Sermon Notes

Hearts of Stone | Dependence on God Unlocks Transformation
Main Scripture Focus: Silent Years (between Old and New Testament)

God Has Never Changed

Our study of the Old Testament reminds us of the unchanging nature of God.
Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) says:
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

The same God who showed grace in the Old Testament to Adam and Eve continues to show grace today.
This truth is foundational for faith and trust in every season.

The Bible Is One Unified Story

The Bible isn’t a collection of random stories — it’s one story of God’s love for humanity.
As we transition into the New Testament, particularly Matthew, we will continue walking by faith not by sight, connecting the promises of the Old Testament with the fulfillment found in Christ.

What Happened During the Silent Years?

Although often called “silent,” the 400 years before Christ were full of activity.
Key developments included:

• The Jewish people were first called “Jews” (from Judah).

• With the destruction of the Temple, synagogues were established.

• Greek philosophy and humanism began influencing Jewish thought.

• Rome conquered the region, building roads and infrastructure that would later help spread the Gospel.

Yet through all of this, God appeared silent.
No new prophetic word came, and religion continued without a true relationship with Him — a critical warning for us about dependence on God.

The Rise of Religious Systems Without God

During these years, religious leaders like the Sadducees, Pharisees, and scribes built systems that emphasized behavior without heart change.

Isaiah 29:13 (NIV) warns:
“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

The danger: practicing religion without real faith and prayer — and without true dependence on God.

Trusting God in the Darkness

Isaiah 50:10-11 (NLT) offers powerful guidance for seasons of spiritual dryness:
“If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.”

But beware:
“Watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment.”

When we stop relying fully on God and create our own systems, misery follows.

The Heart of the Matter: Dependence on God

Hebrews 10:22 (NLT) reminds us:
“Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.”

God desires faith and trust, not hollow actions.
This transformation touches every part of our being: our thoughts, feelings, hearts, bodies, and relationships.

Psalm 16: The Whole Person Transformation

Psalm 16:7-9 (NLT) highlights God’s care for the whole person:
“I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety.”

True spiritual growth involves every aspect of life — our emotions, choices, bodies, and minds.

Renewing Our Minds: Faith Over Feelings

Romans 12:2 (NLT) calls believers to:
“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

• Faith over feelings means we don’t live based on how we feel but on what God says is true.

• Our feelings follow our thoughts — and our thoughts must be grounded in Scripture.

Taking Every Thought Captive

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV) instructs:
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Victory begins with a renewed mind rooted in dependence on God.

A New Heart: God’s Promise

Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT) gives a powerful promise:
“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”

God initiates the change — not us.
Our role is to respond with trust and surrender.

Love God with Your Whole Life

When asked how to inherit eternal life, Jesus pointed back to loving God fully:

Luke 10:25-28 (NLT):
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

This is not about perfection but about dependence on God in every part of our life.

The Struggle Within: Our Battle With Sin

Paul describes this inner battle in Romans 7:14-25 (NLT) — wanting to do right but struggling with sin.
Ultimately, he concludes:

“Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Victory is not found in trying harder but in faith and prayer — trusting Jesus completely.

The War Between Flesh and Spirit

Galatians 5:17 (NLT) says:
“The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants… These two forces are constantly fighting each other.”

The journey of walking by faith not by sight means depending on the Holy Spirit’s leading, not our own impulses.

Discipline With the Right Focus

While discipline has value, it’s not enough without heart transformation.

1 Timothy 4:8 (NLT) says:
“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

Spiritual growth is not about self-effort — it’s about dependence on God to transform us from the inside out.

Conclusion: Dependence on God Unlocks Transformation

• True change comes when we trust in God fully.

• Not by fixing ourselves, but by surrendering to Him.

• Grace in the Old Testament and grace today show us that God’s love never fails.

• Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever — and He invites us to trust Him now.

If you want to experience real transformation, it begins with simple dependence on God.
Not by trying harder — but by trusting deeper.

Bible Verses

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”

Isaiah 50:10-11 (NLT)
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.
But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment.

Hebrews 10:22 (NLT)
Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Psalm 16:7-9 (NLT)
I will bless the Lord who guides me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I know the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.
My body rests in safety.

Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT)
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

Luke 10:25-28 (NLT)
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

Romans 7:14-25 (Simplified Pidgin English paraphrase / Based on NLT structure)
(Note: The sermon read this in humorous paraphrase for effect, but it matches Romans 7:14–25 in meaning. Here’s the NLT version to match intent:)

Romans 7:14-25 (NLT)
So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.
But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.
So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t.
I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
I love God’s law with all my heart.
But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Galatians 5:17 (NLT)
The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.

1 Corinthians 9:25–27 (NLT)

All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.
So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.
I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

1 Timothy 4:8 (NLT)
Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.

Recommended Books

Neil T. Anderson

• Victory Over the Darkness
  Explores the power of understanding our identity in Christ and living in spiritual freedom.

John Eldredge

• Experience Jesus. Really.
  Guides readers into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Jesus.

John Piper

• Desiring God
  Discusses finding satisfaction in God and the importance of delighting in Him.

Henry Blackaby

• Experiencing God
  Focuses on knowing and doing the will of God through a love relationship with Him.

Dallas Willard

• The Divine Conspiracy
  Examines the Sermon on the Mount and the call to live in the kingdom of God.

A.W. Tozer

• The Pursuit of God
  Encourages believers to seek a deeper relationship with God.

C.S. Lewis

• Mere Christianity
  Explores the common ground upon which all Christians stand together.

Timothy Keller

• The Reason for God
  Addresses common doubts about Christianity and presents arguments for faith.

Max Lucado

• You Can Count on God
  Offers daily devotions to strengthen faith and trust in God’s promises.

Brother Lawrence

• The Practice of the Presence of God
  Teaches how to develop a constant awareness of God’s presence.

Articles & Devotionals

• John Piper: ” Depend on God — and Do More”
  Discusses how deep dependence on God leads to meaningful action.
  Link 
• Dallas Willard: ” Spiritual Disciplines and Means of Grace”
  Explores the relationship between grace and effort in spiritual growth.
  Link
• C.S. Lewis: ” Four Quotes on Trusting God”
  Provides insights on trusting God through various challenges.
  Link 
• Max Lucado: ” Trusting More, Worrying Less”
  Encourages readers to trust God amidst anxiety.
  Link
• Brother Lawrence: ” Practicing the Presence of God”
  Shares how to maintain awareness of God’s presence in daily life.
  Link

Videos & Sermons

• John Piper: ” God Wants You to Depend on Him”
  A sermon emphasizing the importance of relying on God.
  YouTube
• Joby Martin: ” What is Faith?”
  Explores the concept of faith and its application in life.
  YouTube
• Timothy Keller: ” Basis of Prayer: ‘Our Father'”
  Discusses the foundation of prayer and approaching God as Father.
  YouTube
• Charles Stanley: ” A God We Can Trust”
  Encourages trusting God during hardships.
  YouTube 
• Chuck Swindoll: ” Walking by Faith… Regardless”
  A sermon on maintaining faith through all circumstances.
  YouTube 

Recommended Books

• The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
  A classic that explores the deep desire for a closer relationship with God and the necessity of surrender in that pursuit.
• Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby
  This study guides readers to recognize God’s work around them and encourages complete surrender to His will.
• The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
  A timeless work emphasizing continual communion with God through everyday tasks and surrender.
• Reclaiming Surrendered Ground by Jim Logan
  Addresses spiritual warfare and the importance of surrendering every area of life to Christ.
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
  Lewis discusses the essence of Christian belief, including the necessity of surrendering to God.

 Articles & Devotionals

• “Am I Completely Surrendered to Christ?” by John Piper
  An insightful discussion on evaluating one’s level of surrender to Jesus.
• “Surrender to God” by John Eldredge
  A reflection on the challenges and beauty of surrendering to God’s will.
• “Stop and Surrender” by Charles Swindoll
  Encourages believers to cease striving and fully trust in God’s plan.
• “Surrender or Commitment?” by Henry Blackaby
  Explores the difference between making commitments and truly surrendering to God.
• “Reflections: Surrender” by C.S. Lewis Institute
  Discusses the daily journey of surrendering to God’s will.

 Videos & Sermons

• “Living a Surrendered Life” by Dr. Charles Stanley
  A sermon on the importance and impact of surrendering to God.
• “Surrender (Acts 17:16-34)” by Pastor Joby Martin
  A message focusing on Paul’s call to surrender to God’s plan.
• “Cross, Complain, Anger, & Surrender” by Dallas Willard
  Discusses the challenges of surrendering amidst life’s difficulties.
• “No Compromise, No Surrender” by R.C. Sproul
  Emphasizes the necessity of unwavering surrender to Christ.
• “Surrendering Our Common Life” by Max Lucado
  Encourages believers to surrender daily routines to God’s purpose.

Some of these above links in this post maybe affiliate links, and we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. These are resources that we would recommend regardless of whether we earn a commission or not.  The income generated helps cover website maintenance costs, allowing us to continue sharing sermons, resources, and content with you. We appreciate your support!

Transcript: Hearts of Stone | Dependence on God Unlocks Transformation

Where we’re at with the Old Testament, don’t you? Yeah, it’s over. This is kind of our record timing here to go through the Old Testament, but you know what our key verse was for this? Hebrews, remember Jesus Christ the same yesterday and forever. That’s really been the thought process of going through this, and that’s the theme as we’ve gone through the Old Testament that God hasn’t changed and we can no longer say things like, well, that was the God of the Old Testament. He hasn’t changed. He wasn’t a God of judgment then and he’s a God of mercy now or grace. It wasn’t law then and grace now. No, there’s grace throughout the Old Testament, isn’t there? God showed grace to Adam and Eve when they sin and he began to bail out at that point giving us something we just never deserved. So I was going to put up this timeline one more time and call it the last time timeline, but I’m not going to guarantee that as we look, we’re going to move into Matthew next.

And Matthew really starts to tie all this together. And so we’re still going to be looking at the Old Testament, but through the eyes of a New Testament believer. So we’re just going to keep on putting all this together into one story. Remember, the Bible is one story. It’s not a bunch of stories all chopped up. It’s the story of God and his love for humanity. So as we move into the New Testament, we’re going to take our time, take a deep breath and go through it just some little chunks at a time to help tie this all together. But the timeline from Adam to Abraham there, we don’t really know how many years we’re there, but it was at least 2000 years at least. And then from Abraham all the way through to where we’re at today was another 2000 years. So from Abraham through the Kings and all the way to the exiles in Babylon was another 2000 years.

And so right before Jesus came, there was a period of time the people were exiled to Babylon and then they started to trickle back to Jerusalem and rebuild. And there was a 400 year period there before Jesus came. Those are often called the silent years, and we’re going to talk about that a little bit and why they were called silent years. But just previous to that time with the timeline, remember that God sent prophets to the people and those prophets preached to the people they preached against wandering morals of the day. They also warned the people of judgment to come. That was a very important job of a prophet. Many of the prophets were prompted by God to write scriptures. God gave them all kinds of scripture pertaining to the promised deliverer, Jesus Christ. So a lot of that the prophets did was prepare the people for Christ coming. Oftentimes, the prophets were not received very well. People didn’t like what they had to say, and there was a reason because the prophets sold people things they didn’t like to hear. Think about it. Did you ever have somebody try to micromanage your life? I mean, just kind of hang over your shoulder, tell you everything you’re doing right, everything you’re doing wrong, how do you feel about that?

Is anybody coming to mind? I see a lot of people talking each other here, and that’s how people look at the profits a little bit like micromanagers, okay? They’re just going to keep on telling us how to live and what to do and everything else and just leave us alone. Contrast that with a team. Here you are. You’re all together to accomplish one purpose. Several people, whether it’s a work project or a sports project or whatever you’re working on, think of it as a team and now people are telling each other and you’ve got to coach in terms of how can we best accomplish what we’re trying to here? It doesn’t have quite the same flavor to it does it when you know that somebody’s trying to help you accomplish your goals and to attain what it is year after here. And I think that’s what happened with the prophets.

People didn’t realize they were all on the same team and that we should be focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ coming and at that time, the coming Messiah, that’s all they knew, but that they were all on the same team and the prophets were there to kind of coach ’em along in the relationship with God. And Isaiah kind of gives the overall picture of what the problem was. Isaiah 29 13 says, these people come near to me with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. See, they only saw one side of the whole thing, the whole micromanagement, but they didn’t see how they were all in this together. So the people despised the prophets message and refused to trust God and that they were often persecuted and killed the point where God dispersed Israel.

And in 722 years before Christ came, the northern tribes of Israel there that were on the PowerPoint got dispersed, and then a hundred years later, the southern tribe of Judah got taken captive. And those are the ones that eventually trickled back for the 400 year period. So listen now as we are going to move into the gospel of Matthew, there are some important things that came up during that 400 years. So as much as they call ’em silent years, there’s stuff going on there. And while they were in exile, first of all, they were called Jews. We didn’t really hear that term before, but you’re going to hear it a lot in the New Testament. They were first called Jews. It was a reference to the fact that they were from Judah. And then with the temple no longer available because the temple had been demolished, the Jews introduced the idea of synagogues.

And so that’s another term that often comes up in the New Testament that where did it come from? Well, it came during this period of time when there was no temple to worship. So they started synagogue place and that was a place for social interaction, teaching, study of the scriptures, things like that. So the exile continued for 70 years, and as they trickled back, they just started some new traditions there. Although the temple was rebuilt, it wasn’t rebuilt to its old splendor, and it also didn’t do away with the synagogues. They maintained their synagogues. Then right around 400 years before Christ, the Bible record really takes a pause. There’s nothing recorded at all in the Bible of what was going on, but history didn’t stand still. Alexander the Great who was a per general kind of swept through the Middle East there and they swallowed up the Jews in the process and the Jews became Greeks, but they were still Jews.

They still maintained a national heritage, which is very unusual. You think of how many years that they were ruled by other people, but they were always maintained the title being a Jew and how that doesn’t normally happen. Usually when people are dispersed, eventually they become whoever they’re living under. But the Jews, God protected in such a way that they always maintain being a people group in and of themselves no matter where they live. So during 400 years, Alexander introduced the Greek philosophies that all came with it, and actually that’s where we get our humanism today. At least the earliest recordings of it happened. There were before that pantheism or the many gods controlled the universe and everything like that, and the people were under the power of these many gods. And so they worship those gods and those gods gave direction to life, and most of ’em were not very nice gods.

Well during the Greek period, as much as they had many gods, they also felt mankind was central focus in doing that. They also believed that man was an animal basically, and just another form of animal. But we are here with our own logic, with our own reasoning, and we can figure things out and we know what’s best for us. And so they really didn’t take as much direction from the gods as much as the Gods were there to serve humanity. So there was a shift in religious philosophy during that time. There’s a lot of issues going on in terms of purifying the human race. If a child was small or whatever, they’d get rid of it, they’d throw it over the cliff, and they really wanted nothing but the best of mankind. And people thought, well, we’re protecting the human race here by having these selective processes of who’s got worth and who’s got value and who doesn’t.

So that was all introduced mainly at that time, and that carries forward even today. And so Greek was introduced as the trade language. And for centuries that followed, people used Greek, which was groundwork for the spreading of the gospel because the gospels were written in Greek because they could spread quickly that way over a wide area. There were a lot of Jews that just entered into that Greek philosophy and took it upon themselves while still calling themselves Jews. They bought into a lot of the philosophies. Those people were called the sades, and they were what we would call today the liberals, the people who just fit in with society and add religion to it. They were small in number, but they had a lot of wealth, a lot of influence in the society. They tended to control the religious leaders and they’d buy ’em out.

Eventually, the high priest position was something you paid for. They also denied many parts of the Bible because it didn’t fit the way they wanted to live. So they picked and choose what they wanted to read in the Bible and accept as God’s word. The Sadducees took away from God’s word. And then for about 200 years, the Jews were under a number of Greek forces during that 400 year period. So for the first 200 years of that, the Greeks really controlled things quite a bit. And then 166 years before Christ came, there are a row of war, a revolt actually led by a guy named Judas Maccabees. And his last name was actually like Hasson, but they called it Maccabees because it means the hammer. And he led the people into self-government during that time, and his father actually started the revolt because the Greeks were demanding that unclean sacrifices and sacrifices to idols be held in the temple.

And as the first priest that came in to do that and to honor the Greeks command, old man Maccabees killed right there at the altar. And so he and his family fled, and this revolt started through his sons. They won over Jerusalem and maintained control for about a hundred years. Out of that, there’s these books written called Books of they’re historical writings. There were five books originally, and they talk about that war, and they’re historically fairly accurate. They say they cover various aspects of that war. The first book of McAfee actually got indoctrinated into what they call the Latin ball game Bible. That’s not one we would generally use. It’s not what we call canonized, but there’s a Bible with a collection of other old books that are out there. So that was actually put into that. And then the second book of Maccabees talks about some of the other struggles that went on, and that’s where the doctrine of purgatory actually came from.

Those of you who worked with youth, the purgatory came from that, and I don’t know exactly, I’ve read through that a little bit and don’t really know how it was derived, but it’s there. And then the third book, the Greek church continues to use a bit of that. Fourth was in a library of lions and was destroyed in a fire. And none of these books have divine authority, but they are good historical references for what took place during that time. It’s sort of like you take somebody like Chuck Swindall today. He’s got a lot of writings, doesn’t he? And a lot of those writings have to do with the times in which we live today, and they have a lot of good references to the scripture and everything else, but they have no S scriptural authority at the in and of themselves, do they? Well, that’s what those books of McAfees are like.

We can respect them for their historical accuracy. And there was enough talk about the God of the Jews in there, but they weren’t God breathe just as any of our writers today. We can respect them, we can take what they have to say, but we also take it with a grain of salt, don’t we say, okay, well chew up the meat and spit out the bones. So that’s what you do with these books here and what was going on during that time Also, during that time, religious zealots really came forward in the Jewish religion. Those guys were called Pharisees. They fought to get rid of the degree influence and they clung to the law, the law of God. In fact, they clung to it so much that they made more laws to protect the law. And so they had laws upon laws upon laws in order to protect God’s laws.

And that’s where they came up with laws like to honor the Sabbath. Well, they made it so that just about anything you did, if you carried a pen that’s work and you weren’t honoring the Sabbath, and they’d write that down, if you carry a pen, you’re breaking the law. And so they just had tons of these things. So they had all kinds of traditions, and that’s what Jesus spoke often about how much they honored their traditions more than they honored God. Does that sound familiar? Do we have laws upon laws, upon laws, upon laws? And sometimes you start to follow one law and find out there’s another law that they call those loopholes, right? So you start to use the loopholes, and that’s what the Pharisees started to do, is they start to use the loopholes for their benefit while still putting the laws on other people to follow.

Actually in terms of the Pharisees, they added to God’s word. So the Sadducees took away from God’s word, Pharisees added to God’s word. Then there was a third group that was often mentioned. We will be talking about, Jesus talks about his lawyers, teachers, teachers of the law, scribes is the official term. Those guys copied the word of God over and over and over again with extreme care. That’s how we know it’s accurate today because they find all of these various versions of the word of God of the Old Testament, and they, there’s no differences. These guys copied it so exactly, and they followed all these rituals that whenever they got to the name of the Lord mentioned there, they put down their pen and they’d wash their hands before they’d write it, they’d write it with a new pen and so on. And so they just really, they count every letter to make sure nothing was ever missing.

And so they kept the accuracy of the word of God going throughout the time. So they were considered experts in knowing the Bible. So Rome overthrew the Jews 67 years before Christ. So that’s where Rome comes in when we’re talking about Jesus and always the Roman centurions are always the common term there. And so Rome 67 years before that took over, pushed the greens out, and they came in. They’re the ones that brought in good roads and things like that to make a lot of trade more accessible. So Rome was really accommodating of the Jews. They didn’t mind religion. It was okay, take it or leave it, as long as it didn’t stir up rebellion and they were fine with it. So just keep things quiet. Keep your religion to yourself and you can do whatever you want during those years before Christ came. So again, calling it the silent years, you can see it is a little misleading that there was a lot going on.

So things weren’t silent, but God was, he wasn’t speaking to the people. There were no prophets at the time. You could see there was a lot going on though God appeared to be silent. People didn’t know that. They kept on going with the religious activities just going along fine. You know what? They didn’t have anybody micromanaging them, did they? Telling ’em what to do, and they weren’t working together as a team either. They were just all doing their own thing. There was no word of God coming to the people. But that didn’t seem to stop ’em from a bunch of religious activity. They just kept on going. They even translated the Old Testament and did the Greek during that time, freaking they were doing a great thing. So by the end of the 400 years, they created a religious system that could operate really quite effectively without God and without his interference, there was only one problem.

It was dead. Isaiah saw it coming in Isaiah 50, he says, who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God, but watch out you who live in your own light, warm yourselves by your own fires, this is the reward you’ll receive from me. You will soon lie down in great torment. See, the natural tendency during times of darkness when we don’t really see God or we don’t really feel like we’re hearing from him is to create our own light, to create our own system, to do something, to stir up activity. We try to get God moving, and according to Isaiah, we create our own light and misery follows. By the time Jesus stepped into the world, the religious leaders had burdened the people down with so many rules, so many regulations, the people were in misery.

The second part of that that I read about Isaiah 50 10 says, trust in the Lord, rely on your God. That’s the story right there that covers it all. Trust in the Lord rely on your God. What does that mean? What does it mean in today’s language, in today’s culture to trust in the God? Well, in Hebrews 10 22, taking us into the New Testament, still speaking to the Jews, he’s saying, let us go right into the presence of God with true hearts, fully trusting him so we can go right into His presence. He’s saying, but there’s a catch with true hearts fully trusting him. See, it appears that the Jewish leaders didn’t get at the heart of the matter, and that is it’s the heart that matters. It’s where their heart was and what it is they were serving. When the Bible speaks to the heart, it refers to that inner core of our being.

That’s where all our actions flow out of our heart. See, godliness isn’t made up of a bunch of outward actions, activities, behavior. Now, godliness is a heart issue. It’s not like just following a bunch of rules because we’re supposed to, but we know it’s the best way and it accomplishes the purpose that we have here in life. Our heart is what God wants, not just our behavior to change. See, there’s a lot of factors that go into what it means to be fully committed to God’s ways. See, God’s interested in transforming the whole person and not just having us pay lip service to him because we reflect his image to this world. And as Christians, we play a part in the ongoing transformation God desires to do in our hearts. Note how many aspects. Now, I’m going to read through Psalm 16, how many aspects of a person’s being is reflected in this verse in Psalm 16, seven through nine. If you want to turn there, you can see how your virgin reads too, but it says, I will praise the Lord who advises me. That’s very relational God. It actually will advise us. You advise the psalmist here. So there’s a relational aspect to each one of our lives that we can’t ignore.

My conscience warns me at night. There’s our thoughts. I always keep the Lord in front of me as our mind thinking about him, keeping him before us when he is by my side. I cannot be moved. That’s our will. Staying steadfast for the Lord. That is why my heart is glad and my soul rejoices feelings. God’s interested in our feelings. They’re a part of us, and my body rests securely. That’s obvious. That’s our body. So God speaks to the whole person, not just a portion, and he doesn’t want just a portion of us. He wants the whole meaning of who we are, our thoughts, feelings, heart will, body relations, everything he wants to be a part of, he wants to give direction to. He doesn’t want to micromanage. He’s saying, no, I want to make you complete by being involved in every aspect of that.

See some elements of human nature that we can expect to undergo this right away, right off the bat as we follow Christ is our thoughts and our feelings. See, they’re important. They often reflect a lot that goes on with the other part. These two elements are different, but they make up a functioning part that we often call the mind in Romans 12, two, it says, and don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That’s where transformation comes. It doesn’t say by the transforming and renewing of your behavior. It says your mind. It starts here with our thinking and with our feelings. Thoughts include things like reasoning and scientific thinking. It includes imagination and art. It also includes divine revelation that all happens in our thinking. Thoughts enable our hearts to look beyond what’s going on in everyday life in our environment before us.

It goes beyond our senses. And then feelings on the other hand, they respond to our thoughts. They move either closer or farther from things that come to our mind in thought. So feelings involve a tone that’s either pleasant or painful, and they either attract us or repulse us from something. So if somebody puts a plate of food before you, depending on what you think about it is how you’ll respond it with your feelings. And if it’s ice cream or something you really like, it’ll bring pleasure. And so you have feelings of pleasure. And if it’s creamed corn or something like that, which isn’t my favorite, okay, then there’s a repulsion there, you see? So it’s what I think of that. Now, if I were to really renew my mind about cream corn, I mean, I am just going to say, you take ice cream, you got cream corn.

If all I have to eat for the rest of my life to stay alive is one or the other, I’ve got to really convince myself to cream corn will probably keep me alive longer than the ice cream. I’ve got to know that it’s good for me. And my feelings about cream corn, I may not like it, but my feelings about cream corn will change, won’t they? Because I know it’s there necessary to keep me alive, so I’ve got to change the way I think about it. But right now, I know I can go have something else in place of it. So I take this aside. Okay, so that’s thinking and feelings fit together. So in other words, our feelings are a slave to our thoughts. So if your thoughts aren’t right, will your feelings be right? If your thoughts aren’t according to the will of God, your feelings will not be reflecting reality.

So that’s when somebody says, well, it just feels right to do this. I take that with a bit of a grain of salt. It’s okay. It’s good to feel it, but I’m more interested in what the thinking was that goes into that feeling than the actual feeling itself. So feelings and thoughts always go together. Some are positive, some are negative, but there’s really never an absence of feelings based on the thought. What’s really called indifference means just a real low level of caring about that subject. So we have no strong feeling, but if we do, it’s usually negative. And so we say, well, I don’t care. Just try to push it off. In second Corinthians 10, five, it says that we are destroying speculations and everything everyth thought that’s raised against the knowledge of God, that we’re taking every thought captive and obedience to Christ.

So change in our lives happens at the thought level, and that will reflect in our feelings and eventually in our behavior. So the heart is also an important player here. Our heart is where Ezekiel is talking about Ezekiel 36. It says, I will give you a new heart and right desires, and I’ll put a new spirit within you. So a change of heart is initiated by God. So that’s that change of thoughts. When I’m changing my mind about cream corn, it’s got to be initiated by something greater than just my thoughts. It would be my love for life, my love to carry on living, knowing that cream corn’s going to be better for me. See, so that’s the heart issue, and that’s from God. God will put that new heart in us. But are we going to respond to it is the question, but it’s initiated by God. And now we have a choice to respond or not respond. Decision making and the exercise of our will comes from the heart.

So decision to do what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s good, what’s evil? So the mere thought of sin is not a sin, neither is temptation. It’s when the heart, there’s an inner yes, an inclination towards it, a thought can pop into your mind and you can reject that thought and you didn’t sin even though it was a bad thought. You see? But if there’s that inner inclination from your heart that’s not being touched by God to say yes to that thought, that’s where the sinful activities and influences come. The sin itself is an inward, yes, whether you actually follow through on it or not, but where was my inner inclination?

Jesus says, it’s from our heart that the issues of life flow see to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ and understand is this building up the body of Christ or is this tearing it down? You see, this is where the heart comes in. See, a great part of the disaster of every life lies is that we give into the human feelings rather than the heart and go by what our feelings tell us instead of what the heart tells us to do. And if our heart isn’t in tune with God in his heart, all we have left is our feelings.

In Luke 10 25 through 28, Adam, you might remember this, he talks about the religious leader that came to him and he says, Jesus, what do we have to do to have eternal life? And Jesus says, well, what does the law say? What does Moses tell you to do? And he says, well, if you break it down, it says that we’re to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our strength, all our mind and love our neighbor as ourselves. And Jesus says, right, go ahead. Do that sounds easy. Just do it.

Our thoughts feeling heart will body, everything are to be given over to God. See, but because of the complexity of sin that’s been ushered into our innermost being the ideal well kept heart will never be fully achieved. Now, what are we hopeless that we can never love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, all our mind, all our will, all our body, everything we are, we can never fully do that. Does that mean we can’t have eternal life because the world is deeply infected by evil? We often struggle, don’t we? With our heart? Our heart tells us one thing. While we do another thing. I’m going to ask Paul Reman to read a portion of scripture for us today that will help us relate to this a little.

And this version is, while at first blush, humorous, I hope you’ll take it intended to give you a fresh look at an old passage in Romans, we know that the rules come from God’s special spirit, but me, I only one guy. I make you like one slave that got to do one bad kind of stuff. I dunno what I stay doing. I now do the things I like. Do I do the things that I know. If I do the things I know do, then I know that the rules take good because that’s not me to do ’em, but the bad kind of stuff that stay inside of me to do ’em, I know that no, nothing good inside me. Every time inside me, I like to do the bad kind of stuff. I like do the good kind of stuff, but then I dunno how I do ’em, the good kind of stuff that I like, do I know do ’em, but the bad kind of stuff I know like do I do ’em now when I do what I know that is not me to make me do ’em, but the bad kind of stuff, the statement side of me,

Apostle Paul is drawing a distinction here. What? Where’s the heart? He’s saying, I don’t like this. It’s crying out. No, but something else is saying yes and making us do what we just don’t want to do. Verse 25 brings it in. Thank God. The answer is in Jesus Christ,

Thank God the answers in Jesus Christ. I want to do what’s right, but I don’t always do it. Do you ever feel like shouting? I give up, I give up. God says, good. Give up. Give it up. Quit trying so hard. Remember God says, remember it’s me who took care of sin. You can’t take care of it. So quit trying. See, it’s by being like-minded with God in that inner being saying, yes, God, I want to follow you. That’s where the transformation takes place. That’s what God is looking for. Inner agreement with his work. See, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all those scribes and all those people during that 400 years developed a religious system with saying yes on the outside, but no on the inside. And then they went to impose it on all the people. So there’s another element that we need to fill you in on.

We looked at the thoughts, the feelings and the heart, but now for the body, the body is our personal presence in this physical social world. That’s what Apostle Paul was wrestling with. We live from our bodies, our choices, our decisions, they’re all outsourced in a sense to our body. A lot of our choices occur more or less automatically without having to even think about it, without even being conscious of it. And this really can be a very good thing. Just think how cumbersome it would be to ride a bike If you get on, you have to think. Pedal, pedal, pedal, right, left, right, left, steer, turn, and all this stuff goes on. Thinking continuously about what you’re doing or driving a car. Push the gas, cover the brake. Look in the front mirror, look in the rear all over, just all the things you’re trying to do while you’re trying to drive.

It’s much better when it becomes automatic and we just do it, our body takes over. It goes into automatic pilot. Well, even though that’s a very good thing and it’s very, actually very necessary for us to function, that capacity in life can take care of itself. Our body can just go on. But you can also imagine, and it can also be a major problem for spiritual formation and Christ’s likeness. See, there’s motions of sin also in our bodies. We’ve been programmed and those frustrate the intentions of our heart. That’s what the Apostle Paul was wrestling with, is that there’s some things in the members of my body which are frustrating, the intentions of my heart. It’s not me. Paul cries out in verse seven 20, but the sin that dwells in me, that’s like a sliver in your hand or someplace. It’s not you that’s causing that pain, but it’s something bad within you and it’s even causing infection or a disease.

It’s causing problems. It’s not. You don’t want it. You want to do away with it, but you can’t always do that. You can’t always get rid of it. That’s what sin is. It’s there. But thanks be to God. Jesus has taken care of it. It’s not a barrier between you and God as long as there’s the inner yes, God, I agree with you about it. In Galatians five 17, it says, what your corrupt nature wants is contrary to what your spiritual nature wants and that they’re opposed to each other. They’re working against each other, and as a result, you don’t always do what you intend to do. See, we’re trained in a world that’s evil and self-centered. So the body acts wrongly before we can even think about it. But it’s when we make excuses for it, we get in trouble instead of admitting it’s wrong and that we hate it.

See, it is amazing. But the body has a capacity to change, also to be reformed by the renewing of our mind. When we agree with God what is right, our feelings respond by hating evil in the process, we become more Christlike. You see? So we don’t want to start with changing our behaviors. It’s agreeing with God of what sin is, and then our feelings will respond, and eventually we’ll get the light cream corn. Our body will agree. One way this works oftentimes is we don’t even realize what goes on in our body, but they’re finding more and more. And I read these things all about how our thoughts stimulate our feelings and our feelings stimulate our body. We all know that when something jumps out at us, our thoughts think we’re in trouble. Our feelings say wrong, and our adrenaline glands start pumping. Our body has just responded to a thought of something that may have been real or not real.

Now, we get accustomed to these things. We call ’em endorphin brushes or reine rushes and things like that. There’s all kinds of hormones that people get addicted to within their own body, and we look for ways to stimulate that. And so our body has been pre-programmed to all these stimulants and all these thoughts and all these feelings that go along with it. When we begin to change our thoughts, our feelings change. Our body hasn’t. It still needs a fix, you see? And so that’s where the problems start. But over time and commitment to God, he disciplines us. Just like Paul talks about in one Timothy Timothy, it says, all athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away. But we do it for an eternal prize, strict discipline. When we are so convinced that what God wants in our lives is for our best.

We can go into some strict discipline in order to train our bodies, but not until we’re convinced to train our bodies without being convinced won’t work. Paul goes on to say, I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I might be disqualified. You see, it’s about his witness and just knowing that I want to live for God and I want to shine for God, and so therefore, that’s the reason I’m going to do this, not so God loves me more because God already loves us. He can’t show it any more than he already showed it 2000 years ago. On the cross, our actions always arise out of our thoughts. And our thoughts are a matter of what we truly believe about God and what he’s done for us.

Our actions always arise out of the interaction of those human elements, our heart, our thoughts, our feelings, our body relationship. We can have a relationship that causes a physical bodily stipulation that is either for the good or for evil. And once we’re committed to God and allow his heart and his Holy Spirit to us, we need to allow him to clean those areas up. See, transform the lives don’t come from the movement of a heart in disciplines alone. Your life just won’t change. Abstinence is not our goals here. While abstinence may be accomplished outside of God and outside of his will, there won’t be spiritual transformation. And what God’s interested in is not our outside behavior changing. It’s our inside thinking, changing. So therefore, to be fully changed spiritually, don’t work on the behavior first, but you’ll have to get to it. Only when you’re convinced it’s absolutely necessary because they’ve spoken to you through His word, through his Holy Spirit, through others. See, understanding this is necessary for spiritual formation.

Otherwise, we’re just going to focus on trying to do it in our own will and trying harder and harder and harder. Trying harder to please God and do his will is futile, but keeping our focus on him and thankful for what he’s already done to change us brings about transformation. It’s not behavior modification, but mind transformation he’s interested in. So when the body outward actions is our main concern, it’s impossible to please God. That’s what the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all those we’re concerned with is all the outward behavior, trying to please God and their hearts were like cones. One Timothy four, eight talks about that bodily discipline is of some value. Don’t throw it out. You can’t just do whatever you want. It’s of some value, but godliness is of great value.

So the proper ordering of the human system is never complete. We’re always under construction, always under redesign because of the spiritual environment we were raised in, the things that we’ve gotten involved in and the environment we continue to live in. But once our spirit comes alive in Jesus Christ, the lengthy process of doing those other aspects can begin and it starts. That’s what the theologians call sanctification. We become more and more like Christ never being perfect, but always growing towards perfection in Christ and for what he’s done. So spiritual transformation happens only as each dimension of our life is recognized to be put under the power of the Holy Spirit for transformation in agreeing with God that it needs it, and we thank that we don’t have to be perfect, but it’s all achieved by the grace of God. Ezekiel 36 26 says, I will give you a new heart with new and right desires.

I will put a new spirit in me, and I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new obedient. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what you’ve done and you continue to do within us. It’s a very simple matter, Lord, really, instead of following all the rules, all the regulations, doing everything right, that requires one thing full dependence on you, an understanding of your great love, your care, and your better plan and proof it. It’s called faith belief. Trust me, that’s what we desire to do today, Lord, is walk out of here. Maybe you put our consciences in different areas. Maybe there’s one area that we have not submitted to you that you desire to make some changes. May you start in our mind. May we allow you in our hearts to show us the truth, the truth of your word, the love of your heart towards us, and that we give you that inner, yes, go ahead, Lord. Thank you again that we don’t have to be perfect, just committed to you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

I blessed to know during that construction process and still our praise,

Heavenly Father, this week as our breaths come out, some of ’em, we come out with frustrations and anxieties and fears and worries, those things that frustrate us in our relationship with you, Lord, I pray that we will breathe them out, let ’em out, and that they’ll bring us a sense of hope, knowing that it’s all been taken care of, hope, because our heart is in agreement with you. If there was no battle going on, Lord, I’d be more concerned. We thank you for the battle within us that reminds us that we are connected to the source of life. Praise you for the temptations, Lord. We praise you for your deliverance and your acceptance. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Original Sermon Date: January 22, 2006

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