Whats in Your Heart

(Luke 6:43-45)



I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.

Jesus says here that when He converted you,

He made a fundamental change

A change in that part of you that moves you to do what you do.

He didnt change your will

You are still free to choose what you want

He changed your want.

He changed what controls your will: Your heart.


Before when you were outside of Christ

Your heart was bad/evil,

And so you did bad things

You were a bad tree that could only produce bad fruit,

The kind of bad fruit Paul speaks of in Galatians 5,

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity,
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger,
disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like
these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who
practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).


But when He cleansed your heart by His Spirit,

And united Himself with your soul,

He gave you a good heart

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You became a good tree that produces good fruit,

As Paul also writes, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things
there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires (vv. 22-24).


Not only did this clean up what you do,

It also cleaned up what you say.

What you said used to be dredged up from an evil heart

Like drawing poisoned water up from a poisoned well.

But now that your heart is full of Gods Spirit,

You draw sweet water up from a gracious well (v. 45).


The Lord points to this as the way you can tell whether someone believes or not.

This is how you can know whether you know Jesus:

When you begin to live and speak like Him,

Because you want/love the things He wants/loves.

You can really only know whats in your heart

By looking at your life.


B. Preview.

Jesus says a good tree bears good fruit, but not perfect fruit.

We know because of what the rest of Scripture says about the heart, even of a
believer

That its not perfectly clean:

That there is still sin in it.

The old man has been crucified (Rom. 6:6).
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His power is broken .

You are free from your bondage to sin (v. 22).

But there are still remnants of corruption.

If that wasnt true, Paul couldnt talk about putting to death the deeds of the flesh
(8:13),

Or of putting off the old man and putting on the new (Eph. 4:22-24),

Or of walking by the Spirit, so that you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh (Gal.
5:16).


Because both of these things are true

That you are a new creature in Christ,

But that there are still remnants of sin

Two things will be true of you, if you know Jesus:

1. You are a new creature with new abilities.

2. And yet you will still struggle with sin.

Lets consider both of these for a moment.


II. Sermon.
A. First, you are a new creature with new abilities

You are a good tree that bears good fruit,

Because of the good treasure thats in your heart.


This gives you the power to do two things:

1. To love what is truly lovely.

2. And to love what isnt.

1. First, your renewed heart gives you the ability to love whats lovely.
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Before the Lord made you a new creature in Christ,

Before He opened your eyes to see His glory,

You actually hated what was truly lovely.


You hated God.

Paul says apart from His grace,

You were not good (Rom. 3:12),

You did not seek after God (v. 10),

You actually hated God (1:30),

And were His enemies (5:10).


You hated His Law because it reflects the same thing you hated about God: His
holiness.

Paul writes, The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not
subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who
are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:7-8).

You were rebellious and so you were under His wrath,

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among
them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as
the rest (Eph. 2:1-3).


But when He cleansed your heart by His Spirit

And made you into a new creature,

He gave you the power to love what you hated before.


Its not that these things werent beautiful before
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They were you just couldnt see it, because you were blind.

But now you can,

And because you can, thats what you want.

Now you love Gods holy image wherever you see it:

In Him, and so you want to love and serve Him;

In His Law, and so you obey it;

And in His people, and so you minister to and fellowship with them.

Its not hard for you to love these things, because now thats your nature

Your heart will draw you to them.


2. But Hes also given you the power to love what isnt lovely.

What I mean is that now you can love those who dont reflect His holy image.


Jesus calls you to love your enemies, just as God loves His.

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and
your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He
Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is
merciful (Luke 6:35-36).

This is one of the hardest things God calls you to do.

How can you love those who hate you, do nasty things to you, and arent sorry
about it?

How can you love someone who isnt lovely?

You cant because of what you see in them

There isnt anything good in them.

So how can you?


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In the same way God can.

Jesus says, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John
3:16).

What kind of people did God love?

Not those who were lovely, but those who were His enemies

Those who were like you before He changed you,

People who hated Him.

God couldnt love them for what He saw in them.

So how could He love them?

He could for His own sake.

It wasnt what was in them that drew out His love,

It was His own heart that drew Him out,

As Paul says in Ephesians 1,

In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to
the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight
He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention
which He purposed in Him (vv. 5-9).

His love had nothing to do with you,

But everything to do with Him: We love because He first loved us (1 John
4:19).


God has put that same love in your heart

He has given you His Spirit

So that you can not only love what you didnt love before that was lovely,

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But also so you can now love what is not lovely as He does.

Thats what this new heart gives you the power to do

To love your enemies as God did,

As Jesus did,

And as He calls you to do.


The Lord has cleansed your heart by His grace.

He has made you a new creature with new abilities:

You can now love what is truly beautiful,

And you can love what isnt as He does.


B. But dont forget, your remaining corruption will also be there to get in your way,

And that in at least two ways:

1. It will make you resist what is good,

2. And make you want to do whats bad.


Being a new creature doesnt mean obeying is going to be easy,

It only makes it possible.

The sin thats in you can still make it difficult.

Paul writes to the Galatians, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry
out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the
Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you
may not do the things that you please (5:16-17).


Whenever you set out to do something good

It doesnt matter what it is

Your sin/flesh will be there to resist you,
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To fight against you,

To try and get you to do the opposite.


If you want to sit down and read your Bible or pray,

It will fill your mind with so many other things

You need to do or would rather be doing.


If the Lord provides you with an opportunity to witness to someone,

The sin in your heart will pull you another direction.

Your mind will try to convince you that theyre already saved,

Or that what God says about eternity really isnt true,

That someone else will witness to them,

Or can be a better witness,

So that you dont need to.


When you attempt to do something useful with your life

Such as go to college,

Or get training,

So that you can provide for yourself, for your family, or be able to help others in
some way,

For Gods glory

Your flesh will be there to work against you.


It wants to derail you, to make you shipwreck, to destroy you.

It may not seem like it is,

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It will give you a better reason for what youre doing, but thats its goal.

As Solomon wisely wrote, A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the
hands to rest, then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an
armed man (Prov. 24:33-34).


Not only will it fight against you when you want to do something good,

It will continually tempt you to do something bad.

It will make you look at what God says is good, as though its bad,

And at what He says is bad, as though its good.

In other words, it will paint virtue with vices colors,

And vice in virtues colors.

Is it any wonder the Lord says through Jeremiah, The heart is more deceitful than
all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jer. 17:9).


This is true even if youre a believer.

You cant trust your heart,

You cant go by your impulses,

Or make decisions by what feels right.

Thats what the world does

They are like blind people leading the blind (Luke 6:39),

And so many become shipwrecked every day.


Even though you are a new creature in Christ

With new desires and abilities,

You still have this enemy to contend with.


C. And so finally, what should you do?
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You need to do what Solomon exhorted you in our meditation,

Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life
(Prov. 4:23).


Understanding that your heart is the source of all these things

Your desire to do good,

And your desire to do evil

You need to watch over it

You need to guard it.


If you havent come to Christ,

You have nothing to guard

The Lord says your heart is rotten,

Its full of corruption,

It needs to be cleansed.

You need to come to Jesus,

Ask Him for His mercy for His Spirit

To make you a new creation.

The only thing that can break the power of sin in your heart

Is the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

You must turn from your sins and trust Him to save you.


But having come to Him,

You need to guard what He has given you of His Spirit.

You need continually to expose yourself to the things
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That will strength His work in your heart,

And stay away from the things that will weaken it.

You need to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18).


And finally, you must fight against your flesh/sin,

And do all you can to kill it.

Every time you listen to it, it leads you astray.

Every time you give into it, you strengthen it.

Paul says that if you continue to follow it, it will kill you.

So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the
flesh for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the
Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who
are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (Rom. 8:12-14).

Does Paul mean you can lose your salvation? No.

What hes saying is if you live according to the flesh, youre not saved.

Those who know Jesus, walk by the Spirit and put their fleshly desires to death.


And so whats in your heart?

If your life shows it hasnt been cleansed, come to Jesus.

But if you know Him, then guard your heart

Fuel it with the things that will strengthen His love,

And fight against the things your sin will do to weaken it.

Be filled with the Spirit thats what it means to know Jesus. Amen.


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