices at times. But with God's mercy and forgiveness, we are allowed to repent. We're not taken out and stoned when we sin. We can be grateful for that. We're under the new covenant. God is gracious. God is merciful. It is the same God. God was just working in different ways at different times. But the message should be clear. God hates sin. God wants us to come out of our sins. God wants us to repent of our sins. God wants us to get rid of that stony heart. He wants us to have a heart that's soft and malleable, that turns to Him, that learns to live by every word written in the book, so that we may have our names written in the book of life, and that our names will never be blotted out, but they will remain. And we shall truly be among the firstfruits when Christ returns. So, brethren, this is a holy and a mighty calling. But it takes responsibility. We have a responsibility to turn to God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our might, to have the zeal that is so necessary to make the changes that we all need to make.