Hard or Blood Washed: What's Your Heart Condition?

Hard or Blood Washed?: What's Your Heart Condition?

Zechariah 7:4-14

I. Introduction
-What is good preaching?
1. Presentation of truth
2. Application of truth (partly my job, but partly yours)
3. The "rubber has to meet the road."
4. James 1:22 "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
-Point: Christian truth is designed to lead us to God, not serve as a substitute for God.
-Point: Live by the Word!
1. Christian= Christ like
2. What is Christ like? We only know from the Word!
3. You can't be sure of a lot of things, but you can be sure of the Word!
-Live the Word no matter what!
1. Regardless of personal cost.
2. ...who tells you otherwise.
3. ...what the world is advising
-Stay true to Christ & His Word!

II. Scripture Background
-We will be in Zechariah today.
-Israelites have just come out of Babylonian captivity.
-Haggai calls the ppl of God to rebuild the temple.
-Zechariah's call is to rebuild the covenant w/ God.

III. Scripture

IV. Back to Right
-For the ppl of Israel things were returning to the way they should be.
-B/c of previous sin they had been taken into captivity under the Babylonians (and others).
1. Ezekiel, Daniel, and others during this time.
2. But that was drawing to a close.
-They were in a ‘rebuilding' time in their lives.
-One thing they had neglected was God.
1. In difficulty God gets moved to the back burner.
2. Too busy? Skip church, devotions, etc.
-Haggai the prophet came to encourage them to rebuild the temple.
1. It was the center of worship.
2. Where God's name dwelt.
-Note: Restoring religious imagery does not restore relationship.
1. Wearing a cross around your neck does not mean you know Christ.
2. Having Christian decor around your home does not mean you know Christ.
-Note: Neither does going to back to church.
1. It had been a long time since they had been in church.
2. But re-building/ going back wasn't going to change them spiritually.
-But it was a step in the right direction.
1. Looking to get right?
2. Seek the presence of God.
3. You won't find Him in your sinfulness or same ways!

VII. Full Restoration
-But a full restoration needed to take place!
-A restoration that went beyond religious practice!
1. ...beyond habit & even actions.
2. ...beyond surface.
-A restoration of the heart.
-No one comes to God through an automatic or unconscious process.
-Being born-again is an intentional, purposeful step you take.
1. Ppl are not accidently born-again.
2. They do become Christians by mistake or chance.
3. There is a drawing of the Holy Spirit and our response of obedience.
-Point: If you don't seek Christ with all your heart, you won't find Him.
-The path of least resistance does not lead to God!
1. Loving enemies, denying self, fasting, crucifying the flesh, etc.
2. The way of Christ is taking up your cross.
-God's desire was to restore not only a proper lifestyle to His ppl, but also a right heart/desires/etc!

VIII. The Problem
-The Heart!
-God had sought to direct their path, but they had rejected it.
1. They had "stopped up their ears" (lit- ears grown heavy)
2. They had "pulled away their shoulder" (stubbornness)
-v. 10 says God warned them against devising "evil in their heart[s]"
-v. 12a "They made their hearts {diamond hard}, lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets."
1. Hearts were...
2. ESV- diamond hard
3. KJV- as adamant stone
4. NIV- hard as flint
5. HCSB- like a rock
-You can leave here the same as you arrived this morning by hardening your heart.
1. You can pray, read Scripture, go to church, sing praise, etc. and never change by hardening your heart.
2. What a tragedy that would be
-What are you going to do?
-Side Note: A Good worship= when someone softens their heart and is obedient to Him.

IX. Something More
-Innate w/in us is the need to kneel in reverence before something bigger than ourselves.
1. ...to live for/worship something beyond ourselves.
2. ...seek to understand what more there is.
-Note: People do not walk away from God b/c they do not want God– but b/c they have found something they want more than God.
1. No one wants to go to Hell!
2. Few would say they hate God!
3. Few would actually work against God.
4. But many have found something they value more than God.
-You can harden your heart, but hear this: Until you love him w/ your heart... you will never know Him in all His fullness!
-Not love enough to go to church, but to be the church.
1. Not... seem Christian, but to be Christian.
2. Not... do good, but be good
3. Not... portray holiness, but to live out holiness.
-A heart that loves God invites cleansing!
1. Of habits, of sins, of desires, of things contrary to the Word & His Spirit!
2. A Cleansing from Him!

X. Israel's Fate?
-In between chapters condensed version....
1. Hear the promise of a Messiah named Jesus.
2. Foreshadowing
-Ch. 8:13 "And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong."
-Ch. 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
-Ch. 10:9 "Though I scattered them [Israelites] among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return."
-Ch. 11:17a "Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!" [to me the preacher; desert = does not care for the flock but for their own welfare]
-Ch. 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn."
-And when the ppl finally come to a place of mourning [hearts softened & pliable]
1. Repentant hearts willing to obey Him!
2. Hearts inviting God to dwell in them!
-Ch. 13:1 "On that day there shall be a fountain [Jesus' blood] opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness."

VIII. Conclusion
-Ill. Spirit vs. GPS
1. "Make a U-turn." when you miss your road.
2. Eventually it will re-figure a new route from your current position to the original location.
-Maybe you have missed a number of turns you should have made.
1. The Spirit has been saying: "Make a U-turn."
2. But your heart was diamond hard; you stopped up your ears, you pulled away your shoulder.
-And at some point you realized you were lost.
-This morning, if you will be obedient, God can re-figure a path to wholeness from where you are at right now.

Response: "There is a Fountain"

A Cleansing

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

A Cleansing Because of Immanuel

I. Introduction
-Ill. IGA door lock
1. In Nashville, I locked my car door whenever I was out and about.
2. There were some scary ppl.
3. In Greensburg @ IGA a teen in passenger seat power locked the doors to the car she was in!
4. Am I that scary?
-Emmanuel= God with us
-What's so big about that?
-What does that mean in our day to day lives?
-Let's see what Paul says...

II. Scripture

III. Unequally Yoked
-"Unequally yoked" is more than just marriage advice.
1. True for marriage though.
2. vv. 14-16a deal with a question the church today must ask itself.
3. Are we yoked with the world?
-Could you pick out a Christian in a line up?
-v. 16b "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them"
1. NIV- "I will live with them" boo!!
2. KJV/ NASB- "I will live in them"
3. Greek word- epsilon, knew
4. Immanuel is more than "with" us like somewhere in the room.
5. Closer to "in" or "within" us.
-If God is going to be with us, he demands that we be holy.
-Ill. Cleansing and necessity of temple utensils to be pure in order to be used for holy purposes.
-Is that an emphasis in the church today?

IV. Christian vs. Sinner
-There should be a dramatic difference.
-The Bible describes it as polar opposites...
1. Life vs. death.
2. Light vs. darkness
3. Good vs. evil
-That's why he deals w/ being unequally yoked!
-"I'm just a sinner saved by grace."
1. No, I'm a new creation.
2. If you've been saved by grace you are not a sinner.
-We believe you can do some good things to appease the bad things.
-That's not how it works.
1. That's work's righteousness.
2. Good things you do, do not cancel out bad things you do.

V. God's Priority
-Do you know that God wants you to have a pure heart, more than doing "great" things for Him?
1. A pure heart more than becoming Billy Graham
2. ....coming to church all the time.
3. ....giving a tithe of your income.
4. ...witnessing to your neighbor.
5. ...being a "big shot" leader in the church.
6. ...anything else!
-Matthew 15:11 "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person."
-And where does the mouth stuff come from?
1. Matthew 15:18-19 "But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. [19] For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."
2. The heart drives your actions.
3. It's an issue of getting the cart before the horse.
-It's the reason so many ppl feel they have to make a sacrifice for God to be "okay."
1. Sacrifice to come to church and be miserable.
2. Sacrifice to be nice to a co-worker.
3. Sacrifice to do good to a neighbor, etc.
-1 Samuel 15:22 "And Samuel said, ‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams."

VI. The Dirty Heart Problem
-When we refuse to obey God and receive a cleansing, we create a host of problems in the church.
-Dirty Heart problems:
1. Sinners have the spiritual gift of discernment (seeing phonies) more than some in the church.
2. "Full of hot air"
3. Hypocrisy...
-Ill. "______ is a member of your church!?"
1. They see hypocrisy!
2. Rigorous membership b/c you are billboards for the kingdom of God!
3. "If Nazarenes really lived what they believe, it would be the best church."
4. If Christians...."
5. "We can't help our imperfections." No, you just need a heart cleansing!
-Ill. "Nazarene Church is so strict!"
1. Yes! Exactly! That's the point!
2. There are enough sinners masquerading as Christians causing destruction for the kingdom of God!
-My goal is not to get you to put on a better act, but to have a heart cleansing!

VII. Real Cleansing!
-I've heard there use to be testimonies of miraculous conversions!
1. Drug addicts were delivered!
2. Ppl living together separated and then got married.
3. Murderers repented.
4. Sexual perverts believed and were transformed.
5. Ill. Song- "they baptized Jesse Taylor in Cedar Creek...." Dad met him at Grenada MS @ Johnny Scallion barber shop.
-Why isn't that happening anymore?
1. I admit, the longer I'm in ministry the harder it is to believe!
2. Is the problem God? ...or is it the church?
-Church growth today isn't radical transformations, it's transitions from one church to another.
-Maybe the problem is b/c we don't really believe a cleansing could take place.
-We don't believe b/c it has never really happened in our lives!
-If God cannot take care of the "little sins" in my life, how could he take care of the "big stuff" in the world?
-James 4:2 "You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask."
-We do not ask for these things anymore...
1. I'm not talking about drug addicts, murderers, prostitutes, etc.
2. I'm talking about a cleansing in our own lives.
-Otherwise we have the problem Jesus dealt with in Luke 11:39 "And the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.'"
-What kind of things does this cleansing take care of?
1. Pride, hatred leading to anger, unforgiving heart, and self-centeredness
2. 1 John says all unrighteousness
3. James says it cleanses a double-mindedness.
-2 Corinthians 7:1 "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God."
1. Bringing holiness to completion.
2. Not our own spiritual walk.

VIII. Conclusion
-The church today needs a cleansing.
-Ill. Preachers falling.
1. Lay people leaping back into the world (partly backsliding, but partly they never were saved).
2. Children growing up and leaving the church.
3. We got problems in the church today!
-There is only one solution to the problem of the church!
1. We need a cleansing!
2. We need a transformational work of God in our midst.
-I came across a verse I've read a million times, but it's huge.
-Mark 11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
-Do you believe that?
-Not in the guy down the street, but in our own hearts!
-Ill. If you cannot swim you cannot be a lifeguard!
1. If you are not cleansed you cannot help someone be cleansed!
2. A dirty church cannot call the community to holiness.
-1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."

Response