A New Heart – Part 1: The Desire

Well, Father, we are very thankful to be here once again and to be able to worship you and

sing and pray and, Father, we come humbly before you this morning and ask that you would speak

powerfully to our hearts.

And Lord, this building is not your house because there's something special about the way it

was built or anything like that.

The Father, your word says where two or three are gathered, that you are there among them.

And because we're here, Lord, and we've come to worship you and we've come to sing your

praises, Lord, we believe that your spirit is in this place, that right now, this is the

house of God.

But Lord, you don't just want to dwell inside this building, God.

You want to dwell inside our hearts.

And to just contemplate what that means and the significance behind that, that even though

we're sinful and even though we're undeserving the God that you want to dwell inside of

us, you want to be a part of our lives.

You want to guide us and show us and empower us and, Father, I pray that this morning

that we would be humble and submissive and that God, we would invite you in in order

that we wouldn't just be satisfied with good music or a good sermon or just feeling good

when we leave this place, but, God, we will know confidently that we have met with you

and, Lord, you have done a mighty work in our hearts today.

Father, I pray for every man and woman in this room, for every baby, to every old person,

Lord, we pray that you would speak and guide and prepare.

And, Father, as we're able to meet and to worship, we understand there are a lot of our brothers

and sisters who aren't able to.

So this morning we lift them up to you and we ask that you would be with them in a special

way today, that you would touch their bodies and their hearts and, Lord, we continue to

pray for the long family this morning.

We also pray for the Gentry family, as Margaret Lau lost her sister-in-law, just ask that you

would touch them, and we pray for Ms. Ruth Ann Worthington, that you would continue to

help her to heal well, and I would pray for Ms. Joy Brown.

And if there's any other request that's on our hearts today that we haven't mentioned,

God, I pray that you would be with those.

You know what they are, long before they were ever brought to our attention, so, God, we

pray that you would work and move in those situations.

But, Lord, in the remaining moments, as we meet with you, I pray that you would draw

us near, speak powerfully, and help us to surrender to you.

We love you.

We thank you and ask all this in Jesus' name, and all God's people say, Amen, you

may be seated.

As always, it's good to see you.

We are starting a new series this month talking about having a new heart.

And today's title of the sermon is having the desire within our lives to have a new

heart.

And while we want to know God more, and we want to do better for Him, you know, there's

still something within us that lurks that we don't like to admit a lot of times that still

wants and desires the things of the world, whether it be money or things or positions

or power or whatever it may be.

There's still something inside of us that is drawn away from our Father in heaven.

And it's really important as people, as we commit our lives to Christ, not just in

a moment, whether it be years ago or just months ago or a week ago, but there remains

this desire within us to know our Heavenly Father more, to grow with Him, and for Him

to not only just give us a new heart when He saves us and forgives us of our sins,

but even today, that as we walk with Him, whether it be years or decades or however

long it is, that God continually gives us a new heart, that He continually works and moves

in us, and that we have a desire to surrender to Him and allow Him to do it.

We're going to read beginning today with Psalm chapter 51, verses 7 through 12.

Psalms 51:7–12

It's a very familiar passage.

I've used it multiple times, probably since I've been senior pastor.

I know I've used it at least a couple of times.

But this is a very powerful passage, and I love this because this is the Psalm that

King David wrote whenever Nathan the prophet comes and confronts him of his sin with

Bathsheba of committing adultery, but also his murder of her husband Uri.

And David is confronted with this sin, and now David has to deal with this sin

with the Lord.

This has to be handled in order for him to move forward in a spiritual sense.

But I think it's such a wonderful passage because it reveals to us the heart of the

man who is said to be a man after God's own heart.

So let's look at his prayer this morning in the Psalm.

David says, purify me from my sins, and I will be clean.

Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

O give me back my joy again, you have broken me, now let me rejoice.

Don't keep looking at my sins.

Remove the stain of my guilt.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a loyal spirit within me.

Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

So this morning as we get started, point number one, I think it's important to see

that as we have a desire for God to create in us a new heart and to give us a new heart,

the first thing we need to do is acknowledge the sin.

And this morning you could be sitting here, and I really hope that you are,

that as a believer you are like, well, I don't feel like there's any sin in my life

right now that I need to acknowledge or deal with.

I feel like here lately, things have been going good, been walking with the Lord,

he's been helping me, great.

Because in parentheses out beside it,

then you need to be acknowledging the potential of sin that lurks within your heart.

So as we talk about sin, there's this need for us as individuals

to acknowledge the sin that we have.

We need to deal with the sin that's in our hearts.

And it doesn't matter if you've been saved for 50 years,

or if you've never been saved at all.

This applies to both of us today.

That if we want to grow with God, if we want to have that new heart,

we want God to continue to do that work within us.

We need to acknowledge the sin that is in our hearts.

And if there's no sin in our hearts,

then we at least need to acknowledge the sin that is potentially there.

Now that's really important,

because when you look at King David as he writes Psalm 51,

I guarantee you that King David, if he could do anything,

if he could go back in time and undo one thing in his life,

this would be the one thing that he would undo.

That Psalm 51, his greatest desire would probably be for Psalm 51 not to exist.

It's a wonderful passage for us to learn from and to have insight into.

But I guarantee you, if you've talked to David and said,

what would you do?

He said, I would undo that.

This is the biggest mistake of my life.

And I wish I could undo it.

I wish Psalm 51 didn't exist, but it does exist.

But do you know why it exists?

Because in the midst of David's life,

as he is a man after God's own heart,

it's not that David was perfect.

It's not that David was without sin.

It's not that David was incapable of sin.

It's the fact that early on in his life,

he loved God enough to pursue him and have a desire for him and to seek his face.

But right before Psalm 51 is written,

it says that in the time that kings went to war,

David had gotten to this point in his life where he got very content with where he was.

And he said, I'm going to stay here in the palace.

Things have been going good.

The Lord has blessed me.

I'm going to send the boys out to go off the battle to fight.

And I'm going to stay here and I'm going to enjoy what the Lord's done for me.

We're not going to worry about what the Lord can do or will do,

but what he's already done.

I'm going to enjoy that.

And while David is at the palace and he's not where he should be,

that's whenever sin sets in.

So it's not that David is a man after God's own heart

because he's incapable of sin.

Sin was very much there and very much ready to take hold of him if he allowed it.

And in this moment, David does.

He got complacent.

He got satisfied with where he was.

And there needs to be a desire in our hearts as believers this morning

to acknowledge the sin that may be there,

or at least the sin that could potentially be there.

Because the truth is we're all sinners and we're all drawn to certain things

within our lives that tempt us to try to pull us away from our heavenly father.

And we need to acknowledge that.

We need to be aware of that.

And we need to be praying and seeking God's face

so that he can help us refrain from these things.

There needs to be a desire in our life to seek our father

to refrain from such things.

A desire in our life that God would give us

a new heart and a desire to seek after him.

That should be there.

And you see this early on in David's life.

So look at Psalm chapter 19 verses 12 to 13.

Psalms 19:12–13

A wonderful passage of scripture as David is writing this.

He's a little younger.

He's still, God is still working and moving in his life

and he hasn't accomplished all the things

that he had accomplished by the time we see Psalm 51.

But look at verse 12 in chapter 19.

David says,

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?

Cleanse me from these hidden faults.

As David is seeking God,

David is not, he doesn't have this attitude of,

yeah, I got it figured out.

God, you've done this great work in my life.

God, you've revealed to me

and showed me all these wonderful things.

Thank you for this.

But no, as David is seeking and pursuing God,

there's very much this realization of how unworthy

he really is to have a relationship with him.

How special it is to know him.

And David understands the things within his heart

and his mind that is there.

And he's like, God, I love you.

I want to be cleansed.

I want to be purified.

And I understand that as sinful as I am,

there's probably things in my life

and in my heart that I'm not aware or wrong or sinful.

And I want you to reveal those things to me

and to cleanse them for me.

In verse 13, he says,

keep your servant from deliberate sins.

Don't let those things, don't let them control me.

Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.

Totally different attitude from David in Psalm 19

versus Psalm 51.

David is on the preparation side of,

I want to follow God.

I want to be prepared.

I want to do every single thing that I can do

to make sure that I'm right with my father.

And in Psalm 51,

he's very much on the defense of, okay, God,

you've broken me.

You've revealed it to me.

Restore to me the joy of my salvation.

Don't take your spirit from me.

Don't take your presence from me.

Help me deal with this.

Totally different attitudes.

And this morning I challenged you as believers.

Think about which one it is that you would rather be.

Would you rather be a Psalm 19 or a Psalm 51?

Because if the desire is not in your heart

to seek your father in heaven

and to acknowledge the sin

and acknowledge the potential of sin,

not just what was in the past,

but even what's in the present

and potentially what's even in the future,

chances are we're gonna be writing

our own Psalm 51s at some point.

God wants us to have a heart that desires him,

that loves him, that serves him.

And what we see throughout scripture is,

as long as people are willing to serve God

and they're walking in fellowship with him,

they do get to walk in holiness.

They do get to do things like write Psalm 19

and whenever they don't

and whenever their desire is not of God

and whenever their desire is to just enjoy life

and to be content with what is

and to just choose things of the world

and they end up writing things like Psalm 51.

David also wrote in Psalm 139

Psalms 139:23–24

verses 23 through 24

and he says, search me O God and know my heart.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Again, you see this attitude of David

to where he's much more

on the offensive measure of pursuing God

and asking God to reveal things to him,

even things that he may not know.

Search me, know me, test me,

point out anything in me that offends you

and lead me to everlasting life.

Because David fully understands

he cannot have everlasting life apart from God.

He only gets everlasting life as God leads him to it.

And this is the conundrum that we face.

Because if we want a new heart,

if we wanna know God, if we want everlasting life,

there has to be a desire within us

to seek that, to pursue that

and to allow God to do it within us.

Because if the desire's not there,

you're not gonna let God do the work within you.

You're gonna resist it, you're gonna push back.

You're gonna choose other things.

So point number two,

you must desire to become new.

As we talk about having a new heart,

there's also this need within us to become new.

And it's not just this moment

whenever we ask Christ into our life

and we get saved for the first time,

but it is a continual aspect

of being made new continually as we walk with God.

And this scares Christians probably more than anyone.

Because everybody else in the world,

if they're living out there and they live in sin

and they've really messed up their life,

they know they've messed it up.

They come to the foot of the cross,

they come to Christ,

and they know that they need God to make them new

because they tried it their way

and they messed it up royally.

But for people who believe in Jesus,

who were raised in the church,

you had good parents,

you had good grandparents,

you're a decently productive citizen,

you pay your taxes,

maybe you've never been arrested.

It's hard for us as believers

when things are pretty good

to understand why we need to be made new.

But I promise you this morning,

if you claim to be a Christian,

if you claim to be a follower of Christ,

there is a need in every single one of our lives

to be made new continually,

not just once,

but to continually be made new.

We cannot be satisfied,

we cannot be content,

we must submit ourselves to our Savior

understanding that there's a work

that needs to be done in us

that is continual,

that we cannot be satisfied.

And it is so difficult for us

to understand that.

In Galatians chapter 6 verse 15,

Galatians 6:15

Paul writes,

it doesn't matter

whether we have been circumcised or not.

It doesn't matter what you do,

it doesn't matter what I do.

There's no thing that we can do

that's going to matter

when it comes to salvation.

What counts is

whether we have been transformed

into a new creation.

And what we're talking about

is not something that we can do.

It is something that Christ

has to do in us

and through us.

And if he does not do the work,

then we have no chance whatsoever

to step through that threshold

into eternal life.

It is something that only Christ can do.

And it's not just something again

that we say,

oh, well, I got saved

when I was like seven years old,

but now I'm 25.

Are you still?

No one would expect you to still act

like a seven-year-old, right?

That would be unacceptable.

A lot of people do.

But it's not acceptable.

And so as a believer,

as you grow immature,

there is an expectation in Scripture

for us to be made new,

to grow, to mature,

to walk with Christ.

But you have to have that desire

in your heart to do it.

And if the desire is not there,

you're going to resist it.

And maybe there's some of us

in here this morning.

It's like we got saved

and we committed our hearts to Christ

and we haven't been living like the devil,

but we have not been giving Christ

complete authority in our life

to transform us

and change us

and give us new hearts

and make us new people.

And so there isn't a whole lot of difference

between us when we got saved

on day one versus 50 years

later down the road

as Christ has continually worked

in some people's hearts

and we can feel it

and we can see the difference

in other people versus ourselves.

We know deep down inside,

we know that Christ has called us

to more than just this

one-time moment experience.

And think about how wonderful it was

when you first called on

the name of Jesus

and how wonderful it felt

to be saved.

And to be forgiven of those sins

and to know this morning

that you serve a Lord and Savior

who's more than able

to not just give you that feeling

one time

but to give you that feeling

multiple times

as much as we allow him to work

and move and reign within our lives.

That should not be a thing of fear

if you're a true Christian.

That should be a welcome joy

to think man,

the feeling that I felt

when I got saved,

I can feel that again

and again and again

and yes, you can.

You can know what it's like

for God to work

and move in your life

and to be forgiven

and to be made new

and to be restored

and to be empowered

and to serve

and to be used

to build his kingdom.

There are continuous joys

that come with being a Christian

that can only be experienced

if we truly submit to Christ

and allow him to make us new

and to continually give us new hearts.

And point number three,

last one.

It doesn't matter

if you're saved or not

and I don't want you to think

like it's not important

that you're saved.

It's wonderful

that you're saved, okay?

Absolutely wonderful.

But I don't want us

to get to this thing

this morning where it's like

well James is preaching

a salvation message.

This is not a salvation message.

This is a message

for every single one of us

whether you're saved or not.

That if you're saved,

if you've been saved for 50 years,

God can make you new.

He can give you a new heart.

He can still use you

and work within you

and he can still give you gifts

and he can still build

his kingdom through with you.

And if you've never been saved before

to know this morning

that God can save you.

He can heal you.

He can use you.

He can call you.

He can do anything he wants within you

as long as you're willing

to let him do it.

It doesn't matter

whether you're saved or not

the fact that God wants

to give you a new heart

he wants to make you

into a new creation.

God very much wants to.

The question is

where are the desires

of your heart?

What is it that you want?

One of the most fascinating things

about God is that he tends

to come and visit us occasionally

to find out where we stand.

And this is kind of weird

because I don't believe

that God does this to find

for him to find out where we stand

but it's more for us

to find out where we stand

because he knows our hearts.

He knows where you are.

He knows it better

than we do most of the time

all the time.

And one of my favorite passages

of scripture is in Genesis 22.

Where God comes to Abraham

and this is

it's one of my favorite passages

not because it's an easy passage

it's one of my favorite passages

because it's a reminder to me

of who God is

and how we should respond to him

throughout our life

because for me

this probably would have been

the breaking point

this would have been

the last straw

that broke the camel's back

broke my back

because God calls Abraham

in chapter 12.

He says Abraham I want you

to leave your family

your home

I want you to come and follow me

I want you to be obedient to me

and I'm going to show you

what all I can do in your life

and Abraham does everything

that God asked him to do.

He leaves

he takes his family

he goes

he meticulously obeys God

every step of the way

does everything that God

asked him to do

and God says Abraham

God visits with him

on the way he says Abraham

I'm going to turn you

into a great nation

I'm going to give you descendants

as numerous as the stars in the sky

look at all this land around here

all this land that belongs

to like five or six different kings

I'm going to take it from them

and one day I'm going to give it to you

and I'm going to give it to your descendants

and in all this time

that Abraham is walking faithfully with God

Abraham never gets to receive

any of these promises

personally

with the exception of having a child

and God comes along

he says I'm going to give you a son

well we're too old

now I'm going to miraculously

give you a son

so that you know

this was me

and I gave him to you

and he's a gift from me

so that you know that

it's the only blessing

that Abraham got to experience

in all of his faithfulness

that God was that one thing

all the other promises

Abraham had to have faith

that God was going to do that

in future tense

to his descendants

that God was going to keep his word

and in Genesis 22

God comes back around

he visits with Abraham

he comes knocking at his door

he says Abraham

you know that

that son that I gave you

your one and only son

I want you to take him up on the mountain

and I want you to sacrifice him to me

and for me it's probably

where I'd be like

okay God

we need to have a talk

because I've done everything

you've asked me to do so far

and this is just a little too much

for me personally

that's probably where I would be

but thankfully

we have someone like Abraham

who was faithful enough

and willing to serve God

no matter what

even though he didn't understand

even though he didn't comprehend

and even though it sounded crazy

Abraham was still willing to do it

and because of Abraham's faithfulness

he goes up on the mountain

he loads the wood up on Isaac's back

Abraham carries a knife in the fire

and he goes to sacrifice Isaac

and God stops him

and God provides the sacrifice

and God is faithful in everything

in that situation

and Abraham was very much willing to do it

but that passage teaches us as people

that it does not matter

if you got saved 50 years ago

or last month

or if you're not saved yet

because here's the thing

God will speak your name

and he will call you

and we are called

but to merely be faithful

and the whole time leading up to this

yes it was very important

that Abraham was obedient

leading up to this

but in chapter 22

what Abraham had been obedient in

up to this point

did not matter anymore

because what mattered in chapter 22

is when God came

and knocked on his door

and said this is what

I want from you right now

what mattered is

is how faithful Abraham was going to be

in that moment

are you willing to surrender to me?

are you willing to give up something

that you love

in order to please me

and do what I'm asking you to do

and so everything that Abraham had done before

was put on hold

because the test now was

what are you willing to do right now?

and as believers

it's so important for us to see

and understand that

as we follow our Lord and Savior

that God can give us a new heart

he can make us new

and yet at the same time

he comes to us

and he calls us

and he says listen

I know I saved you

I know I called you by name

I know that you've given up this for me

and I know that you've given up this for me

and I know that you've given up this for me

but today

this is what I require of you

will you be obedient

today?

do you have the desire in your heart

to give this up today?

in Romans chapter 6 verses 3 through 4

Romans 6:3–4

Paul writes to the church in Rome

and he says or have you forgotten

that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism

we joined him in his death

for we died and were buried with Christ by baptism

and just as Christ was raised from the dead

by the glorious power of the Father

now we also may live new lives

we love as Christians to talk about eternal life

we love to talk about the blessings

we love to talk about all the many good things

that God does for us

and how he answers prayers

and all those things

and very seldom do you hear people

talk about this aspect of

when Jesus Christ calls us to follow him

we are called to die

we are called to give up our lives

so that he may live within us

and show us and guide us and teach us

and if you're sitting here today

and your question is like

man I don't I don't know whether God

whether or not God can give me a new heart

I don't know if he can make me into a new person

and I just challenge you this morning

that the the ability for God to work

and move within your life

is going to be based strongly

if not primarily on the amount of faith

in which you have to allow him to do it

God working and moving in your life

will be based off of the faith

in which you have for him to do it

we've been studying in Mark

for the past several Wednesday nights

and so far we've seen several examples

of people's faith

and how they come to Christ

and what they ask of Christ

and what they're what they're wanting from him

and so far we've seen this Roman soldier

who came and he said Jesus

my servant he's dying

will you heal him

and Jesus says yes I'll come with you

Roman soldier says no

you don't need to come

I know that if you say the words

and simply say it

it will be done

and his faith

was praised by Jesus

as more than anyone

in the whole nation of Israel

that he hadn't met anyone

in the whole nation of Israel

who believed like that

and Jesus healed his servant

it was done because the servant

because the Roman soldier believed

and then you have this guy

who's the leader of the local synagogue

and he comes and he says Jesus

if you will come

and you'll lay hands on my daughter

and you'll heal her

I know that she can be healed

and Jesus doesn't chastise him

for not having the faith

Roman soldier

but he goes

and he heals the daughter

because the synagogue leader

believed that if that's what Jesus did

then it would be done

and then you have this woman

who comes along

and says if I can just touch

the fringe or the hem of his robe

I know that I can be healed

and as Jesus is on the way

to heal the synagogue leader's daughter

she reaches out

and she touches his robe

and she is healed

because she believed

that that's what would happen

and this morning

I want to challenge you

it does not matter

what kind of faith that you have

or how strong

or how weak you may feel

that your faith is

if you believe that

God can do a work in your life

and creating you a new heart

and make you into a new creation

it can be done

because God is more than able

the question is

how much do you believe?

how much are you willing to surrender

and allow him to come in

and do the work that we say

that we want him to do

and there's this father

that comes to Jesus

and he says Lord my son

he has these seizures

and he falls into fire

and he says

will you please heal him?

he says if you can heal him

if you want to

and Jesus says if I want to

do you not believe that I can?

he says yes Lord I believe

but help my unbelief

and you might be sitting here this morning

you might believe in Christ

that he can do it

but then there's something within you

that just doubts a little bit

it's like can this happen for me?

Can this happen in my life?

Will God do this for me?

Then maybe you need to be praying right now

God I believe in you

but help my unbelief

help me in the things that I doubt in

strengthen my desire

strengthen my want

strengthen my mind

my heart

so that I can serve you

because I want to be made new

This morning

the work that God can do within your life

is not limited by his ability

we serve a God who can do anything

through Christ all things are

possible

it's not limited by him

many times the things in our life

are just limited by us

by our faith

by our desire

by our resisting God

to come in and to make us new

to call us to change us

because we're afraid

what will it look like?

I mean being a Christian is one thing

but being like a serious Christian

that's that gets weird

it's okay if I post a Bible verse

every once in a while

if I slap a sticker on my car

saying I love Jesus

but whenever I start talking about it

and I start praying for people

and I start living this thing out loud

then it's then it's weird

what's the desire in your heart?

Maybe this morning

our prayer should be God

give me that desire

because I know I need to be made new

and I want to be made new

but give me the desire to turn loose

of everything else

so that I can be made new

let's pray

Father God thank you again

for this opportunity to be here today

thank you for your love and mercy

and Lord we just ask that you would

speak powerfully in our hearts and lives

and God I will be the first one to admit

it is not easy to follow you all the time

it is not easy to surrender

the things of this life

or things in this world all the time

but Lord I pray that you would instill

within us a desire

to seek your face

and to turn loose

of the things of this life

that are just hindering us

and holding us back

Lord help us to give it all to you

to surrender to you

so that we can see you work

and move in incredible ways

and Father as we look at examples

like Father Abraham

who was willing to give

his one and only son

that because of his willingness

Lord you gave your one and only son

so that we could all be saved

and come here today

and worship

and hear your word

and to experience a change in our life

Lord thank you for his faithfulness

and Lord we pray

that through the power of the Spirit

that you would give us the desire

and help us to surrender

so that we too

can see you work and move in us

and through us

Father we love you

and we ask all this in Jesus name

Amen