From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: You ever have a situation where maybe for lunch you ate some spinach and it got stuck on your teeth? You’re talking to people, you're at some kind of get-together, you're talking, you're laughing, you're smiling, and everybody's looking at you. You look like the jolly green idiot. You go to the restroom, and you look in the mirror, and you see the green on your tooth. You think, "Oh, look at that," and you just walk away? You wouldn't do that. You'd get that off of there.

He's saying you're like the person who looks at his face in the mirror, sees what needs to be changed, and doesn't change anything. That's what you're doing with the word of God.

Larry Nobles: True revival is a recovery of life, strength, energy, vitality, and passion. But what are the critical components that must be in place for revival to happen? You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve. Thank you for being with us today as Pastor Jeff concludes this five-lesson series that we've been in all this month so far, and it's called Soul on Fire: God's Plan for Revival.

And the message today: Do You Want to Be Revived? We're going to learn to look in the mirror and see the green between our teeth and brush them clean. Listen, if you missed any of these powerful lessons that we aired so far this month, you'll want to go and listen to them at fromhisheart.org. Click the listen tab. Also, this complete five-lesson series is available on a USB flash drive, on CDs, DVDs, or in an immediate MP3 download as our gift of thanks to you for your support this month of any amount. Just go to fromhisheart.org for details. But first, open your Bible to the book of James. Here again is Pastor Jeff to ask a question that you should honestly answer: Do you really want to be revived?

Dr. Jeff Schreve: What are the critical components to revival? Well, first of all, there is revelation. You have to see from where you've fallen. You have to have a revelation from God, from God saying, "This is what the real score is." And so when you have revelation, you see how far you have fallen. There has to be revelation that shows you where you really are in your spiritual life.

Secondly, there is confession and repentance. There's a return to God through repentance and confession and through prayer. There is no revival without prayer. And then there can be no revival without the word of God. The word of God is critical. Now, confession, repentance, and prayer, those all go together. How is confession and repentance expressed to God? Through prayer and through action, obviously, but through prayer. We pray and we confess our sins to the Lord.

Now, we've talked about confession and repentance and prayer, and we've talked about revelation, but we haven't spent a lot of time in this series yet on the importance of the word of God to revive you, to revive me, to revive us. I want you to notice with me three essentials concerning the word of God, the word of God that is living and active, the word of God that is able to save your soul.

Essential number one: we must prepare our hearts for the word of God. If you want to be revived, if you want God to do something extraordinary and powerful in your life, if you've been wandering away and you know you desperately need to get back to Him, we must prepare our hearts for the word of God. Therefore, verse 21 says, "Putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness." Putting aside means to cast it down. It’s the picture of taking off a shirt and putting it to the side. You have to lay that aside. You have to take that off.

Now, the Bible uses the picture of a seed for the word of God. Jesus told a parable about that: the sower and the seed and the soil. So, the Bible pictures the word of God as seed, and it pictures the heart as soil. And so if you are going to receive the word, you have to prepare the heart, prepare the soil of your heart to receive the word. And just as a farmer, if he is going to prepare the soil, he has to plow it up. He has to pull out the rocks. He has to get out the weeds.

We have to prepare our hearts for the word of God. Hosea chapter 10, verse 12 says this: "Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you." That’s why he says, "Therefore, putting aside all filthiness." That’s the first thing: all filthiness. We deal with all our filthiness. You say, "Well, what is filthiness?" Filthiness is moral uncleanness. So you have to lay aside all filthiness and get that stuff out of your life.

The Bible says in Psalm 66, verse 18, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear." And we claim First John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That’s First John 1:9. That’s the Christian's bar of soap. That’s how you get clean from all filthiness. So we deal with all our filthiness, but then he says, "and all that remains of wickedness." All that remains of wickedness. We sweep all the corners of hidden sin and wicked motives.

You start to look around to see what else remains of wickedness. The word for wickedness can also be translated malignancy. You know, when you have cancer and the doctor does surgery and he takes out the cancer, what does he do? He takes out all the cells around it so that you don't have any malignant cells that will be left behind. Why? Because if those are left behind, they're going to start replicating and the cancer will spread. So you’ve got to get all that out.

You have to prepare your heart. If you're going to receive the word, you have to prepare your heart, putting aside like a filthy garment all the vileness, all the filthiness, and all that remains of wickedness. That's the first essential: we must prepare our hearts for the word of God. Second essential: we must humbly receive the word of God. Humbly receive the word of God. "Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls."

We’re very welcoming to the word. That is critically important. We humbly receive, and we have a teachable spirit. You see, we’re open to the truth and the correction of the word. That’s what it means to humbly receive the word. You’re open to reproof and correction from the word. We need somebody to say, "Hey, this is something that you don't see," and then we need to receive that. Open to the truth and the correction of the word, and then we let the word take root in our hearts.

So we lay aside all filthiness, put aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness. In humility we receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. The word implanted. You know, the parable of the sower and the seed and the soil, that’s told in every one of the gospels except John. So Matthew, Mark, Luke, called the synoptics, which means "seeing the same," because Matthew, Mark, and Luke are similar. They tell similar stories. All three of those talk about the parable of the sower and the seed and the soil.

And this is a parable that Jesus explained to us. A lot of parables Jesus didn't explain. This one He explained. So there's no question about what this means. The sower is the one who sows the seed. The seed is the word of God, and the soil is the heart. And there are different kinds of soil, different kinds of heart. There's the hard heart. Seed falls on the hardpan, and it doesn't penetrate. It can't penetrate. That ground is not prepared to receive the word. The birds come and take it away.

Then there's the seed that lands on the shallow soil. That soil has a lot of rocks underneath it, and so the soil is very thin, and the seed sprouts up quickly. But when the sun comes out, the sun of persecution, the seed withers and dies. It doesn't have any root. There's nowhere to go. It’s just people that emotionally respond to the gospel. And then the seed falls in the thorny soil, and that seed gets choked out by the weeds, by the worries and cares of this world, by the deceitfulness of riches.

But then Jesus said the seed that falls in the good soil. The good soil, that produces a crop: a hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold. And He says in Luke's gospel, "And the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart and hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance." An honest and good heart. Do you have a heart like that, that’s honest and good? Hey, deal with the fallow ground of your heart. Plow it up. Get out the rocks. Get out the weeds.

Putting aside, laying aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. So we must prepare our hearts for the word of God. We must humbly receive the word of God. Thirdly, essential number three: we must diligently apply the word of God. Now, this is the strong rebuke that James gives. He said, "You're not doing what you're hearing." Look at verse 22: "But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves."

Hearers and doers. You know the word for hearing? Interesting word. It means to audit a course. Did you know in college you can audit a course if you want to? You don't get a grade. You’re just an auditor. You’re just listening, but not doing, not applying. Hey, question: Are you auditing the word of God? Prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

Larry Nobles: We pray today's message, Do You Want to Be Revived?, and the entire Soul on Fire series, God's Plan for Revival, has been a blessing to you. And that we also pray God will use all of these messages to help you refresh your mind and heart each day, renew your passion, and experience a time of spiritual refreshing that only He can bring. Every day through radio, television, digital platforms, and biblical resources, your support helps proclaim real truth to spiritually open hearts through From His Heart Ministries.

We're now in our 21st year of sharing this great news, and it's why we're asking you to continue your support at this time with a special gift we want you to have, and it's the series Soul on Fire: God's Plan for Revival. All five messages in the format of your choice. People may not know exactly what they believe, but they know they need something real, something solid, something eternal. Through your continued support today, we're able to talk to weary believers and help them find renewal.

To get Soul on Fire for your gift this month of any amount, call 866-40-BIBLE. That's 866-40-BIBLE, or go to fromhisheart.org. God bless you. Now let's conclude the series Soul on Fire with part two of the lesson, Do You Want to Be Revived?

Dr. Jeff Schreve: I ran across a quote from theologian A.W. Tozer that was extremely convicting. He says this: "There is an evil which I have seen under the sun. It is the glaring disparity between theology and practice among professing Christians. So wide is the gulf that separates theory from practice in the church that an inquiring stranger who chances upon both would scarcely dream that there was any relation between them.

An intelligent observer of our human scene who heard the Sunday morning sermon and later watched the Sunday afternoon conduct of those who had heard it would conclude that he has been examining two distinct and contrary religions. It appears that too many Christians want to enjoy the thrill of feeling right but are not willing to endure the inconvenience of being right. So the divorce between theory and practice becomes permanent. Truth sits forsaken and grieves till her professed followers come home for a brief visit, but she sees them depart again when the bills come due."

That's hearing but not doing. That's auditing the word of God. Are you an auditor of the word of God? Are you a hearer? Why would we hear and not do? We hear a word from the King of the universe, the God who knows everything. His will is good and acceptable and perfect. Anything He says, we ought to say, "Yes, Lord," and we ought to run to do what He says. Why do we not, and what does that reveal about us when we're hearers of the word and not doers of the word?

Three things. First, it reveals a huge pride problem. Now, I'm talking to myself, because listen, as a preacher and as someone who studies the Bible, this is convicting. I know a whole lot more than what I do. I wish I could say I do everything I know, but I know that there's work to be done in my prayer life. I know there's work to be done in the discipline of fasting. I know that there's work to be done in this area and that area and another area.

And so this is convicting. But when we hear and when we don't do, it reveals a huge pride problem. We are basically saying with our lives to the Lord what Pharaoh said: "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?" I mean, I know better than God. He tells me to forgive my enemies, but I'm not going to do that. He tells me to honor the Lord from my wealth, but I'm not going to do that. He tells me that he who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery already in his heart. What does He know about it? He knows everything. He is God.

A huge pride problem. Secondly, a huge selfishness problem. Selfishness. This is all about me. I want what I want when I want it. And so, Lord, I know You tell me to do X, but I don't want to do that because that's not going to be fun. Fasting is not fun. Who wants to fast? I just think of having a fast and I'm immediately having visions of ice cream. It’s just one of those things. It's like, Debbie, let's fast. Oh goodness, we just got a gift card to Longhorn. It’s that kind of deal.

That's not what your flesh wants. And so selfishness, it reveals a selfishness problem when you're auditing the word of God. When you're treating the word of God like it's a cafeteria, you can take what you want and leave what you don't want. It’s not like that. The word of God is full for your life and my life. What God says, we need to do. A huge selfishness problem.

And it reveals a huge self-deception problem, because he says, "prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves." They are self-deceived. They miscalculate. They reason falsely. That's what that word means. They reason falsely. So what is the way we delude ourselves when we're just hearers of the word and not doers of the word? This is how you delude yourself. This is how I delude myself if I'm not doing what God says.

We get the idea that God is pleased with us if we can check all the boxes. I had a quiet time today. Check the box. I prayed today, did my prayer list. Check the box. I came to church today. Check the box. I put some money in the offering receptacle. Check the box. I have, look at all my checkmarks, Lord. Ha, what a good boy am I. That's exactly what the Pharisee did in Luke chapter 18. Lord, I thank You that I'm not like other people, not like this tax collector over here. I pay tithes on all that I have. I fast twice a week. What a good boy am I.

And he thought it was just all checkmarks. And the test of my Christianity: how many checkmarks do I have? That's not the test of your Christianity. That's not the test of my Christianity. The test of your Christianity, my Christianity, is am I doing what God says to do? Am I forgiving those who hurt me? Jesus said if you don't forgive those who hurt you, your Father will not forgive you. And how can you live the Christian life if God won't forgive you? You're in deep trouble.

The test of your Christianity is not checkboxes. It’s obedience. Jesus said, "If you know these things, you're blessed if you do them." The blessing is not in the knowing, although you have to know to do. The blessing is not in the knowing. The blessing is in the doing. And James goes on to say in James 4:17, "Therefore, the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. To him it is sin."

So true Christianity is hearing and obeying the word. But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. For once he has looked at himself and has gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. You say, what exactly does that mean?

Well, listen to it in the Easy-to-Read version. It’s a good version. It kind of sounds like, you know, Bible for dummies, but that's okay. Easy-to-Read version: hearing God's teaching and doing nothing is like looking at your face in the mirror and doing nothing about what you saw. You go away and immediately forget how bad you looked. You know what you do: you get up in the morning and you're getting ready to go. What do you do? You’re looking in the mirror.

And you’re looking for imperfections. You’re looking for some hair that's way out of place. I don't have to look here, but I do have to look here. And everybody knows that as you get older, your eyebrows just say, "Hey, I ain't playing anymore." And you’ve got to really watch those things. And hair starts growing out of your ears. I can't grow it on my head, I can grow it out of my ears and out of my nose. It grows really well. And so you’ve got to look at that stuff.

Ever see somebody and you think, do you not have a mirror? I mean, do you ever get up and just look? Because here’s some tweezers. You know, I mean, that kind of thing. You ever have a situation where maybe for lunch you ate some spinach and it got stuck on your teeth, and you don't know it because you didn't look in the mirror? And you're talking to people, you're at some kind of get-together, you're talking, you're laughing, you're smiling, everybody's looking at you, you look like the jolly green idiot.

You go to the restroom and you look in the mirror and you see the green on your tooth, and you think, "Oh look at that," and you just walk away? You wouldn't do that. You'd get that off of there. Well, that's what he's saying. He's saying you're like the person who looks at his face in the mirror, sees what needs to be changed, and doesn't change anything. And we know that we wouldn't do that.

He said, but that's what you're doing with the word of God. Verse 25: "But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does." He looks intently at the perfect law. That word "looks intently" means to bow down, to bend down. It’s like you're really peering into something. You're not looking at it from a distance. You’re getting close.

Looks intently at the perfect law. See, the Bible is likened to a seed in this passage. It’s likened to a mirror. It’s likened to a law to live your life by. But it's not a law that's rigid and uncomfortable. It's the law of liberty, the law that frees us. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. And when we look at that and we say, "Lord, Your words and Your ways are right concerning everything," and I look intently at that, and I see the imperfections and I see what I need to work on, and I begin to put God's word into practice, this man will be blessed in what he does, because he's doing the word.

Preparing your heart, humbly receiving the word, and diligently applying the word. Some of you are here and you've never put your faith and trust in Christ. Behold, today is the day of salvation. Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart. Today is the day of salvation. Are you going to come and give your life to Jesus, or are you just going to hear and not do?

Some of us, we're Christians, but we know that there's sin in our lives, there's filthiness in our lives. And God's saying, "How long before you get that out of the shadows and under My blood? How long are you going to hold on to this?" If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. So I’ve got to get that out so I can walk with God. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. And the Lord says, "Return to Me and I will return to you," says the Lord of hosts. Hey, what is God calling you to do today so that you can be a doer of the word?

A great question: what can you do to be a doer of the word? If Jesus is the Lord and Savior of your life, God sees you through the righteousness of His Son. He doesn't see you through the eyes of your sin. But if you don't know Jesus Christ in a personal way, then as Pastor Jeff has said in Scripture, today is the day of salvation. And we invite you to turn from your sin now, trust in Jesus completely, totally all in for Him. Surrender your life, and He will come in, and you will never ever be the same for now and for eternity.

And if you received Christ today, we rejoice with you at From His Heart and trust you'll find a Bible-believing church, find some mature Christian friends that can take you under their arms and to help you and to guide you and encourage you. And please contact us and let us know how this message and this ministry has touched your life. Go to fromhisheart.org, click the Contact Us link. And when you're there, be sure to click the "Why Jesus?" link to get you started in your Christian walk.

Hey, thanks for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles, trusting you'll be back tomorrow when Pastor Jeff will begin another powerful series from the book of Titus called Setting the House in Order. And in it, we'll look at the important things that God wants to do in us so He can do great things through us, for His glory and our good. Join us on Thursday as we go on mission for God by opening up His word and sharing real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart.