"Just Follow Your Heart" | The Bible Doesn't Say That | Trinity Sermons

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This week we're continuing our sermon

series, The Bible Doesn't Say That, where we

look at things that sound really spiritual but

aren't actually scriptural. Follow your heart.

That's something you've probably heard in the

world. It's something that is the topic of a

lot of popular music. But is that really in the

Bible? Turns out it's not. In fact, the Bible

says your heart is deceitful above all else.

So are we supposed to follow our heart? What

is the way of Jesus? Tune in as Rob unpacks these

questions and more. Today's reading is from the

Gospel of John, chapter 16, verses 7 and 8 and

John 16:7

12 to 15. Jesus said, the Holy Spirit won't come.

If I do go away, then I will send him to you.

And when he comes, he will convict the world

of its sin and of God's righteousness and of

the coming judgment. There is so much more I

want to tell you, but I can't bear it now. When

the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you

into all truth. He will not speak on his own,

but will tell you what he has heard. He will

tell you about the future. He will bring me glory

by telling you whatever he receives from me.

All that belongs to the Father is mine. This

is why I said, the Spirit will tell you whatever

he receives from me. The word of the Lord. in

the middle of a teaching series that we're calling

The Bible Doesn't Say That. And you guys know

there are certain phrases or verses in the Bible

that maybe actually aren't in the Bible. We just

always thought they were in the Bible. Or they

are in the Bible, but they don't actually mean

what we thought that they meant. Like, you know,

God helps those who help themselves. It's actually

not in the Bible. Or do not judge. It kind of

is in the Bible, but maybe it doesn't mean what

we think it meant. We've been seven weeks at

this now, and there's no end in sight. We're

going to keep on going. We're going to keep on

going. And today, we are tackling a phrase that,

you know, I think many of us have heard. In fact,

in some ways, it's a bit of a creed that our

culture lives by these days. And that is follow

your heart or just follow your heart. You see

this in books. You see it in movies. You hear

it on talk shows. People put it on art and they

stick it on their wall. People get little pieces

of jewelry and they hang it around their neck.

And of course, we also love to sing about following

our heart. I did a little search and there are

some songs out there that are called follow your

heart. I don't know why, but a lot of them seem

to be by these like metal bands that like love

to do these rock ballads. So you got Triumph.

They sing about Follow your heart. There's this

other band called Scorpions, right? It's just

such a weird title. Scorpions. Follow your heart.

It doesn't seem to fit. I don't know. But anyways,

there they are. One that we are probably all

familiar with is Rock Set, right? How many people

here know or remember Rock Set? Do you remember

this big hit by Rock Set? It wasn't called Follow

Your Heart. It was called Listen to Your Heart.

I don't know where you're going, and I don't

know why, but listen to your heart. Come on,

sing it with me. Before you tell him goodbye.

Yeah, off it goes, right? Now, perhaps the most

interesting title I came across for a song about

this was where Reba McEntire and Vince Gill sang

a beautiful country duet called The Heart Won't

Lie. The thing that's interesting about this

title, though, is that's exactly... What I'm

going to say to you today is actually the heart

does lie. And for that reason, I'm sorry, Triumph.

I'm sorry, Scorpion. I'm really sorry, Roxette.

I'm sorry, Reba. But we are going to say that

following your heart might make for a great soundbite

or a great song, but it is not a great way for

you to live your life. Today is actually a really,

really good day to talk about this because today,

as we've already heard, is the day of peace.

Pentecost. And it's the day that we celebrate

that God has actually given us something better

to follow than our hearts. He has given us his

very self in the form of his spirit, his Holy

Spirit that can guide our hearts. So we're going

to get to that in a minute. But the way we're

going to structure today is basically this. I'm

going to talk about the meaning. I'm going to

talk about the mistake, and then I'm going to

talk about the message. What do I mean by that?

Well, what is the meaning of follow your heart?

What do we mean when we say that? Secondly, why

is it a mistake? Why is it really bad advice

to follow our hearts? And then thirdly and finally,

what is the real message? The message of Pentecost?

The message of the Bible? That we should... have

in our hearts as we leave this place today. All

of this is kind of part of the notes that you

were given on the way in. I encourage you to

follow along. We're going to jump right in by

talking about the meaning. What is the meaning

of follow your heart? When we say, hey, just

follow your heart, what are we really saying?

Well, Heart equals desires. That's what the word

heart kind of connects to, this idea that if

we follow our heart, what we're really following

is our wants. We're following our feelings. We're

following all of our emotional impulses. We're

letting our emotions get into the driver's seat

of our life, and we're letting them take the

wheel. We're giving them authority over the decisions

that we make in life. In other words, to follow

your heart is this philosophy that would say

that the heart is actually a very true and reliable

guide of what you really need and want in life.

That's right. To follow your heart means do what

you want to do. Do what feels right. Trust your

gut. Go with your intuition, right? This sounds

so real. And it sounds so authentic. We love

this. This is the kind of thing that you might

expect to find in the Bible. Because lots of

times, you can probably think of times when this

worked for you. You followed your heart and it

worked out. However... It doesn't always work

out, does it? In fact, I would say that most

times it doesn't work out for us to follow our

heart. I'm going to give you a little example.

Let's say you're an accountant and you're a good

accountant. You make a decent salary. You bring

home the bacon for your family. But deep in your

heart, you say, no, that's not my passion. Accounting

is not my passion. My passion is food. I love

food more than anything. And so you've kind of

been thinking about this for a while and you're

like, you know what? I don't want to be an accountant

anymore. I want to be a chef. I'm going to be

a chef and I'm going to open a restaurant. The

only problem is you can't cook. You're a horrible

cook. In fact, like your signature dish is burnt

toast. Or pizza with the cardboard still stuck

to the back of it, right? You want set off a

smoke detector while you are boiling a pot of

water. You are not a good cook, but you want

to follow your heart. So what do you do? You

take out another mortgage on the house. You quit

your job. You take all of your savings and you

open your dream restaurant. The heartbeat. And

you are all in. You are so invested. Now, you

have never run a restaurant before. You've never

done anything like this before. And your menu

is really not so great because somehow you managed

to create spaghetti that is both crunchy and

mushy at the same time. And one of your customers

found a melted plastic spoon inside their lasagna.

And pretty soon, the critics are giving you all

sorts of horrible one -star reviews on Yelp.

They are just absolutely eating you alive. They're

just savage. And pretty soon, nobody's coming.

Pretty soon, your money dries up. Pretty soon,

you have to close the restaurant. And now you

and your family are broke. What went wrong? What

went wrong there? Well, it turns out... Following

your heart can actually be really bad advice.

You probably know someone, or maybe it's been

you, and you followed your heart once into a

career you thought was going to be so fulfilling

because you just followed your heart and you

had that sense this is where God was leading

you, but only you soon were overwhelmed and you

were completely unqualified. Or you followed

your heart into a relationship. Oh, your eyes

locked across the room and you knew just like

that, this was the person for you. You followed

your heart. And then a little while later, when

things got really toxic, you were like, what

have I done? Or maybe you followed your heart

into a big purchase. You know, I feel like it's

time to upsize. It's time to kind of get a bigger

house or to get a bigger car. And you followed

your heart. But in the end, you just wound up

broke. Or maybe you followed your heart because

you had this sense that God was calling you on

an adventure to move to a brand new city. I have

this sense God is calling me. My heart is telling

me you're going to start over in a new city,

but only to find out later that you felt really

isolated and really lonely and disconnected.

What is going on? How does this happen? Well,

it first happens because of this. Our desires

might be real, but they are not always reliable.

Just because you feel something deep down doesn't

mean it's true. Desires are real, yes, but the

Bible tells us they can also deceive us. Your

desires can actually convince you that something

harmful is good, that something temporary is

worth giving it all for, that something selfish

is noble. You know, your heart plays tricks on

you. That's why Jeremiah said, the heart is deceitful

above all things. That statement is exactly the

opposite of Reba McEntire's song title. She said,

the heart doesn't lie. This says, the heart is

deceitful above all things. I'm so sorry, Reba,

but you know this is true because you yourself

have convinced yourself. at times, to do things

that you knew were wrong, right? And you just

have this way. We all have this way of deceiving

ourselves. Here's an example. On every street

corner in this town is a Tim Hortons. You walk

into a Tim Hortons and there's this big tray

of donuts that are staring up at you. You don't

need a donut. You don't. No one has ever in the

history of the world needed a donut, but that

doesn't matter. You want the donut. You want

the donut. And so you're going to now go through

this exercise where you're going to convince

yourself that you actually should get the donut.

You're going to say something like, oh, well,

they're so small. I mean, look, they're just

tiny little, tiny little donuts. Plus, they have

a hole in the middle. It's mostly air anyways

in there, right? And, you know, maybe if I get

a Diet Coke or a Diet Pepsi or something with

it, then it'll kind of cancel each other out.

And if I look at my Fitbit, it says that I've

already walked like 6 ,000 steps today. And then

sometimes people even get biblical about it.

They'll be, oh, well, you know, God. The Bible

does say God gave us all things for our pleasure

and our enjoyment, and I want to enjoy a donut.

And so there you have done it. Your heart has

done this little deception thing, convinced you

to do something that you really don't need to

do. Now that, of course, silly example. But it's

not silly when your heart convinces you to pursue

a relationship that you shouldn't pursue. It's

not silly when your heart convinces you to purchase

something. you really shouldn't buy. To visit

a website, you really shouldn't go to. See, our

hearts lie to us. And if we follow them, we will

end up in a very bad place. You know, James said

this. He said, each person is tempted. When they're

dragged away by what? By their own evil desire

and enticed. And then after desire, this is our

hearts he's talking about, has conceived, it

gives birth to sin. And sin ultimately gives

birth to death. Now that is something. Sin and

death. You trace it back, it all starts with

our misplaced desire. That is the first mistake

we can make and why we should never just follow

our hearts. And that is because our desires may

be real, but they are not reliable. But secondly,

a second mistake why we shouldn't just follow

our hearts is that... Our hearts aren't as pure

as we think. Now, I know that motivational speakers

and musicians tell us that in our hearts, that

is ground zero for purity. You want to know where

the pure you is, where all goodness really resides?

Go to the heart. That's what we are told. But

in truth, our hearts are not always beautiful.

In fact, they can be pretty messed up places,

our hearts. Jesus said, for out of the heart

come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual

immorality, theft, false testimony, lying, cheating,

slander. Our hearts are a dumpster fire and these

are all the fumes that are like floating up into

the air. All of our spiritual problems ultimately

trace back to our heart problems. And if you

take it all the way to the end of the road, ultimately

our hearts are willing to rebel against God completely.

A fool says, not in his mind, a fool says in

his heart, there is no God. That is your heart

speaking. Your heart can turn its back on God.

So I'm just trying to say, your heart's not always

a pretty place. There's lots of gross stuff going

in there all the time. Even think about the last

week. Think about your own heart this past week.

How were your thoughts and your attitudes? Were

they always kind? Were they always generous?

Or... When that guy, or you know, that guy who

cut you off in traffic, were you like, oh, it's

okay, sir, don't worry about it. You must have

a medical emergency. I'll pray for you. I hope

everything's going well for you. No, you probably

were far less sympathetic, far less pastoral,

said a whole bunch of things that you wish you

hadn't said, right? Because our hearts are actually

this really messed up place. And speaking of

words, look back on your last week. How were

your words? Jesus said that our words spring

from our hearts. So if you look at your words,

you know what's going on in your hearts. Were

all your words encouraging and truthful and nice

and gracious? Or were they critical? Were they

judgy? Were they sarcastic and mean? I am just

saying all this to say that if we actually just

acted out on all the impulses and stuff that

are going on in our heart, even if we did that

just for one week, we would be in such a load

of trouble by now. So no, our hearts aren't as

pure as we think. So the third reason, though,

why we can't just follow our hearts, why that

is a mistake, is simply this, that our hearts

are built to follow, not to lead. Another way

to say this, our hearts are built to be led,

not to lead us. Right? Let me show you a couple

examples here. If you look in the book of Proverbs,

Solomon says, listen, my son, and be wise and

direct. Your heart and the way. Notice he says,

you have to direct your heart. You can't just

follow your heart. You have to steer your heart

in the right way. Or trust in the Lord with all

your heart. He doesn't say trust in your heart

and let that be your compass. No, he says you

have to trust in something bigger and greater

than your heart. You have to trust in the Lord,

right? There's a huge difference, right? Our

hearts were never meant. to be in the driver's

seat. And when we ask our hearts to lead our

lives, we're asking something of them that they

were never meant to do. Only God can lead your

life. So why is following our hearts a mistake?

One, because our desires, though real, are not

reliable. Two, our hearts are not as pure as

we think. And three, our hearts were designed

to follow something, not to lead us. All those

reasons. The Proverbs sum it all up by saying,

he who trusts in his own heart is a fool. So

we're going to end the sermon there today. Thanks

for coming, everybody. It's been a great Sunday,

and I hope you have a great time out there trying

to follow your hearts and being so foolhardy.

Now, we can't end there, because all we've now

done is name what the problem is. But what we

really came here to do is to figure out what

the solution is, right? If my desires aren't

reliable, if my passions can't be trusted, if

my heart can't be followed, then what do I do?

Who do I follow? How do I live? That is a really

great question. Now, this scripture reference

is wrong. It should say Ezekiel 36, 26, and 27.

Point is, thousands of years ago, A prophet named

Ezekiel predicted a solution to the problem of

the human heart. He said, one day God is going

to send his spirit to change our hearts, even

better, to guide our hearts. God said, one day

I will give you a new heart. And put a new spirit

in you. And I will remove from you your heart

of stone. That's that divided and deceitful heart

that we have. And I will give you a heart of

flesh. And I will put my spirit in you. And get

this. And I will move you to follow my decrees.

You know what he's saying? He's predicting a

day when we will no longer have to stumble around

in the dark trying to follow our warped and twisted

hearts. No, he is saying a better guide is coming.

And people, they waited and they wondered, what

will it look like when this new guide arrives,

this spirit that was predicted? Well, it was

about 2 ,000 years ago. On the day of Pentecost,

and all the disciples were gathered together

in the room, Jesus had risen from the dead. He

had ascended into heaven. And then, with a rush

of wind, and with tongues of fire, and with the

speaking of many different languages, the Holy

Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, came upon the disciples

in a way that he had never come, the world had

never seen. And now we celebrate that even today.

The good news of Pentecost is this. You don't

have to rely on your heart anymore to lead your

life. Because now you can follow and you can

rely and you can walk in the way of the Spirit

instead. It is hard for me to imagine this, but

Jesus actually said it's better to have the holy

spirit with us than to have jesus himself which

is he actually told his disciples he said very

truly i tell you it is for your good that i am

going to go away because unless i go the advocate

which is another word for the holy spirit will

not come to you but if i go i will send him to

you right in our reading today from john's gospel

i want to end by showing you three ways that

the Holy Spirit coming actually helps us steer

our lives in a better direction. First, the Holy

Spirit leads us by convicting us. That is what

Jesus said he would do, the Spirit. He said,

when the Spirit comes, he will convict the world

concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

Some of you, you see that word convict and you

immediately have a negative feeling about it.

You think of condemn or something like that.

But that's not what it means. Conviction is...

actually a really, really good thing. It is far

better to be convicted by the Holy Spirit than

to be left to the meanderings of your heart.

If we follow our feelings, who knows where they're

going to lead us. But when the Spirit convicts

us, we know we're being led in the right way.

It says the Spirit will convict us of sin. In

other words, the Spirit will come and will tell

you what is right and wrong in your life and

what is right and wrong in this world. The Spirit

will come and convict us of righteousness. In

other words, He will show us a better way to

live. The Spirit will show us a more godly way

to live. And the Spirit will also convict us

concerning judgment, we're told, which means

that the Spirit is going to show us that our

decisions, our choices, make a difference. For

this world and for the next world. While the

heart waffles this way and that, the spirit convicts.

Have you ever gone driving with someone and they

were in the passenger seat and they said they

knew the way? They said they knew the way, but

they didn't know the way. They were just like,

I think you turn left here. Or I feel like we're

going in the right direction. That's what it's

like to follow your heart. But when the Holy

Spirit comes, it's like a GPS. A GPS does not

guess. It knows the way. It reroutes you when

you're going the wrong way. It makes sure you

get to your destination. That is the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit convicts us when we're going the wrong

way. The Spirit steers us in a better way. And

the Spirit is not meant to be the passenger in

our car, but we can actually surrender our life

to the Holy Spirit. He can take the wheel and

reorient all of our desires, pointing us in the

right way. So that's how the Holy Spirit guides

us. by convicting us. But Jesus actually uses

the word guide when he speaks of the Holy Spirit

as well. He says, the Holy Spirit won't just

convict you, he will also guide you into all

truth. Now, that means the Holy Spirit's not

just like saying, Rob, you need to go that way,

but he's actually going to guide me as I go that

way. You might say, Tell me what that looks like.

I would love to know how God would guide me along

life's journeys, and we can't spend enough time

on it, but I would say that one of the best things

you can do to be guided by the Holy Spirit is

learn how to pray. What is a guide? A guide is

not just someone who gives you information then

walks away. No, a guide is someone who walks

with you on the journey, and you are in constant

conversation with them as you are moving along

your trip. Prayer is that way that you have a

running conversation with God as he guides you

each and every day in the big decisions you're

making, but also in the little decisions too.

That is the most important way that God the Holy

Spirit directs your life. When you pray, when

you really pray, you are not just offering up

God a list of things you want him to do, you're

entering a conversation. And over that time of

conversation with God, you start to recognize

his voice, and you can follow his leading. My

sheep listen to my voice, Jesus said. I know

them, and they follow me. The more we pray, the

more we learn to recognize his voice guiding

our life. Have you ever been praying, and all

of a sudden, God puts something on your heart?

And you're like, where did that come from? Maybe

it was a feeling or this sense of peace or he

dropped the name of someone into your thoughts

or he gave you this burden to do something, to

act in a certain way. That is often how the Holy

Spirit guides us in our times of prayer. So one

of the best prayers we can learn when we come

before God is something like spirit of truth.

I want to hear what you have to say today. Spirit

of Jesus, show me the way to go. Because to follow

the Spirit, we've got to listen to the Spirit.

To listen to the Spirit, we have to make time

for prayer. So, don't follow your heart. One,

let the Spirit convict you. Two, let the Spirit

guide you through prayer especially. And three,

let the Spirit speak to you. Jesus said, the

Spirit will not speak on his own. He will speak

only what he hears. And he will tell you what

is yet to come. Two things. One, do you guys

know the Spirit speaks? And secondly, the Spirit

will not speak anything on his own, but will

only speak what God the Father and God the Son

are also saying. Which says something very, very

important. I want you to understand this. But

that means that when we read the Bible, which

is how God has spoken to us, the Holy Spirit

will never speak something radically different

than what we find in the flow of the Bible, right?

Because the Bible is God's inspired word, and

it was inspired by the Holy Spirit when it was

written, but it is also inspired by the Holy

Spirit when we read it. If we were to read something

in the Bible and it went in a total different

direction than the Bible itself, or if we had

a sense that the Spirit was speaking to us and

telling us something very different from the

Bible, then that would mean that the Spirit is

actually speaking on his own, which is exactly

what we were just told the Spirit would never

do. The Spirit would never speak on his own.

So therefore, when you open the Bible, you're

hearing... the Spirit speak to you. These are

God's words written to you, inspired to guide

your life and to direct your steps. If you want

to know what the Spirit is saying, start by looking

at what he's already said. Develop the habit

and develop the pattern of reading the Bible

every day, okay? That's one way the Spirit speaks.

But there's actually another way I think that

the Spirit speaks, at least I've experienced

this. It's when someone else says something to

you that we can't hear for ourselves. Maybe you've

had a moment where a friend says something to

you, and they didn't know what they were saying,

but boom, it went right to the heart of you.

Or maybe you had a moment where you were listening

to a sermon, and man, it felt strangely personal.

Or you were talking to a mentor, and that mentor

said something to you, and it was something you've

been trying to ignore, but they just brought

it up. In all those ways, that is how God uses

his people to speak. into each other's lives.

The church, the body of Christ, the Spirit speaks

through his people. So yes, today we celebrate

that the Holy Spirit has come to you and to me

and to you, but also to us as a community. So

all that to say, the question is not, does the

Holy Spirit speak? Jesus already told us, the

Spirit speaks, right? The question is, are we

listening? Are we reading his word so we can

hear what he has already said? And are we being

part of community so he can speak to us in the

lives of others? That's how you follow the voice

of the Spirit. You open your Bible and you open

your life to others. So then, how do we end?

Should we follow our hearts? Well, I'm afraid...

The answer, I think, for the most part is no,

right? And your heart, though very powerful,

is often deceitful. It can inspire you, but it

can also trick you. It's a great passenger, but

it is a horrible driver for your life. And that's

why the message of the Bible is not follow your

heart. It's follow Jesus and be filled with the

spirit of Jesus. In fact, I would say that the

only time you should follow your heart is when

your heart is following the Holy Spirit. What

this means is, let's say you're new to church

or you're new to Christianity. Maybe one takeaway

for you today is to ask yourself, have I ever

really opened up my life to the Holy Spirit?

You may want to pray as Britton leads us in just

a few moments. You may want to pray a prayer

like this. Jesus, I open my life. to you. Holy

Spirit, I open my heart to you. That prayer will

put your life on a brand new journey. But others

of you, maybe you've been a Christian for a long,

long time, but let me ask you a question too.

Is the Holy Spirit leading your life right now?

And not just occasionally with a nudge here and

a nudge there, but truly leading you. If you're

anything like me, Man, there are still lots of

times, lots of places when you're just following

your heart and hoping for the best. Pentecost

tells us there's a better way. We don't have

to be slaves to our passions. We can be led by

the Spirit. He will convict us. He will guide

us. He will speak to us. So, don't follow your

heart. Follow the one who made your heart. Follow

Jesus who knows your heart. Follow the spirit

who wants to change your heart. Thanks be to

God. Amen. Thank you for listening to this week's

episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded

at Trinity Church Streetsville in Mississauga,

Ontario on June 8th, 2025.