The Heart the Lamb is Building

I wonder how much God returns and asks, can you ask for something bigger?

Can you ask for something greater?

Can you, can you, can you for a minute, can you ask me to show you who I really am?

To show what I really can provide, what I really can heal, and what I really can do.

And so, God, we ask that today for Michaela.

But for every person in this place who's battling with sickness, whether, whether, whether you've you've talked about it or not, I pray that God would do a miracle in your life today.

Uh, one announcement that we that we did miss this morning, we are having uh a youth group.

The youth will meet here on the 26th, right?

It's at 6 p.m.

Uh here at the church.

They've been having a group here during the summer.

Um and actually last time you guys were here, we we were when we were driving around town, we saw you guys playing wiffle ball.

And if I still didn't have my church clothes on, I would have came in school to all you jokers, but you're lucky I had my church who's on.

Just remember that.

So I have I have my church who's on today, too.

I ain't messing up my messing up my forest for that.

But no, uh man, I'm excited this morning.

Um I'm uh I don't know about you, but I just feel like God has been up to something the last couple of weeks.

And for me, just personally, again, I'm used to going and I'm preaching.

You guys could be seated this morning if you guys can stand up.

We've been standing for a while.

I'm used to preaching and like giving a direct word for the church at a time and this this vein that God has me in, and like just going from the same thought and just kind of picking up from the last week, and not really in the idea of a series for a series' sake, but it's just like this constant conversation with God.

And I'm I'm excited to come share with you in the morning because I I feel like I've I've sat down at the table with God and He's He's shared with me.

Um, and so last week, last week we talked about the house that God built, right?

The house that the Lamb wants to build, the house that the Lamb is building.

And so we we began this journey and we're gonna be looking through things through the lens of the Lamb.

We're gonna be looking through the scripture.

What does it mean to look at scripture through the lens of Jesus?

Through the lens uh of something more, that we're not just reading for face value and the same stories that we've heard before and the same Sunday school lessons that we've heard before, but we have to ask this question every week, and I want to ask this question every week to the point where you're asking it too.

What did God originally design?

What did sin distort?

And how does the Lamb restore it?

When we read scripture, if we read scripture like this, it begins to connect and it begins to become a fluid story.

Old Testament connects to New Testament, and New Testament refers back to Old Testament.

The disciples are are referencing the prophets, and the prophets are prophesying about what the disciples would do, and it becomes one uniform and unified story.

So, what did God originally design?

What did sin distort?

And how does the Lamb restore it?

So last week we talked about the house the Lamb is building, and we declared together, and we I hope this has been your prayer this week and will continue to be your prayer.

We're gonna prepare a healthy house because God intends to fill it.

I think we should declare that one more time this morning.

Prepare a healthy house because God intends to fill it.

I pray that you believe that.

Because I believe that with every fiber of my being.

God has a revival.

That's that's mentioned in in uh in scripture over and over and over.

But what does he say?

The harvest is plenty and the labors are few.

And God forbid that he comes and sends a harvest to this house and we let it slip through our hands because the house was not healthy.

But here's what I couldn't get away from all week.

Before God builds a healthy house, he builds healthy hearts.

Before God builds a healthy house, he builds healthy hearts.

Because you cannot build downstream what has not been established upstream.

Some of you are catching that.

Healthy people, sorry, healthy churches come from healthy families, and healthy families come from healthy marriages, and healthy marriages come from healthy people, and healthy people they come from transformed hearts.

Today, I don't want to talk to you about behavior, but I want to talk to you about your heart.

So, church, I believe one of the greatest misunderstandings in modern Christianity is not whether holiness matters, because I believe all of us do believe that, that holiness does matter.

The misunderstanding is where holiness actually begins.

If we go to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 33, 31 through 33.

Jeremiah 31:33

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.

Everybody say a new covenant and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, but with my covenant they break.

But this shall be a covenant that I make unto them with the house of Israel.

After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and I write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

I will put my law in their inward parts, and I'm gonna write it in their hearts.

I'll be their God and they shall be my people.

Notice what God did not say in this.

He simply said, I'm changing where it begins.

Listen to me this morning.

Under the old covenant, the law was written on stone.

But the new covenant, what you and I live in, the law is written on hearts.

The old covenant was written on stone, but the new covenant is written on hearts.

The standards never changed.

The law never changed, its location did.

This would have been shocking for a first century Jew to hear this.

Because for centuries the covenant had been identified by tablets, commands, ceremonies, feasts, sacrifices.

But Jeremiah says there is coming a day where God will write his desire somewhere no tablet ever could, the human heart.

God has always desired more than outward compliance.

He has always desired inward communion.

Let me say that again.

God has always desired more than just outward compliance from us, but he's always desired inward communion.

Jeremiah wasn't the only prophet who saw this.

Listen to what Ezekiel has to say in Ezekiel 36.

Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean.

A new heart, or by saying a new heart, also I give you, and a new spirit I put within you.

Say a new spirit.

I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues.

Notice the order.

Not I will put my spirit within you and you'll walk in my statues, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of uh uh uh and give you a heart of flesh, and a new heart I give to you, and a new spirit I put within you.

Then I'll sprinkle the water and you should be clean.

No, that's that's backwards.

And this is what God says first, I give you a new heart.

Then I'll put my spirit in you, and then you'll walk in my statues.

Do you guys start to see the pattern here in Scripture that God never says, walk in my statues, and then I'll give you a new heart.

He says, I'll change your heart and your life will follow.

I'll change this and the other things will follow.

I need you to hear me this morning carefully.

Holiness is the evidence that you love God.

But I fear sometimes, without the intention that we've communicated something absolutely different, especially in our movement, we've communicated holiness is how you prove yourself to God.

Those two are two vastly different things.

Loving God and having an outward expression of holiness is one thing, but having an outward expression of holiness to prove yourself to God is a totally different thing.

That is not gospel.

Now, don't misunderstand me.

Hear me this morning.

I'm not lowering God's standard.

I'm trying to preach it in the order God established it because behavior has never been able to earn grace.

Our behavior, what we do, any of those things, our patterns of thinking, our way, our life, has never afforded us the ability to earn grace.

Grace is a gift that is given from God that no man could obtain on his own.

That's what grace is for.

It's to bridge the gap of who God wants me to be, but who I end up being and falling short of.

Grace is a bridge that I cannot build on my own, but only built by God.

There is no ministry that I could serve in.

There is no outreach I could lead.

There is no standard that I could keep.

There is no sacrifice I can make that would cause God to say, now I love you.

No.

The gospel actually begins somewhere else.

1 John 4 19 says this that we love him because he what?

Because he first loved us.

We love him because he first loved us.

Love doesn't begin with you and I, it begins with him.

Grace doesn't begin with us, it begins with him.

Covenant doesn't even begin with us, it begins with him.

Everything, everything, everything begins with him.

And if everything begins with him, I just want to put this to you this morning.

Maybe we've been asking the wrong question.

Maybe the first question was never, what do I have to do?

But maybe the first question he's been wanting to us to ask is, whose am I?

Because once you know whose you are, everything else begins to change.

If God has always been after our hearts, then we it provokes the question, what actually changes a heart?

If God's intention was always to be after our hearts, then the question then the question poses, what actually changes our heart?

Is it rules?

Is it fear?

Is it regulations?

Is it shame?

Is it something deeper?

But the truth of the matter is the Bible answers it simply.

It's covenant.

It's covenant.

It's not a set of uh of regulations, it's not a set of certain things, it's covenant.

It's not contract, it's not obligation, it's covenant.

One of the greatest differences between the Hebrew way of thinking and our Western way of thinking is how we understand covenant.

Because when you and I hear the word covenant, we immediately think an agreement, a contract, terms and conditions and rules.

But when a Jewish person, especially from this day and age and teaching, when they heard that word, it would have been the word barit, that covenant, they thought family.

And an agreement, a contract with terms and conditions, rules is way different than a family.

Not that a family won't have rules and have things that they agree to, but this is this is the this is the way of thinking.

When a when the when when you hear the word covenant, the way we hear the word barit, they would think of belonging.

They would think of relationship, they would think of identity, they would think that God wasn't merely making an agreement with them, but he was saying, You will be my people and I will be your God.

That's covenant.

You will be my people.

God made it personal, my people, and I will be your God.

Covenant wasn't about changing behavior, it was about creating a people who belong to God.

I'm telling you, we're going somewhere this morning.

Covenant wasn't about changing your behavior.

Church isn't about changing your behavior.

Believing in Jesus isn't about changing your behavior just so you can get things right, but it's about creating and being a part of people who belong to God.

So let's look at a pattern for a minute.

Think about the pattern throughout the scripture.

Adam sinned, and who came looking for him?

God.

Noah found grace before the flood.

Abraham wasn't searching for God, God called Abraham.

Israel didn't earn deliverance from Egypt.

God redeemed him and then brought them down to Sinai.

Grace always comes before instruction.

Relationship always comes before responsibility.

Belonging always comes before behavior.

Everybody know what this is, right?

What makes this ring so valuable?

Okay.

Yeah.

There's value in the inherent property of this ring, whatever metal it's made of.

I'll be honest, I don't even remember at this point.

It's been almost 10 years.

I forgot.

I I I forgot where where we got it and all that stuff.

I know, I just like it.

It's the original one.

I've I've gotten one or two cents, and I just I can't get rid of the original, right?

But this this ring, this ring, it it it's got sentimental value, it's got it's got you know inherent value, but no, what breaks this ring value is what it represents.

It doesn't, this ring doesn't make me married.

Just because I slapped the ring on my finger and said, hey, Angela, we're married, that didn't make me married.

The covenant makes me married.

This ring just simply reveals that I already am.

So if I took off my ring and I just I put it in my pocket and and and I leave it there, does that stop make me from being Angela's husband?

If I lost this ring tomorrow, would my covenant disappear?

If this ring got scratched, which it fortunately is, because I wear it when I work, would our marriage be weaker?

No.

Why?

Because covenant gives meaning to the ring.

The ring doesn't give meaning to the covenant.

That's exactly how holiness works.

Hear me carefully.

I'm not saying that that ring doesn't matter.

I value that ring.

It feels weird.

I feel almost naked without it at this point.

Like I got that tan line, and like I could feel the AC on that part of my finger, and it feels weird right now.

If I intentionally stop wearing it, Angela would begin asking, has something changed in my heart?

The ring does matter, but not because it created the covenant.

That's not what created the covenant, it just reflects it.

And I didn't point, I don't put this ring on every morning hoping Angela will decide to love me today because I put the ring on.

I don't wear the ring.

I wear the ring because she already loves me.

It reminds me of whose I am.

And then it tells everyone else whose I am.

It's a reflection of what holiness is.

The ring doesn't remind me to obey a rule, it just reminds me of the relationship.

Rules can restrain behavior, but only covenant transform the heart.

Outward expressions matter because they reveal an inward covenant, not because they replace one.

Let me let me just be transparent with you this morning.

And I'm I've just let's just be honest with you.

I don't stay faithful of Angela because I'm afraid she'll catch me.

I don't keep clean on my phone and my social media and with my conversation and with my thought life because I'm afraid she's gonna catch me and what's gonna happen.

No.

I don't stay faithful because I have a list of marriages, uh of marriage rules taped to the mirror that when I go over in the morning, I gotta make sure that I recite rules one through ten and then ten through a thousand.

I don't have that.

I stay faithful simply because I love her, because I belong to her, because I'm her husband, nobody else is.

My identity changed when I took that on, and because my identity changed, and I saw myself differently, and I understood myself differently, my desires changed.

Church, I'm telling you, this is exactly what the new covenant is inviting us to also.

Because sometimes we get, we, we ask as believers, and let's be honest with ourselves.

Don't you don't you look at your neighbor right now because you go you you'll be looking at the neighbor's speck in the eye when you got a log.

We we we ask oftentimes, how close can I get to sin without crossing the line?

That's right.

I just heard some seats scrunched up in here.

But let's let's be honest as believers.

Oftentimes we'll wonder, how close can I get to sin without crossing the line?

No.

The better question is, how does someone who belongs to Jesus live?

It's not how close can I do this or what what what can I leak how close can I get to the line with what I listen to or with what I watch?

It's no, no, no, no, no.

What would Jesus have me listen to?

What would Jesus be comfortable with me watching?

If he was sitting on the couch with me watching this movie, would he want to watch this movie with me?

Would I be breaking his heart?

Would I would I be pleasing him?

Because the thing is, when we understand whose we are and who we belong to, it's no longer what we do here, a set of rules and regulations that thou shalt not kill and thou shalt not steal.

I don't do those things and I don't want to sin because the desires of my heart have changed.

Because I know who I am, I want to please him, I want to love him, and I want everything in my life to the best of my ability to reflect that.

Not because I'm afraid of hell, not because I'm afraid of God's judgment, not because of any of those things.

And I have a healthy fear of the Lord, believe me.

But there's a thing, there's a difference between serving the Lord purely out of fear and serving the Lord because you just want to love him back.

Remember, this didn't start with my love, and I can never outlove him, I can never outlove him, I can never outperform the love that he has for me.

But every day I can wake up and decide I know who I am, and so let me put it upon my mind and upon my heart that there's just gonna be some lines that I'm not gonna cross.

There's just gonna be some things in my personal life that I'm not gonna do.

There's gonna be some things in my marriages I'm just not gonna do.

There's gonna be some things in my parenting I'm not gonna do.

There's gonna be some things in ministry I'm not gonna do.

There's gonna be some things in friendships I'm not gonna do.

Why?

Because there's something that has changed inside of me, because I see who I am in light of who he is.

Everything changes now because now as a Christian, I'm not trying to avoid punishment, I'm trying to honor the one who loved me first.

But here Romans 5 and 8.

But God commanded his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, he died for us.

Notice again the pattern in scripture.

He didn't wait for us until we looked holy, he didn't wait until we acted holy, he loved us while we were still sinners.

That love, that kind of love is the kind of love that creates covenant.

And that kind of a covenant is what changes hearts.

And look what look what Paul says to the church in Galatia.

I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ in me.

And the life which uh the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Listen to Paul's language.

It's not rules, it's relationship, it's not performance, it's identity, it's not fear, it's love.

And if covenant changed my heart, then what happens to holiness?

Does it disappear?

No, absolutely not.

It just becomes a lot more clear.

In fact, I would argue that holiness actually becomes way more beautiful because holiness is no longer something I perform, but it's something that begins to grow naturally in a heart that belongs to him.

Let's answer the question some of you may already be asking.

If covenant comes before behavior, and if belonging comes before obedience, and if God changing our hearts comes before he changes our lives, then where does holiness fit into this picture?

And the answer has always been the same, exactly where it belongs.

Holiness has always been the fruit, it's never been the root.

Holiness has always been the fruit.

It has never been the root.

And before we go any further, let's define this.

Holiness has become such a church word that everybody uses.

Not and, but but here's the thing, not everybody defines it.

So let me let me let me let me define it this morning.

Holiness is a life that increasingly reflects the character of the God to whom it belongs.

I pray I'm bringing some clarity to you guys this morning.

Holiness is a life that increasingly, not momentarily, not partially, but it increasingly reflects the character of the God to whom it belongs.

Holiness is a life that reflects the character of God that it belongs to.

Church, holiness has always been about resemblance.

Think about the book of Genesis.

God created humanity in his image and in his likeness.

What did sin come along and do?

Sin distorted that image, but what did Jesus come to do?

To restore that That image and holiness is looking more and more and more and more like Jesus each and every day that I love him.

Matthew 23, 25 through 26 says this.

He says, Woe to you, scribe and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you made clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within you're full of extortion and excess.

Thou art blind, Pharisee.

Cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside may be clean also.

Notice what Jesus never criticized them about.

He never criticized them for caring about holiness.

And let me say that about this church and who we are.

I will never, ever stop caring about holiness.

We will never stop caring about holiness, but we've got to we've got to care about the order in which it happens.

He criticized them from starting on the outside.

The issue wasn't that they didn't care about holiness because they truly they did.

It was that they started with the behavior instead of the heart.

They were more concerned about the outside trappings and that on the outside that when they walked in the room, that everybody knew that they were a Pharisee and that they understood their role and their position within this political and religious society.

They were more concerned with outward appearance.

But Jesus walks in the room and turns, he says, You've got the outside right.

But if the cup is dirty on the inside, the cup's still dirty on the outside, no matter how much you wash it.

Think about it, put in the context in the cup in the sink.

If your kid said they made you a cup of water and the outside was absolutely clean, but you look down on the inside of the cup and there's a couple little bit of floaties, you ain't gonna drink out that cup just because the outside's clean, right?

It's the same thing because we're vessels, right?

See, see, scripture, man, scripture, scripture is so simple yet it's so complex.

Jesus is saying the same thing.

He he's he's presenting this way, why?

Because we're vessels.

We can have all the trappings on the outside to look like God's people, to look like our hearts should resemble his heart, and our attitude should resemble his attitude, and our behavior to resemble his behavior.

But when we get this thing mixed up and holiness becomes the root instead of the fruit, when people go to partake of our fruit, they find something else because they go to drink from the cup of our life that should be overflowing because this river of living water that should be flowing out of our bellies, right?

But what do they taste?

They taste bitterness, they taste hypocrisy.

And this is why in in Western culture people have turned away from the church because we've got all of it decorated on the outside, right?

But when people come in and say, I need healing, I need hope, I need to come in from a world that people have lied to me, they've messed me up, they've hurt me, I've gone through all this stuff, and they see church people, and then they come and say, You've got you're supposed to have living water for me to drink.

That don't taste like living water, that tastes like dirty well water.

Hear me, hear me.

I'm not I'm not getting away from holiness.

I personally strive to live a life of holiness.

I live, I I try, I do my best to live, lead my marriage in holiness, and I want to leave my children in holiness, that they would lead their children and generations to come after me.

But I want to make sure that I frame this right in my life and I frame this right in my marriage and I frame this right in my children, therefore, frame it right in my house so my house can help build this healthy house.

Is that holiness doesn't start as the baseline, but holiness is the broad byproduct.

Holiness is the fruit that when I come in contact with Jesus, that I come in contact with his love, that when I see who I am in the light of who he is, and how small and insignificant and weak and in need of grace and mercy and love is I am, then the holiness that begins to form in my life and exude from me will clean the cup from the outside first, because the inside has to be clean, so therefore the outside can be clean.

Heaven forbid that I be a vessel that poisons people because I have all the right trappings, but none of the right flow.

Church, I promise you this this has been wrecking me at the house first.

I'm just excited to bring this word to you because I believe if we can get this right, this is the bedrock and the foundation that the other things will grow in the house on.

Hear me.

I absolutely believe in holiness.

I absolutely believe in outward holiness.

I believe that God's people ought to look different.

They should talk different, they should live different, they should love different, they should respond to situations differently.

There ought to be something distinctly Christ-like about the people of God.

That's what Christian means.

It was a slang, it was a slander to the people.

It means little Christ.

Fine, call me that.

But if you're gonna call me the slander, you're gonna call me the name, then let me live by it.

But hear me.

Outward holiness was never designed to replace inward holiness, it was always designed to reveal it.

Always designed to reveal it.

And the enemy is content with either side of the road on that one.

He'd rather you live on either side of the ditch with that one.

One side, legalism.

I obey God, so God will accept me.

And I'm pretty sure that we've we've all run across people like that.

But you got the other side, got license.

God accepts me, so obedience doesn't matter.

No, no, no, no, no.

Neither of those are legalism or license.

No, neither of those are biblical.

Neither of those things are biblical.

The gospel works on a different road.

Grace is opposed to earning.

Grace is not opposed to obedience.

Hear me clearly.

You can never earn the grace of God in your life.

It is a gift that He freely gave by His own blood and his own life.

You can do nothing to earn that.

However, the response to grace never says stray away from obedience.

We obey because we fall in love more.

And that response to grace.

Hear me this morning.

I'm not getting caught up on either side of the ditch.

I'm not getting caught up in legalism.

I'm not getting caught up in license.

But I want to walk the path that God has laid before.

And I want holiness to be a byproduct of fruit in my life because the inside has been touched by the Spirit of God.

And inside this heart, in this new tabernacle with this new covenant, that I want, I want, I want the house that his spirit should be living in to be a good house, to be a clean house, to be a proper house, to be a right house.

Why?

Because he's worthy of it.

What he gave to me matters so much to him that my response to him, who think about the wedding ring again.

Suppose I came home today, I looked at Angela, I said, good news, babe.

I still love you.

I'm just not gonna wear my ring anymore.

Stephen, I may need your couch for a little bit, Bubba.

I told her I don't, I don't really, I don't really think anyone needs to know that I'm married.

I'm pretty sure plenty of you know that conversation is not gonna go well at all.

Why?

Because that ring didn't create the covenant, but also refusing it begins to reveal something in my heart.

Hear me this morning, church.

The answer isn't the ring doesn't matter.

It's the answer is the ring matters because the covenant matters.

Outward expressions matter because they reveal an inward reality.

The heart can dress holy, but it can still be full of bitterness.

You can look holy on the outside, but like we talked about with Jonah this morning, you can refuse forgiveness and you can forgive mercy.

You can know standards and you can quote them and you can live them and you can walk it, but you can still not know the Savior.

You can speak in tongues and with the same tongue speak gossip.

Neither are acceptable.

You can never miss church, you can have a perfect attendance, you can never have a sick day.

Even you might stream up sick, believing God it could heal you, but you could still walk in every day and still have pride in this house.

The issue has never been what hangs in our closet.

It's all it's never what this has merely been, it's always what hangs in our closet.

Because the issue has always been what lives in our heart.

God's, yes, God is concerned that your inside be reflected on your outside.

But if you go home and just change the wardrobe and you don't change the heart, you've missed the point.

God forbid that we be a church, that people walk in and they see the garment, they see the outside, that looks on the outside, that we've got the uniform of a believer, but when we give them fruit, it is poisoned, it is bitter, and it is rotten.

Because if we put a oh, God forbid, that we put a bad taste in someone's mouth of who he is.

I'll tell you, as a pastor, I don't want to answer for that.

I don't want to answer for that as a believer, period.

Before before I ever stepped into this role in office.

Why?

Because if I am his representation of his work and his love on this earth, if I am his ambassador to this dark place, heaven forbid I'm just an LED light when he's called me to be a spotlight.

That I can that that maybe when people get around that, oh hey, there's a little bit of light in his life, but when but but when they get behind the the the cloak and they get behind all the other stuff and they see who that I truly am and they get to my house, and maybe we're playing a board game and a word slips that shouldn't slip, and some thought, and some some some dirty jokes slip out in that, and they're sitting back wondering, is there really something different about this Jesus?

Because there doesn't seem really something different about this guy.

God forbid personally that I walk into the classroom and that I teach a group of students and they they they hear my responses, they hear how I respond to them, how I talk to them, and they're like, man, he's like every other teacher.

He yells at us, he talks down to us, he belittles us, he tells us to shut up, all those stuff.

No, there has to be a fruit on the outside when they look at me that I'm just not, I'm I'm just not I'm not cleanly dressed, and and I've got this outward appearance on.

But when they hear me teach to them, they hear the heart in which I teach them, they hear the heart in which I speak to them, that God has something on the inside of me that He's trying to pour out in their life.

And it should be everywhere that we go and everywhere, whether we're in Walmart, whether we're at Cain's, whether we're at all these planet findings, it doesn't matter.

There should be something that is not the uniform that identifies us, but it's the it's the words that come out of our mouth.

It's it's what they feel when they walk in the room, it's the peace that should be dripping on every one of our footsteps where we go, and then they should see the uniform and go, whoa.

May they see our fruits first and not just this outward appearance.

Again, the outward appearance matters, but I refuse to live in the lane of legalism or license.

And watch, we're gonna go back to Old Testament.

This one.

Look what Ezekiel said.

He said, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.

Notice, God never says, I'll force you.

He said, My spirit is gonna be within you.

And that transformed heart will begin producing transformed living.

This is the gospel why Jesus didn't simply die to forgive your sins, he died to give you a new heart.

He died to solve the issue.

The issue, because you could keep covering the sins, that's what they did every year with the Lamb.

But what did He came to do?

He came to solve the problem once and for all.

If I fix their heart, if I transform their heart, if I give them a new heart to beat inside of that chest that loves me, then they won't sin anymore.

Then they then then they will walk in my statues and ways, and they'll really be my people.

Why?

Because there'll be an identifier in our life that will transform absolutely everything.

He didn't die to change your desk just to change your destination, but he tried died to change your desires.

The new covenant isn't behavior management, that you and I might just make it to heaven and just slide on by by God's good grace and just you know stumble into heaven.

It's heart transformation.

Holiness is a life that increasingly reflects the character of God to whom it belongs, it is the fruit of belonging, not the price of belonging.

Outward holiness reveals that inward covenant, it never replaces it.

And remember, Jesus didn't lower the standard, he just transformed the source in which it flowed from.

So here's the question if God isn't primarily building performers, if God is building hearts, then we have to ask, what kind of heart is he building in us?

What kind of heart is he building in us?

We've talked about covenant.

We've talked about belonging, we've talked about holiness, but all that kind of leads to one place.

What kind of heart is the Lamb actually building?

Because God isn't simply trying to create better church members.

That was never his intention.

He's creating sons.

And he's creating daughters.

And he's creating people who love him.

Look what it says in Luke 22.

He took the bread and he gave thanks and he broke it, and he gave unto them, saying, This is my body which I've given to you.

Do this in remembrance for me.

Likewise, also the cup after the supper.

What does he say?

This cup is the New Testament and my blood which I shed for you.

Don't miss what Jesus says.

He doesn't say, I'm giving you new rules.

He just said, I'm giving you a new covenant.

Why?

Because covenant changes everything.

Romans 8, for as many of you are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Somebody needs to declare in this house that I am a child of God.

Come on, you need to say that this morning like you believe it.

I am a child of God.

I'm not the notice the contrast.

This isn't fear, it's family.

It's not bondage, it's belonging, it's not servants, it's sons, it's not performers, it's children.

This is what the new covenant creates.

And have you ever noticed that when Jesus teaches us to pray, he doesn't begin with our judge, he doesn't begin with our king, he doesn't begin with our creator, and he is all of those things and so much more.

But what does he teach when he says the disciples say, Jesus teaches how to pray?

He says, pray in this manner, our Father.

Because he before he teaches us how to pray, you got to be reminded whose you are before you enter into his presence in prayer.

He wants you to remember who you belong to, that the identity that when the blood is placed on your life and when you're born again of both water and spirit, he reminds you that his last name is upon your life now.

That no longer is it Zachary Whitehead, but it's Zachary Whitehead of Christ, and no longer is it just your first name, last name, but it's your son it's the son and the daughter of the most high.

He's constantly reminding us throughout the narrative of scripture.

I want you to see that I will be your God and you will be my people.

My people.

I hope this is turning on some light bulbs in your spirit this morning because this entire message, everything that we've talked about today comes back to one thing.

Just one simple truth.

I don't obey him to become his.

I obey because I I already belong to him.

I don't pursue holiness hoping and begging one day that he'll accept me, that I'll get my garment just right and the outside just right, my language just right, and the outward appearance just right.

I pursue holiness because I'm learning to reflect the character of the one who's already accepted me in his blood.

The gospel doesn't lower holiness, it gives holiness a whole new motivation.

Let me just speak some vision here for a moment.

I don't want us to become known as a church with good standards.

I hope we have good standards, but again, that's not what I want people to remember first.

I want people to walk into this church and encounter people whose heart belonged to Jesus, that people who genuinely love him, people who forgive quickly, that they serve joyfully, and then when they repent, they repent honestly.

When they worship, they worship passionately, and when they love one another, they love one another with a deep love that can only come from being in contact with Christ.

Not because someone told them to, not because you fear that God is looking over your shoulder, not because you fear that pastor's looking over your shoulder, or your serve team leader, or somebody else is looking over your shoulder, but because in their hearts they've been convicted and captivated by the Lamb.

Remember, last week we said this that we've we God is preparing a healthy house because he intends to fill it.

Then this week we discovered how he builds that house.

It's one heart at a time.

One heart at a time, one brick at a time, it's one heart at a time.

So next week we're gonna see what happens.

That when two transforms heart together, come together in covenant, we're gonna talk about the marriage that the Lamb is building.

But before we get to next week, I'm I'm I'm telling you, I'm excited about that.

I don't believe that God is asking us to try harder.

I'm believing he's inviting us to love deeper, to know him more.

Why?

Because out of that, out of communion with him, out of covenant with him, out of that relationship with him, all of those things will come.

All of those things will become the fruit of your life.

When a heart belongs to God, holiness will follow.

Watch what happens when this happens upstream and not downstream.

When a heart belongs to God, holiness will follow.

And if holiness follows, marriage changes.

And if marriage changes, families flourish.

And if families flourish, church becomes healthy.

And if the churches become healthy, leaders endure.

And if commun if leaders endure, communities are transformed.

And everything downstream changes because the source of where it all flowed from changed.

Church, don't hear me this morning that I'm saying outward holiness doesn't matter.

Hear me saying something stronger.

That outward holiness matters so much that God refused to leave it on the outside.

Through this new covenant, he writes his holiness on our hearts so that our lives become a genuine expression of his work within us.

I have one prayer for us this morning.

Lord, would you build in me the kind of heart that naturally loves what you love and hates what you hate?

Not because someone's watching.

Not because I'm afraid.

But because I don't belong.

Just simply because I'm alone to you.

Because when a heart belongs to God, everything else.

Everything else will fall.

Why don't we stand all across this house this morning?

Stand all across this house this morning.

I want to be clear with what I'm saying this morning because I want you to hear what I'm saying and also hear what I'm not saying.

Today isn't about recommitting yourself to rules and to regulations and to that.

It's about surrendering to your heart to a God who has wanted it all along.

To a God that has passionately pursued you since the moment that you were born.

The God that has been there through every moment, through every trial, through every hurt, through every pain, through everything else that has gone on in your world, through every mistake you've made, through every time that you've cursed his name, through every time that you've walked away from him and you've said no to what he's called you to do.

It's about surrendering your heart to a God who's won it all along.

So here's my altar call this morning.

Don't even look at your neighbor.

Right now, this is about you.

This is about the individual bricks, this is about the individual and individual blocks.

If you feel like you've been trying to earn God's love, that you've been living this thing out because you feel like you've got to earn his love.

Gotta tell you this morning, this altar calls for you.

If you've been trying to change from the outside within, this altar calls for you.

If you've been trying to make sure that you have everything right before you start serving God in a greater capacity, this altar calls for you.

Today, let him build the heart, let him build your heart in the manner in which he's always intended and he's always desired.

It reminds me of the constant psalm that I just I don't know for some reason this is I when I always pray this I end up always praying this psalm that God create in me a clean heart, oh God.

Renew a loyal and a steadfast spirit within me.

Why?

Because I can never let my heart get away from the one who's captivated my heart.

I have to be intentional about turning my attention and my mind and my thoughts and everything that I have towards him.

Why?

I don't want my heart to wander.

I don't want my affection to wander.

I don't want any of that stuff to wander.

Because everything out of my life flows out of that.

Church, hear me clearly this morning.

The established flow of how things work is out of your covenant faith first.

And then it's your marriage, and then it's your family, and then it's ministry.

Hear me clearly.

From the get-go, that's that's that's the way things are supposed to be.

And some of us have been trying to do all the other stuff to get to ministry, and our own faith has suffered.

And because our own faith has suffered, our marriages have suffered and our families have suffered.

But here's what I believe the word of the Lord is is that if we would get the heart right and we would get the place of holiness right and correct in our lives, then the other stuff will follow.

I believe that what God is trying to establish when He's building this house to fill it, it's gonna have to take some turning some things on its head and putting some things in realignment with the Scripture.

Lord, here's our prayer this morning.

God, would you write your law upon our hearts?

Would you take away every start of stone in this house and start with mine first and give us heart of flesh that are tender and perceptive to you?

Lord, would you fill us with your spirit?

Would you teach us to love you simply because we first loved you?

And may your holiness, may it become not just evidence, but may become joyful evidence that we belong to you.

And build us the kind of hearts, build us in the kind of hearts which healthy marriages will grow and families will flourish out of and churches will stand, and our community will see Jesus because we started in this moment and put things in right priority and order.

Why don't we just turn this moment?

If you don't feel comfortable front, if you just want to kneel at where you're at right now, can we just can we just recommit some vows to God this morning?

And not because we want to get the rules and the regulations right.

There might be some things that you need to repent of in this house, and that's okay.

When he speaks conviction to your heart, it's because he loves you, it's because he's calling you.

It's the bri it's it's the groom calling his bridegroom closer.

Remember, this is all ending up in a marriage anyway.

And so, what I ask you this morning, it be tender towards his spirit, be tender towards God is speaking to you.

Again, you don't have to make your way up here as a shine, as a sign or show of faith.

If you want to come pray with somebody, that's fine too.

If you feel more comfortable, just turn around and kneeling in your seat because you because you want to talk to God and you feel like God is pricking your heart.

We're just gonna turn this into a house for prayer for a little bit.

If you need special prayer for anything, come up here to the side and we'll be glad to pray with you.

But AC, let's just turn this into a house of prayer and a house of recommitment and a house of covenant for a minute.

God, I thank you for your spirit.

God, I thank you for what you're doing in this place.

I thank you for your own.