FBC Adult Bible Study

All right, anything else? Yes, Carissa. Oh That's right, yeah yeah, we prayed

Wednesday night for Seth and Kevin who were leaving the next day to meet

Justin somewhere between here and where is he in South Dakota They were keep seeing skiing in South Dakota.

Yeah anyway, so Right, yeah, so he ended up having a wipeout skiing and fractured his wrist

Seth did Seth did so pray for his recovery. All right.

Well, let's pray and shall we Our father we do. Thank you this morning for the opportunity of gathering together.

Thank you that we can study your word We can get some better insight into Ourselves as well as into you and into your desires for us

We pray that you would bless this time of studying the word today. I pray that you would open our hearts and our minds

And open our open your word to us that what we take in in the mind would affect our desires

And therefore our will We do pray for these needs. We pray for Carolyn runners family and and her death

I pray that You would give comfort to them and especially to Jim Father we pray for Dan's brother

Rick. I pray for his recovery from this Heart surgery pray that you would meet his needs

Also pray for Seth and ask that you would give a speedy healing to his wrist

Pray that wouldn't cause any further problems or complications, but it would just heal swiftly

Father we ask for your again for your blessing on our time and meeting with us this morning and we pray in Jesus name

Amen All right, well we've been talking about the heart what is the heart and I was

Thinking about this in relationship to the culture and how the culture Typically thinks of the heart as our feelings how we feel and Reflected on a few

Pop songs that bring in the idea of the heart and You know, one of them talks about putting putting your heart above your head.

I put my heart above my head Which is basically saying

I put my feelings over my thinking and And There was there was a song that was

I don't think it was connected to the movie I don't think the movie had the song in it.

I think it was written after the movie remember that movie ET Again, I'm dating myself, but it goes back to the 1980s that movie

X ET the extraterrestrial There was a song written after that About turning on your heart light and let that heart light guide you wherever you go again, the idea is

Basically following following your feelings. What are your feelings telling you to do?

Well, we we're wanting to know what the Bible has to say about the heart. What does the Bible mean when it's talking about the heart?

and so by way of review We we gave this definition and again, we're using that book with all your heart by Craig Troxell, by the way

I found this was interesting I was doing I was doing a little walk the other day doing a little 30 -minute walk and while I was walking

I was listening to I was listening to the truth for life message for the day and Alistair Begg, you know speaking and he's his message was on on the need the church's need for love

From 1st Corinthians 13. But anyway at the end of that they said our our giveaway this month

You know you contribute any kind of contribution to the ministry and are you can receive if you ask for it the book?

With all your heart by Craig Troxell. I know well, that's a good That's a good resource to be giving away and it really is it's very been been it's being a very helpful book

But anyway in that book Craig Troxell defines the heart summarizing all that as was

Discussed in chapter 1 he defines the heart as your governing center

When used simply it reflects the unity of your inner being when used

Comprehensively it describes the complexity of your inner being as composed of your mind

What you know Your desires what you love and your will what you choose

That's a rather elaborate Definition of the heart but it really takes that doesn't it?

Because the Bible does use the heart in both those ways. It uses it simply and it also uses it comprehensively and there are synonyms at different places in different times in the

Bible that connect to the the heart and those synonyms and the heart itself

Refers to those those Aspects when we're in our complex definition of the heart or a comprehensive definition of the heart

So the heart simply is the unity of your inner being Describe that as the control center of your being everything that you everything you do everything you

Think you want etc. Everything about you is connected to and comes from Your heart.

That's why the Bible says Guard your heart with all diligence Because out of it flows the issues of life

Springs forth that all the issues of life spring forth from your heart that control center within the center of your being but then comprehensively

Talk about that Trinity of functions that are the hearts functions

Your mind what, you know Your desire what you love your will what you choose and we pointed out and Troxell very effectively points out that those that threefold function of the heart corresponds to the three primary expressions of sin

The general concept of sin has to do with falling short and we're going to talk about that in a few minutes and then

Sin and then iniquity Iniquity another word for sin has to do with perversion connects with our desires and then trespass or transgression

Sin is a transgression of the law. It is a going beyond it has to do with our will our choice where we deliberately trespass or transgress the boundary the borders that God has established and then we also said that Corresponds to the threefold work of Christ as our prophet priest and King now what what this book does and it's very helpful and I if there's a if there is a

Grassroots call for it. I can order some copies of this and and make them available But what this book does is it looks at each of those?

threefold functions of the heart the mind the desires and the will and And first talks about that in a in a general sort of definitions way

You know What is the mind and we we did that last week with the mind and in talking about the mind the mind?

aspects of your heart We pointed out that the heart the mind the heart

Reasons it reflects it remembers and it hears

Now those are those are functions of the mind, right? reasoning reflecting remembering

Hearing or understanding those are functions of the mind the Bible talks about those as functions of the heart

All right. Now the same thing is going to happen in a future chapter a future lesson

With our desires as well as our wills but then what what

Troxell does after dealing with the the the general function

The heart's function like the mind he then moves to the corresponding sin

That is related to that function of the heart So today for example, we're going to look at the fact that sin plays mind games sin plays mind games and Let's turn first of all to Matthew chapter 5

Matthew 5 I just want to point out point out a couple of places where Jesus Jesus makes it clear that the the root of our problem of our sin problem is

The mind and what he does what Jesus does is he exposes the fact that the mind is permeated by sin so in Matthew 5 verses 21 and 22

He says you've heard it said by them of old that thou shalt not kill

All right, shall not murder and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment But I say unto you and notice how

Jesus moves from the outward action which is an action that may be an expression of desire or passion and The will to kill somebody that outward action and he deals with the mind and He says in verse 22, but I say it to you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause

Shall be in danger of the judgment who shall ever sell whosoever shall say to his brother

Raqqa shall be in danger of the council whosoever shall say now fool shall be in danger of hellfire

So he gets to the heart of the matter By dealing with the mind if you are angry, that's just something that's going on inside of you and then in verse

Verses 27 and 28 he deals with another of the Commandments He said you've heard it said of old time when the

Ten Commandments thou shalt not commit adultery But what does he do? He goes on in verse 28 to say

I say unto you that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her is committed Adultery with her already in his heart.

So there's something going on in the mind that is just as That is also guilty before God for for violating his moral law of not committing murder not committing adultery and so on so this

Idea that the sin that the mind is permeated with sin is exposed by Jesus What's the root of all of it that Sin permeation of the mind what's the root of it?

He goes all the way back to Eden, doesn't it? think about what happened in the

Garden of Eden with the serpent when he came and Came to entice

Eve. What did he do? What did he attack? What did he attack? He attacked her mind

First of all, didn't he? Because he came to her and he said Did God say?

That you can't eat of any of the fruit of the garden So the first thing that that Satan did was was deal with her ability to reflect to remember to think about to reason and She replies and said well we can eat of any of the tree any of the garden the fruit of any of the trees in The garden, but this tree we cannot eat so she knows

See, there we go her heart mind knows

What God's will is what God's law says? you may not eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then

What does he do? He attacks that thinking that Revelation that she's reflecting upon and remembering he says you're not gonna die

The Lord knows God knows that when you eat that you're gonna be like God then what does she do?

What does she do next? She starts reasoning. She starts thinking

There's a well look at this fruit, you know, it's it's good -looking fruit it's just as good -looking as any of the other fruit in the garden and I mean if it's gonna make me wise how can it be wrong?

This is all going on in her mind in her thinking See, does she is there a problem with her knowledge?

Does she not know? What God has said? No, she does know what

God has said. She knows what the border what the boundaries are Now Jeremiah 17 verse 9 brings out also the idea that the mind is permeated with sin

When Jeremiah says that the heart is what? It's desperately wicked and what what does it say first?

the heart is Deceitful and it is desperately wicked. The heart is deceitful.

That is it is bent toward Distortion Distortion of reality distortion of God's revelation delusion

And folly and self -deception that's why there's a there's a book written a couple of books written a few years ago

What's the guy's name? Just it just I had it here and it just went I Said I Said I He said

I Said I I Said I Said I heart now to follow their heart and he completely dismissed

I remember I read the book I remember him completely dismissing Jeremiah 17 9 and saying you know when

God saved you when when you were converted he gave you a completely new heart your heart therefore is no longer deceitful and desperately wicked well

I would I would disagree with that and so we'll discover that later in our in our study here too but the heart is permeated with sin and here's how we know that we know that because secondly the mind which is that function of the heart the mind knows better but falls short the mind knows better but falls short so do we know this that do we know

God's standards do we know God's law look at Romans let's turn to Romans and and I'm going to have you flip between two chapters in Romans so Romans 1 first of all

Romans 1 and verse 21 so now

Paul is talking here in this verse Romans 1 21 he's talking about the unconverted mind unconverted person somebody who's not saved he's not a follower of Christ and someone who um has not even had the blessing and the benefit of God's special revelation he is though a recipient of God's general revelation remember those two distinctions between general and specific revelation special revelation they're brought out in Psalm 19 general revelation the heavens declare the glory of God the firmament shows his handiwork day unto day utter speech night and night shows knowledge there's no place on the planet where the voice of creation has not spoken to testify of the glory of God okay so all are without excuse because of the witness of general revelation of God's reality of God's glory now verse 21 of Romans 1 brings out the fact that people human beings unconverted man knew

God no God he says because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God so general revelation testifies to every human being

God is this is the work of the master craftsman the creator

God and this is creation testifies to his glory his grandeur and so forth so the unconverted mind knows something to some degree about God all right now look at your chapter 7 keep your finger here in chapter 1 we'll come back to in a minute in chapter 7 verse 22 so Paul says in Romans 7 22

I delight in the law of God after the inward man now here he's a converted man so he's saying

I I delight in God's law as a converted man I know what God's law says

I know what God wants of us and we do you know what God wants of you I know what

God wants of me he wants truthfulness he wants purity he wants us to be content you know whatsoever state find myself there and to be content be content with such things that you have and so on and so forth

God wants us to be contented God wants us to love remember the summary of all of the old testament all of God's law love

God with all your heart right love your neighbor as yourself summarizes all of God's law we know what

God wants he wants us to love he we we know that he wants us to engage in selfless service we we know what

God wants so we know the standard but we fail to measure up so look at verse 23 he says but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members and go back to verses 14 and 15 he says we know that the law is spiritual but I'm carnal sold under sin for that which

I do I allow not or I I know not I I don't even know what I'm doing

I do but I don't know what I'm doing and what I would do I don't do it but what

I hate that I do you see this is all a battle in the mind what's going on in the mind

I know what I'm supposed to do but I don't do it I'm doing and I don't even know what

I'm doing I I I want to obey God's law there's a desire but but I don't

I I do what I hate so so this is just a constant struggle in the mind where we know the standard of God but we fail to measure up and so do the unconverted so back in chapter 1 verse 21 he says because that when they knew