God and the Hearts of Men

Well take your Bible and turn back with me to where we were earlier. And like I said we're gonna be in Proverbs 21. We're gonna be in Proverbs 16. Now I don't want you to have to turn back and forth but you know you can kind of mark that spot. We'll go back and forth a little bit but then we'll kind of stay in one place really throughout the message. Now if you were able to listen to last week's message you know that we were in Proverbs 21 verse 1. Really and truly I wanted to cover verse 1 and verse 2 but it just got a little longer and I felt like we needed to make sure we took the time with Proverbs verse 21 verse 1.

Now if you've not listened to that message I strongly encourage you to do so. Last week what we looked at was called God in the hearts of kings. God in the hearts of kings. I pointed out one big thing that we've really seen in this COVID-19 pandemic. Really that is big government. Now there's a lot that we've seen but we've seen lots of big government. Really bigger government. Some people use this phrase called a big brother. I think you know what I mean. I know I've talked about this with some of you me and here and some other me and a life of the church.

We've seen lots of government overreach on the federal level, state level and and lots of levels in government. Some but not all. I will say this I'm very thankful for how our governor has handled this. I really kept up with things he has done. I think he's done a good job and you know in the middle of a global pandemic how do you prepare for that. You can't prepare for it. But I do think that our governor has done a good job. But I do believe that we've seen big government and I think we've seen bigger government. I think we've seen a lot of government overreach. All that's come out of as a result of this global pandemic and I don't like it.

Most of you don't like it. That's another subject for another day. But I want you to see something else that's come out of this pandemic. Okay. I'm shifting here. We see more and more divisions in politics. Do we not? We see more and more civil unrest when we look at the news. More and more fighting. More and more unrest in society. Really even more and more lawlessness. Now if we really understand all those things biblically we see that this global pandemic is revealing the sinfulness of man and the sinfulness of sin in the world and the sinfulness of mankind in general. The world and mankind have always been fallen ever since Genesis 3.

We know that. That's the result of sin. It is just that the pandemic has highlighted that sinfulness and really it's caused that sinfulness to grow even more. Of course we know the source of it all. All of this sin, all of this rebellion comes from the sinful hearts of men. Their actions reflect rebellious sinful hearts. So the source of all of it is the human heart. Now on a more personal level what about our hearts? What about your heart? What about my heart? We have circumstances in our lives. Do we not? Don't we have trials? Don't we have tribulations? Don't we have opportunities? Good and bad? Don't we have disappointments?

We have relationships good and bad all throughout our life. You might say something like this, "Well pastor you're just talking about life." Especially some of you who've lived a little longer. You're just talking about life. Well yes it is life. But you need to see, we need to see that life reveals our hearts as well. You see, life reveals our hearts. Life highlights who you are and can cause your sin and your sinfulness to grow even more. Life reveals the human heart. I'll give you an example. Whether it be a man or a woman, you take a person who's kind of mean, kind of bitter. Well if things don't go right in their job, what happens?

They become even more mean and bitter. I mean I've seen that in all kinds of places in life. What am I showing you? Circumstances will reveal what's in the heart and even exaggerate that which is in the heart. Now last week we examined earthly kings, governors, and rulers out of Proverbs 21 verse 1 and we examined those rulers in light of God's sovereignty. Simply the hearts of earthly rulers are in the hands of God and the verse says that God steers the hearts of kings and rulers for his purposes and for his plans. And let me tell you something, this is very, very comforting. It is very comforting.

It doesn't matter what our president does or any ruler around the world. Their hearts are like waters in the hands of God. He steers them right where he wants them to go and be. I was talking with one of the men of our church last night after our Zoom small group meeting and he was just reflecting that truth, talking about job and different things going on in his life. He said I'm not worried. God's in control. Now tonight we're gonna look at man's heart, man's heart in light of God's sovereignty. Now just, just not just that God governs man's hearts. We looked at that last week.

Just like last week we learned some vital information but tonight it really kind of goes hand in hand and we're gonna look at some different but yet similar vital information. The title of what we're gonna look at tonight is similar to last week. I'm calling this God in the hearts of men. God in the hearts of men. You really can almost say it like this. Last week's message and tonight's message kind of go together. God in the hearts of kings, verse 1. God in the hearts of men, verse 2. Now I said this earlier tonight everything's gonna come out of two passages, really two passages and more. Proverbs 21 verse 2 and 16 verse 2.

It's kind of the home base and like I always say if I'm referring to a verse, reading a verse, you write that down. We want to be good students. You go back and study it. It all comes together for one message. Now I'm gonna go back and read the verses. I'm gonna read them but I'm gonna read them in the English Standard Version and the New American Standard. Many times I use the New American, many times they use the ESV. That's kind of my primary translations. So listen to verse 2 in the ESV. Every man, every way of a man is right in his own eyes but the Lord weighs the heart.

The New American reads every man's way is right in his own eyes but the Lord weighs the hearts. I mean so similar you might not even notice the difference. But notice Proverbs 16 verse 2, the English Standard Version. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes but the Lord weighs the Spirit. The New American Standard. All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight but the Lord weighs the motives. Different words, different phrases but it says the same thing. Solomon is teaching the same truths in both of these passages. Now tonight let me show you how we're gonna look at these verses. They come out of both.

These are two major truths in our outline. We're gonna look at number one, man's faulty assessment. We see that at the beginning of both verses and then number two, God's righteous judgment. Now I'm not gonna read the verses. We've read them multiple times. I'm just gonna go through how I'm going to divide them. You can look back as we go and see where it's coming out of the Scriptures. So number one, we have what I'm calling man's faulty assessment. Kind of a longer version of that truth. You see it before you. Man's faulty assessment of his own heart and his own life. Isn't that what we see at the beginning of those verses?

Verse one and verse two. Man's faulty assessment of his own heart and his own life. I think it's clear that Solomon is pointing out a problem that man has. Self-deception. He's deceived by himself. Man lacks the ability to make a proper assessment of his own heart. Now notice the beginning of the verses talks about man's actions but at the end of the verses it talks about a man's hearts. You see Solomon knows that it is out of the heart that the actions come. Do we not know that? It's out of the heart that a man's actions come. Now question. Why does man make a faulty assessment of his own heart? Why?

Why does a man make a faulty assessment of his own heart? Well it's one little word, three little word, a pretty bad word, sin. Sin. The nature of his own heart which is sin. The condition of his own heart which is sinfulness. Alone man can never, and I emphasize that word, man can never make a proper assessment of his own heart because of the utter sinfulness of his own heart. Now here I'm really going to grab a bunch of verses and I'm going to show us the reason why man can't make that proper assessment. Really you could go on and on and on here so just follow me.

We're not going to take too much time but we're going to see why a man, he cannot make a proper assessment of his heart. First man's heart is deceitful with sin. Man's heart is deceitful with sin. Many of you know this verse you might even know I'm going to use it by saying this word deceitful Jeremiah 17 9. Jeremiah says the heart, this is the heart of a man, is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. The King James uses the word wicked. Who can understand it? Verse 9 is in contrast to what Jeremiah said in verse 7 and 8.

Jeremiah says the man who trusts in God he is a blessed man and he says that the blessed man is like a strong tree and he's planted by streams of water and that blessed man bears fruit. Sounds a lot like Psalm 1. Remember we studied Psalm 1 a while back but in verse 8 Jeremiah shows us that without God man is incapable of seeing life in a good and godly manner seeing his own life. He is sinful above all things and incurably sick and this is this is from within the man is from with his heart it's a sickness within the human heart. So what do we see?

Man's heart is deceitful, it's deceitful with sin and it is desperately sick with sin but then second man's heart is full of sin. Man's heart is full of sin. Going back a little further here in Genesis 6 5. God's word says the Lord saw that the weakness of man was great in the earth and that every intention or the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Here God is making the proper assessment of man's heart before the flood. This is right before the flood. God saw three things.

First the thoughts of a man's heart was only evil, also man's heart was continually evil and then third he saw that their behavior came out of those sinful hearts. As a matter of fact scholars say that this verse Genesis 6 5 is one of the strongest and clearest verses concerning man's sinful nature. So we see that man's heart is full of sin and then third man's heart is a fountain of sin. We see this in the gospel, the gospel of Mark, Mark 7 verse 21 to 23 and this is Jesus.

He says, "For from within out of the heart of a man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness." Verse 23, "All of these things come from within and they defile a person." So Jesus is saying that out of a man's heart flows. It flows with all sorts of evil and sin. Because a man's heart is defiled or sinful in its very nature and because of that defilement sin of every sort comes out in sinful behavior. I'll give you an example. A man, if he has a heart, a prideful heart, you can't see that prideful heart? No.

If a man has a prideful heart, what happens? Well, prideful behavior comes out. If a man has an adulterous heart, we've studied adultery in our Sermon on the Mount series. If a man has an adulterous heart, you can't see that heart but guess what? It comes out in adulterous behavior. So what do we see? Man's heart is a fountain of sin. Notice, I was really quick here. Man's heart is deceitful with sin. It's desperately sick with sin. Man's heart is full of sin and man's heart is a fountain of sin. And for the sake of time, I'm gonna abbreviate some more that I had in my notes. We need to see more concerning the man's sinful heart.

Man's heart is wayward from God. Psalm 104 verse 4 and Proverbs 6 14. Man's heart is blind with sin. Romans 1 21 and Ephesians 4 18. Man's heart is hard with sin. Psalm 76 verse 5 Mark 6 verse 52. Man's heart is proud with sin. Psalm 101 verse 5 and then Proverbs 18 12. And look, if we keep going through God's Word, we're gonna see more and more. You can say it like this. It just gets worse and worse. It gets worse and worse. Now, sometimes I do this. Just take a step back. Maybe kind of push the notes and push your Bible verses away for just a moment. Take a step back and notice just two verses.

Help us see the meaning of Proverbs 21 verse 2 the beginning and Proverbs 16 verse 2. Jeremiah 17 9 and Genesis 6 5. Jeremiah 17 9 says the heart is deceitful above all things. Desperately sick. Who can understand it? Genesis 6 5 the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was was evil continually. I'm gonna go back to Jeremiah. Who can understand it? God. Only God. So in summary, what do we see here? Man is unable to properly assess his own heart. His heart is deceitful above all things and not what Jeremiah says.

His heart is desperately sick with sin and sinfulness and left to himself. That phrase is key. Left by himself. Man's thoughts and intentions will only be evil and evil continually. Listen folks, this is a proper understanding of man and sinfulness. This relates to the proper doctrine of man, the doctrine of man and sin and a proper understanding of the doctrine of man and sin. Scholars use this phrase, man is utterly sinful. Man is utterly sinful and he will always have a faulty assessment of himself. Now an application, what do we need to learn here? How does this gonna apply to our lives?

Whether you realize it or not, I kind of have this phrase when I'm studying the phrase is so what? So what does it mean to me and you? You know, I can stand up here and tell you what the Bible says but eventually we got to bring it on down to what it means to me and you in everyday life. Isn't that right? First of all, this helps us relate to our culture. Why men and women do what they do. Listen, lost people act like lost people. Lost people in the culture, why do they do what they do? It's because their hearts are utterly sinful.

They're corrupt with sin and listen without the restraint of the Holy Spirit, it's indescribable what mankind will do and so this helps us understand culture. Why sinful people do what sinful people do but then second this helps us relate to people in our lives. Now listen, I'm gonna be become more personal. Our children, our parents, our neighbors and our friends that are lost and without Christ. Listen, the human heart is deceitfully wicked and desperately wicked above all things. The human heart is a fountain of all sorts of sin and sinfulness and without restraint it will be like the people in the days of Noah.

Yes, our own sons and daughters. Every thought and intention wicked, evil and sin continually and listen, this helps us see the lostness of our lost children. This helps us see the lostness of our lost parents, the lostness of our lost neighbors and friends. This just helps whitewash things and helps us to see things biblically and we need to understand the hearts of men. We need to truly know what people really are. This reminds me of my youth ministry days.

It's been a long time since I did student ministry but I did 10 years of student ministry and I would always have moms and dads call me and you know a lot of times moms and dads would call me about problems with their sons or daughters. Most of the time it would be moms calling me with problems with their sons and they would talk about their son, little Johnny this and how he's a good kid and usually they'd caught him doing one or two things and most every time if they told me well I called him doing this or that, almost every time I would interrupt them and I'd say he's been doing three times, ten times as much as you think and if he said he did this one time he did it a hundred and if he said he's done this he's done two or three other things and they would just go oh I can't believe it.

Not my son, he's got a good, he's a good little boy. No he's not. We can't be duped by that kind of thinking and listen we've got to relate to people in our lives properly and we always have to maintain a proper understanding of the human heart but then third an application how we see ourselves. Listen folks we cannot trust our hearts. You cannot trust any human heart. You know these terms you see around you know follow your heart do what your heart tells you to do you better not. You better not.

You'll end up in sin, you'll end up in sin and more sin you'll end up in sin and more sin and more sin you'll end up in jail you'll end up divorce you'll end up hated you'll be ostracized. It will wreck your life. Don't you dare do what your heart tells you to do. Don't you dare follow your heart. Why? It's deceitfully wicked. It's desperately wicked above all things. You know there's a couple of traps here in our way of thinking you know dealing with our heart. We got to be careful. You know we can't look at what we do or what we don't do and use that as a measurement about what our heart is.

No it doesn't matter what you do or what you don't do then you can't look at what others do and what others don't do. I kind of have this phrase if you look to your right you can always find somebody that's better than you. If you look to your left you can always find somebody that's worse than you but you can't look at what you do you can't look at what you don't do and you can't look at what others do and what others don't do you can't do that. That's a trap. Mini traps. Now as I move on notice what we've seen. Man's faulty assessment of his own heart. Man cannot assess his own heart because of his utter sinfulness.

Some theologians use the term total depravity. I prefer the term utterly sinful. He is utterly sinful. Well this is what we have. You and I we cannot act we cannot understand our hearts because of the sinfulness of our hearts. Number two this is dealing with the second part of the verses. God's judgment. God's right judgment or a fuller version. God's righteous judgment of a man's heart and a man's life. Now Solomon offers a contrast here in the second part of the verses where as he says that a man can't assess his own heart accurately. Here Solomon says that God can. Now why? How? How can God do this? Why?

Man cannot because it is utterly he's utterly sinful but God can because God is God. Now I'm going to reach back to something that I said last week and I'm going to add to it. Last week I said that man does not have free will. Strike that out of your vocabulary. Man has a will but not a free will. Okay? Man has a will but not a free will. I said that man has a will but he is bound. All men are bound in two ways. First man is bound by his sinful nature. No matter what you do you cannot will yourself to never sin because you're a slave your sinful nature. So you're bound in by your sinful nature.

And then second man is bound by God's sovereignty. You'll never rise above the sovereignty of God. If man wasn't, if he was not balling chain to his sinful nature and if he could rise above God's sovereignty well then he would be God. Well if a man could accurately assess his own heart according to God's standard well then he would be God. You see? Man never can. If man could evaluate his own heart and come to the right conclusion he would be God. See only God can access the human heart. Only God. Now I want to look at this verse in two ways.

I'm gonna look at this verse in two ways and really I'm gonna reach back to another verse in Proverbs. Proverbs 17 3. You can go back and study it on your own. But in Proverbs 17 verse 3 first we see that God he tests the heart. I'm gonna read the verse. "The crucible is for silver and the furnace is for gold. The Lord tests the heart." So first we see God tests the heart. Now here in this verse we have a very important picture. We have the picture of one who is refining precious metals such as silver or gold.

The refiner puts the metal in the furnace so as to liquefy that metal and the refiner can see then if the metal has any impurities because the impurities rise to the top he can then skim the impurities off the top out of the metal so the refiner tests that metal he tries that metal and listen it's an accurate assessment because he can see its purity. Well what is Solomon teaching here in Proverbs 17 verse 3? "It is God that tests and tries the human heart." And listen he does this in a whole host of ways. I'll give you two. Circumstances in life. Circumstances tried test the heart and look and it reveals what's in the heart.

What happens to that metal? The impurity comes to the surface. What happens when circumstances come to your life? Sin comes to the top. But then also the Word of God. The Word of God will bring impurities to the top. You see? So it is God that tests and tries and examines and reveals the purity of the human heart. And then second God weighs the human heart. Now we're back in Proverbs 21 verse 2. "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes but the Lord weighs the heart." Now here in chapter 21 verse 2 and chapter 16 verse 2 we have a picture. We have a picture of something being weighed or balanced or measured.

Scales were very common in that day. Now I give you an example. What they would do is they had these balancing scales. They would have weights on one side. I'm going to use a an example that we can identify with. You know we buy a five pound bag of sugar. Isn't that right? It's probably about four pounds by the time we get it home because there's always a little hole in the bottom and it just leaks out everywhere it gets on the floor. But you know we buy a five pound bag of sugar. So in the market in that day they would have balancing scales.

Well they would measure out five pounds of sugar and then have a found five pound weight on the other side and it would show that you're getting five pounds. You see? Now that's a crude way of explaining it but that's an accurate way of explaining it. You see? So what do we see here? Here in the verse we see that God Himself weighs the human's heart. He weighs a man's heart to examine and to judge and to show what the human heart is. Now I question what is on the other side of the scale? Remember I said if we're buying five pounds of sugar there's gonna be a five pound weight. Isn't that right? What's on the other side of the scale here?

Man weighs or balances his heart up against his perceived good deeds. Man, he will weigh and balance his heart up against his neighbor's good deeds or bad deeds. Well what does God do? What does He weigh or balance up against God's a man's heart? Listen, if it's not man's good deeds or man's bad deeds, if it's not the deeds of others, what is He used? God measures a man's heart up against his perfect standard, his perfect word. Give you an illustration. The Sermon on the Mount. We've been diligently studying the Sermon on the Mount. The Jewish standard was based on outward religious works, not the inside of a man's heart.

Jesus is bringing about this new standard which is really God's standard as opposed to their standard. Now let me give you a specific. The Jews, they said if a man had not murdered then he was good. He kept the commandment. But Jesus comes along and he says if you've hated someone in your heart then you are a murderer. You're guilty. And what did Jesus do? He tested them and he weighed them according to God's perfect standard. He was examining their hearts and their deeds and they were found in want. So in summary, what do we see here? God is able to test the human heart accurately to determine its purity.

God is able to weigh the human heart and accurately determine how it balances up against his perfect standard. Listen, this is a perfect righteous judgment of a man's heart and it only comes from God. Listen folks, God is the only one that can judge the heart. This relates to the doctrine of man again and his utter sinfulness but it also relates to the doctrine of God. God is God and no one else is God. Now an application, what do we see here? This will be a little shorter. A counselor, they can't judge your heart. You know it's popular for people to go to counselors.

I'm not against that but you know a counselor can ask all the right questions but he can't examine and test what's in your heart. No. A pastor, you can counsel with your pastor. I've counseled with lots of people. I'm available for that but I can't examine your heart, test your heart, tell you what's in your heart. A good trust and friend can't. A spouse can't. Your parents can't. No man can. Only God can. I've got a good friend of mine, good friend of brother Keith's, pastor friends named Josh Meadows. He's just been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

You know March the 14th was our first Sunday here and my friend Josh was coming through town with his wife and they visited with us. He sat right over here. I kind of picked on him because he's a pastor and he was on vacation so he wasn't in his pastor clothes. He was in his very casual clothes. I just kind of picked on him about it. But our friend Josh has been diagnosed with a brain tumor but he had been misdiagnosed for a while. They were trying to treat him for two or three other things. Now a question was it because of a bad doctor or was he going to the wrong doctor?

But look ultimately he had to go to the right doctor who had the ability to diagnose the problem accurately and properly. And look the same goes for us. We have a sickness and it is called sinfulness. The sinfulness of the human heart. We have a cancer. We have a disease and listen it is utterly sinful. Our hearts are utterly sinful and there is only one who can properly examine and judge the human heart. Now in conclusion what are we to do? There's a whole host of ways we should respond. I'm gonna narrow it down to just two ways with two people.

First of all if you're not converted, if you're not born of God, if you've not been born of the Spirit, if you're not a new creation in Christ, listen you do not know your own heart. You can't. There's no way you can. You see that? Truthfully you should be scared to death. You should be scared to death in every way and you need the Holy Spirit of God to do a work in your heart to show you your heart and to examine your heart and to just give you the ability to see your heart and listen if he does that you should rush to Christ for salvation.

That is your only hope and listen my friend if you've not been born of God, born of the Spirit, don't you dare trust your human heart. Don't you dare trust the way you'll rationalize and compare yourself. Don't trust yourself. Well then second for us who are Christians. We really and truly need to do two things because you know really we're not perfect. We're in Christ but we still have that sinful nature that we have to war against. We really need to make sure we do two things. First of all, 1st John chapter 1 verse 7. We need to walk in the light as he is the light. That's fellowship with Christ. We walk with Jesus and then 2nd John 17 17.

We are sanctified by the word of the truth, by God's Word. You see we need to walk with God in God's Word. Listen it is I can't emphasize how important it is for us to be in God's Word in the morning, in the day, in the night, every single day. Listen we must walk with Christ. If we're born again the Holy Spirit of God lives within us and we walk with Christ and we're in God's Word. Listen that's why it's so very important to come to corporate worship. We don't sing for a feeling. We come to to be with each other sure but we're always going to be in under God's Word. I'm always going to teach you God's Word.

We can't get enough of God's Word and so we walk with Christ. We walk with the light as he is the light and the Spirit of God corrects us and counsels us and teaches us and he takes the Word which is God's perfect standard and it is a mirror for us. It shows us who we are and who God wants us to be and you see we walk with Christ the work of spirit the Spirit of God in us and the work of the Word of God in us examining us and exposing us and exchanging our hearts for a heart like his and yes he deals with our attitudes he deals with our motives he deals with our thoughts he deals with who we are.