A New Heart – Part 2: The Transplant

I want to say thank you again for the opportunity to be here and to worship, and Father I do

pray this morning that you would speak powerfully into our hearts, and Lord as all these men

and women are here, and Lord whether they came reluctantly or they came willingly, Father

we do have a wonderful opportunity to meet with you and to experience you in a special

and a new way.

And Father I pray that you would help us to be humble this morning and have a desire within

our hearts to know you more, to surrender to you and to listen to your voice and to be

obedient to it.

And Father we do not deserve that opportunity, we don't deserve the opportunity to be in this

place, but Lord I do pray that you would remind us of how very important it is to just open

up our hearts and open up our ears and listen to you, to be receptive of how you lead us,

of how you call us.

Father I pray that you would help us to see how important it is that we gather together

with other believers and to just speak the name of Jesus out loud, and to proclaim all

the many wonderful things that you've done in our life.

Lord this morning help us to surrender, help us to be pleasing and honoring to you.

And Father for all of our shut-ins who aren't able to be here today, Lord we lift them

up to you as many have physical issues, and Lord many have just emotional heartaches that

are going on right now in their lives, and Father we just lift them up to you because

only you can comfort them and speak into their hearts in ways that we would never

be able to.

And Father in these moments we pray that your Holy Spirit would be present in this place

and in our hearts, and that we would be humble and submissive, and allow you to speak to

us and guide us, and to teach us new things, and to open up our eyes to things we've never

seen before.

Lord we love you, and we thank you, and we ask all this in Jesus precious and holy

name and all God's people said, amen, you may be seated.

We're talking about receiving a new heart, and last week we talked about the desire that's

needed in order for you to receive it.

Not to just be satisfied with the wonderful experience we have whenever we are saved, and

the Lord comes into our life, and he does these wonderful works in the very beginning,

and those are so exciting times, and to receive that new heart then, but also to just kind

of have this attitude and this desire in our lives as believers and followers of Christ,

that we are wanting to receive a new heart regularly.

So this morning we're talking about a different aspect of talking about the transplant that

takes place whenever God comes into our life, and he does give us a new heart.

Now as we said last week whenever you first get saved that process happens, but I do believe

as Christians we have this calling on our life to be humble and submissive enough to

the Lord to allow him to come in and to do those new works in our life, to give us new

hearts in various aspects of our life and in times of our life, because there are times

where things happen where we aren't necessarily willing to surrender in this moment or this

area or this circumstance like we had surrendered and allowed God to work and move in the

past, and so we need that continual aspect of humility and submission to allow God to

do that great work within us, and so there has to be a desire in your life to allow that

to happen, and this ties into our sermon today where we talk about this transplant

because if you know anyone who's ever had a transplant, a heart transplant or any vital

organ transplant, it's serious.

I mean I don't know if I've ever met someone who is excited to go into surgery at all,

like I have a surgery I'm putting off that I probably need done and I just don't want

to do it because I'm just like I don't want to endure the process of the surgery and

the recovery, so nobody's excited about it, but when you take the aspect of going in

for a transplant and they're literally taking out, especially if you look at it from your

heart, like they're taking out the very thing that gives you life of what you have to come

to terms with mentally and emotionally as a human being to be able to go into that room

and subject yourself to what's going to happen on that operating table and put your hands

in all those people who are performing that procedure, and they're going to take out

the thing that gives you life and then put a brand new heart within you, what you have

to come to terms with in yourself to be even willing to put yourself in that position.

It's something that you just can't fathom.

You have to be at the point where you realize I'm going to die anyway.

In my life, the quality of my life is so low right now that I'm willing to put myself

on that table knowing that this might be it, and I may not come out of this room because

if I don't go and do this, I'm going to die anyway, and this gives me a chance to have

something better.

There has to be a desire in our lives to let God come in and to do that transplant to

give us a new heart and a new life, and that's kind of what we're talking about today.

I want to read to you a passage from Ezekiel chapter 36, and this is verses 25 through

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

27, just three verses, really short, but it's some really great verses as Ezekiel is delivering

this message from the Lord to the people of Israel.

God says in verse 25, he says, then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will

be clean.

Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols, and I will give you

a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you.

I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart, and

I will put my spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey

my regulations.

That's powerful, and this is Old Testament, like this is pre-Jesus, this is pre-Messiah,

and so what God is talking about to the people of Israel is leading into this time where

we can actually receive Christ in our lives, and this process can actually happen to give

us these new hearts and this new spirit within us that we so desperately need, and I'm going

to tell you guys, even for people who have transplants, if you don't take the medications,

you don't do all the right stuff, and you don't take care of it, chances are you're

going to find yourself pretty quickly just needing another one, and the truth is as

Christians we don't guard ourselves and protect ourselves and take care of ourselves spiritually

speaking like we should, and so chances are we probably need to have some work done in

our lives spiritually for our spiritual hearts, not necessarily our physical, but our spiritual

hearts, and that's what we're talking about today.

So point number one, I want us to see from these passages, is that God wants to wash

you clean.

This is really important in our lives to understand that any time Jesus or God talks about making

us new, it is always coupled with the washing with water and the renewal of the spirit.

They are coupled together every single time.

God wants to wash us clean on the outside, and at the same time, He wants to make you

clean on the inside, and we're going to talk about why that's so important this morning.

A lot of physical implications, but more importantly, the spiritual implications behind that.

So as you talk about being washed clean, you have to understand that right now, even on

your physical body, there are germs on your physical body, right?

That's why we wash ourselves.

I don't know if you know this or not, we're pretty gross.

People are gross.

It doesn't matter how clean you try to be, you're still gross.

Very few people are willing to touch one another or put themselves in situations to

be around or close proximity to one another, because we know we all carry germs, and I'm

the type of person, I wake up gross.

I have to take a bath every day.

Even if I take a bath at night, when I wake up in the morning, I'm gross, I'm taking

a bath again.

That's a wonderful privilege to have, and I take advantage of it because I'm gross.

When you go in for surgery, it is so important for you to make sure that you are clean,

that the doctors will send you home with a special soap that you have to wash your

entire body with to kill all the germs on the outside of your body as much as you possibly

can so that when you go into that surgery, the germs on the outside of your body don't

find their way on the inside of your body.

It helps prevent infection.

We're talking about physical stuff right now, okay?

It's so important that whenever you go in for surgery and they're prepping you, even

after you have washed yourself in that soap, that special soap that they give you, your

entire body, when you go in, they will start sealing off everything around you they're

about to do, everything around you they're about to cut, they'll start sealing off,

and then whenever they cleanse a certain area with betadine, it's pretty similar to iodine,

it's betadine, to kill any germs that may have gotten on you since you washed yourself with

this soap that you're supposed to wash yourself with because the likelihood of exterior bacteria

or germs getting inside of you during surgery is so high, they have to take so many precautions

that when they're taking the tools out and the scalpels and all the stuff they do surgery

with, if anything is not handled the right way, they throw it away and they just bring

out something new.

It's that important.

And so let's talk about this from a spiritual perspective, that we walk through a world

that is full, full and contaminated with endless amounts of sin and things that is in this

world that we walk through and we're just kind of accustomed to, it's kind of like

your skin, tons of bacteria on you right now, whether you realize or not.

And if you shook hands, we all shared it this morning.

I'm sorry, I probably shared bacteria with you because I was shaking all kinds of hands

this morning and telling people, hey, and if we're not careful, the likelihood of that

bacteria making its way inside is pretty high.

And so spiritually speaking, as we walk through this sinful world, you may not necessarily

be deviling in sin willfully right now, like some of you might be willfully living in sin

and it's corrupting you and it's eating inside.

It's eating with your spirit and your heart and your relationship with God.

But as we walk through this physical, sinful world, we are dealing with the residue and

the crustiness of the sin that exists in our world.

And we deal with that every single day.

And we have to be very careful to make sure that we are washing ourselves and being cleaned

and purified from a spiritual perspective so that that stuff doesn't make its way inside

of our hearts.

And that can happen.

If it can happen on your physical body, because you know this, you've had to go, I'm sure

there's some of us here who have had infections and things, stuff that we've had to go and

get cut out, whether it's types of cancer or something like that, where it stuff from

the outside can get on the inside and it causes problems.

And do not think that walking through this sinful world, that it's not going to have

an impact on your heart and your spirit and your relationship with God.

And so when God speaks to the people of Israel and he talks about what Jesus can

do, he always talks about being washed clean.

There is a need for the outside of us to be cleansed regularly.

That's very symbolic because we talk about baptism.

We talk about all these processes, all these procedures.

And in Matthew chapter 15, verse 18 through 19, Jesus is speaking to his disciples and

Matthew 15:18–19

he starts talking about this and he says, but the words that you speak come from the

heart.

That's what defiles you.

For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality,

theft, lying and slander.

And so I want you to see this morning that if whatever is within comes out of you,

that's where it comes from.

It comes from within.

It comes from your heart.

It comes from your inner being.

You also have to realize that what's on the outside, if we're not careful, can

make its way in.

It becomes part of who we are, your body, your skin.

It protects you in amazing ways.

But if exposed to enough of a substance or bacteria or a germ or anything, it can

permeate. It can invade.

You can absorb it and it can harm your body internally.

And so we have to be really careful that we're protecting ourselves from a

spiritual method to make sure that we're washing ourselves clean.

And no, you can't go hop in the shower and wash sin off.

So you can go like you can clean yourself and be as clean as you want to be.

But you can't do that.

And so as you walk through this sinful world, you have to be really careful.

Like none of you are going to go like, hey, there's a pile of poop.

I think I'll roll around in that.

Nobody in their right mind does that.

And so we have to be careful to stay away from things that we know, like

that's gross.

That has germs.

That can make me sick.

We see someone sick and we see someone coughing.

We may like, hey, you need anything?

OK, well, I'm going to keep my distance from you because I don't want what you

have. It's amazing how we protect ourselves in physical ways.

But in spiritual ways, we very much set ourselves up to be exposed to

sinfulness. And you look at all those things that it was mentioning, evil

thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, lying, slander, all

those things that come from within.

If we allow ourselves to be exposed to it constantly, we absorb it.

We're consumers. As people, we consume.

We take everything in and we may not necessarily be like, yeah, I'm going to

take that and eat it.

But if you expose yourself to something long enough, chances are it's going to

make its way inside.

And the idea of being washed is something that's talked about all

throughout scripture in Leviticus eight.

When God calls the people of Israel and he's setting up the tabernacle

system and the worship system in the tabernacle, God instructs Moses to

bring Aaron and his sons out because they're the Levites.

They're going to be the priests.

They're going to be the ones operating the day in and day out spiritual

aspects of the community of Israel.

And he has them brought in and he strips them down and the whole

community of Israel has to come at the entrance of the tabernacle and

they have to witness this.

He strips them out and he washes them in front of everyone and he

dresses them in their new priestly garments to symbolize the

washing, the preparedness of them to do spiritual things.

And he's redressing them so that they can now do the duties that God is

called to do.

There's always this aspect of being washed clean.

And as we can't just hop in the shower and wash ourselves spiritually,

it's an attitude of the heart.

There has to be this desire within our hearts to say, God, I know

that I'm sinful.

I know that I'm dirty.

I know that I've been walking through a sinful world.

I know that everything I see on TV is probably not pleasing to you.

Everything I hear at work, probably not pleasing to you.

Everything that's going on, even the things that I say, cleanse me,

make me new, wash me clean.

That goes back to last week's sermon we talked about the desire.

The desire has to be in your heart for you and I to cry out to our

heavenly father and say, God, wash me clean.

I need to be clean on the outside because I don't need what's on the

outside to penetrate and come on the inside.

Point number two.

God will take out the old heart.

And this is the fearful, like violent process that everyone is

terrified about.

If you're sitting here this morning and you are saved and you've

received, you've at least done this like one time, this initial

time in your life where God has given you a new heart and he saved

you and he pulled you out of what you was, you realize and

understand how wonderful and amazing this is.

Like you walk through the door, you walk through the fire and

on the other side you can look back and you're like, I'm so

thankful I did that.

And as Miss Sheila talked about this idea of standing up and

being thankful to God in front of people is so important

because there are people out here in this room.

There are people out in those outside these walls who need to

hear that I laid on that table and instead of an operating

table, it's an altar.

It's a sacrificial altar and I laid on that altar and God gave

me a new heart and he cleansed me and he made me new.

And it was the best thing that I ever did.

And you should do the same thing because here's what's

happening.

Most people know that they need a change in their life.

They know that they need to be cleansed from sin.

They know that they need a new heart.

But then there's this idea, is it worth me putting myself to

death so that I can be alive and will it be worth it on

the other side?

You remember we talked about a second ago, like the mental

the mental state that you have to be in to be willing to lay

on that table and let somebody take your heart out and put a

new one in to know that my life is so bad right now and I

feel so bad and I'm so limited in what I can do and what I

can't do that I'm willing to subject myself to death in this

moment so that I can have something better and live

better for the future.

And that's the decision that every single one of us has had

to make or the decision that we're facing right now.

And if you're ministering to other people and you're

witnessing them you're trying to tell them hey you need to

accept Jesus that's the decision that they're having to

make because they are contemplating right now is it

worth me putting myself to death my thoughts my desires my

hobbies my interests everything that I've worked for

relationships friendships is it worth me losing all these

things to have this new heart and this new life and am I

going to look back on the other side and say that was

absolutely worth it I wish I'd done it 20 years ago and for

you as a Christian you need to be the first one to stand up

and say it's absolutely worth it I should have done it

years ago my life would have been so much better if I

would have done it years ago if I would have got rid of

that old stuff in my life and let God take care of that

years ago my life would be so much better now and you

should do it right now don't wait because the longer you

wait the worse you're going to feel and the worse life

is going to be and life is so much better when Jesus with

a new heart than what it was before they need people to

testify to stand up and say it is absolutely worth it

because if they don't hear someone saying it's worth it

they're never going to lay down on that table and

they're never going to let their heavenly father open

them up and gut them from the inside and take out

everything within them that's unpleasing and

unclean and unhealthy and put a new heart and a new

spirit within them a tender heart that's willing to

listen and obey that's what we need and in John

John 3:3–7

chapter 3 verses 3 to 7 Jesus has this awesome

conversation with this religious leader named

Nicodemus who comes in the middle of the night he

says Jesus how do you get eternal life and Jesus

says I'll tell you the truth unless you were born

again you cannot see the kingdom of God what do

you mean exclaim Nicodemus how can an old man go

back into his mother's womb and be born again and

Jesus replied I assure you no one can enter the

kingdom of God without being born of water and

spirit there it is again no one can enter the

kingdom of God without being cleansed on the

outside and made new on the inside humans can

reproduce only human life but the Holy Spirit

gives birth to spiritual life so don't be surprised

when I say you must be born again and guys we

said it a while ago from whatever is then that's

what comes out you can put lipstick on a pig but

it's not going to stay very long and we can fake

it and we can play pretend and we can try to look

good on the outside but whatever is on the

outside is going to eventually need to be

washed and cleansed and done again and so

everything on the outside needs to be washed

clean regularly and needs to be taken care of

so that what's on the inside can be preserved

and maintained but the problem is is that God

has to be the one who does the work on the

inside because you can't cut yourself open and

do it yourself God has to do that for you and

even if you've got a new physical heart it's

not going to change the sinfulness and the

desires and the anger and the resentment

and everything that's going on within your

heart God has to be the one to take that stony

old dead thing out and give you a new tender

loving heart that's going to be willing to be

obedient to him and it's going to change every

aspect of who you are and that is a good

thing it shouldn't be something that we're

afraid of it should be something that we

welcome but we're afraid because we don't know

if we're going to like that we don't know if

it's going to be worth it but the great

thing about it is when God does that work in

your life it changes who you are changes

your desires don't get me wrong because

there's still things that I'm still

tempted by but there are many things in

my life that before I got saved when God

came into my life the desires of my heart

changed the things that I enjoyed the

things that I looked forward to the

things that I aspired to be it changed

God did a brand-new work within my

life and I'm so glad that he did I

don't regret none of it but God has to do

that work within us because the truth is

it does not matter how much makeup you

put on and men can tell you this it

doesn't matter how beautiful a woman can

be she'd be the best-looking woman in

the world and if she is hateful and

wretched on the inside it means

absolutely nothing it's terrible and

for us as believers it's so important for

us not to just worry about washing the

outside all the time making sure we're

putting on this show and we're looking

good for everybody else it's so much

more important for God to do the work on

the inside because what's on the inside

is eventually going to come out and

it doesn't matter how much makeup or

lipstick we put on people will see us

for who we truly are the old has to be

removed and what shouldn't be there

what doesn't belong should be taken out

and we should welcome that as believers

there should be a desire in our lives to

regularly say God if there's anything

within me take it out take it out

remove it because I want to be yours

point number three last one you get a

new heart and a new spirit you know all

this is just an analogy from a medical

perspective but it's a great analogy

and obviously the heart is the life of

the physical body and this is why it's

used as the analogy from scripture that

we read but it's exactly why God

couples it with his spirit because we

need to have God in us you know we

neglect a lot of times we like to keep

God separate and and have him in we

want him to make us feel good and to

cleanse us but at the same time we

want to clean the things of the world

and we want to have these separate

aspects of things and we we don't

necessarily want to take God into this

relationship or got into this

friendship or God to the workplace

because we want to keep it separate

but the truth is is that we absolutely

100 percent need God in us we need him

to dwell in us so receiving the new

heart is also receiving the new spirit

is receiving the spirit of God in our

lives in the second Corinthians chapter

2 Corinthians 3:16–18

3 verses 16 through 18 Paul is explaining

this new covenant of Jesus Christ to the

Corinthian Church and he says but

whenever someone turns to the Lord the

veil is taken away and he's still using

this analogy of of the temple and the

how much you know about it but the

veil was so thick that it would not

allow any light to permeate through it

that it would keep it completely dark

and the only person who was allowed to

go back into the Holy of Holies was

the high priest once a year to minister

before the Lord and so there was a

separation and so Paul is talking about

this idea whenever you turn to the Lord

and you receive Jesus the veil is

taken away you're opened up to the very

presence of God the God Spirit now is

accessible all the time for the Lord is

the spirit and wherever the spirit of

the Lord is there's freedom I don't know

how many people you've ever talked to

who've received a heart transplant but

they'll tell you the things the

condition of their body was so severe

beforehand that they were very limited

on what they could do it was almost like

being imprisoned and whenever they

receive that new heart and they receive

that transplant and time whenever they

get healthier and they build their

shrink back up they'll tell you it

feels like they've been set free like

they can live they can do stuff again

that they couldn't do before and when

we receive the Lord into our life and

we receive that new spirit of God

there's freedom in that and so so many

people look back and they look at

this thought process of if I accept the

Lord in my life and I allow him in and

he he does gut me he takes out all these

things that shouldn't be there and I

know there's a lot of things that

shouldn't be there like I'm gonna feel

held captive like am I really going to

enjoy being a Christian I gonna enjoy

hanging out Christian people am I going

to enjoy not being able to do all the

things that I enjoy doing right now

what's gonna happen and the truth is

is where the Spirit of Lord is there's

freedom you're not going to be held

captive you think God holds you captive

and the truth is is if you're just

walking around and you're wearing make

up and lipstick and trying to look the

part you feel held captive there's a lot

of people are just trying to look like

a Christian and that's captivity it's

just trying to play the part and try

and trying to do it on your own

strength that's captivity that's not

the place you want to be and if

you're doing that and you're just

pretending stop that that would be a

miserable place to be don't do that

because it's not working and you can feel

in your heart it's not working but to

receive the Spirit of God in your life

and receive that in your heart there's

freedom in that and verse 18 says so

all of us who have had that veil

removed can see and reflect the glory

of the Lord because what happens is is

you don't need the makeup you don't

need the stuff on the outside to make

you look good you don't have to put

on a show but when the Spirit of God

comes in your life and you receive

that you begin to reflect the glory of

God to the people around you and

that's why you as a person have

witnessed a true Christian before

and you've been able to look at them

and say there's something different

about them I don't know what it is

but there's something different about

them that I'm drawn to because they

are reflecting the very glory of

God and you and I were wired in our

creation to be drawn to the very

glory of God but it's also what

we're called to display and it says

who is the Spirit makes us more and

more like him as we are changed

into his glorious image and if we

are believing in Christ for living

in him and we are filled with his

spirit we won't have to change he

will change us we will become more

and more like him we will be

conformed into his glorious image

and we will reflect his glory to

the people around us it's not

something that we will have to

try to do it will be within us

and therefore it will come out of

us and so if you're sitting here

this morning you feel like I'm

exhausted I'm exhausted trying to

be a Christian I'm exhausted

trying to live for the Lord I'm

exhausted trying to do the right

thing I'm exhausted trying to

keep from sinning it's because

you're doing it on your own and

you're not doing it from the

Spirit that is within you and the

desire for the Holy Spirit to

come into your life and for God

to give you a new heart and a new

spirit so that it will naturally

come out of you will save you

and give you freedom like you've

never experienced before in your

life that's the difference

maker you know going back to

that story about Moses bringing

Aaron and his sons in and

Leviticus eight it's really odd

I mean to think about it to take

them in the doorways and to

wash them in front of everyone

and after they wash them clean

Moses had already taken a ram and

he had sacrificed and he had

saved the blood from it in a

bowl and he would dip the blood

out and he would put some blood

on the right earlobe and he

had put some blood on the right

thumb he would put some blood

on the right big toe of each of

them who was going to be

consecrated into the priesthood

to serve the Lord it's really

amazing how whenever God washes

us clean he puts his spirit

within us and he gives us this

new heart and he gives us this

calling in our life to follow

him of what it is that he does

and what he expects of us and to

think that even in the

priesthood in Leviticus eight of

more than three thousand years

ago God was showing the

significance in that moment of

how important it was for somebody

who belongs to the Lord to be

willing to listen and to take

the thumb which separates us

from every other animal and

gives us the ability to work

and do things that nothing no

other creation can do of how it

belongs to the Lord it should be

done used to do his work and then

our big toe which is so

important and walking and moving

and how important it is for us

to go and do the things that

God has called us to do.

You know this idea of

receiving this new heart is

something that we should just

be crying out for constantly

to be cleansed from the inside

to have the spirit within us and

to be washed clean regularly.

I don't know about you guys but

when we give our kids baths a lot

of times they don't like to

participate or cooperate.

Sometimes we have to hold them

down and wash them.

Now they like playing in the

water but when it actually

comes to bathing it's not

something that they enjoy.

And it's a frustrating time

because we're all getting

soaking wet and we don't

necessarily like enjoy fighting

with them but it needs to be

done.

And this morning spiritually

speaking you have to ask

yourself am I going to be a

toddler who fights my heavenly

father every time I need to be

cleansed and give him a fit and

resist this or am I willingly

going to allow him to wash me

and make me clean because I

realize I need this.

I have a desire to be clean and

to be what I'm supposed to be

so that he can use me and grow

me and put his spirit within me

and give me a new heart so

that I can serve him not in

bondage but in freedom because

where the spirit of God is

there is freedom.

This is not something that we

should look forward to and

dread or fear but it's

something that we should look

forward to and say hey this

is the best thing for me.

And for anyone who's ever

experienced it we need to be

shouting at the top of our

lungs do it.

Give it to the Lord and don't

wait because it's so much

better if you will just do it

and trust in him because the

freedom I have is so much

better than he's freedom I

thought I ever had before

because that wasn't freedom.

This is what true freedom is.

Let's pray.

Thank you again for the

opportunity to have your word

and to be able to read and to

be able to pray and seek your

face and Lord I was just asked

right now that you would speak

to our hearts powerfully and

if there's anyone in this room

or anyone who's going to watch

online or listen later who has

been fighting you and

resisting you Lord I pray that

you would help them to have a

desire in their heart to

finally submit Lord move and

work in their life in a

powerful way and help them to

humbly submit to your

authority and your love and your

mercy to give them a new heart

to give them your spirit so

that they can live for you in

true freedom like they've never

experienced before.

Father we love you and thank

you.

We ask all this in Jesus name.

Amen.