(Where Is the Church Going) 4. the Gospel and the Heart of Man — Miki Hardy

So I want to greet everyone here this morning, welcome to this place, welcome to the church, welcome to this house, and we pray that the Lord will touch your life and that you will feel the love of the Lord.

The Gospel as the Message of the Cross

I'm sure you've already felt it in some way. God bless you. So this morning I would like to share with you on this subject about the gospel and the heart of men. The gospel and the heart of men. When we talk about the gospel I think we need to understand that it's the message of the cross.

That was the gospel that the apostle Paul preached, the message of the cross of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul teaches in his books and letters how every Christian is called to identify his life, to pay the price to be a Christian.

It's a blessing to be a Christian, it's a grace of God to be a Christian, but there is a price to pay to live the Christian life. The church needs to understand that. We need to understand that the price to pay to live the Christian life and to have the approval of God on our lives is to be prepared to have and not to have.

It's to be prepared to allow God to change our lives. It's to be prepared to be molded by God. It's to be prepared to go through times of joy and times of mourning, times of breaking, times where the hand of the Lord is open our lives and we feel it.

Times to cry, times to be persecuted, times to rejoice, times to be sad. It's a price to pay to live a Christian life according to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel that the apostle Paul preached.

Unfortunately, the church of Jesus Christ departed from this message in the last decade or more that we have lived as Christians. That's why it's important for us to understand the meaning of the gospel.

And the gospel has been designed not for the intellect of men but for the heart of men. And we need to understand the two covenants. Many times I come back to these two covenants. The old covenant, maybe we can open our bibles in the book of Genesis chapter 17.

For us to understand the power of the gospel to change lives, we need to understand the covenants. In the book of Genesis chapter 17, God made a covenant with Abram. Verse 10, he said, this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you.

Now he's talking about the people of Israel, the nation of Israel that was to be born and chosen by God. Now God made this covenant with Abraham and he said, every male child among you shall be circumcised.

Every male will have to be circumcised and that would be the sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. And it goes on and he said, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh for your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

Verse 13, he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh forever and everlasting covenant. Now this everlasting covenant was supposed, was meant to be with the Jews, the people of Israel.

The New Covenant and Circumcision of the Heart

But it came a day when God said that he would bring another covenant, a new one, a second one. And that second covenant was not a covenant of the flesh, it had nothing to do with the circumcision of the flesh, but it had everything to do with the circumcision of the heart.

This is what the apostle Paul preached when he spoke in his letters. And I want to remind you, if you open your Bibles with me in the book of Hebrews chapter 8, it's very important that we put that foundation here so that we move from one covenant to another covenant.

There is such a tendency today that the church leaves the new covenant and at the same time being stuck with the old covenant. Now not even concerning the law, but even concerning the way that we are called to bring God's people to maturity.

If we read in the book of Hebrews chapter 8, in verse 7 it says, for if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, he says, behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to leave them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind, I will write them on their hearts, I will be their God and they shall be my people.

So God is saying now that he will write his laws on our hearts. Now I'm not going to share with you this morning about the law of the old covenant and the freedom of the new covenant, but I want you to see that the gospel that God gave for the church of the new covenant is a gospel that speaks to the heart of man and not to the intellect of man.

If the gospel of the new covenant is brought to the mind and the intellect of man, it will not produce anything. It will have no power to change the life of anyone here this morning. And I'm afraid that this way the church has gone and has been in the last decade or more.

The church has explained the gospel, the church has been taught to learn the Bible, the church has been told to quote scriptures as if these things could change the heart of men or the life of a Christian.

We can only fellowship with Jesus with our hearts, that's where everything comes. Our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is in our hearts, it comes from our hearts and not from our minds or our intellect.

It's the heart that responds to the gospel, it's not the mind. The gospel that was given to the apostle Paul that we read and preach and teach is the heart that responds to that gospel. The mind cannot comprehend the things of the spirit, it's the heart that receives the testimony that whatever we hear in the spirit is of God or not of God.

Our mind cannot make that selection, our mind cannot discern if what we hear is of God and not of God in the spirit. Our mind can only read what is written in the Bible, but it's our heart that responds, it's our heart that brings conviction, it's our heart that brings us to our knees, it's our heart that shakes our lives, it's what we hear from our hearts.

And the church has put so much accent, emphasis on bringing God's people to learn the Bible as if by learning the Bible we will grow to maturity. And we have all failed we have failed because the simple reason it is the heart that responds to the gospel, because the words are spirit and life.

The Gospel, Spiritual Growth, and the Heart

That's why it's important for us to preach the gospel under the anointing of the spirit, otherwise it has no power. We can bring the gospel with methods and principles and techniques and it goes right to our mind and intellect, but the Christians don't change, they don't grow, they don't mature, they don't become spiritual people, they stay carnal children in the spirit.

They always need the milk, they can't chew the meat, they can't accept it because they have never grown, because their mind has been fed, their intellect, and so many Christians today in the western world, they like the intellectual gospel, they like to explain, their intellect wants everything to be logical, but the gospel is not meant to feed our intelligence or our intellect and our minds.

The gospel is meant to touch hearts, to change our lives, and you can't change your life, and I can't change my life from here. I will never be able to experience a life-changing life, if I accept that the gospel is for my mind.

We need to understand that as soon as you are born again, and even before you are born again, the gospel needs to teach to reach your heart. Now let me show you something in Acts chapter 2 verse 36. Are you there?

Acts chapter 2 verse 36, and we wonder why Christians never grow, and we wonder why sin dwells in the church, and we wonder how there are so many scandals among the body of Christ. Acts chapter 2 verse 36.

Now Peter, he has been preaching, and he says, therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now these were unconverted Jews, am I right?

They were not converted. It was the first message of the cross that they heard from Apostle Peter, and the Bible says in verse 37, now remember they are not born again, correct? They are not born again, but the Bible says now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, or in other words, their heart was deeply touched.

They did not try to understand why, where, and try to explain it. The gospel that was preached from the Apostle Peter reached the heart of these unconverted Jews, cut their heart deeply, touch their heart deeply, and they saw Jesus Christ in the spirit.

Peter knew that the gospel that they received was not intended to be explained. You can't explain it. If you want explanations, go to school and universities, but if you want to be explained the gospel, don't come to church.

If you want to grow in the spirit, come with a broken heart, a humble heart, an open heart, and the Lord will speak to you, and I want to say that it does not come that way, nor that way. It comes that way, straight.

The vehicle of the gospel is by the spirit, and the spirit is of no flesh. That's why God has created man with an ability in the heart, in the spirit, to hear God himself. If that was the intention of God, he would not create men with the spirit or with their heart to receive what he hears from God.

He would have created him with the mind and the soul, but God created man, spirit, soul, and body, so that he could hear from God. Now don't, don't try to explain it. Don't try to understand it with your mind, and when Peter spoke to these three thousand or five or ten thousand, I know that three thousand came to the Lord.

I don't know how many they were there, but they were cut to the heart. The gospel touched their hearts, and they said, what then? What must we do? What are we to do? We are deeply touched, and Peter said to them, repent, repent, and be baptized, and serve the Lord with all your hearts.

Is their heart that listened? Is their heart that was touched? You can't explain the gospel. You can't learn it, and if you want to, you can, but let me tell you, by learning the scriptures won't make you a better Christian.

You will become a better Christian when the gospel will convince you in your heart. Now let me show you, you know, this is why, you know, we need to understand why do we come to church, and people come to church to be intellectually fed, or to understand things.

The Holy Spirit's Conviction of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment

Turn with me in John chapter 16, chapter 16, verse 8. Now Jesus is talking here about the Holy Spirit that would come, that will abide in us, correct? Jesus said, I will not leave you orphans, but I will send you the Holy Spirit who will talk what you have heard from me, who will teach what you heard from me, who will glorify me, and here Jesus Christ says, and when he has come, the Holy Spirit, he will convict the world of sin, verse 8, chapter 16, John, and when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.

That was the main reason for the Holy Spirit to come. Now if you want to come to church, and to hear intellectual things, you'll never repent of your sin. If you want to come to church, and allow someone to explain to you the Bible, you will never understand the judgment of God.

You will never understand the true righteousness of God. You will never be convict of sin. You'll never have that conviction from your heart. It will not bring you to repentance, and onto your knees, and yet Jesus Christ said, the Holy Spirit is given, he's sent unto that world, he's sent to abide in you, and to convict you of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and people come to church with the main idea to be blessed, and to receive some material things from God.

And the Holy Spirit has been sent to abide in us, so that we'll leave the righteousness of God, so that we know that there will be a time of judgment, and that the devil has been judged by Jesus Christ on that cross, that we need to repent, and continually repent of our sins.

And let me tell you something, you can't explain that thing. You come to church one day, and you think you are somebody, and the Holy Spirit touches you, and cuts your heart in two, and you are deeply touched, and you walk from where you are, and you kneel down on the altar, and you repent.

That does not good, came from your intellect, and on your mind, it came right up to your heart, because your intellect will not bring you there. Your mind will not bring you there. Your mind will tell you to walk out from that door.

Your intellect will stop you, your flesh will stop you, but your heart will bring you up there. That's why there are thousands of Christians that never repent, and never grow, because they are being fed by their intellect, by humanist preachers, by organizers, by men of charisma, by intellectual preachers, by intelligent preachers.

Let me tell you something, the church don't need them. We need men of the Spirit. We need the anointing of the Spirit. That's what we need in the church, because the gospel, the gospel is designed for the heart of men.

If you want to come here, let me tell you something, if you come in that place to try and look what is happening, you're losing your time. If you want to come here and check, you're going to check all your life.

I tell you, people spend their life checking, and when the day of the Lord comes, you will still be checking. Oh Lord, help us. Can you see why the Holy Spirit came on that earth? We convict people of sin.

Lord, help us of your sins, and my sins, and the sins of all the world. And when these Jews stood before Peter, I tell you, maybe some of them, if there were Greeks there, they would have tried to explain.

Help the Greeks, Lord. And I tell you, all these Jews were there with all their religion. Yeah, all the Pharisees and all these guys, full of their religion, with the book of the law. I praise God for the Holy Spirit.

He bypassed everything, everything. They must have come there with the book of the law to listen to Peter. But the Lord, Jesus Christ, reached out to their hearts, cut their heart in two. The Bible declares they were deeply touched in their hearts.

You can't explain the Bible, you can't explain the gospel. You've got to give your life, sir. You've got to be prepared. Yeah, to partake to his sufferings, to partake to his death, so that you may partake to resurrection life.

Worship in Spirit and Truth

I like what Jesus said to this Samaritan woman. She was ready to explain her whole life. Who was her husband? Who was the right one? Who was the second one? Who was the third one? Jesus said to her, the time is coming.

The day is coming that no one will go up the mountain. There is no physical place anymore. But Jesus was telling to this Samaritan woman, God is seeking for those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

You can't even worship God with all your intellect, because you will start to try to find out how he is, his spirit. That first meeting in the open air with the apostle Peter was the time to reveal to mankind that the whole issue is the heart.

That was the first time that a man would bow down before God and repent from the depth of his heart. It was a time ordained by God, and it was proof, proved. The manifestation is right there. The change came.

The covenant of the flesh is behind. Now it's a covenant of the heart, and God has not changed since. He's speaking to the heart. He's designed us so that we may respond to him with our hearts. Amen. The mind is just there to help us.

The mind is just there to help us follow the desires of our hearts. When you have already been revealed the purpose of God for your life, when you've already been revealed the plan of God for your life, deep down in your heart, then your mind can follow.

Can you understand? You cannot make your heart follow your mind, because God speaks to the heart, and now you must make your mind be in line with the desires and the plan of God revealed to your heart.

You say, yes sir, but sometimes I think. You need to think. You've got to think. You're obliged to think. You're obliged to use your mind, absolutely, because your mind is going to dissect what your heart has received, to discern.

You see, your mind will speak what your heart has received, but you listen with your heart. You hear with your heart. You hear the gospel with your heart. That's the reason why thousands of Christians never change.

They come to church three, four times a week, but they never change, because they are being taught. It's amazing. It's sad, but the church has been taught to understand. They explain the bible, and they teach you and I to go and, how do you call that, and know it, and learn it, memorize it.

Yeah, it's as if it will change. My question is, how did the church of Acts do? They had nothing of the New Testament to learn about. Nothing. It was written after them, after them, but they lived it.

They lived it. They had nothing to question. That's why our heart is designed, is designed for the true gospel. You know, sometimes I go in churches, and I preach to the church, and some churches are deep in all sorts of things, all sorts of things, and you preach the gospel, and sometimes there, you can't hear anything, because all of them are hearing.

Their heart are testifying that this is truth. This is truth, and I think I told you that before. Now it's their choice, but there's one thing they will always know, because I don't know if you know, but the gospel, the true gospel of the message of the cross of Jesus Christ and him crucified, will follow you all your life.

You like it, you don't like it, it will follow you the rest of your life, right up to your tomb. If you don't want to accept it and live your life, it's okay with you. That's your life, but every born again Christian has the ability, when he hears the gospel, to know that this is truth.

He has the ability to make the difference. He can visit 15 churches, but he will know where his heart has been cut, where his heart has been circumcised, where his heart has received it, and has testified to him that this is the truth.

He will know. Now it will be his decision to choose wherever he wants to go. Our heart has been designed for the gospel. And in Mark chapter 7, if you read it, verse 17, you know Jesus talks about the heart of men.

He was preparing them to understand that if we want to live the Christian life, it's with our hearts. He was telling them and showing them the state of heart of a man. I think you need to read that on your own.

You need to read that on your own, because it's a bit long. It's from verse 17 to verse 23, but Jesus speaks about the heart of men, and tells them that this is the most important thing of your life and my life, because the gospel needs to find a pure heart, needs to find a receiving heart.

Guarding Against Philosophy and Empty Deceit

Now put your Bibles with me. I won't read that. I'll read that. You'll read that yourself in the book of Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, we'll read from verse 2. That's verse 4, excuse me.

Verse 4. Now this I say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. Now here the apostle Paul is giving a warning. Lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. Verse 6. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

Verse 8. Beware, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Now the apostle Paul is talking about philosophers, men that come and explain the Bible, explain the Word of God.

Now let me tell you, just to reassure you, there's nothing wrong to be an intelligent person, because I believe I'm somewhat intelligent. But anyway, there's nothing wrong to be intellectual people, but you can't bring the gospel with philosophy and trying to explain it.

And here the apostle Paul is warning the church. Don't allow yourself to be cheated. This is dangerous, dangerous. Verse 9. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power.

In him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Now it's our hearts that has been circumcised, it's not our flesh.

So we need to receive the gospel with our hearts. We must have open hearts to receive the gospel. Paul praised God that he was not an intellectual preacher. Open your Bibles with me, Corinthians chapter 1.

Intellectual Faith versus Faith in God's Power

1 Corinthians chapter 1. Do you know that you can have intellectual faith? You know, you can have intellectual faith. It's the faith built on the wisdom of men. That's how Paul explains it. Faith built on the wisdom of men, on intelligence of men, on the way that men brought the gospel to you in such a way that your head has explained everything and everything is put into place and now you can use your faith.

Intellectual faith. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 17 Paul says, for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words. Wisdom of words. Now he's talking about explaining.

Your heart does not need to receive any explanation. Your heart receives revelation. Revelation. Your heart sees in the spirit. Your heart perceives. Your heart moves. When your intellect moves, it's your emotions and your flesh that moves.

Intellectual people, intellectual preachers, they touch the flesh. They touch the emotions of men. That's why our, that's why in thousands of churches you see people hanging around and jumping around and, and you know, doing all sorts of things.

They are easily moved by their emotions. They are easily moved by their intellect. When they understand something in their mind, it's as if they have received gold. But the thing is that it will never work for them.

Because whatever you need to grow in the spirit must come from your heart. It's a deposit in your heart. The law of Christ is written in your heart. That's what the apostle Paul says. Written not on the tables of stone, but the tables of flesh, the heart of men.

And Paul says, I'm called to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. Amen? Not with wisdom of words. In other words, simple, clear, to the heart.

The words carry life. You don't have to know your language and be a professor to be a preacher of the spirit. But you can be a professor in your language and be a dead preacher, a dry preacher. Even in your own words and all the grammar that you have and everything, everything you can have to put everything nice and clear, nice and neat.

But it doesn't work. In chapter two, the apostle Paul goes on and he says, I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. That was his plan and purpose of life. He wanted the Christians to be built on a strong foundation and he wanted to preach to them, to teach them about the gospel.

And he says, I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom. Human wisdom. The wisdom of man explains. The wisdom of man wants to be reassured that everything fits in well together.

And Paul says, this is not my ministry. This is not my calling. I don't come to you with nice words, persuasive words, not that word persuasive. So it's got the ability even to persuade you. It proves to you.

It's got some power to prove to you, to move by the flesh and move by the emotions and move by the mind and the intellect. It puts all your soul and mind in line, but that's not God's purpose. No. And Paul says, I'm not a good preacher.

I don't have nice words to come and come to you with. I don't want you to understand things and be happy because, you know, everything is set together. No. And he goes on to say, but in demonstration of the spirit and power, not why.

Why? So that your faith, your faith, sir, there are millions of Christians that are living today on intellectual faith, faith based on wisdom of men. Yeah. Deception. So you think you have faith, but you have nothing.

You have, but you have intellectual one. Yeah. You've got intellectual faith and it's worth nothing for you. That's what Paul says. But in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men.

No, not wisdom of men, not intellect, not mind. That's why many people, many Christians believe that they know. We've got, they have all got it up there. I used to believe myself that I was a very spiritual person because I could quote scripture.

Yeah. I had everything up there until I discovered that I was nude spiritually, blind spiritually. Yeah. Because I was an ignorant preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of the message of the cross. And all my faith was built on my intellectual ability to understand scripture, to know scripture.

I had it all together up there. I praise God that I've forgotten everything because all my faith was on everything that I knew. That's why it is called intellectual faith. And I had everything stored up there.

And if I am Christians, I have no ability to store up there. They were finished. Yeah. And the apostle Paul says that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And in chapter one, verse 17 and 18, the apostle Paul declares that the power of God is the preaching of the cross.

And I don't know if you have noticed the state of heart that the apostle Paul comes to preach. His state of heart, because he understands that it is an important issue of his ministry. Weakness in weakness, in fear and in trembling.

He's so scared to bring Christians far from the real message. He's been himself broken by God and he understands the danger of having intellectual faith. That's why I read to you Colossians chapter two.

Be aware of philosophers. Be aware of intellectual preachers. Yeah. Be aware of people that know too much. Be aware of people of charisma. People that can easily talk. Yeah. The wisdom of men, they will persuade you to put your hand into your pocket.

They will persuade you. And at the same time, your life is in a mess. You live in sin. You can't get away with that sin. You can't be delivered from that sin. You can't be set free from the desires of your flesh.

You don't walk in victory. But at the same time, you have faith, intellectual faith. You know everything that you should do, but you can't do any one of them. You know that when you receive one slap on the right cheek, you must give the left hand, but you can't ever give the left one.

You know that when you are persecuted, you must pray for those who persecute you, but you can never pray for them because your heart is bitter. But you know it. You've got all of it up there. Everything is up there.

You know everything. You know the Bible. You know the words of Jesus. You know everything. But you can't never repent. Yeah? And yet the Holy Spirit was given to us, to convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

But we can't. We can't live in righteousness. We can't live a righteous life. But we have faith. We have everything explained. What we must do, the step that we must take today, and the next step tomorrow.

The first chapter tells you about the first principle. The second chapter tells you about the second principle and the third principle, and yet you can't be delivered from your sin. But the gospel, the true gospel, brought in the anointing of the Spirit and demonstration of power, brings your heart to repentance.

But today, Christians repent because they have to, and it's not true repentance, because they have intellectual repentance. Yes? We're talking about the gospel and the heart of man. We are called to live by our hearts.

We are called to live by the desires of our hearts. Let our hearts have dreams. Let our hearts have visions. Let our hearts hear the Spirit. Then you can put it on paper via your mind, so that you can explain what you have seen and witnessed in your heart.

It's the truth. And the Apostle Paul is very clear. That's why the church must be warned about intellectual preachers. Yeah? Intellectual preachers and their gospel. Their gospel, it's sad to say, it's never linked to Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Never. Intellectual preaching never brings your heart to take your cross and follow Jesus. Can't. It can't. And yet you know the verse of Scripture. You know it's in the Bible. Sometimes I laugh, because sometimes when I go somewhere, and I know what's in the church, and I know by, you know, when you enter a church, you know exactly what's going on.

Sometimes, you know, you feel. You feel the atmosphere. You feel how things are going. You've seen a clip earlier on, I mean, I think even by looking you can see. You understand? Okay. And sometimes you go to these churches, and you preach the cross of Jesus Christ and him crucified.

You preach the message of the cross. You preach the foundation of Christ. And some of them come and tell you, you know, praise God. I know exactly what you mean. I've lived that all my life. And you ask him about his life.

Lord. And then he tells you about all his problems, and all his misery, and all his defeats, and everything of his life. But he knows it. But he knows everything. He knows everything. That's why many people today, they read books with their minds.

Your eyes read, but your heart receives. Your eyes can read, and God can pop up something, some revelation that touches your heart. That's why God in his wisdom made us spirit, soul, and body. That's why the gospel of Jesus Christ is designed, made, revealed for our hearts to live.

And you can't explain how it reaches down there. You can't. You can't explain how the Lord writes it on the tables of your heart. You can't explain it. That makes you understand the difference between preachers that carry all their notes with them, because without their notes they are lost.

I've got nothing wrong with notes. But intellectual preachers carry nothing written on the tables of their hearts. They've carried everything up there. And up there cannot memorize everything. That's why they need their notes.

You know your notes can help you here and there. But everything comes from here, deep down in your heart. There was a time in my life, there was a time in my life where every Saturday night I was in trouble, because Sunday morning I had to preach.

I was in deep trouble. I mean, I could not be engaged in anything, because I had to prepare some decent message. I had to. I had to read something. I had to do something. And so many times, after three, four hours, I would go to bed and say, there's still nothing I can do.

And I was panicking. Yeah, because you know why? There was not much written on the tables of my heart. There was much known registered up there. But you know, when it's registered up there, you forget it, because your mind has such an ability, and after that it can't cope.

But when it's written on your heart, your heart can take everything. Everything. Everything. And Paul says to Timothy, in a season, out of a season, anytime, anywhere, at every moment, stand up and preach the gospel.

Oh, sorry, Paul, I don't have my notes. I must run and get my file. No, when there are times that there is no file available, there are no notes available, there's nothing available, there's the Holy Spirit, there's the grace of God, then yourself, it's your heart, it's you and the Spirit of the Lord.