Ron Dunn Podcast - The Heart of The Problem (Ron Dunn Podcast)

Episode Date: August 12, 2020

Ron Dunn concludes his message from Jeremiah

Open your Bibles this morning once again to the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 17, Jeremiah 17, and I'm going to read just two verses, verses 9 and 10. Jeremiah, the 17th chapter, the 9th and 10th verses. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and who can understand it? You may have seen it in the papers. I don't know if it reached up here or not, but a couple of weeks ago in one of the area

towns of Dallas, there was a brutal slaying. Two little brothers, one five and one six, were stabbed to death as they slept, and the mother was also slashed and stabbed. A great, great tragedy. And about a day later, the police arrested that mother and have accused her of killing her two boys and inflicting the wounds on herself. Now, I do not know if she did that or not. And I'm not here today accusing her. I'm just telling you what the newspaper said.

But I've been interested to watch as the TV reporters have interviewed friends and neighbors and family of this woman. And they've all said, she didn't do it. She didn't do it. But then they've gone beyond that and said something which is not true. They've said, we know her. She could never do such a thing. She is not capable of doing this. I don't know whether she did it or not.

I pray that she did not. That is incomprehensible to me. But when you say, I know a person, and they couldn't do such a thing, you're making an incorrect statement. You can't even know your own heart. How can you know the heart of somebody else? And the depths of evil that are possible in the human heart

are beyond human understanding. As a matter of fact, in Matthew chapter 15 and verse 18, Jesus has a remarkable thing to say about the heart. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witnesses, and blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. The heart is a jungle and it's filled with wild beasts. And you can't even for every kind of evil in the human heart.

Oh, it's just not possible for a mother to kill her children. Well, Susan Smith drowned her two children. It is possible. And until we come to understand the depth of the wickedness of the human heart, we will never find recovery. Martin Luther said, I fear my own heart more than all the popes of Rome, for I have in my heart that great pope self. Solomon said, keep your heart for out of it are the issues of life. Now when the Bible, especially the Old Testament, talks about the heart,

in the Hebrew way of thinking, the heart was the control panel of the life. It was the steering wheel that drives us to do the things that we do. It is the seat of the mind and the will, the volitional part. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. We don't normally talk about thinking in your heart, but the Hebrews do. We would say thinking in your mind, but the Hebrews would say thinking in your heart. And as a person thinks in his heart, so he is. Why? Because the heart is the control center of the individual. So whatever you think in your heart, that's what you are, you see, and that's what you do. I want to talk to you this morning on the heart of the

problem, and the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. And we've been hearing messages, especially last night, about all of the problems that are going on in our country, in our society, families. But the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. And that's what Jeremiah is dealing with this morning. Makes this tremendous and deadly statement, the heart is deceitful above all things. So let me just this morning share with you several things about the heart. The first thing is this, Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitful in its conduct. The heart is deceitful above all things. Now, you know, we call Satan, or the Bible calls Satan the deceiver,

but he is an amateur compared to the deceptive power of a person's heart. The heart is deceitful above everything else. The most deceitful thing in the world is your own heart, you see. My greatest enemy, your greatest enemy, not the devil, but it's my own heart. For it is, and the Hebrew word is, the heart is a Jacob. The heart is a trickster. The heart is a fraudulent character. And we all, of course, know the story of Jacob.

The word literally means he who catches by the heel. And it's a picture of someone coming up behind you while you're walking. And as you walk, of course, you raise your foot, and then you're the most off balance, and somebody grabs your heel and trips you up. That's what the word means. And it's full of deceit and cheat and fraud. And he's saying the heart above everything else is a trickster. You've got a Jacob living inside you, a con man, a deceiver. The heart is deceitful in its conduct. Now, let me just share with you two or three things about this. First of all, the heart is deceitful

when it, in terms of the nature of spiritual things. The nature of spiritual things, the heart will deceive you concerning that. I started to say I'm constantly amazed, and I guess that I am. You think sooner or later you would stop being amazed, but I am constantly amazed at the spiritual ignorance of people and their perception of spiritual things. I notice it mostly when somebody on television

like Oprah or Phil or all the hundreds of others that are on there, when they start trying to say something religious. If you want to take together and pool the world's ignorance, you get somebody like that, put Jane Fond on there and two or three other people like that and let them start talking about moral issues. And what you're listening to is the wisdom of fools.

I, it amazes me that even the highest court in the land, which is supposed to have the most brilliant minds, can't come up with a decent definition of obscenity. If they could ask me, I could give them one. But the heart is deceitful when it comes to the nature of spiritual things. And people think that they are spiritual, or they think that they are religious, or they think that they know God, and yet their heart has deceived them, and the last thing they really know is God. And what they're talking about is some new age, some kind of religious type of stuff that they put together, some eclectic type of teaching. They've balled together, and they've said this, you know, this is God. And the heart deceives us concerning spiritual things. It's not true only of lost people, it's true of saved people.

Again, I am absolutely, totally amazed at how easily God's people can be deceived as to the spiritual nature of things. But not only is the heart deceitful concerning the spiritual nature of things, it's also deceitful concerning the tendency of evil things. Next time you see a wino lying in a gutter, ask him, when you took your first drink, did you have any conceivable idea that it would end up this way?

No. I don't believe anybody ever intentionally starts out to become an alcoholic. I don't believe anyone ever intentionally starts out to become a drug addict. But you see, the heart will deceive you as to the tendency the progressive tendency of evil things I mean Adam and Eve when they took of the forbidden fruit in the garden they had no idea they had no idea the devil said oh it'll make wise. You'll become as gods knowing good and evil.

And they had no idea as to all the havoc and the sin and the wretchedness and the heartache that that one act would bring upon not all of themselves, but the entire human race. I'm going to punch Adam in the nose when I see him. I ought to punch Eve, but I think that I'll be a gentleman and punch Adam. Adam, didn't you think of the consequences? Did you have any idea? A person who for the first time commits an act of immorality in a marriage relationship where there's unfaithfulness, they have no idea of the damage and the heartache that that's going to eventually bring into their lives.

The devil never tells them that. You know, the first taste of sin is always the best. Sin the second time is never as sweet as it was the first time. That's why the Bible is so constantly saying that the backslider shall be filled with his own ways. The heart is deceitful in that it deceives as to the progressive tendency of evil. And then, in the third place, the heart is deceitful in the matter of the truth about itself. I mean, folks, my own heart deceives me. My own heart deceives me. My own heart deceives me.

Let your conscience be your guide. Oh, that frees me up. Follow your heart. There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. Just follow your heart. Do, you know, do your thing. Whatever feels good, do it.

I was driving along one day, and I came up behind a car. It had a bumper sticker on it, and it said, if it feels good, do it. And I began to contemplate the implications of that statement. We came to a stoplight, and I considered ramming him, you know, just rear-ending him. And when he got out of the car, I said, well, you told me to do it. I said, it felt good to do that, you know. I wonder what the legal ramifications would be. He, you know, he said, if it feels good, do it. And it felt good. And I did it. Oh, just follow your heart. I want to tell you something, friend. Your heart will lead you to hell. It deceives you about yourself. Now, I don't have trouble seeing sin in anybody else's life.

Let me tell you about some of the sin in Jamal's life. He's one of the easier ones, actually, you know. That's fine. Now, those of you that were at the picnic the other day and realize how mistreated I was by a certain pastor of Dallas. Now, see, I could stand up here today and tell you all that's wrong with him. Because I can see. And also be getting even with him. But I'm not going to do that.

A little dog can lick a skunk. But it's not worth it. But isn't it amazing. How we can see the evil in other people's hearts? Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it how we can spot the spiritual pride in somebody else and yet not see it in ourselves. Not see it in ourselves. We sit there in the congregation.

Oh, that preacher, he's just playing to the crowd. Oh, that singer. Singer is just that's an ego trip now when I get up to preach it's very serious holy and spiritual no impure motives

the heart the great power that the heart has, folks, is to deceive you about your own spiritual condition. You see, the truth of the matter is, none of us this morning are as spiritual as we think we are. But our hearts tell us, hey, you're doing great. My heart says I ought to be the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas because I'm a better preacher than an OS. More spiritual, more humble. Let me ask you a question. I mean, there's nobody here but us this morning we may as well tell the truth

does your heart ever am I the only one I mean does your heart ever say things like that to you I rest my case. I rest my case. The heart is deceitful in its conduct. Secondly, Jeremiah tells us the heart is diseased in its character.

Actually, when it says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. The word wicked there also has the translation of desperately sick, desperately ill. The heart is diseased. The heart is wicked above everything else. It is utterly wicked, utterly wicked. And when I say it is utterly wicked, I mean that there is not one corner of the heart that has not been touched by sin. Now, to those of you who are not Presbyterians, I'm talking about the total depravity of man. That's about the only Bible doctrine I can live up to, actually. The total depravity of man doesn't mean that everybody's bad as they can be. It just means that every aspect of their being has been touched and marred by sin. We are utterly, our hearts are utterly wicked. And they are universally wicked. This is true of every person.

This is true of every person. You say, oh, I know this man. They would never do such a thing. I know this person. They really love the Lord. I say to you that the heart is universally, universally wicked. Everybody has been touched by it. But not only that, it's also, and this is one of the main themes of the text, it is unsearchably wicked. You can't, folks, I would be scared to death today to know the depths of evil potential that is in my heart. I don't want to know. I don't want to know. I'm afraid to know. That's why so many of us, when God begins getting

close to us, we run away from him. Why? Because there are just certain things we don't want to know. My wife was telling me something the other day. I think it was something about me. And I said to her, honey, let me just, you know, tell you something. I'm not all that big on knowing the truth. Unsearchable. Unsearchable.

That's why it is desperately important for a person to know his heart. And yet it cannot be known by us. It is unsearchably wicked. You can never plumb the depths of understanding of the evil potential that is in the human heart. And it is unchangeably wicked. There is no recovery.

It is incurable. That's what the word really indicates. It is incurable. Folks, the heart is wicked. The heart is deceitful. And there's nothing that can cure it. Except a heart transplant. Which to me gives me the basis of the doctrine of the new birth. If there's anything that convinces me

that I need to be born again, not patched up, not reformed, but regenerated, born again, it is the fact that my heart is incurable, unsalvageable. It's not a matter of patching up the heart, of making a few changes here and there, of reforming this and reforming that and making some resolutions. No, the heart is incurable. Give up on it, folks. You may as well just give up on it.

Not a thing you can do to make your heart any better than it is. What you need is a new heart. And that's why we won't go into it, but Jeremiah, in chapter 31, I wish I I'd love to preach on that. That's the new covenant. And in the new covenant, he says, and I will give you a new heart. A new heart.

Well, finally, one last word. Not only is the heart deceitful in its conduct and diseased in its character, but it has been diagnosed by its creator. Verse 10 gives us the answer. He says in verse 9 that the heart is deceitful above all things, and nobody can understand it. Nobody can understand it. Who can know it? And next verse, I, the Lord, explore, search the heart, I try or I test, examine the reins, even to give every man according to his ways

and according to the fruit of his doings. God's full-time job, he's always exploring the heart, always searching the heart. He's the only one who knows us. He's the only one who knows us. He's the only one that knows what's in my heart. Now, you notice he says, I searched the heart, which as I said earlier, in the Hebrew way of thinking was the control panel of the life, the steering wheel that drives our actions. It's the seed of the will and the mind. But then he says, I also try, and the King James says, reigns. Other translation reads,

the hidden parts. The Hebrew word is kidneys. Well, I try mine sometimes too. You know, we all, what does he mean? I try, I test the kidneys. Well, in the Hebrew way of thinking, the kidneys was the seat of emotion. The deepest feeling. So here's what God does. He not only explores and searches out what you think and the way you think, but what you feel and the way you feel. It all goes together to tell us that God knows every hidden thing about us.

And he is searching and testing our heart. Every hidden thing about us, God knows. Aren't you glad God isn't a gossip? Now, why does he do this? He does this in order to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doing. Now, you know, you say, well, preacher, this has been kind of a down message. You know, I mean, this is not seeker-friendly at all. It kind of been, you know, a this is not seeker survey friendly at all you kind of been this kind of been you know a negative type sermon oh no see here comes the greatest hope of all is that God is is a just God and he will give us and judge us justly and righteously.

You get a fair hearing from God. I don't think you can get a fair hearing from man anywhere. You get a fair hearing from God. And he will reward us. Now, there's an interesting thing here. I don't know, did you notice the difference? He says to give every man according to his ways, his actions, and according to the fruit of his doings, or the consequences of his actions. Now watch this. It's a two-fold reward, good or bad. God rewards us according to what we do, and then he rewards us according to the fruits or the consequences of what we do. That's why Paul says, men's sins follow them after they're dead.

What does he mean by that? Well, my friend, your sin doesn't die with you. It has consequences. Here is a father who is a drunken father or an abusive father. Now, God not only judges him and rewards him according to those abusive actions, but the effect it has on his children and his children's children's children down to the end of the world. He is judged and rewarded according to the fruit of his labor also. But conversely, he also rewards you for what you do which is right. Now, I believe that God will judge me according to the sermon that I preach.

I don't know that he's necessarily interested in how homiletical it is. But if I have preached the truth with a pure heart and with a pure motive and have glorified God, then God is going to reward me for that. But not only that, if somehow through the message your heart is blessed or your heart is moved

or you are moved to change and repent, then I'll be rewarded according to the fruit of my sermon. And then if you pass that on to your children or pass that on to your friends, and they pass it on to their children, and they pass it on to their children. In O.S.'s latest book, and somebody asked me if I'd read O.S. Hawkins' last book. I said, I hope so. And, but he dedicates that to his two pastoral predecessors, George W. Truitt and W.A. Criswell. I was interested in that he talks about the heritage of George W. Truitt. Old Dr. Truitt's been dead for 52 years.

God's still rewarding him because of the fruit of his doings. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? Even in this man's life. And whoever he touches, God rewards Dr. Truitt. Isn't that a wonderful thing the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart

and the only one who can understand and know the heart is God now this I think in closing demands, requires two responses. Number one, it is this. Don't trust yourself too much. Self-trust.

Overly self-confident. Remember, there's a deceiver. And your heart will tell you what you want to know, not necessarily what is the truth. So the first thing is, every decision I make and every wise thought I have and every wise judgment that I execute, I ought to remember, do it with hesitation and care and much prayer. Why? Because the heart is deceitful above all things. And the second thing this demands of me is that I stay close to the Lord who knows my heart. And I spend time with him and find out his heart. Find out his mind.

Through prayer, through the book. Those, I believe, are the responses that are called for in the life of what Jeremiah is talking about. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.