We Need Open Heart Surgery - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Hey, good morning! What's your thought? What's good about it? See? What's good about it?

I don't see any good about it. No, you don't. You said, but if your heart was right, it's a continual feast. What's that mean? That would mean that my life and my thought life is full of praise and thanksgiving to God, no matter what the circumstances are.

You see, and what we just got in these last two years is just a generalized test to put us all through and see how we're doing. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world.

So, after Jesus called the crowd to him, he said, hear and understand. It's not what enters the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth. This defiles the man. Nothing you put in your mouth will defile you. It's what comes out of your mouth that defiles you. The disciples came and said to him, you got to love this. Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard the statement? Yes, I know. I intended to offend them. They're like, you can't. You offended those men.

Yeah, that was my intention. So he answered and he said, every plant which my Heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind guides of the blind, and if a blind man guides a blind man, they both fall into the pit. They're not of me. Let them alone.

God didn't plant them, no matter what their externals are. This isn't unusual because in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, the Sermon on the Mount, remember he said, if your righteousness doesn't exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you're not going to heaven. And they were all aghast, like how can this be? They're not of God.

What is it? They're religious. Everything about them is based on an outward external perspective of life. All God cares about is your heart. Where is your heart in this situation? And you got to love Peter. He always gets involved in situations just like this. Peter says to him, and you can just see them like, I don't understand this. He said, could you explain the parable to us?

You got to love Peter. See, Jesus didn't give them enough explanation. It's like in verses 13 and 14, Jesus just drops the bomb. Just imagine what the crowd thought. They thought the Pharisees are the most religious people closest to God in their world. And Jesus said, they're blind guides of the blind. Let them alone.

They're end up in the pit. So he drops that bomb and then he just drops the mic. And he's done. He's not talking to them anymore. So Peter jumps in and says, could you explain this to us? He said, are you still lacking understanding also? This is one of those, I'm guessing now there must be 20 incidents in the gospel where Jesus had to roll his eyes. He had to. Peter comes up and he's like, oh, gosh, how many times?

How many times I keep repeating this? He said, you're still lacking? He said, do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated? That's basic biology. That's right, right?

You put it in, it goes through your system and out it comes. That's it. I think Peter's like, I think I got that. He said, but the thing that proceed out of the mouth, what's the next phrase say? Comes from the heart. The thing that proceed out of the mouth comes from the heart. Those defile the man.

Wow. Isn't that interesting? What defiles a man is what comes out of your mouth.

But more importantly, because this is one of the things we deny all the time. What comes out of your mouth comes from your heart. And see your heart, so wicked and deceitful, you don't even believe that. You ever do that?

You end up saying Baba Baba Baba Baba at somebody, right? Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I think you did. You meant it. No, no, I didn't. Of course you meant it. It came from your heart.

That's the point. Jesus, and this comes out of your heart. Don't blame it on some kind of air passage in your mouth that made you say certain syllables and it come out like that. That's not the truth. It comes out of your heart. You see, now you might regret it that you said it, but the reason you regret that you say it is what?

Because of the condition of your heart. That's why you said it. And as a Christian, you realize I shouldn't have said that, but you still said it. That's the point. So he says, you know, the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart.

That's what defiles the man. He said, for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witnesses and slanders. Mark 7, a parallel passage, adds more.

I would add others that we're going to look at in the week ahead of all these different things that happen to us that come out of our heart. Guilt, envy, anger, fear, depression, bitterness, all comes from our heart. That's his point. All of this proceeds, everything that happens, proceeds out of your heart. He says these things are what defile the man, but to eat with unwashed hands, that doesn't have anything to do with man. In fact, that would make God look petty. Can you imagine God? He's sitting in heaven on his throne. Do you think he has much on his mind? I mean, the infinite size of the universe, the billions of people on earth, all of the complexities of the angelic world. And he goes, wait, Bill just ate dinner without washing his hands.

I'm going to get him for that. I mean, that's how stupid that is. He said, that's not what God's concern is at all. He said, that's the way this works. It's what comes out.

Actually, I think it's what he's really telling us, the sources of all my problems are my heart. That's the source. It's not out there.

It's not circumstantial. It's right here. It's my heart. That's the source.

And what do I know about it? Even for men, I have a different perspective of life than God does. Even for men, I know it's deceitful and I know it deceives me.

I know this is the case. I know God has warned me to guard my heart. You see, that's how important the heart is and Jesus just illustrates it.

So, we clearly have reason, good reason, I think, to have this series. Secondly, though, we need to have two certain pre-surgery requirements. If God is going to do open surgery in your heart, there's two things that are required. And the first one I find in Psalm 78. So, if you go with me to Psalm 78. And this is through analogy, 78.8. This is Asaph talking about the history of Israel. Now, if you know anything about the Old Testament, if I ask, were the slaves that were freed from 400 years of slavery in Egypt, were they trustworthy, faithful to God?

Not much, huh? Over and over and over and over and over and over again, they're not. Well, Asaph gives a perspective here. He says in verse 8, And do not be, he said, like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation.

Why? A generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God. What was the issue behind Israel's disobedience to God?

Their heart. Were they God's people? Yes, he redeemed them out of Egypt, but it's their heart.

You see, their heart, they never prepared their heart to allow God to do surgery on it, because their heart deceived them that they didn't need that. One more, Psalm 139. And again, verse 23, the second and most important step for us. Verse 23 of 139. Now, let me give it a little bit of background. You've heard this, I'm sure. Was David known as a man after God's own heart?

Sounds good, huh? Can't get a much higher standing than that. So David never sinned, did he? Oh, he did, didn't he? Yeah, that adultery murder thing.

Yeah, that was right there. He's a terrible father in a lot of ways, too. He sinned. And he knew why.

That's the point. He knew why. How can you be a man after God's own heart and still do this?

That's the externals again. You know, David knows why. Look what he says in verse 23. Search me, O God. And know what? Know my heart.

What is David doing? I'm giving God permission to do open heart surgery on me. Search me, God. Know my heart.

Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there's any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. God, my heart's open to you.

Search me. You see, examine my thought life. Give me insight into what my heart's like. That's what David is saying.

That's what you and I have to say. That's a prayer we have to say for God to ever do the surgery on us with his word. Search me, God. See if there's any hurtful way in me.

You know, I'm pretty sure you're going to find it, but I want to invite you in to let you do that. That's essential. Because if your heart deceives you and says, I don't need that, you'll probably never get your heart changed.

Not very much. So we need to have pre-surgery requirement. If that happens in our life, if we do this, and these next weeks ahead, there's a lot of really neat things that happen. Go with me first to Proverbs, just a few pages the right, 15. Proverbs 15, verses 13 and 15. Proverbs 15.

This may seem obvious, but it's pretty interesting. Verse 13, a joyful heart makes a cheerful face. Now, I'm not saying you can't be a hypocrite and have a terrible heart and a cheerful face. That's our sinfulness. But a cheerful heart makes a cheerful face when the heart is sad, the spirit's broken.

Let me say it just a little bit differently. When the heart is sad, you're likely to become clinically depressed. If you've dealt with people clinical depression, what's the first thing you look for? And boy, when I was working in the psychiatric ward in Richardson Hospital in Texas, you saw it in every patient that come in that was being treated for clinical depression.

Called sad affect. Here they come in. No matter what you said, nothing. Nothing. Wow, it's amazing.

You see, he said, there's no affect. They are deep in sadness. They have got themselves in a very difficult spot to be. And by the way, for many of them, as they worked their way through the process in the hospital and got out, whenever they said good-bye to you, guess what? Big smile on their face. Thank you.

What happened? Their heart. You see, their heart.

That's the point. And he said, look, a cheerful heart makes a cheerful face when the heart is sad, the spirit's broken. Verse 15, all the days of the afflicted are bad, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.

There you go. There's a test for you. Are the days bad or are you having a continual feast in your life? A lot of you are somewhere in between, right?

But isn't that the case? I mean, you know what bad days are like. You might be having them.

You might have a heart issue right now. I see it and I say, hey, good morning. What's your thought? What's good about it? See? What's good about it?

I don't see anything good about it. No, you don't. You see, but if your heart was right, it's a continual feast.

What's that mean? That would mean that my life and my thought life is full of praise and thanksgiving to God, no matter what the circumstances are. You see, and what we just got in these last two years is just a generalized test to put us all through and see how we're doing. So now you're thinking, okay, now don't think this. Next time I come, I'm going to smile at everybody.

You see, that's as though, see, you believe the external will be right. It's not right. You see, if you feel terrible, don't smile at people. Just feel terrible.

Change your heart. That's what he is saying. That's the way this works. Go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 9, 2 Corinthians chapter 9. The context here is the great context by the Apostle Paul of giving money.

That's the context. It's to help the poor saints in Jerusalem who are really having trouble with poverty. Paul was trying to motivate the Corinthians to give. Like a lot of people, when Paul first went there to raise money, and the Corinthians are rich, they all told Paul they'd love to, they want to appear spiritual. We'd love to help you with that.

Next time you come by, we'll take a collection up. And then he came by and, well, the market's down a little bit. You see, that kind of reasoning. So Paul uses the Thessalonians to motivate them. Paul said the Thessalonians are poor, and they're given joyfully and sacrificially.

And you're rich, and you don't want to give now. So he goes through this whole chapter with them. And he says then in verse 7, each one must do just as he purposed where?

In his heart. Not grudgingly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

Isn't that interesting? How much money does the church try to raise by putting people under compulsion? Unbelievable. You owe God. This is how much you owe us. I know of churches that you, they meet with you, and you have to write down in a mouth, and they see how much money you have, and then you tell, they hold you accountable to give that much money to the church. That's just ridiculous.

So you can embarrass them, and they can give it to you grudgingly, or you can convict them and say, that's what I owe. That's not what God operates like at all. I said it in the first service. I had lunch many, many years ago with an extremely wealthy man in the greater New Orleans area. And it wasn't a believer yet.

His wife was, but he wasn't a believer yet. We were having lunch together. And before we said one word to each other in the lunch, he said, okay, I need to ask you a question.

I said, that'd be fine. He said, how much money do you want? He said, you have an answer for that? I said, I do. He looked at me real funny. I said, I do. I said, what I would want you to do is to give anything from nothing to a million the way your heart convicts you to want to give. He was stunned.

He just looked at me. Wait. I said, it doesn't matter to me. I don't care.

Why would you say that? He said, every evangelical pastor that I've ever had lunch with, soon as we get started talking, they want me to give them money for their ministry. He didn't even know the Lord yet.

What can you do for us? He said, they tell me you could buy vans for our church. Like, what is going on here? And he said, I just don't like that. Well, of course he doesn't like it.

He doesn't. That would be giving it grudgingly or putting them under compulsion. Notice, at the end, for God loves a what? Hilarion is the word. I think it's a better word than cheerful. God loves an hilarious giver. Isn't that interesting? God loves an hilarious giver.

I love doing this. Sure. You see, I don't want anyone to ever feel compulsion. That's not the point. God says, that's not the way this works. You do it because you love to do it. You serve God not because you have to, but because you love to.

There's a difference here. You see, hey, would you do this for the church as a ministry? Well, is anyone else going to do it? No. I guess I will.

Hey, stay home. You see, God's not recognizing that. That means nothing to God. If you think that's going to please God, it doesn't. Because God's not interested in the externals. He's interested in your heart.

Of course I would love to. You see, there's a difference here. It has an enormous effect on us. We have a heart that loves to serve because we love what God's done for us. We love people. It's an opportunity for us.

One more. John 14, Gospel of John chapter 14. Now, if you remember, I'll show you the frightening beginning here, what Jesus starts talking about in the first verse. Jesus says, do not let your heart be troubled. Now, why is their heart troubled? Jesus is going to the cross.

And so they're thinking, what are we going to do? What do we do without him? He's the leader. He's Jesus. He said, yeah, I'm leaving. Don't let your heart be troubled. He said, believe in God, believe also in me and my Father's house and many dwelling places.

If it were not so, I would have told you. And I'll go and I'll prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, receive you to myself and where I am, there you may be also. Well, by the way, this is the context when he said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one will come to the Father but through me.

Now, you get over here to verse 27, and Jesus says this in that context. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.

He said, not as the world gives do I give to you. And then this, do not let your heart be troubled. Do not let it be fearful.

We're back to the heart. Jesus says, look, I know you think you're feeling fear. You're only feeling fear for one reason, the circumstances.

Don't let that trouble your heart. I'll give you my peace. It won't be the peace of circumstances that the world gives. Everyone in the world is peaceful when everything in the world is right. But when everything in the world is wrong, we should be the people that are peaceful. That should be us. I think that's one of the more alarming things that I've seen in the last couple of years.

There's not a big differentiation between when we react to this crisis than the way the world does. One thing we should be overwhelmed with is peace. Just why? Because Jesus gave it to me. He said, I'll give it to you. That's enough.

He's Jesus. He told me he'll give me his peace. I'll be glad to have his peace. Therefore, I have peace. But if I look around the circumstance and say, whoa, this is troublesome. This is really hard. What's going to happen?

You see, it comes down to a heart issue again. And if you allow Jesus to do this, it's easy in the sense of being. It won't be hard. It'll be easy. Remember Jesus said, come unto me, all you that are heavy laden. We feel heavy laden at times, right? And I will give you rest.

I'll give you rest. He said, just take my yoke and learn from me. He said, if you do that, he said, you'll learn from me and I am gentle and humble. It'll be easy because the burden is going to be light. Why is the burden of having a really wonderful, joyful heart before the Lord light?

Because it's his. See, what am I going to do once my heart's right? Allow him to live my life for me.

Allow him to do the things. That's why it's easy. You see, it's easy if I just listen to what he said and allow that to guide my heart instead of allowing my heart to be totally victimized by the circumstances that it finds itself in. And that's where the guilt and the fear, the anxiety, the worry, all of that's part of our old heart. And that's what God said I want to operate on. So we need open heart surgery because we don't see our lives as God does.

We don't. We underestimate the destructive power of our heart and our hearts. It's the source of every action and every attitude and every feeling you have. Boy, it's going to be good if you really do it. And the best thing of all, Jesus does the work on your heart is it doesn't give you a better version of your heart.

He gives you the version of his heart. And what a change that will make in the way you feel in your life. So hopefully in the weeks ahead we can get going on this subject. Let's pray. Father, we all struggle in this area. I think the biggest reason we struggle is what Jeremiah said. We allow our heart to deceive us and instead of having the reality of the promises of God, the Word of God which address almost every issue of our lives, let that give us conviction. We allow our old heart and we listen to it. And it's about time, Father, that we start listening to you. Because whenever we do, you will be glorified. It will be for our good. This we pray in our Savior's name.

Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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