Communion Meditation

This morning, as we prepare our hearts for the Lord's table, I thought that we'd take just a brief break from the book of Hebrews to talk to you about how do you know you have a God-given heart. We talked to our children about if you're going to guard it, you're going to protect it, you're going to watch over it with all diligence, well, it must be a God-given heart. The question comes, how do you know that you have a heart that's been given to you by the Lord? We know that when we're born, God fashions our heart.

But when we're born again, we get a brand new heart. That's what the new covenant is about. Let me read to you what I mentioned to the children earlier in Ezekiel 36, verse number 25, when it says, Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean.

I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will pour my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you will be careful to observe my ordinances. God tells Israel when they're in Babylonian captivity, this is what I'm going to do. This is my new covenant. This is my promise to you. I'm going to give you a brand new heart.

I'm going to sprinkle clean water upon you. I'm going to cause you to walk in my statutes. You're going to want to do those things because right now, you don't want to do that. You don't want to walk in my statutes. You don't want to obey my word. But if I give you a new heart, you will. So the question comes, do you have a God-given heart? You're going to have to teach your children this and ask them, do they have a God-given heart? Do you truly have a genuine heart given to you by the Lord Jesus?

How do you know that? The Bible tells us that a heart is deceitful and desperately wicked that no man can know it. The Bible says that, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and yet not do the things that I say?

That's Luke chapter 6. In Matthew chapter 7, it says, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many marvelous deeds in your name? And I will say to them, depart from me. I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness. But how can that be? How can someone stand before the Lord on judgment day and say, Lord, Lord, in terms of endearment, Lord, we did all that we did in church in your name. We did it for you, not for us. And he will say to them, I'm sorry, I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness.

You know, we've had many children on stage over the years, many children who have given their life to the Lord, who were baptized in our baptismal throughout all the years, who have grown up in the church, and then unfortunately turned their back on the Lord and walked away. How sad is that? They made a profession of faith, they even were baptized and gave testimony to that profession, a profession of faith. But there wasn't a true possession of the God who grants you a brand new heart. You see, so many people in the church today think they have a new heart, but they don't.

Satan is a master deceiver, and if he can get you to deceive yourself, he will. If he can get you to come to church and do the things that church people do and look like a Christian and talk like a Christian and get you to believe you are a Christian, he will, he'll do all he can to convince you of those things, to deceive you into thinking that you're on your way to heaven. It's a really broad road, Matthew 7 tells us, and the broad road doesn't say this way to hell, it says this way to heaven, and everybody's on that road.

It's a familiar road, it's a very popular road. But the narrow road, now that's, it's very, very small, and very few people ever find that road. And then when they get to the gate to get into glory, Christ says later in Luke, once they get there, even fewer enter in because of the cost of salvation.

So, this morning, as we prepare our hearts for the Lord's table, I'm going to ask you this question, how do you know you have a God-given heart? How do you know that God has given you a new heart? He's removed your heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh. You truly are born again. You have new life in Christ. What does a God-given heart look like? Well, first of all, a God-given heart is a converted heart, a changed heart.

It's totally new. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. If you have a new heart, it's not like the old heart, right? If you get a new car, it's not like the old car. It's a brand new car. It smells different, drives better, looks better. Well, listen, if you have a new heart, everything about your life has been changed. It's been revolutionized from the inside out. That's why Paul says to those in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 1.9 that those who had given their life to the Lord had turned their lives around that they might serve the true and living God.

In other words, they were going one way and they were converted. They were changed and turned around and went the other way that they might serve the true and living God. The Bible says in Mark's gospel, the fifth chapter about the demoniac from the land of the Gerasenes, they're on the east side of the Lake of Gennesaret or the Sea of Galilee.

Those of you who've been to Israel with me have been to that place and sit there and looked up on seeing the location where this man would have possibly lived and in the caves and came running down to Jesus because he was filled with demons and said, what do we have to do with you, Lord of the Most High God? Well, he was demon possessed and everybody in the town was afraid of him, but God changed him. God saved him. And the man who was once in chains has been totally changed. The Bible says he sat in his own right mind.

No longer was he demon possessed, no, he was set free from the captivity of Satan and he truly was a changed man. And the whole illustration of demon possession in the New Testament and the transformation of a person's life is to show you what happens that when God changes you, he truly changes you. That's why the miracle at Canaan is so important. Why would the very first miracle of our Lord be something so simple as turning dirty water into wine?

If you're going to have a first miracle, wouldn't you make a big splash? No pun intended. But the fact of the matter is it was just turning water into wine. Why is that? Because it sets the whole tone of cleansing. It sets the whole tone of transformation. Turning water into wine has nothing to do with drinking. We think that turning water into wine and Jesus drank wine has everything to do for me having the opportunity now to drink. Oh, you've missed the whole method and the whole meaning behind the story.

It's the very first miracle because it sets the tone for all the other miracles. Christ came to purify your dirty life as he did that dirty water and made it into brand new sparkling wine, the best that there was. He wants to make your life the best that it is. He can only do that if he gives you a new heart. And that's why the story goes on very next to the what? Cleansing to the temple. John chapter 2. It talks about how Christ cleanses the temple. And then he goes into the story about John the Baptist, right?

And the story about John the Baptist, not John the Baptist, the story about Nicodemus where he talks about being born again and receiving a new heart. Everything is about cleansing. The whole ministry of Christ was to cleanse our dirty, filthy lives from the stain of sin that we might truly worship and honor him. If you have a God-given heart, you have a converted heart, you have a changed heart. It's different. Here's the question. You go home and you talk to your wife and say, honey, how has my life changed since I gave my life to the Lord?

And the wife asks her husband, honey, how has my life changed since I gave my life to the Lord? Do you see the change? Is everything different or is everything the same? You see, you need to ask that question because people around you will know whether or not there's been a true change in your life. The Bible says in Acts 3.19, repent and be converted, be changed so your sins may be washed away.

Remember what Christ said in 1 Corinthians 6, the pen of the Apostle Paul, do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate or homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. In other words, he says, you once were this way, but now you're this way. You once were engaged in these things, now you're not.

Why? You have a God-given heart. He's changed you. So the very first thing you ask is, how do I know my heart is genuine?

How do I know my heart has been a God-given heart? You have a converted heart. On top of that, number two, you have a cleansed heart.

Not only do you have a cleansed heart, you want to maintain a cleansed heart. You have a clean heart, I will sprinkle clean water on you. I'm going to wash you. And how do you do that? In the blood of the Lamb, 1 Peter 1, 18-19, we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Our sins have been washed away, so we partake at the Lord's table this morning and we drink from the cup. It's a reminder of the blood of Christ who cleanses us from all of our sin. We have a clean heart, and we have a clean heart positionally, but we need a clean heart practically, every single day.

So there's this habit pattern of confession, right? A cleansed heart is a confessing heart, because it wants to maintain its cleanliness. It wants to be clean before the Lord. A dirty heart doesn't mind being dirty. A dirty heart doesn't mind being filthy. It lives in filth. But a positionally cleansed heart doesn't like there to be any dust in there, any disruption in there. So when you sin, you go to the Lord and you ask for forgiveness, and you confess your sin. We are the ones who are confessing our sins, 1 John 1-9, right?

And those who are the ones confessing their sins can be assured of this fact, that Christ cleanses us from all of our sins, right? That we might live the life He wants us to live. It's a cleansed heart. It has been cleansed by the Lord. 2 Corinthians 7-1 says, therefore, having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. What did David say? Created me a clean heart, O Lord, and renew a right spirit within me. When he had sinned with Bathsheba, he recognized his sin.

Upon the recognition of that sin, he cried out to God to cleanse his heart. Are you that kind of person? Are you the kind of person that when you sin, you like to sit in your sin? You like to huddle around your sin? It doesn't really bother you that much? Or are you the kind of person that when you sin, there's a conviction that says, I got to get this right with the Lord. I got to get this right with the person I offended. So you confess it to the Lord. You get right with the person you offended because there's this burden on your soul that just weighs you down.

Remember David, when he didn't confess his sin in Psalm 32, it says that God's hand was heavy upon him. He drenched his couch with tears because he lived nine months without ever confessing his sin, trying to hide his sin, hoping that no one would figure out that it was his child. But they did. And so he had to confess it. And when he did, oh, there was such a relief in his life. Because a God-given heart is a converted heart. It is a cleansed heart. And number three, it is a consecrated heart.

It's set apart unto God. It's a committed heart. It's totally committed to the Lord. It's set apart for His purposes. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verse number 3, that no good soldier entangles himself in the affairs of this world so that he may please his commanding officer. Paul uses the military metaphor to help us understand that we're soldiers in the army of God, right? But yet we don't want to get entangled in the everyday affairs of life. What does that mean? It means you get so overtaken by the things that happen throughout the day that you forget that you're here to please your commanding officer, to live for the glory of His name.

You don't get weighed down by those things. Why? Because your life is set apart unto God for His purposes. It's consecrated unto Him. That's why the Lord says in Matthew 6, verse 33, seek ye first the kingdom of God, His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

We'll love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength. Not some of our heart, some of our mind, and some of our strength, but all of it. Joshua told the people of Israel in Joshua chapter 22, verse number 5, only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you. To love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and keep His commandments and hold fast to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

That's a consecrated heart. It's set apart unto God for His purposes. A genuine heart, a God-given heart, is a converted heart. It's changed by God, so much so that it's a cleansed heart, that it's a consecrated heart, and number four, it is a confident heart. It's absolutely convinced of who God is and what God does. A confident heart, wow. Think about that. When God changes you, He infuses you with confidence. Confidence in what? Well, things that you know for certain, 1 John 5. These things are written that you may know that you have eternal life.

I am confident I have eternal life, are you? Are you confident that if you die today, you'd go home to be with the Lord? The changed heart, the God-given heart, is a confident heart. Not only that, Paul would say, 2 Timothy 1.12, I know in whom I believe and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him until that day. Paul would say, I think He's going to save me, I think He's going to keep me, I think He's going to watch over me. He says, no, I know, confidence. How about this?

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. If I love God and I've been called according to His purpose, guess what? I know something. I know that everything that happens to me is going to work out for my good and God's glory. I know that. I don't think I know it. I know that. I know I'm going to heaven when I die. I know that God is perfecting His work in me. How about the man born blind in John chapter 9? When the Pharisees asked him, who did this to you?

He goes, I don't know who did it to me, but this one thing I know, once I was blind, but now I see. I know that once I was in the dark, but now I'm in the light. I know that for certain. See, that's a confident heart. It's not an arrogant heart. It's confidence in what God is doing and has done. Being confident of this very thing that He began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ. That's a God-given heart. There's no confidence in and of myself. I have no confidence I'm going to heaven when I die if I don't have a God-given heart.

I have no eternal security. I have no assurance of my salvation. I have no idea how God is going to work things out after the counsel of His will and how all things work together for my good. I become bitter at God. I become angry at God. I become frustrated with God. I don't understand those things, but a converted heart, a changed heart, it's a confident heart because it's confident in what God has said because of who God is. And I can only do that because God gave me a new heart, a clean heart.

So, a God-given heart is a converted heart, a cleansed heart, a consecrated heart, a confident heart. How about this? A changed heart is a compassionate, caring heart, a compassionate, caring heart. What does James say? True religion and undefiled before our Father in heaven is this. To what? To visit the widows and orphans in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. But before he talks about your cleanliness from the world, he talks about how you care and are compassionate towards those people who are in need.

That's a changed heart. Do you have a care for the needy, those people who can't fare for themselves? Are you compassionate toward them? Listen to what Peter says over in 1 Peter 1, verse number 22. Since you have, in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love for the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. Love one another from the heart. Over in the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 3, Paul says these words, so good, so rich, so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other.

Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. A compassionate, caring heart is a forgiving heart. It's willing to forgive those who have offended us, who have come against us, who have sinned against us. A compassionate heart is a patient, humble heart. It returns good for evil. But that can only happen if God gives you a new heart. Yeah, there are people that are morally good in the world, who do things out of the kindness of their heart, but they're doing it for another motive, a motive of acceptance, a motive of approval, a motive of God's acceptance.

They're not doing it out of a heart that truly is compassionate and selfless and sacrificial for the glory and honor of the living God. But the heart of compassion does. It's a compassionate, caring heart. A changed heart, a God-given heart is a communing heart. It's converted, cleansed, consecrated, confident, compassionate. It's communing. It loves to commune with the Lord. It loves to talk to the Lord. Listen, if God has granted you a new heart, you want to hear what He has to say. You love to hear the Word preached.

You love to hear the Word read. You love to study the Word because God is speaking to you through His Word. God's Spirit speaks to us through the Word, the living and abiding Word of God. It's alive. It's not a dead Word. It's a living Word. And God speaks to us through His Word. It's the inspired Word of God. And so as God speaks to us through His Word, we want to now commune back to Him in prayer. We have a communing heart. Listen, how do you know you have a God-given heart? You can't wait to be with God.

You can't wait to be with God's people. You can't wait to commune with Him on a regular basis. You want to talk to Him. You want to walk with Him. You want to talk to Him. You want to hear Him speak to you every day. It's like a marriage, right? Think of it if you never talked to your wife or she never talked to you. I know some of you are thinking, boy, I wish my wife would stop talking to me, right? But think about this. If you stopped talking to your husband or wife, what kind of relationship would you have?

You wouldn't have one. If you stopped talking to your children or they stopped talking to you, what kind of relationship would you have? You wouldn't have one. So in order to maintain a relationship that's vibrant, that's moving, that's growing, that's progressing, you talk with one another. You share with one another. You explain things to one another. The same is true when you walk with the Lord. You want to cry out to the Lord. You want to talk to Him about your situation. You want to ask Him to do great and mighty things.

So you talk to Him. You commune with Him. But He also wants to speak to you. So you commune with Him as He speaks to you through His Word. You spend time in the Word of the Lord. So important. A communing heart. Psalm 65 verse number 2 says this, Ephesians 2 verse number 18 says, We have access to the Father. We have access to the Father through the Son. It says in chapter 3 verse number 12, So we have a confident access to God, the throne of God, at any time, at any moment. We don't have to make a reservation to commune with God.

We just commune with Him. We come before the throne of grace. And we come with confidence and boldness. Because of what Christ did on Calvary's cross, we can commune with the true and living God. Do you have a communing heart? Do you have a converted heart? A consecrated heart? A cleansed heart? How about this? If you have a God-given heart, you have a controlled heart. A controlled heart. James says in James 1 verse number 26, Why? Everything that we do comes from the heart. Listen to what Jesus said in the book of Matthew, 12th chapter.

He says this, In verse number 34 He says, Out of the abundance of the heart the man speaks. Listen, your conversation is the very first indicator of your spiritual condition.

Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So when I hear you speak, I know immediately the condition of your heart. All I gotta do is listen to your language. The jokes you tell. The words you use. And how you interact with other people. You have a controlled heart. You're able to bridle your tongue. You can only bridle your tongue if God's given you a brand new heart. Because an uncleansed heart doesn't want to do that. A dirty heart doesn't care what words it says. It just wants to say dirty words.

Tell dirty jokes. Say words of slander and gossip about others. But a God-given heart is a controlled heart. It controls the thing it says. It controls how you say it. That's a God-given heart. And only God can give us the strength to enable us to accomplish those things. So, a God-given heart is a converted heart. A cleansed heart. A consecrated, committed, convicted heart. A confident heart. A compassionate, caring heart. A communing heart. A controlled heart. It is number eight, a conditioned heart.

A conditioned heart. Listen. Physically, our hearts must maintain good condition. Or guess what? We get heart attacks, we die. So we maintain physical condition. Well, the same is true spiritually. You've got to maintain spiritual condition, right? You've got to study to show yourself a proven God. A workman that needed not to be ashamed. You've got to discipline yourself unto godliness. That's a conditioned heart. We spend all this time conditioning the physical man, but how much time do we spend conditioning the spiritual man?

Right? We've got to spend time getting our heart spiritually in shape for the glory and honor of God. We sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts. Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 3 as he talks about the woman. He says this, 1 Peter chapter 3, these words to the ladies. Your adornment must not be merely external, braiding of the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on dresses, but let it be the hidden person of the heart and with imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit which is precious in the sight of God.

He says, listen, don't let your adornment be merely external. Doesn't say don't let it be external. Don't let it just be all that, right? But let it be the hidden person of the heart, the quiet spirit, the gentle spirit. In other words, Peter says, make sure that you spend as much time on the inner man as you do on the outer man. Make sure you spend enough time adorning the spirit as you do the flesh. Make sure that your heart on the inside is right because you must be spiritually conditioned for the glory of God.

See, the believer wants to do that. A God-given heart wants to do that because God gave it to you. And God gave you a spirit and that spirit is going to move you in that direction. Listen, we're not looking for perfect communion. We're not looking for perfect control. We're not looking for perfect consecration. We're not looking for perfect cleansing. We're looking for progressive control, progressive consecration, progressive cleansing. You're moving in that direction. That's the essence of Christianity.

No one of us is perfect in any of these areas, right? Because we're all sinners. But we're moving in that direction. This is the desire of our hearts. This is where we want to go. So this is the direction we move our lives. A controlled heart. A conditioned heart. How about this? A God-given heart is a cheerful heart. Did you know that? A God-given heart is a cheerful heart. In other words, the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy.

Paul says in Romans 14, the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but it's righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Solomon says throughout the book of Proverbs about the cheerful and joyful heart. We are to sing joyfully as unto the Lord and to thank Him for our salvation. Listen, listen.

If you have a changed heart, if you have a God-given heart, if you have a consecrated heart, a cleansed heart, you have a cheerful heart. Listen, sin will rob you of your joy, right? Sin will rob you of your joy. If you have no joy, ask yourself, what sins you are hiding? What sins are prevalent in my life? David knew in Psalm 51 that he had no joy as he hid his sin. He knew that. Restore to me the joy of my salvation. Why didn't he have joy in the past? For nine months, he had tried to hide his sin.

He didn't want anybody to know his sin. So all of his energy and all of his efforts were into hiding his sin. But now he wants to be restored to the joy of his salvation. It only happens because he confessed his sin and he was cleansed from his sin, right? And so the God-given heart is a cheerful heart because I'm rejoicing in God's salvation, God's provision. I'm rejoicing in the fact that He's coming again to take me home. I'm rejoicing again that I am confident of what He's done and what He's going to do.

There's great joy in my heart. I know that God is at work. I know that God has a plan, and I am a child in that plan. You have a cheerful heart. Next three. I have a congruent heart. That is, it's congruent with the will of God. It's equal in nature to the will of God. Psalm 8611, Unite my heart to fear your name, O Lord. I want my heart to be united with yours. I want a congruent heart. Number 11, it's a compliant heart. A compliant heart. What's a compliant heart? It's willing to do everything God says, right?

Those who love me will obey me, right? A compliant heart wants to do what God says. So when I hear the word of God preached, when I read the word of God, I realize, God, this is what you want me to do. My heart melts. It's a soft heart. It's not a hard heart. It's compliant to all that God says.

And then lastly, number 12, it is a courageous heart. You have a courageous heart. Listen to what the Bible says in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah chapter 32. The Lord says these words. Jeremiah chapter 32, verse number 39. They shall be my people. I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me always for their own good and for the good of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from me. God says, I'm going to put my fear in their hearts.

Listen, when you fear God, you are so courageous against the things of the world because you fear only God. You don't fear the things of the world. You fear God, right? That's what you do. And so the psalmist, the psalmist in Psalm 31, verse number 24, says these words. Psalm 31, 24. Be strong and let your heart take courage. All you who hope in the Lord. Be strong, take courage because you hope in God. And then it says in Psalm 27, verse number 14. Wait for the Lord. Be strong. Let your heart take courage.

Yes, wait for the Lord. Take courage. A courageous heart. There are so many other things I could tell you this morning about the God-given heart. These are just certain characteristics that will help you ask and answer the question, is my heart been given to the Lord? Does He have my heart? Have I given my heart to the Lord? Do I believe in the Lord with all my heart? Do I love the Lord with all my heart? Does He have my heart? We're going to partake at the Lord's table this morning. In so doing, it's all about remembering what Christ did for us.

Think about it this way. If Christ gave His life for you so that you might inherit His life, you want to live His life. You want to honor Him and glorify His precious name so your heart is given entirely over to Him. A God-given heart. If we're going to guard our hearts and protect our hearts, it must come from God first because I'm strengthened only by the Lord.

In Him is my strength. The strength of the Lord is everything to me. It's my joy, my hope. And so I trust that today you have a heart given to the Lord. And as we partake at the Lord's table, great instructional time for your children to help them understand what it is we're doing and why we do it, why we celebrate the Lord's table. Why is this a memorial? Why do we celebrate the Lord's death until He comes? Because there's something about the death of Christ that redeems us from our sin. When He cried, it is finished, He'd accomplished the ransom.

The payment had been given for your sin and mine. And for that we are grateful.