Genesis: Early World, Judgment, and the Nations

What Do You Have in Your Heart?

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2017-06-04

Synopsis: John Weaver contrasts the depravity of the natural heart (Genesis 6:5) with the grace-filled heart (1 Chronicles 29:18), emphasizing that all actions flow from the heart. He expounds David's prayer that God would keep two truths ever in the imagination of His people's hearts: that God tries the heart and has pleasure in uprightness. The message calls believers to seek God to prepare their hearts, turn from evil, and walk in obedience, knowing that God examines every thought and motive.

[John Weaver] 1 Chronicles 29, and we're going to read verses 17-20. The title of the message is, What Do You Have in Your Heart? Look in 1 Chronicles 29, and let's begin reading with verse 17. David is praying, and he says this, I know also, my God, that Thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me in the uprightness of mine heart, I have willingly offered all these things, and now have I seen with joy thy people which are present here to offer willingly unto thee. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee. I am given to Solomon, my son of perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, and thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace for which I have made provision. And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the Lord your God. And all the congregation bless the Lord God of their fathers and bow down their heads and worship the Lord and the king.

[John Weaver] There have been numerous commercials in times past on TV, and the commercials sometimes are very interesting. But the commercials were produced by a leading credit card company. And they always ended with this question, what do you have in your wallet? And of course, most people, of course, are interested in what they do have in their wallet. But the more important question, I think, based upon the scriptures, what do you have in your heart? Our hearts are the most important part of our beings.

[John Weaver] I've preached many messages over the years. And I have been asked, in fact, I was asked again this past week, if I were to pick one message which I have preached out of the last 52 years of preaching, what message would I say would be one of the most important for Christians? And my answer would be the message which I titled Keeping the Heart from Proverbs 4, verse 23. I preach that message all over this country.

[John Weaver] I think it's absolutely fundamental. I think it's necessary. Not only that, I usually preach that message to myself every day. Proverbs 4, verse 23 says, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. So it's not my intent today to re-preach that message. However, I would encourage you, if you've not heard it, to listen to it. And if it's been a long time since you've heard it, listen to it again. In fact, you probably should listen to it several times in order to make sure that the principles are down in your mind and in your heart. I also preached a number of messages on heart preparation.

[John Weaver] I believe those are important as well. But the truth is today, we have to understand that everything basically begins in our hearts.

[John Weaver] Now, without me going into a lot of detail and showing a lot of Scriptures like I do in the message, Keeping the Heart, let me just make a statement. According to the Scripture, your heart is basically your mind. It is your understanding. The word heart is used sometimes to convey our affections. That is true. But when you look in the Scripture, usually it refers to the mind and the understanding. For instance, When you look at 1 Chronicles 29 verses 17 through 20, you're going to find the word heart occurring several times. Each time that word heart occurs, It refers, once again, to the mind and to the understanding. One of the leading Hebrew words is the word Leb, and it's translated in our Bibles over and over as mind and understanding as well.

[John Weaver] Now, in reference then to our lives, the Bible teaches us in Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 7, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." So the passage there is just simply telling us that everything basically flows out of the heart. The heart is the fountain from which everything pours. Our actions, our conduct, our behavior, everything just flows right out of the heart.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to hold 1 Chronicles 29, but let me show you how this truth is enunciated also in the New Testament. Luke chapter 6 Luke chapter 6 look in verse 45 if you would look what our Lord says Luke 6 verse 45 a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringing forth that which is good and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringing forth that which is evil for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh So obviously our Lord is teaching that a good man is going to bring out good things because good things are in his heart. An evil man is going to bring forth evil things because evil things are in his heart. And then He makes this statement, for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. So inevitably, invariably, whatever is in your heart is ultimately going to come out. So if you'll look back at Matthew 15, our Lord is talking to His disciples.

[John Weaver] In fact, They ask him a question, and he answers that question very clearly. Matthew 15, beginning there in verse 15. Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. In other words, teach us exactly what you're trying to say. And Jesus said, Are you also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man.

[John Weaver] Now watch carefully, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but eat with unwashing hands, defileth not a man." There are two statements here to which you and I should pay very close attention. First of all, our Lord said, but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart.

[John Weaver] What He is saying is what I've already said. The heart is the fountain out of which everything pours. That's it. Everything comes from the heart. The second one is this. He said, watch if you will please in verse 19 for out of the heart proceed What's the very first thing he says? Evil thoughts and then he adds murders adulteries fornication thefts false witness blasphemies Let me put it to you like this. You cannot commit an evil act without first having an evil thought everything begins with a thought and so our Lord says out of the heart which would be the mind because that's what is thinking or the understanding of That is what is performing. So he said, it's out of the heart these evil thoughts come to pass. So actually what our Lord is doing is establishing the fact once again that our behavior, our actions, our conduct happens to be a result of whatever is in our heart.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to go back to 1 Chronicles 29. I'm going to be explaining, especially verses 17 and 18, But I want you to understand the context in which verses 17 and 18 occur. The context of 1 Chronicles chapter 29 is where David and the people have made preparation to build the temple. I hope you also remember the fact that a lot of the money that came from the building of the temple came from the heathens. When I say that, I mean David conquered them, and out of the spoils of battle, they dedicated to maintain the house of the Lord. So if you look in 1 Chronicles 26 and verse 27, you will see that very clearly stated. 1 Chronicles 26 and verse 27, Out of the spoils won in battle did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord." So a lot of the boot, a booty, a lot of the loot that they acquired in battle was just simply set aside to build the temple.

[John Weaver] Now, the interesting thing is this, that I made a statement, oh, and several messages passed. Most people have no idea how wealthy David really was in fact how wealthy a lot of the Israelites really were so I want to just show you just How wealthy David was particularly so if you look at first Chronicles chapter 29 beginning there with verse 2 Look what David says? David says, Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God, the gold for the things to be made of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood,

[John Weaver] onyx stones and stones to be set, glistering stones and of diverse colors, and all manner of precious stones and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper goat, of my own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, which was the finest gold, by the way, three thousand talents, he said, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal. The gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers.

[John Weaver] And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?" So David, over and above everything that he conquered in battle, gave this tremendous amount to the house of God.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note, beginning in verse 6, the chief rulers And princes and the people also gave very willingly and very graciously. In verse 6, he says, Then the chief of the fathers and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, were the rulers of the king's work offered willingly, and gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the Lord by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite Then the people rejoiced for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord. And David the king also rejoiced with great joy." So here you have David now giving a tremendous amount of money personally, and then the princes, of course, they join in and give as well. Then when you look in verses 10 through 16, what you have is David giving praise and worship to God for all that has been given to the house of God.

[John Weaver] He is also at this particular point offering a prayer as well. And I want you to note what he says in verse 16. Look at this carefully. He says, O Lord our God, all this store, that is all that gold, silver, precious stones, iron, whatever, all this store that we have prepared to build thee in house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand and is all thine own."

[John Weaver] In other words, what David is saying, we really haven't given you anything because everything we have, you gave us. And we're just simply giving back to you. So, our text now comes then in this prayer and praise and worship that David is giving.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look at verse 18. I'm going to come back to verse 17. In fact, I will be explaining verse 18 as well momentarily. But in verse 18 he says, O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee.

[John Weaver] Now one of the things that caught my eye as I was reading through 1 Chronicles recently was this verse, verse 18. And he said, David is praying and he says, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people." And when I read that, my mind could not help but go to another verse of Scripture. I want you to hold 1 Chronicles 29 and look back in your Bibles to Genesis 6 and verse 5. Genesis 6 and verse 5.

[John Weaver] Here you're going to see that same phrase again, only in a different context. Look in Genesis 6 and verse 5, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Isn't that amazing? Now you have God seeing every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man in Genesis 6, 5, that it's evil. And when you get to 1 Chronicles 29, verse 18, David is saying, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people.

[John Weaver] So let me just try to give you a little comparison and contrast. Genesis 6 and verse 5 is what man is by nature. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 18 is what man is by grace. Genesis 6 verse 5 is the work of man. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 18 is the work of God. Genesis 6 verse 5 is the work of man's depravity. 1 Chronicles 29 and verse 18 is the product of God's saving grace.

[John Weaver] So the question then that I have to ask in light of this is, what is in your heart? So notice if you would, comparing these two passages, you're only going to have depravity or grace. So the question is very legitimate, what do you have in your heart?

[John Weaver] Now stop and think about this. If a person has his heart filled with the depravity of darkness, then his actions, his conduct, and his behavior, all are going to be contrary to God, contrary to His law, and wicked and wrong. If, on the other hand, grace fills the heart of man, then his actions, his conduct, his behavior is going to be one of obedience, and one of submission to God, and one in trying to honor and glorify God. So the question has to be asked, what is in your heart? And the answer comes back this, your life is really and truly going to evidence what is in your heart.

[John Weaver] Now, look what he asks. Look in verse 18 again. He says,"...O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee." So we could ask this question, what was David's prayer request of God to keep in the hearts of his people? Well, we could say that basically it would be all of the good dispositions that God had worked in them. We could say it was their willingness to sacrifice. It was their willingness to cooperate and to work together. And David understood all of this was basically from God's grace. And so David is asking God to fix in them what you and I would call a holy temper, or a holy disposition, or a holy attitude. In other words, God, they've done this now, they've acted like this now, so Lord, continue to have this in their heart where they will continue to act like this.

[John Weaver] Now notice what else he said. He said, O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people. That's one thing. And now he asked, and prepare their heart unto thee. Thus David recognized that the great spirit of giving and graciousness and cooperation was a result of God preparing their heart.

[John Weaver] Now let me give you a scripture. Proverbs 16, verse 1. The Bible says, the preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue are from the Lord.

[John Weaver] Now, I don't want to deal with the first half of that verse. The preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord. So here's what we must understand. If our hearts are ever prepared to pray, God prepared them. If our hearts are ever prepared to study, God prepared them. If our hearts are ever prepared to witness, God prepared them. If a sinner is ever prepared in his heart to come savingly to Jesus Christ, God prepared his heart. See, in John 6 and verse 37, our Lord said it like this, All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. But in John 6 verse 44, just a few verses down, he says this, No man can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day. So, sinners may come, but they only come because of God's preparing their heart, because He says no man can, and can is a term of ability, no man can come except the Father who sent me draw him.

[John Weaver] So it's just that simple. Now, Scripture reveals to us that although the ability is God's in preparing our hearts, the responsibility is ours to seek Him to prepare our hearts. So let me give you a contrast. I want you to look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 12 and verse 14. 2 Chronicles 12 and verse 14. We're going to read about Rehoboam. Now, Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and the grandson of David. One author said, and I like what he said, Solomon only had one son, and he was a fool. Well, that's true. Solomon and all of his wives only had one son, and that was Rehoboam, and he turned out to be a fool. And here's why. In 2 Chronicles 12, verse 14, the Bible says this, and he, well go back to verse 13, so King Rehoboam, so we're talking about Rehoboam, now skip down to verse 14, and he did evil. Why? Because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. So why did Rehoboam do evil? He prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.

[John Weaver] Now, it's true, God must prepare our hearts. But we have a duty and an obligation and a responsibility to seek Him to prepare our hearts.

[John Weaver] Now, look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 27 and verse 6. That was King Rehoboam. Now we have King Jotham. Notice, if you would, 2 Chronicles 27 and verse 6. The Bible says, so Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God. Well, you can't prepare your ways unless your heart is prepared. So Rehoboam did not prepare his heart. Jotham did, and consequently he prepared his ways as well.

[John Weaver] So here are two men. One prepared his heart, one did not prepare his heart. Let me give you just a couple of illustrations. Ezra. You can read about Ezra in the book of Ezra. Ezra was a scribe and he understood his responsibility quite well. Because in Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10, the scripture says, For Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, to do it and to teach it in Israel, and to teach the statutes and judgments." So, Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of God and then to teach the law of God. So, obviously, he did have that duty and that responsibility. Now, let me just tell you that our part, and I'm using that phrase very generally, our duty, I should say, our responsibility, and seeking God to prepare our heart is to rid ourselves of anything that is contrary to God. For instance, in 1 Samuel 7, verse 3, the Israelites were fearful because of the Philistines. And Samuel spake to the house of Israel, and he said this, If you do return to the Lord with all of your hearts, Then put away the strange gods and Astaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts before the Lord, and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hands

[John Weaver] of the Philistines." So, now he said, if you're really going to turn to the Lord, what should you do? Put away your strange gods. Put away Ashtaroth, the false god, and serve him only. In other words, you have a duty, you have an obligation, you have a responsibility to obey him. Do it. That's what he said. So, the ability is God's, the responsibility is ours. I want you to look in your Bibles to Luke chapter 12 very quickly.

[John Weaver] Whole 1 Chronicles 29, we're coming right back there. But look in Luke chapter 12. And you see, our Lord said basically the same exact thing in Luke 12 and verse 47. He's making an application to the parable that He's teaching. And He says in verse 47 of Luke 12,"...and that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, Neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes." So here's a servant that knew his Lord's will, but he did not prepare himself to do that will.

[John Weaver] In other words, he ignored the will of his master. So our part in preparation is to seek God first and foremost to prepare our heart and then turn from all of that that is contrary to God. It's kind of like the man who says, Well, I'm going to live a life of sobriety from here forward. Well, if he's going to live a life of sobriety from here forward, he better stay away from the bars and the liquor stores. In other words, he has to prepare himself to live a life of sobriety.

[John Weaver] And so that's exactly what the scripture is teaching us. We must be prepared to do this. So we have the responsibility to seek the Lord, prepare our hearts, but we also have a responsibility to turn from everything that is contrary to God.

[John Weaver] Now, go back to verse 18 of 1 Chronicles 29. Watch this if you would. He says, O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their hearts unto thee. Now, David said, Lord, there are some things that you Need to keep in the hearts of your people and the people need to keep in their hearts You must prepare their heart that is true But let me ask you this What is it? That David is requesting God To keep in the hearts of his people He says keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of our people this what?

[John Weaver] It's not just this spirit of willingness to sacrifice or this spirit of cooperation. Certainly that would be included. But there's something more specific. If you'll look in verse 17, here's what David said,"'I know, O also, my God, that Thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things, And now I have seen with joy thy people which are present here to offer willingly unto thee." Now, there are two things that he tells us that we must keep in our heart. The first one is that thou tries the heart. That is, that God tries the heart. The word tries is the Hebrew word bakad, which means to examine.

[John Weaver] To try, to prove, to scrutinize, and to test. Did you know that God not only scrutinizes our hearts, but He will test our hearts? He examines our hearts in order that He may reveal it to us and to others as well. God doesn't need the knowledge for Himself because He's omniscient. He knows everything, but we do not. You remember the Bible says in Genesis 22 and verse 1, Now it came to pass that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And Abraham said, Here am I. It came to pass that God did tempt Abraham. The word tempt there literally is to test or to try. God was not tempting Abraham to sin. He was testing him. He was examining him.

[John Weaver] If you will hold 1 Chronicles, but look in your Bibles to 1 Peter 1. Let me give you a very general illustration of the fact that yes, oftentimes our faith is tested and tried. Look if you would in 1 Peter 1 beginning there with verse 6. 1 Peter 1 verse 6. He says, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations, or manifold trials, or manifold tests. Verse 7, that the trial of your faith, or the testing of your faith, being much more precious than of gold it perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honor and glory of the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, in whom though now you seem not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." So he talks again here about the trial and about the testing of our faith.

[John Weaver] Now, the interesting thing is this. As you read through the Bible, you're going to find that God often tests us and tries us, and the examination is so thorough We do not necessarily understand when we just simply glance at the Bible. Let me just show you several verses, because there are a number of verses where you will find a little word, reins, R-E-I-N-S.

[John Weaver] And each time you see it, it is usually in the context of being scrutinized or examined. Whole 1 Chronicles 29. But go in your Bibles to Psalm 7. Psalm 7. Psalm 7. And look, if you would please, at verse 9. One of my favorite verses. I especially love the first part of it. Psalm 7 verse 9. He says, Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just. And then he says this,"'For the righteous God tried the hearts and reins.'" Wow! Now, are the reins different from the heart? Why would he say he tried the hearts and the reins? Well, look in Psalm 26, verse 2. Psalm 26, verse 2.

[John Weaver] David is praying again, and he asks the Lord, Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my reins and my heart." So what is he talking about when he says, try my reins and my heart? Look in Psalm 73 and verse 21. Psalm 73, verse 21. Asap says it like this. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins." Wow. Turn right over to Psalm 139, and look at verse 13. Psalm 139, verse 13. Tremendous psalm.

[John Weaver] We'll come back to it later. But look what David says.

[John Weaver] Psalm 139, verse 13, he says to the Lord, For Thou hast possessed my reins, Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. Wow. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 17. Jeremiah 17. I just want you to see just a smattering of these verses, because every time you read the Bible and you see the word reins, you should know exactly what he's talking about. And Jeremiah chapter 17 in verse 10, here's a very clear passage. The Lord is speaking and He says this, I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. So God says, I search the heart and I try the reins.

[John Weaver] Now, this word is not only used in the Old Testament, it's also used in the New Testament. And let me just quote it. In Revelation 2 in verse 23, God said, And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and the heart. And I will give to every one of you according to your works. Basically the same thing that he said in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 10. So what does it mean when it says that God tries the reins and the heart? All of the Old Testament verses, of course, in Hebrew, is the Hebrew word, keliah, which literally means kidneys or reins. God searches the kidneys. Now, when it's translated as reins in the Bible, all that would mean is this. that God is searching the innermost recesses of the heart. It means that there is nothing escaping His knowledge or His notice. When you get to the New Testament, the Greek word is nephros, which of course refers then to kidneys or loins or the inmost feelings or faults.

[John Weaver] I took Greek for three years, and one of my favorite words in the Greek language was the word splognenzomai. Well, I had several favorite words. The word for wife is goonie. Sometimes I'd call her my goonie, but splognenzomai. Splognidzomite, listen to, Splognidzomite refers to your bowels. It's talking about loving with all of your heart. Actually, it's loving with all of your bowels, because the ancients would talk about this being the inside of man, the bowels. And so, I'd tell Alice sometimes, I love you with all my bowels. And she'd say, well, that's not as romantic as I love you with all my heart, you know. But it's the same principle. And so, it's the same thing with the word range. God searches the range of the hearts. He's not just searching the heart, generally speaking. It's not the organ, per se. It is the mind.

[John Weaver] It is the understanding and all the recesses that are found there. Here is what David is saying. This is the first truth that should never ever leave your mind. This is the first truth that should be established in your understanding, is that God will scrutinize, God will examine every area of your thought, every motive, every desire, every intent. And you will answer and give an account to him in the day of judgment. In fact, in Romans 2 and verse 16, Paul said, In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Wow! God will judge the secrets of men. The Bible says in Proverbs 17 in verse 3, the finding pot is for silver and the furnish for gold, but the Lord tried the hearts. So the Lord tests the heart, the Lord examines, the Lord scrutinizes the heart. So He tells us then, this is the one thing that should always remain in our mind, that God is examining our thoughts. You know, the interesting thing is there's a passage, I think it's in the book of Ezekiel, where God said, I know your thoughts, every one of them, before they come into your mind.

[John Weaver] Wow. So God knows what you're going to be thinking before you ever think it. So there's actually nothing that can be hidden from the Lord. He is omniscient. That is, He is all-knowing. Everything is revealed to Him.

[John Weaver] Now, if you'll look back in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles 29 and verse 17, here's the second thing that David is praying for in verse 18 that will be maintained in your understanding, in your mind, in your heart. He says in verse 17, I know also, my God, that Thou triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me in the uprightness of my heart, I have willingly offered all these things, and now have I seen with joy Thy people which are present here to offer willingly unto Thee. The second thing that we must keep in our mind is that God has pleasure in uprightness.

[John Weaver] So let me ask you a question. Obviously, we are a pleasure-oriented people. We normally do that which pleases us. But has it ever entered into your mind that there are some things that please the Lord? And have you ever consciously asked the Lord, Help me to do that today that is pleasing in thy sight." And have you ever set your heart or set your mind or set your understanding to do that which you knew was pleasing unto Him?

[John Weaver] Now, the word pleasure, when he said in verse 17, thou hast pleasure in uprightness. The word pleasure here is the Hebrew word ratzah, which literally means that which is acceptable, that which is pleasing, that which is delightful, that which is enjoyable, that which is favorable, and that which is approvable. God has pleasure in that which favors Him and that which He approves, that which is delightful to Him.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. I want you to turn to two passages, both of them in Colossians. The first one, Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. I want you to see, first of all, the prayer that the Apostle Paul is making for these Colossian Christians. Look in Colossians 1 in verse 10. He said in verse 9, We cease not to pray for you, And then he's telling them some of the things that he prays and asks for them.

[John Weaver] Verse 10, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. That's just one. But notice, if you would, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. In other words, we're praying, says the Apostle Paul, that you might walk in such a way that delights and pleases our Heavenly Father. That you would walk in such a way that is acceptable and favorable unto Him.

[John Weaver] Now, the question would be, how do we do that? Well, look in Colossians 3 and verse 20. Here's a very interesting passage. Most of the time we quote it. Colossians 3 verse 20. Children. Obey your parents in all things. For this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Wow. This is well pleasing unto the Lord. Now, wait a minute. The Lord hath pleasure in uprightness. The word for uprightness is Yosher, which means that which is straight, that which is upright, that which is right, and that which is due. So let me ask you a question. What is God's right? What is God's due? I can show you scriptures in the Bible where the Bible says, give unto God the glory that is due unto His holy name. There are things that we owe God. It is the fact that it is His due. Now, look back at verse 20 of Colossians 3. Children, obey your parents to the Lord, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

[John Weaver] So let me put it to you like this. If God looks at earthly parents, And they're earthly children. And He says to these children, I want you to obey your earthly parents. And as long as you obey your earthly parents, that is well-pleasing in My eyes. That is My delight. That is favorable unto Me. That is acceptable unto Me. I want it. That is My due from you as children that you obey your parents. Now, wait a minute. If God is so well-pleased, if our physical children obey their physical parents, how much more is He well-pleased if His spiritual children obey their Heavenly Father? Do you follow me? If God can be well-pleased with children obeying their earthly parents, then obviously God is well pleased when we obey Him as His children.

[John Weaver] Now, go back to Colossians chapter 1. Look in Colossians chapter 1. He says, verse 10, that you might walk worthy of the Lord and all pleasing. How do you walk worthy of the Lord? Then he explains being fruitful in every good work. How are you fruitful in every good work? And the answer is, by being obedient. And then he adds this, and increasing in the knowledge of God. How do you increase in the knowledge of God? And the answer is, by being obedient. Our Lord is telling us very plainly that it is obedience that pleases Him.

[John Weaver] I cannot please Him without walking worthily. I cannot please Him without obedience. I cannot please Him without studying and increasing in the knowledge of God.

[John Weaver] Now, go back in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles 29 and look at verse 17. Watch this again. This is astounding. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 17. David said, I know also, my God, that Thou triest the heart. That's one truth. And that's pleasure and uprightness. That's the second truth. Now look what he says. Remember now, he's just given all of this money to the temple, the building of the temple, and he says this, As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart, that is, in the straightness of my heart, I have willingly offered all these things. And now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee." So, David is actually saying, here are two things that we need to remember. That God tries the heart, and God has pleasure and uprightness.

[John Weaver] And then he said, as for me, in other words, God, you're the sovereign God of heaven and earth. You are the omniscient God. As for me, under the scrutiny of your eye, under the examination that you give, as for me, I've given all of this in uprightness. That is, I've done this for your pleasure, for your honor, for your glory.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to tell you something, folks. That is a tremendous, tremendous, undertaking. When you can ask God to search your heart, and you can truthfully say before the omniscient God of heaven and earth, I've done this in uprightness according to your word for your honor and your glory, you can search me.

[John Weaver] Now I'm going to tell you why it's so important. I've preached for over 52 years. There have been times in my life that I genuinely thought I was serving the Lord. The Lord opened my eyes and I was serving myself. Or I thought I would be doing something for God's honor and God's glory.

[John Weaver] Next thing I know, I understand I'm doing it out of the pride of my own heart or for the praise and recognition of man and not for God at all. And I got news for you. God can indeed slap us down and humble us. And when He opens our eyes and lets us see How miserable we really are, even as Christians. Wow. It's an eye opener. And so David is praying in verse 18, Lord, you keep these things in the hearts of your people. You keep them mindful that you are the God that tries the heart and that you have pleasure in uprightness.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 139. I want to show you how thorough David is. Psalm 139, and look if you would please at verses 23 and 24. Psalm 139, verse 23, verse 24. Look what David asked. Search me, O God, I know my heart. Try me. Test me. Scrutinize me. I know my thoughts. and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. So David is asking God to search him, to test him, to try him and reveal to him any wicked way in him so that he might turn from it and repent. And then God would lead him in the way everlasting.

[John Weaver] I often tell people There are two prayer requests that you need to pray, and you need to pray them one after the other. The first one is, Lord, show me myself. If God only showed us ourselves, our pride, our arrogance, our sin, our rebellion, our wickedness, our disobedience, even as believers. If He really showed us that, He would slap us down to the ground so quickly and make your head swim.

[John Weaver] We cannot, what does the Bible say in Jeremiah 17, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. We don't know our hearts. Not the way God does. But the second one we see is this, Lord, show me Thyself. Because once God shows us ourselves, and then if God reveals Himself, we know that all the answers to our problems are in Him. We see His holiness, His purity, His grace, His mercy, His goodness, His kindness, His love. So we pray, Lord, show us ourselves, but we also pray, Lord, show us Thyself. And you know what David said in Psalm 51 in verse 6? You remember, that's the passage where David was confessing his sin.

[John Weaver] He said this,"...Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom." God desires truth in the inward parts. So we need to be truthful with God. aren't accurate with God, because God already knows. I tell people, I get tickled many times, people say, you know, sometimes I just get so aggravated, sometimes I get so angry, sometimes I get so mad, and I just don't even want to pray. And I said, you know what you should do? What? Well, you should go ahead and pray and tell God about your frustration and your anger, because He already knows it. and just be honest with Him and ask Him to help you deal with it. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] Let me show you a passage. I want you to look in Isaiah 33. Isaiah 33. Then I want to make some application. Look, if you would, Isaiah 33, and let's begin with verse 14. Isaiah 33, verse 14. Look at what he says. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Then he asked these questions. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Wow.

[John Weaver] And then he begins to talk about the obedient life. He says, he that walketh righteously. And speaketh up rightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions. that shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, he shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be the munitions of the rocks. Bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king and his beauty.

[John Weaver] They shall behold the land that is far off." When you examine verse fifteen, That verse just simply deals with straight out obedience in every area of life. God says you want your munitions to be sure, you want your bread to be sure, you want your water to be sure, you want to behold the king in all of his beauty. Obedience is the answer. Now, let me make just a couple of applications.

[John Weaver] The first one is this. It is indeed a great satisfaction and comfort to a godly man to know that God examines the heart and the reins and that God knows the motives and the desires and the intents of the heart. How can I say that? Well, there have been times in my life when I've really wanted to help people. Times in my life, I've really tried to do certain things for the benefit of others. And guess what?

[John Weaver] It blew up in my face. It turned out wrong. I did not intend for it to turn out wrong. I did not desire it to turn out wrong. I did not want it to turn out wrong. But it did. It was something beyond my control and out of my hands. And all I can do is sit back and say, Lord, you do know my heart. You do know my intent. You do know my motives and my desire. You know everything.

[John Weaver] And that's the only consolation that you have. And I tell people the two hardest truths I ever learned in my life in the ministry. Number one, you can't help everybody. And number two, sometimes those you can help are your own family and your own friends. And you try, but it doesn't work out. But God knows your heart, and God knows the motives. It's just like Peter. You remember Peter denied the Lord three times? When you get to John 21 three times, our Lord asks Peter, Lovest thou me more than these? Finally, the third time our Lord asks Peter the same question. Lovest thou me more than these?" Peter, being grieved, said, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. What was he doing?

[John Weaver] He was appealing to our Lord's omniscience. He said, Yes, Lord, I stumbled. I failed. I denied You three times. And yet, Lord, I know that was wicked and wrong and disobedient, but yet, Lord, You know that I love You. So he's falling back on the omniscience of God. You see, it was Peter's pride and arrogance who said, though all men forsake thee and deny thee, yet will not I. And our Lord said, really? Before the cock crows twice, you'll deny me three times. And Peter had to come back and say, Lord, I was wrong. You were right. But Lord, I love you. And you know that I love you.

[John Weaver] So, let me put it to you like this. This truth terrifies the wicked. When they stop and try to entertain the thought that God is going to hold them accountable, not just for their actions, not just for their conduct, not just for their behavior, but for their wrong motives, wrong desires, wrong intents, and He knows every one of them. So what is a comfort and consolation to the child of God is consternation and terror to the enemies of God. That we know that God tries the heart and that God has pleasure in uprightness. So here's the thing. If we desire to please God, then we must learn to walk in uprightness. Wow. We must learn to consciously say, Lord, I know You're examining my heart. I know You're trying my heart. I know You're scrutinizing my heart. And Lord, to the best of my ability, to the best of my knowledge, by Your infinite grace and mercy, I want to please Thee. I want to honor Thee. I want to obey Thee. I want to worship Thee.

[John Weaver] Grace in my heart and not depravity. And you have to remember this. Your actions will always reveal what is in your heart. Always. Always. So the question is not what is in your wallet. It's what is in your heart. Because out of the heart, the mouth speaketh. and out of the heart are the issues of life. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.

[John Weaver] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, Father, that You are indeed the God who tries our hearts, tests us, examines us, scrutinizes us, And we thank you, Father, that you have pleasure and uprightness, and we ask that you would help us to walk uprightly and to please Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

What Do You Have in Your Heart?

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	612171319105
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Genesis: Early World, Judgment, and the Nations
Genre	Sermon
Date	2017-06-04
Dictation Name
Book	Book 075: Genesis — Chapter 30
Source Timed Segments	77

Formatted Transcript

Opening

1 Chronicles 29, and we're going to read verses 17-20. The title of the message is, What Do You Have in Your Heart? Look in 1 Chronicles 29, and let's begin reading with verse 17. David is praying, and he says this,

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 29:17-20

"I know also, my God, that Thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me in the uprightness of mine heart, I have willingly offered all these things, and now have I seen with joy thy people which are present here to offer willingly unto thee. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee. And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision."

And David said to all the congregation,

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 29:17-20

"Now bless the Lord your God."

And all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord, and the king.

Introduction: The Heart as the Fountain of Life

Weaver introduces the central question—what is in your heart?—contrasting it with a credit card commercial. He asserts that the heart is the most important part of our being, from which all actions flow.

There have been numerous commercials in times past on TV, and the commercials sometimes are very interesting. But the commercials were produced by a leading credit card company. And they always ended with this question, "What do you have in your wallet?" And of course, most people, of course, are interested in what they do have in their wallet. But the more important question, I think, based upon the scriptures, is, what do you have in your heart? Our hearts are the most important part of our beings. I've preached many messages over the years. And I have been asked, in fact, I was asked again this past week, if I were to pick one message which I have preached out of the last 52 years of preaching, what message would I say would be one of the most important for Christians? And my answer would be the message which I titled "Keeping the Heart" from Proverbs 4, verse 23. I preach that message all over this country.

The Heart Defined and Its Centrality

The heart is primarily the mind and understanding. Proverbs 4:23 and 23:7 teach that everything flows from the heart, and Jesus confirms in Luke 6:45 and Matthew 15:18-19 that evil actions begin with evil thoughts from the heart.

Now, without me going into a lot of detail and showing a lot of Scriptures like I do in the message, "Keeping the Heart," let me just make a statement. According to the Scripture, your heart is basically your mind. It is your understanding. The word heart is used sometimes to convey our affections. That is true. But when you look in the Scripture, usually it refers to the mind and the understanding. For instance, when you look at 1 Chronicles 29 verses 17 through 20, you're going to find the word heart occurring several times. Each time that word heart occurs, it refers, once again, to the mind and to the understanding. One of the leading Hebrew words is the word Leb, and it's translated in our Bibles over and over as mind and understanding as well.

Now, in reference then to our lives, the Bible teaches us in Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 7, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." So the passage there is just simply telling us that everything basically flows out of the heart. The heart is the fountain from which everything pours. Our actions, our conduct, our behavior, everything just flows right out of the heart. Now, I want you to hold 1 Chronicles 29, but let me show you how this truth is enunciated also in the New Testament. Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6, look in verse 45 if you would. Look what our Lord says. Luke 6 verse 45,

Scripture Reading — Luke 6:45

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

So obviously our Lord is teaching that a good man is going to bring out good things because good things are in his heart. An evil man is going to bring forth evil things because evil things are in his heart. And then He makes this statement,

Scripture Reading — Luke 6:45

"for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

So inevitably, invariably, whatever is in your heart is ultimately going to come out. So if you'll look back at Matthew 15, our Lord is talking to His disciples.

In fact, they ask him a question, and he answers that question very clearly. Matthew 15, beginning there in verse 15.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 15:15-20

"Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable."

In other words, teach us exactly what you're trying to say. And Jesus said,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 15:15-20

"Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man."

Now watch carefully, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." There are two statements here to which you and I should pay very close attention. First of all, our Lord said, "but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart." What He is saying is what I've already said. The heart is the fountain out of which everything pours. That's it. Everything comes from the heart. The second one is this. He said, watch if you will please in verse 19, "For out of the heart proceed..." What's the very first thing he says? Evil thoughts. And then he adds murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Let me put it to you like this. You cannot commit an evil act without first having an evil thought. Everything begins with a thought. And so our Lord says out of the heart, which would be the mind because that's what is thinking, or the understanding, that is what is performing. So he said, it's out of the heart these evil thoughts come to pass. So actually what our Lord is doing is establishing the fact once again that our behavior, our actions, our conduct happens to be a result of whatever is in our heart.

Context: David's Offering and Prayer for the Temple

David and the people gave willingly for the temple. David acknowledges that all they gave came from God's hand. His prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:18 asks God to keep certain truths in the hearts of His people.

Now, the interesting thing is this, that I made a statement, oh, in several messages past. Most people have no idea how wealthy David really was, in fact how wealthy a lot of the Israelites really were. So I want to just show you just how wealthy David was particularly. So if you look at 1 Chronicles chapter 29 beginning there with verse 2. Look what David says. David says,

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 29:2-5

"Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, which was the finest gold, by the way, three thousand talents, he said, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal: The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers.

And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?" So David, over and above everything that he conquered in battle, gave this tremendous amount to the house of God. Now, I want you to note, beginning in verse 6, the chief rulers and princes and the people also gave very willingly and very graciously. In verse 6, he says, "Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king's work, offered willingly, and gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the Lord, by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy." So here you have David now giving a tremendous amount of money personally, and then the princes, of course, they join in and give as well. Then when you look in verses 10 through 16, what you have is David giving praise and worship to God for all that has been given to the house of God.

He is also at this particular point offering a prayer as well. And I want you to note what he says in verse 16. Look at this carefully. He says, "O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own." In other words, what David is saying, we really haven't given you anything because everything we have, you gave us. And we're just simply giving back to you. So, our text now comes then in this prayer and praise and worship that David is giving.

Now, I want you to look at verse 18. I'm going to come back to verse 17. In fact, I will be explaining verse 18 as well momentarily. But in verse 18 he says, "O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee."

Contrast: Depravity vs. Grace in the Heart

Genesis 6:5 shows the natural heart's imagination is only evil continually, while 1 Chronicles 29:18 shows the grace-filled heart. The question 'What is in your heart?' reveals whether depravity or grace rules.

Now one of the things that caught my eye as I was reading through 1 Chronicles recently was this verse, verse 18. And he said, David is praying and he says,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 6:5

"keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people."

And when I read that, my mind could not help but go to another verse of Scripture. I want you to hold 1 Chronicles 29 and look back in your Bibles to Genesis 6 and verse 5. Genesis 6 and verse 5. Here you're going to see that same phrase again, only in a different context. Look in Genesis 6 and verse 5,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 6:5

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Isn't that amazing? Now you have God seeing every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man in Genesis 6:5, that it's evil. And when you get to 1 Chronicles 29, verse 18, David is saying,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 6:5

"keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people."

So let me just try to give you a little comparison and contrast. Genesis 6 and verse 5 is what man is by nature. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 18 is what man is by grace. Genesis 6 verse 5 is the work of man. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 18 is the work of God. Genesis 6 verse 5 is the work of man's depravity. 1 Chronicles 29 and verse 18 is the product of God's saving grace.

So the question then that I have to ask in light of this is, what is in your heart? So notice if you would, comparing these two passages, you're only going to have depravity or grace. So the question is very legitimate, what do you have in your heart? Now stop and think about this. If a person has his heart filled with the depravity of darkness, then his actions, his conduct, and his behavior, all are going to be contrary to God, contrary to His law, and wicked and wrong. If, on the other hand, grace fills the heart of man, then his actions, his conduct, his behavior is going to be one of obedience, and one of submission to God, and one in trying to honor and glorify God. So the question has to be asked, what is in your heart? And the answer comes back this, your life is really and truly going to evidence what is in your heart.

God's Preparation of the Heart and Human Responsibility

David prayed for God to prepare the hearts of His people. Proverbs 16:1 teaches that heart preparation is from the Lord, yet humans have a duty to seek Him and turn from evil, as seen in Rehoboam and Jotham.

Now notice what else he said. He said, "O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people." That's one thing. And now he asked, "and prepare their heart unto thee." Thus David recognized that the great spirit of giving and graciousness and cooperation was a result of God preparing their heart. Now let me give you a scripture. Proverbs 16, verse 1. The Bible says, "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord."

Now, I don't want to deal with the first half of that verse. The preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord. So here's what we must understand. If our hearts are ever prepared to pray, God prepared them. If our hearts are ever prepared to study, God prepared them. If our hearts are ever prepared to witness, God prepared them. If a sinner is ever prepared in his heart to come savingly to Jesus Christ, God prepared his heart. See, in John 6 and verse 37, our Lord said it like this,

Scripture Reading — John 6:37, 44

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

But in John 6 verse 44, just a few verses down, he says this, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." So, sinners may come, but they only come because of God's preparing their heart, because He says no man can, and can is a term of ability, no man can come except the Father which sent me draw him.

So it's just that simple. Now, Scripture reveals to us that although the ability is God's in preparing our hearts, the responsibility is ours to seek Him to prepare our hearts. So let me give you a contrast. I want you to look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 12 and verse 14. 2 Chronicles 12 and verse 14. We're going to read about Rehoboam. Now, Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and the grandson of David. One author said, and I like what he said, Solomon only had one son, and he was a fool. Well, that's true. Solomon and all of his wives only had one son, and that was Rehoboam, and he turned out to be a fool. And here's why. In 2 Chronicles 12, verse 14, the Bible says this, and he, well go back to verse 13, "So king Rehoboam..." so we're talking about Rehoboam, now skip down to verse 14, "And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord." So why did Rehoboam do evil? He prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.

Now, it's true, God must prepare our hearts. But we have a duty and an obligation and a responsibility to seek Him to prepare our hearts. Now, look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 27 and verse 6. That was King Rehoboam. Now we have King Jotham. Notice, if you would, 2 Chronicles 27 and verse 6. The Bible says,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 27:6

"So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God."

Well, you can't prepare your ways unless your heart is prepared. So Rehoboam did not prepare his heart. Jotham did, and consequently he prepared his ways as well.

So here are two men. One prepared his heart, one did not prepare his heart. Let me give you just a couple of illustrations. Ezra. You can read about Ezra in the book of Ezra. Ezra was a scribe and he understood his responsibility quite well. Because in Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10, the scripture says,

Scripture Reading — Ezra 7:10

"For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments."

So, Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of God and then to teach the law of God. So, obviously, he did have that duty and that responsibility. Now, let me just tell you that our part, and I'm using that phrase very generally, our duty, I should say, our responsibility, in seeking God to prepare our heart is to rid ourselves of anything that is contrary to God. For instance, in 1 Samuel 7, verse 3, the Israelites were fearful because of the Philistines. And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, and he said this, "If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

So, now he said, if you're really going to turn to the Lord, what should you do? Put away your strange gods. Put away Ashtaroth, the false god, and serve him only. In other words, you have a duty, you have an obligation, you have a responsibility to obey him. Do it. That's what he said. So, the ability is God's, the responsibility is ours. I want you to look in your Bibles to Luke chapter 12 very quickly.

Hold 1 Chronicles 29, we're coming right back there. But look in Luke chapter 12. And you see, our Lord said basically the same exact thing in Luke 12 and verse 47. He's making an application to the parable that He's teaching. And He says in verse 47 of Luke 12,

Scripture Reading — Luke 12:47

"And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes."

So here's a servant that knew his Lord's will, but he did not prepare himself to do that will. In other words, he ignored the will of his master. So our part in preparation is to seek God first and foremost to prepare our heart and then turn from all of that that is contrary to God. It's kind of like the man who says, "Well, I'm going to live a life of sobriety from here forward." Well, if he's going to live a life of sobriety from here forward, he better stay away from the bars and the liquor stores. In other words, he has to prepare himself to live a life of sobriety.

And so that's exactly what the scripture is teaching us. We must be prepared to do this. So we have the responsibility to seek the Lord, prepare our hearts, but we also have a responsibility to turn from everything that is contrary to God.

First Truth to Keep: God Tries the Heart

David's first request is that God's people remember He examines the heart. The Hebrew word 'tries' means to scrutinize and test. God tests hearts to reveal them, as with Abraham, and searches the innermost recesses (reins).

It's not just this spirit of willingness to sacrifice or this spirit of cooperation. Certainly that would be included. But there's something more specific. If you'll look in verse 17, here's what David said, "I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee." Now, there are two things that he tells us that we must keep in our heart. The first one is that thou triest the heart. That is, that God tries the heart. The word tries is the Hebrew word bakad, which means to examine.

To try, to prove, to scrutinize, and to test. Did you know that God not only scrutinizes our hearts, but He will test our hearts? He examines our hearts in order that He may reveal it to us and to others as well. God doesn't need the knowledge for Himself because He's omniscient. He knows everything, but we do not. You remember the Bible says in Genesis 22 and verse 1, "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am." It came to pass that God did tempt Abraham. The word tempt there literally is to test or to try. God was not tempting Abraham to sin. He was testing him. He was examining him.

If you will hold 1 Chronicles, but look in your Bibles to 1 Peter 1. Let me give you a very general illustration of the fact that yes, oftentimes our faith is tested and tried. Look if you would in 1 Peter 1 beginning there with verse 6. 1 Peter 1 verse 6. He says, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations," or manifold trials, or manifold tests. Verse 7, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." So he talks again here about the trial and about the testing of our faith.

Now, the interesting thing is this. As you read through the Bible, you're going to find that God often tests us and tries us, and the examination is so thorough we do not necessarily understand when we just simply glance at the Bible. Let me just show you several verses, because there are a number of verses where you will find a little word, reins, R-E-I-N-S. And each time you see it, it is usually in the context of being scrutinized or examined. Hold 1 Chronicles 29. But go in your Bibles to Psalm 7. Psalm 7. And look, if you would please, at verse 9. One of my favorite verses. I especially love the first part of it. Psalm 7 verse 9. He says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 7:9

"Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just:"

And then he says this,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 7:9

"for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins."

Wow! Now, are the reins different from the heart? Why would he say he trieth the hearts and the reins? Well, look in Psalm 26, verse 2. Psalm 26, verse 2.

David is praying again, and he asks the Lord, "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart." So what is he talking about when he says, try my reins and my heart? Look in Psalm 73 and verse 21. Psalm 73, verse 21. Asaph says it like this. "Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins." Wow. Turn right over to Psalm 139, and look at verse 13. Psalm 139, verse 13. Tremendous psalm.

We'll come back to it later. But look what David says.

Psalm 139, verse 13, he says to the Lord, "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb." Wow. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 17. Jeremiah 17. I just want you to see just a smattering of these verses, because every time you read the Bible and you see the word reins, you should know exactly what he's talking about. And Jeremiah chapter 17 in verse 10, here's a very clear passage. The Lord is speaking and He says this, "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." So God says, I search the heart and I try the reins.

Now, this word is not only used in the Old Testament, it's also used in the New Testament. And let me just quote it. In Revelation 2 in verse 23, God said, "And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." Basically the same thing that he said in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 10. So what does it mean when it says that God tries the reins and the heart? All of the Old Testament verses, of course, in Hebrew, is the Hebrew word keliah, which literally means kidneys or reins. God searches the kidneys. Now, when it's translated as reins in the Bible, all that would mean is this: that God is searching the innermost recesses of the heart. It means that there is nothing escaping His knowledge or His notice. When you get to the New Testament, the Greek word is nephros, which of course refers then to kidneys or loins or the inmost feelings or faults.

I took Greek for three years, and one of my favorite words in the Greek language was the word splognenzomai. Well, I had several favorite words. The word for wife is goonie. Sometimes I'd call her my goonie, but splognenzomai. Splognidzomite, listen to, Splognidzomite refers to your bowels. It's talking about loving with all of your heart. Actually, it's loving with all of your bowels, because the ancients would talk about this being the inside of man, the bowels. And so, I'd tell Alice sometimes, I love you with all my bowels. And she'd say, well, that's not as romantic as I love you with all my heart, you know. But it's the same principle. And so, it's the same thing with the word reins. God searches the reins of the hearts. He's not just searching the heart, generally speaking. It's not the organ, per se. It is the mind.

It is the understanding and all the recesses that are found there. Here is what David is saying. This is the first truth that should never ever leave your mind. This is the first truth that should be established in your understanding, is that God will scrutinize, God will examine every area of your thought, every motive, every desire, every intent. And you will answer and give an account to him in the day of judgment. In fact, in Romans 2 and verse 16, Paul said, "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." Wow! God will judge the secrets of men. The Bible says in Proverbs 17 in verse 3, "The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts." So the Lord tests the heart, the Lord examines, the Lord scrutinizes the heart. So He tells us then, this is the one thing that should always remain in our mind, that God is examining our thoughts. You know, the interesting thing is there's a passage, I think it's in the book of Ezekiel, where God said, "I know your thoughts, every one of them, before they come into your mind."

Wow. So God knows what you're going to be thinking before you ever think it. So there's actually nothing that can be hidden from the Lord. He is omniscient. That is, He is all-knowing. Everything is revealed to Him.

Second Truth to Keep: God Has Pleasure in Uprightness

The second truth is that God delights in uprightness (straightness, rightness). Pleasing God involves walking worthily, being obedient, and increasing in knowledge, as seen in Colossians 1:10 and 3:20.

So let me ask you a question. Obviously, we are a pleasure-oriented people. We normally do that which pleases us. But has it ever entered into your mind that there are some things that please the Lord? And have you ever consciously asked the Lord, "Help me to do that today that is pleasing in thy sight." And have you ever set your heart or set your mind or set your understanding to do that which you knew was pleasing unto Him?

Now, the word pleasure, when he said in verse 17, "thou hast pleasure in uprightness." The word pleasure here is the Hebrew word ratzah, which literally means that which is acceptable, that which is pleasing, that which is delightful, that which is enjoyable, that which is favorable, and that which is approvable. God has pleasure in that which favors Him and that which He approves, that which is delightful to Him. Now, let me show you. I want you to turn to two passages, both of them in Colossians. The first one, Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. I want you to see, first of all, the prayer that the Apostle Paul is making for these Colossian Christians. Look in Colossians 1 in verse 10. He said in verse 9, "We... cease not to pray for you," And then he's telling them some of the things that he prays and asks for them.

Verse 10, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." That's just one. But notice, if you would, "that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." In other words, we're praying, says the Apostle Paul, that you might walk in such a way that delights and pleases our Heavenly Father. That you would walk in such a way that is acceptable and favorable unto Him. Now, the question would be, how do we do that? Well, look in Colossians 3 and verse 20. Here's a very interesting passage. Most of the time we quote it. Colossians 3 verse 20. "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." Wow. This is well pleasing unto the Lord. Now, wait a minute. The Lord hath pleasure in uprightness. The word for uprightness is Yosher, which means that which is straight, that which is upright, that which is right, and that which is due. So let me ask you a question. What is God's right? What is God's due? I can show you scriptures in the Bible where the Bible says, "give unto God the glory that is due unto his holy name." There are things that we owe God. It is the fact that it is His due. Now, look back at verse 20 of Colossians 3. "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."

So let me put it to you like this. If God looks at earthly parents, and their earthly children, and He says to these children, "I want you to obey your earthly parents. And as long as you obey your earthly parents, that is well-pleasing in My eyes. That is My delight. That is favorable unto Me. That is acceptable unto Me. I want it. That is My due from you as children that you obey your parents." Now, wait a minute. If God is so well-pleased if our physical children obey their physical parents, how much more is He well-pleased if His spiritual children obey their Heavenly Father? Do you follow me? If God can be well-pleased with children obeying their earthly parents, then obviously God is well pleased when we obey Him as His children.

Now, go back to Colossians chapter 1. Look in Colossians chapter 1. He says, verse 10, "that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." How do you walk worthy of the Lord? Then he explains, "being fruitful in every good work." How are you fruitful in every good work? And the answer is, by being obedient. And then he adds this, "and increasing in the knowledge of God." How do you increase in the knowledge of God? And the answer is, by being obedient. Our Lord is telling us very plainly that it is obedience that pleases Him.

I cannot please Him without walking worthily. I cannot please Him without obedience. I cannot please Him without studying and increasing in the knowledge of God.

David's Example and Prayer for Self-Examination

David offered willingly in uprightness, inviting God's scrutiny. He prayed in Psalm 139:23-24 for God to search him and reveal any wicked way. Believers should pray 'Lord, show me myself' and 'Lord, show me Thyself.'

And then he said, "as for me," in other words, God, you're the sovereign God of heaven and earth. You are the omniscient God. As for me, under the scrutiny of your eye, under the examination that you give, as for me, I've given all of this in uprightness. That is, I've done this for your pleasure, for your honor, for your glory.

Now, I want to tell you something, folks. That is a tremendous, tremendous undertaking. When you can ask God to search your heart, and you can truthfully say before the omniscient God of heaven and earth, "I've done this in uprightness according to your word for your honor and your glory, you can search me." Now I'm going to tell you why it's so important. I've preached for over 52 years. There have been times in my life that I genuinely thought I was serving the Lord. The Lord opened my eyes and I was serving myself. Or I thought I would be doing something for God's honor and God's glory.

Next thing I know, I understand I'm doing it out of the pride of my own heart or for the praise and recognition of man and not for God at all. And I got news for you. God can indeed slap us down and humble us. And when He opens our eyes and lets us see how miserable we really are, even as Christians. Wow. It's an eye opener. And so David is praying in verse 18, "Lord, you keep these things in the hearts of your people. You keep them mindful that you are the God that tries the heart and that you have pleasure in uprightness."

Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 139. I want to show you how thorough David is. Psalm 139, and look if you would please at verses 23 and 24. Psalm 139, verse 23, verse 24. Look what David asked. "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." So David is asking God to search him, to test him, to try him and reveal to him any wicked way in him so that he might turn from it and repent. And then God would lead him in the way everlasting.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:23-24

I often tell people there are two prayer requests that you need to pray, and you need to pray them one after the other. The first one is, "Lord, show me myself." If God only showed us ourselves, our pride, our arrogance, our sin, our rebellion, our wickedness, our disobedience, even as believers. If He really showed us that, He would slap us down to the ground so quickly and make your head swim. We cannot, what does the Bible say in Jeremiah 17, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." We don't know our hearts. Not the way God does. But the second one we see is this, "Lord, show me Thyself." Because once God shows us ourselves, and then if God reveals Himself, we know that all the answers to our problems are in Him. We see His holiness, His purity, His grace, His mercy, His goodness, His kindness, His love. So we pray, "Lord, show us ourselves," but we also pray, "Lord, show us Thyself." And you know what David said in Psalm 51 in verse 6? You remember, that's the passage where David was confessing his sin.

Application: Comfort for the Godly, Terror for the Wicked

Knowing God examines the heart comforts believers when their good intentions fail, as Peter appealed to Christ's omniscience. For the wicked, this truth is terrifying because God judges motives. Obedience is the path to pleasing God.

The first one is this. It is indeed a great satisfaction and comfort to a godly man to know that God examines the heart and the reins and that God knows the motives and the desires and the intents of the heart. How can I say that? Well, there have been times in my life when I've really wanted to help people. Times in my life, I've really tried to do certain things for the benefit of others. And guess what? It blew up in my face. It turned out wrong. I did not intend for it to turn out wrong. I did not desire it to turn out wrong. I did not want it to turn out wrong. But it did. It was something beyond my control and out of my hands. And all I can do is sit back and say, "Lord, you do know my heart. You do know my intent. You do know my motives and my desire. You know everything."

And that's the only consolation that you have. And I tell people the two hardest truths I ever learned in my life in the ministry. Number one, you can't help everybody. And number two, sometimes those you can help are your own family and your own friends. And you try, but it doesn't work out. But God knows your heart, and God knows the motives. It's just like Peter. You remember Peter denied the Lord three times? When you get to John 21 three times, our Lord asks Peter, "Lovest thou me more than these?" Finally, the third time our Lord asks Peter the same question. "Lovest thou me more than these?" Peter, being grieved, said, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." What was he doing?

He was appealing to our Lord's omniscience. He said, "Yes, Lord, I stumbled. I failed. I denied You three times. And yet, Lord, I know that was wicked and wrong and disobedient, but yet, Lord, You know that I love You." So he's falling back on the omniscience of God. You see, it was Peter's pride and arrogance who said, "though all men forsake thee and deny thee, yet will not I." And our Lord said, "Really? Before the cock crows twice, you'll deny me three times." And Peter had to come back and say, "Lord, I was wrong. You were right. But Lord, I love you. And you know that I love you."

So, let me put it to you like this. This truth terrifies the wicked. When they stop and try to entertain the thought that God is going to hold them accountable, not just for their actions, not just for their conduct, not just for their behavior, but for their wrong motives, wrong desires, wrong intents, and He knows every one of them. So what is a comfort and consolation to the child of God is consternation and terror to the enemies of God. That we know that God tries the heart and that God has pleasure in uprightness. So here's the thing. If we desire to please God, then we must learn to walk in uprightness. Wow. We must learn to consciously say, "Lord, I know You're examining my heart. I know You're trying my heart. I know You're scrutinizing my heart. And Lord, to the best of my ability, to the best of my knowledge, by Your infinite grace and mercy, I want to please Thee. I want to honor Thee. I want to obey Thee. I want to worship Thee."

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Heart as the Source of All Actions

Summary: All behavior, good or evil, originates in the heart (mind/understanding). Jesus taught that evil thoughts precede evil acts, and the mouth speaks from the heart's abundance.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'The heart is the fountain out of which everything pours... Everything comes from the heart.' He cites Matthew 15:19: 'For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts...'

Depravity vs. Grace in the Heart

Summary: The natural heart is only evil continually (Genesis 6:5), but God's grace can fill the heart with uprightness and willingness to obey (1 Chronicles 29:18).

Evidence: Weaver contrasts Genesis 6:5 ('every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually') with 1 Chronicles 29:18, calling the former 'the work of man's depravity' and the latter 'the product of God's saving grace.'

God's Scrutiny of the Heart

Summary: God examines, tests, and scrutinizes every thought, motive, and intent. He searches the 'reins' (innermost recesses), and nothing is hidden from His omniscience.

Evidence: Weaver explains the Hebrew word 'tries' (bakad) means to examine, prove, scrutinize. He cites Psalm 7:9, 'the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins,' and Jeremiah 17:10, 'I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins.'

God's Pleasure in Uprightness

Summary: God delights in uprightness—straightness, rightness, obedience. Pleasing God involves walking worthily, obeying His commands, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'God has pleasure in uprightness.' He cites Colossians 1:10 ('walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing') and 3:20 ('Children, obey your parents... for this is well pleasing unto the Lord').

Human Responsibility in Heart Preparation

Summary: While God prepares the heart, believers have a duty to seek Him, turn from evil, and prepare their hearts through obedience. Rehoboam failed because he did not prepare his heart; Jotham succeeded because he did.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'The ability is God's, the responsibility is ours.' He cites 2 Chronicles 12:14 (Rehoboam 'did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord') and 27:6 (Jotham 'became mighty, because he prepared his ways').

Self-Examination and Honesty Before God

Summary: Believers should pray for God to reveal their hidden sins and motives, acknowledging that the heart is deceitful. Honesty with God about struggles is essential, as He already knows.

Evidence: Weaver references Psalm 139:23-24 ('Search me, O God, and know my heart') and Psalm 51:6 ('thou desirest truth in the inward parts'). He advises, 'be honest with Him and ask Him to help you deal with it.'

Key Arguments

The heart determines all conduct

Summary: Since actions flow from the heart, a depraved heart produces evil, while a grace-filled heart produces obedience. The question 'What is in your heart?' is therefore crucial.

Evidence: Weaver argues, 'If a person has his heart filled with the depravity of darkness, then his actions... are going to be contrary to God... If... grace fills the heart... his actions... is going to be one of obedience.'

God's examination of the heart should be a constant awareness

Summary: David prayed that God's people would forever remember that God tries the heart. This awareness should shape motives and actions, as God will judge the secrets of men.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'This is the first truth that should never ever leave your mind... God will scrutinize, God will examine every area of your thought, every motive, every desire, every intent.'

Pleasing God requires conscious obedience

Summary: God has pleasure in uprightness, meaning He delights in straight, right, obedient living. Believers should actively seek to do what pleases Him, as children obeying their Father.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Have you ever consciously asked the Lord, "Help me to do that today that is pleasing in thy sight"?' He cites Colossians 3:20 to show that obedience pleases God.

Human effort is required alongside divine enablement

Summary: Though God prepares hearts, individuals must seek Him, put away idols, and turn from sin. Rehoboam's failure and Jotham's success illustrate the consequences of neglecting or fulfilling this duty.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'We have a duty and an obligation and a responsibility to seek Him to prepare our hearts.' He cites 1 Samuel 7:3: 'put away the strange gods... and prepare your hearts unto the Lord.'

God's omniscience comforts believers when intentions are misunderstood

Summary: When good intentions lead to bad outcomes, believers can rest in God's knowledge of their hearts. Peter appealed to Christ's omniscience after his denial, and believers can do the same.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'All I can do is sit back and say, "Lord, you do know my heart. You do know my intent..."' He references Peter in John 21: 'Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.'

Scripture References

1 Chronicles 29:17-20

Context: David's prayer acknowledging God tries the heart and has pleasure in uprightness; he asks God to keep this in the hearts of His people.

Proverbs 4:23

Context: Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Weaver calls this one of the most important messages for Christians.

Proverbs 23:7

Context: As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Used to show that everything flows from the heart.

Luke 6:45

Context: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good... for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Matthew 15:15-20

Context: Jesus teaches that what proceeds from the heart—evil thoughts, murders, adulteries—defiles a man. Evil acts begin with evil thoughts.

1 Chronicles 26:27

Context: Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord. Context for the wealth given to the temple.

1 Chronicles 29:2-5

Context: David's personal offering of gold and silver for the temple, over and above all he had prepared.

1 Chronicles 29:6-9

Context: The chief rulers and people offered willingly with a perfect heart, and David rejoiced.

1 Chronicles 29:16

Context: David acknowledges all they have comes from God's hand and is His own.

Genesis 6:5

Context: God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. Contrasted with 1 Chronicles 29:18.

Proverbs 16:1

Context: The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord. Used to show God prepares hearts.

John 6:37, 44

Context: All that the Father gives will come to Christ; no man can come unless the Father draws him. Illustrates God's preparation of the heart for salvation.

2 Chronicles 12:14

Context: Rehoboam did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. Example of neglecting heart preparation.

2 Chronicles 27:6

Context: Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord. Example of heart preparation leading to right ways.

Ezra 7:10

Context: Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach. Example of personal responsibility in preparation.

1 Samuel 7:3

Context: Samuel tells Israel to put away strange gods and prepare their hearts unto the Lord. Shows the duty to turn from evil.

Luke 12:47

Context: The servant who knew his lord's will and prepared not himself shall be beaten. Illustrates failure to prepare.

Psalm 7:9

Context: The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. Shows God's thorough examination.

Psalm 139:23-24

Context: David's prayer for God to search him, try him, and reveal any wicked way. Model for self-examination.

Colossians 1:10

Context: Prayer that believers walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful and increasing in knowledge. Defines pleasing God.

Historical References

David's preparation for the temple

Context: David and the people gave vast wealth from personal treasuries and spoils of battle to build the temple. David's prayer in 1 Chronicles 29 occurs in this context.

Rehoboam, son of Solomon

Context: Rehoboam did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. Weaver notes Solomon's only son was a fool.

Jotham, king of Judah

Context: Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord, implying heart preparation.

Ezra the scribe

Context: Ezra prepared his heart to seek, do, and teach God's law, exemplifying personal responsibility in heart preparation.

Peter's denial and restoration

Context: Peter denied Christ three times but later appealed to Christ's omniscience: 'Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.'

Important Quotes

The heart is the fountain from which everything pours. Our actions, our conduct, our behavior, everything just flows right out of the heart.

Significance: Summarizes the central premise that all outward behavior originates in the heart, making heart-condition paramount.

You cannot commit an evil act without first having an evil thought. Everything begins with a thought.

Significance: Explains Jesus' teaching in Matthew 15 that evil proceeds from the heart, emphasizing the primacy of inner thoughts.

Genesis 6 and verse 5 is what man is by nature. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 18 is what man is by grace.

Significance: Crisp contrast between the depraved natural heart and the grace-transformed heart, framing the sermon's main question.

The ability is God's, the responsibility is ours.

Significance: Concise statement of the balance between divine sovereignty in heart preparation and human duty to seek and obey.

Your actions will always reveal what is in your heart. Always. Always.

Significance: Reinforces the inescapable link between heart condition and outward conduct, urging honest self-assessment.

Discussion Questions

How does understanding the heart as the 'fountain' of all actions change the way you evaluate your own behavior and thoughts?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that everything flows from the heart, citing Proverbs 4:23 and Matthew 15:19.

In what ways have you experienced the tension between God's preparation of your heart and your own responsibility to seek Him?

Context: Weaver discusses Proverbs 16:1 and the examples of Rehoboam and Jotham, stressing both divine enablement and human duty.

What practical steps can you take to 'prepare your heart' to seek the Lord, as Ezra did?

Context: Weaver cites Ezra 7:10 and 1 Samuel 7:3, urging believers to put away idols and turn from evil.

How does the truth that God tries the heart and reins (innermost recesses) affect your daily thought life and motives?

Context: Weaver explains the Hebrew word 'tries' and the concept of 'reins,' showing God's exhaustive knowledge.

What does it mean to you that God 'has pleasure in uprightness'? How can you consciously seek to please Him in your daily walk?

Context: Weaver defines uprightness as straightness and rightness, and cites Colossians 1:10 and 3:20 on pleasing God through obedience.

When have you found comfort in God's omniscience, knowing He understands your heart even when others misunderstand your actions?

Context: Weaver shares personal experiences and references Peter's appeal to Christ's knowledge in John 21.

Why is it important to pray both 'Lord, show me myself' and 'Lord, show me Thyself'? How might these prayers transform a believer?

Context: Weaver recommends these two prayers for self-examination and seeing God's holiness, leading to repentance and growth.

Applications

Cultivate a constant awareness of God's heart-examination

Summary: Keep the truth that God tries the heart ever in your mind, letting it shape your thoughts, motives, and actions.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'This is the first truth that should never ever leave your mind... God will scrutinize, God will examine every area of your thought.'

Seek to please God through conscious obedience

Summary: Actively ask God to help you do what pleases Him, walking in uprightness and obeying His commands as a child obeys a parent.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Have you ever consciously asked the Lord, "Help me to do that today that is pleasing in thy sight"?' and cites Colossians 3:20.

Take responsibility to prepare your heart

Summary: While God enables, you must seek Him, put away idols, and turn from anything contrary to His will. Prepare your heart through prayer and repentance.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'We have a duty and an obligation and a responsibility to seek Him to prepare our hearts,' referencing 1 Samuel 7:3 and Ezra 7:10.

Pray for self-examination and divine revelation

Summary: Regularly pray 'Lord, show me myself' to uncover hidden sins, and 'Lord, show me Thyself' to see God's holiness and grace, leading to transformation.

Evidence: Weaver recommends these two prayers, noting that the heart is deceitful and we need God to reveal our true condition.

Be honest with God about your struggles

Summary: Since God already knows your frustrations and sins, bring them to Him honestly and ask for help, rather than avoiding prayer.

Evidence: Weaver advises, 'go ahead and pray and tell God about your frustration and your anger, because He already knows it. And just be honest with Him.'

Find comfort in God's omniscience when misunderstood

Summary: When your good intentions lead to bad outcomes, rest in the fact that God knows your heart and motives, just as Peter did after his denial.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'All I can do is sit back and say, "Lord, you do know my heart. You do know my intent..."' and references Peter in John 21.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T19:04:28Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:15:53Z

Clean Transcript

What Do You Have in Your Heart?

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

1 Chronicles 29, and we're going to read verses 17-20. The title of the message is, What Do You Have in Your Heart? Look in 1 Chronicles 29, and let's begin reading with verse 17. David is praying, and he says this, "I know also, my God, that Thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me in the uprightness of mine heart, I have willingly offered all these things, and now have I seen with joy thy people which are present here to offer willingly unto thee. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee. And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision." And David said to all the congregation, "Now bless the Lord your God." And all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord, and the king.
#1 | 0:00 to 1:10 | cleaned
There have been numerous commercials in times past on TV, and the commercials sometimes are very interesting. But the commercials were produced by a leading credit card company. And they always ended with this question, "What do you have in your wallet?" And of course, most people, of course, are interested in what they do have in their wallet. But the more important question, I think, based upon the scriptures, is, what do you have in your heart? Our hearts are the most important part of our beings.
#2 | 1:12 to 1:48 | cleaned
I've preached many messages over the years. And I have been asked, in fact, I was asked again this past week, if I were to pick one message which I have preached out of the last 52 years of preaching, what message would I say would be one of the most important for Christians? And my answer would be the message which I titled "Keeping the Heart" from Proverbs 4, verse 23. I preach that message all over this country.
#3 | 1:49 to 2:21 | cleaned
I think it's absolutely fundamental. I think it's necessary. Not only that, I usually preach that message to myself every day. Proverbs 4, verse 23 says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." So it's not my intent today to re-preach that message. However, I would encourage you, if you've not heard it, to listen to it. And if it's been a long time since you've heard it, listen to it again. In fact, you probably should listen to it several times in order to make sure that the principles are down in your mind and in your heart. I also preached a number of messages on heart preparation.
#4 | 2:21 to 2:59 | cleaned
I believe those are important as well. But the truth is today, we have to understand that everything basically begins in our hearts.
#5 | 2:59 to 3:07 | cleaned
Now, without me going into a lot of detail and showing a lot of Scriptures like I do in the message, "Keeping the Heart," let me just make a statement. According to the Scripture, your heart is basically your mind. It is your understanding. The word heart is used sometimes to convey our affections. That is true. But when you look in the Scripture, usually it refers to the mind and the understanding. For instance, when you look at 1 Chronicles 29 verses 17 through 20, you're going to find the word heart occurring several times. Each time that word heart occurs, it refers, once again, to the mind and to the understanding. One of the leading Hebrew words is the word Leb, and it's translated in our Bibles over and over as mind and understanding as well.
#6 | 3:08 to 4:04 | cleaned
Now, in reference then to our lives, the Bible teaches us in Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 7, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." So the passage there is just simply telling us that everything basically flows out of the heart. The heart is the fountain from which everything pours. Our actions, our conduct, our behavior, everything just flows right out of the heart.
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Now, I want you to hold 1 Chronicles 29, but let me show you how this truth is enunciated also in the New Testament. Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6, look in verse 45 if you would. Look what our Lord says. Luke 6 verse 45, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." So obviously our Lord is teaching that a good man is going to bring out good things because good things are in his heart. An evil man is going to bring forth evil things because evil things are in his heart. And then He makes this statement, "for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." So inevitably, invariably, whatever is in your heart is ultimately going to come out. So if you'll look back at Matthew 15, our Lord is talking to His disciples.
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In fact, they ask him a question, and he answers that question very clearly. Matthew 15, beginning there in verse 15. "Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable." In other words, teach us exactly what you're trying to say. And Jesus said, "Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man."
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Now watch carefully, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." There are two statements here to which you and I should pay very close attention. First of all, our Lord said, "but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart."
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What He is saying is what I've already said. The heart is the fountain out of which everything pours. That's it. Everything comes from the heart. The second one is this. He said, watch if you will please in verse 19, "For out of the heart proceed..." What's the very first thing he says? Evil thoughts. And then he adds murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Let me put it to you like this. You cannot commit an evil act without first having an evil thought. Everything begins with a thought. And so our Lord says out of the heart, which would be the mind because that's what is thinking, or the understanding, that is what is performing. So he said, it's out of the heart these evil thoughts come to pass. So actually what our Lord is doing is establishing the fact once again that our behavior, our actions, our conduct happens to be a result of whatever is in our heart.
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Now, I want you to go back to 1 Chronicles 29. I'm going to be explaining, especially verses 17 and 18, but I want you to understand the context in which verses 17 and 18 occur. The context of 1 Chronicles chapter 29 is where David and the people have made preparation to build the temple. I hope you also remember the fact that a lot of the money that came for the building of the temple came from the heathens. When I say that, I mean David conquered them, and out of the spoils of battle, they dedicated to maintain the house of the Lord. So if you look in 1 Chronicles 26 and verse 27, you will see that very clearly stated. 1 Chronicles 26 and verse 27, "Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord." So a lot of the booty, a lot of the loot that they acquired in battle was just simply set aside to build the temple.
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Now, the interesting thing is this, that I made a statement, oh, in several messages past. Most people have no idea how wealthy David really was, in fact how wealthy a lot of the Israelites really were. So I want to just show you just how wealthy David was particularly. So if you look at 1 Chronicles chapter 29 beginning there with verse 2. Look what David says. David says, "Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood;
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onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, which was the finest gold, by the way, three thousand talents, he said, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal: The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers.
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And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?" So David, over and above everything that he conquered in battle, gave this tremendous amount to the house of God.
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Now, I want you to note, beginning in verse 6, the chief rulers and princes and the people also gave very willingly and very graciously. In verse 6, he says, "Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king's work, offered willingly, and gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. And they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the Lord, by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy." So here you have David now giving a tremendous amount of money personally, and then the princes, of course, they join in and give as well. Then when you look in verses 10 through 16, what you have is David giving praise and worship to God for all that has been given to the house of God.
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He is also at this particular point offering a prayer as well. And I want you to note what he says in verse 16. Look at this carefully. He says, "O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own."
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In other words, what David is saying, we really haven't given you anything because everything we have, you gave us. And we're just simply giving back to you. So, our text now comes then in this prayer and praise and worship that David is giving.
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Now, I want you to look at verse 18. I'm going to come back to verse 17. In fact, I will be explaining verse 18 as well momentarily. But in verse 18 he says, "O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee."
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Now one of the things that caught my eye as I was reading through 1 Chronicles recently was this verse, verse 18. And he said, David is praying and he says, "keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people." And when I read that, my mind could not help but go to another verse of Scripture. I want you to hold 1 Chronicles 29 and look back in your Bibles to Genesis 6 and verse 5. Genesis 6 and verse 5.
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Here you're going to see that same phrase again, only in a different context. Look in Genesis 6 and verse 5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Isn't that amazing? Now you have God seeing every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man in Genesis 6:5, that it's evil. And when you get to 1 Chronicles 29, verse 18, David is saying, "keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people."
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So let me just try to give you a little comparison and contrast. Genesis 6 and verse 5 is what man is by nature. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 18 is what man is by grace. Genesis 6 verse 5 is the work of man. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 18 is the work of God. Genesis 6 verse 5 is the work of man's depravity. 1 Chronicles 29 and verse 18 is the product of God's saving grace.
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So the question then that I have to ask in light of this is, what is in your heart? So notice if you would, comparing these two passages, you're only going to have depravity or grace. So the question is very legitimate, what do you have in your heart?
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Now stop and think about this. If a person has his heart filled with the depravity of darkness, then his actions, his conduct, and his behavior, all are going to be contrary to God, contrary to His law, and wicked and wrong. If, on the other hand, grace fills the heart of man, then his actions, his conduct, his behavior is going to be one of obedience, and one of submission to God, and one in trying to honor and glorify God. So the question has to be asked, what is in your heart? And the answer comes back this, your life is really and truly going to evidence what is in your heart.
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Now, look what he asks. Look in verse 18 again. He says, "...O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee." So we could ask this question, what was David's prayer request of God to keep in the hearts of his people? Well, we could say that basically it would be all of the good dispositions that God had worked in them. We could say it was their willingness to sacrifice. It was their willingness to cooperate and to work together. And David understood all of this was basically from God's grace. And so David is asking God to fix in them what you and I would call a holy temper, or a holy disposition, or a holy attitude. In other words, God, they've done this now, they've acted like this now, so Lord, continue to have this in their heart where they will continue to act like this.
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Now notice what else he said. He said, "O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people." That's one thing. And now he asked, "and prepare their heart unto thee." Thus David recognized that the great spirit of giving and graciousness and cooperation was a result of God preparing their heart.
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Now let me give you a scripture. Proverbs 16, verse 1. The Bible says, "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord."
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Now, I don't want to deal with the first half of that verse. The preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord. So here's what we must understand. If our hearts are ever prepared to pray, God prepared them. If our hearts are ever prepared to study, God prepared them. If our hearts are ever prepared to witness, God prepared them. If a sinner is ever prepared in his heart to come savingly to Jesus Christ, God prepared his heart. See, in John 6 and verse 37, our Lord said it like this, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." But in John 6 verse 44, just a few verses down, he says this, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." So, sinners may come, but they only come because of God's preparing their heart, because He says no man can, and can is a term of ability, no man can come except the Father which sent me draw him.
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So it's just that simple. Now, Scripture reveals to us that although the ability is God's in preparing our hearts, the responsibility is ours to seek Him to prepare our hearts. So let me give you a contrast. I want you to look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 12 and verse 14. 2 Chronicles 12 and verse 14. We're going to read about Rehoboam. Now, Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and the grandson of David. One author said, and I like what he said, Solomon only had one son, and he was a fool. Well, that's true. Solomon and all of his wives only had one son, and that was Rehoboam, and he turned out to be a fool. And here's why. In 2 Chronicles 12, verse 14, the Bible says this, and he, well go back to verse 13, "So king Rehoboam..." so we're talking about Rehoboam, now skip down to verse 14, "And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord." So why did Rehoboam do evil? He prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.
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Now, it's true, God must prepare our hearts. But we have a duty and an obligation and a responsibility to seek Him to prepare our hearts.
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Now, look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 27 and verse 6. That was King Rehoboam. Now we have King Jotham. Notice, if you would, 2 Chronicles 27 and verse 6. The Bible says, "So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God." Well, you can't prepare your ways unless your heart is prepared. So Rehoboam did not prepare his heart. Jotham did, and consequently he prepared his ways as well.
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So here are two men. One prepared his heart, one did not prepare his heart. Let me give you just a couple of illustrations. Ezra. You can read about Ezra in the book of Ezra. Ezra was a scribe and he understood his responsibility quite well. Because in Ezra chapter 7 and verse 10, the scripture says, "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." So, Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of God and then to teach the law of God. So, obviously, he did have that duty and that responsibility. Now, let me just tell you that our part, and I'm using that phrase very generally, our duty, I should say, our responsibility, in seeking God to prepare our heart is to rid ourselves of anything that is contrary to God. For instance, in 1 Samuel 7, verse 3, the Israelites were fearful because of the Philistines. And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, and he said this, "If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."
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So, now he said, if you're really going to turn to the Lord, what should you do? Put away your strange gods. Put away Ashtaroth, the false god, and serve him only. In other words, you have a duty, you have an obligation, you have a responsibility to obey him. Do it. That's what he said. So, the ability is God's, the responsibility is ours. I want you to look in your Bibles to Luke chapter 12 very quickly.
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Hold 1 Chronicles 29, we're coming right back there. But look in Luke chapter 12. And you see, our Lord said basically the same exact thing in Luke 12 and verse 47. He's making an application to the parable that He's teaching. And He says in verse 47 of Luke 12, "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes." So here's a servant that knew his Lord's will, but he did not prepare himself to do that will.
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In other words, he ignored the will of his master. So our part in preparation is to seek God first and foremost to prepare our heart and then turn from all of that that is contrary to God. It's kind of like the man who says, "Well, I'm going to live a life of sobriety from here forward." Well, if he's going to live a life of sobriety from here forward, he better stay away from the bars and the liquor stores. In other words, he has to prepare himself to live a life of sobriety.
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And so that's exactly what the scripture is teaching us. We must be prepared to do this. So we have the responsibility to seek the Lord, prepare our hearts, but we also have a responsibility to turn from everything that is contrary to God.
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Now, go back to verse 18 of 1 Chronicles 29. Watch this if you would. He says, "O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their hearts unto thee." Now, David said, Lord, there are some things that you need to keep in the hearts of your people and the people need to keep in their hearts. You must prepare their heart, that is true. But let me ask you this. What is it that David is requesting God to keep in the hearts of his people? He says, "keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of our people." This what?
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It's not just this spirit of willingness to sacrifice or this spirit of cooperation. Certainly that would be included. But there's something more specific. If you'll look in verse 17, here's what David said, "I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee." Now, there are two things that he tells us that we must keep in our heart. The first one is that thou triest the heart. That is, that God tries the heart. The word tries is the Hebrew word bakad, which means to examine.
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To try, to prove, to scrutinize, and to test. Did you know that God not only scrutinizes our hearts, but He will test our hearts? He examines our hearts in order that He may reveal it to us and to others as well. God doesn't need the knowledge for Himself because He's omniscient. He knows everything, but we do not. You remember the Bible says in Genesis 22 and verse 1, "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am." It came to pass that God did tempt Abraham. The word tempt there literally is to test or to try. God was not tempting Abraham to sin. He was testing him. He was examining him.
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If you will hold 1 Chronicles, but look in your Bibles to 1 Peter 1. Let me give you a very general illustration of the fact that yes, oftentimes our faith is tested and tried. Look if you would in 1 Peter 1 beginning there with verse 6. 1 Peter 1 verse 6. He says, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations," or manifold trials, or manifold tests. Verse 7, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." So he talks again here about the trial and about the testing of our faith.
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Now, the interesting thing is this. As you read through the Bible, you're going to find that God often tests us and tries us, and the examination is so thorough we do not necessarily understand when we just simply glance at the Bible. Let me just show you several verses, because there are a number of verses where you will find a little word, reins, R-E-I-N-S.
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And each time you see it, it is usually in the context of being scrutinized or examined. Hold 1 Chronicles 29. But go in your Bibles to Psalm 7. Psalm 7. And look, if you would please, at verse 9. One of my favorite verses. I especially love the first part of it. Psalm 7 verse 9. He says, "Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just:" And then he says this, "for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins." Wow! Now, are the reins different from the heart? Why would he say he trieth the hearts and the reins? Well, look in Psalm 26, verse 2. Psalm 26, verse 2.
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David is praying again, and he asks the Lord, "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart." So what is he talking about when he says, try my reins and my heart? Look in Psalm 73 and verse 21. Psalm 73, verse 21. Asaph says it like this. "Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins." Wow. Turn right over to Psalm 139, and look at verse 13. Psalm 139, verse 13. Tremendous psalm.
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We'll come back to it later. But look what David says.
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Psalm 139, verse 13, he says to the Lord, "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb." Wow. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 17. Jeremiah 17. I just want you to see just a smattering of these verses, because every time you read the Bible and you see the word reins, you should know exactly what he's talking about. And Jeremiah chapter 17 in verse 10, here's a very clear passage. The Lord is speaking and He says this, "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." So God says, I search the heart and I try the reins.
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Now, this word is not only used in the Old Testament, it's also used in the New Testament. And let me just quote it. In Revelation 2 in verse 23, God said, "And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works." Basically the same thing that he said in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 10. So what does it mean when it says that God tries the reins and the heart? All of the Old Testament verses, of course, in Hebrew, is the Hebrew word keliah, which literally means kidneys or reins. God searches the kidneys. Now, when it's translated as reins in the Bible, all that would mean is this: that God is searching the innermost recesses of the heart. It means that there is nothing escaping His knowledge or His notice. When you get to the New Testament, the Greek word is nephros, which of course refers then to kidneys or loins or the inmost feelings or faults.
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I took Greek for three years, and one of my favorite words in the Greek language was the word splognenzomai. Well, I had several favorite words. The word for wife is goonie. Sometimes I'd call her my goonie, but splognenzomai. Splognidzomite, listen to, Splognidzomite refers to your bowels. It's talking about loving with all of your heart. Actually, it's loving with all of your bowels, because the ancients would talk about this being the inside of man, the bowels. And so, I'd tell Alice sometimes, I love you with all my bowels. And she'd say, well, that's not as romantic as I love you with all my heart, you know. But it's the same principle. And so, it's the same thing with the word reins. God searches the reins of the hearts. He's not just searching the heart, generally speaking. It's not the organ, per se. It is the mind.
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It is the understanding and all the recesses that are found there. Here is what David is saying. This is the first truth that should never ever leave your mind. This is the first truth that should be established in your understanding, is that God will scrutinize, God will examine every area of your thought, every motive, every desire, every intent. And you will answer and give an account to him in the day of judgment. In fact, in Romans 2 and verse 16, Paul said, "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." Wow! God will judge the secrets of men. The Bible says in Proverbs 17 in verse 3, "The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts." So the Lord tests the heart, the Lord examines, the Lord scrutinizes the heart. So He tells us then, this is the one thing that should always remain in our mind, that God is examining our thoughts. You know, the interesting thing is there's a passage, I think it's in the book of Ezekiel, where God said, "I know your thoughts, every one of them, before they come into your mind."
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Wow. So God knows what you're going to be thinking before you ever think it. So there's actually nothing that can be hidden from the Lord. He is omniscient. That is, He is all-knowing. Everything is revealed to Him.
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Now, if you'll look back in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles 29 and verse 17, here's the second thing that David is praying for in verse 18 that will be maintained in your understanding, in your mind, in your heart. He says in verse 17, "I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee." The second thing that we must keep in our mind is that God has pleasure in uprightness.
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So let me ask you a question. Obviously, we are a pleasure-oriented people. We normally do that which pleases us. But has it ever entered into your mind that there are some things that please the Lord? And have you ever consciously asked the Lord, "Help me to do that today that is pleasing in thy sight." And have you ever set your heart or set your mind or set your understanding to do that which you knew was pleasing unto Him?
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Now, the word pleasure, when he said in verse 17, "thou hast pleasure in uprightness." The word pleasure here is the Hebrew word ratzah, which literally means that which is acceptable, that which is pleasing, that which is delightful, that which is enjoyable, that which is favorable, and that which is approvable. God has pleasure in that which favors Him and that which He approves, that which is delightful to Him.
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Now, let me show you. I want you to turn to two passages, both of them in Colossians. The first one, Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. I want you to see, first of all, the prayer that the Apostle Paul is making for these Colossian Christians. Look in Colossians 1 in verse 10. He said in verse 9, "We... cease not to pray for you," And then he's telling them some of the things that he prays and asks for them.
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Verse 10, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." That's just one. But notice, if you would, "that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." In other words, we're praying, says the Apostle Paul, that you might walk in such a way that delights and pleases our Heavenly Father. That you would walk in such a way that is acceptable and favorable unto Him.
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Now, the question would be, how do we do that? Well, look in Colossians 3 and verse 20. Here's a very interesting passage. Most of the time we quote it. Colossians 3 verse 20. "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." Wow. This is well pleasing unto the Lord. Now, wait a minute. The Lord hath pleasure in uprightness. The word for uprightness is Yosher, which means that which is straight, that which is upright, that which is right, and that which is due. So let me ask you a question. What is God's right? What is God's due? I can show you scriptures in the Bible where the Bible says, "give unto God the glory that is due unto his holy name." There are things that we owe God. It is the fact that it is His due. Now, look back at verse 20 of Colossians 3. "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."
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So let me put it to you like this. If God looks at earthly parents, and their earthly children, and He says to these children, "I want you to obey your earthly parents. And as long as you obey your earthly parents, that is well-pleasing in My eyes. That is My delight. That is favorable unto Me. That is acceptable unto Me. I want it. That is My due from you as children that you obey your parents." Now, wait a minute. If God is so well-pleased if our physical children obey their physical parents, how much more is He well-pleased if His spiritual children obey their Heavenly Father? Do you follow me? If God can be well-pleased with children obeying their earthly parents, then obviously God is well pleased when we obey Him as His children.
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Now, go back to Colossians chapter 1. Look in Colossians chapter 1. He says, verse 10, "that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." How do you walk worthy of the Lord? Then he explains, "being fruitful in every good work." How are you fruitful in every good work? And the answer is, by being obedient. And then he adds this, "and increasing in the knowledge of God." How do you increase in the knowledge of God? And the answer is, by being obedient. Our Lord is telling us very plainly that it is obedience that pleases Him.
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I cannot please Him without walking worthily. I cannot please Him without obedience. I cannot please Him without studying and increasing in the knowledge of God.
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Now, go back in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles 29 and look at verse 17. Watch this again. This is astounding. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 17. David said, "I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart." That's one truth. "And hast pleasure in uprightness." That's the second truth. Now look what he says. Remember now, he's just given all of this money to the temple, the building of the temple, and he says this, "As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart," that is, in the straightness of my heart, "I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee." So, David is actually saying, here are two things that we need to remember. That God tries the heart, and God has pleasure in uprightness.
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And then he said, "as for me," in other words, God, you're the sovereign God of heaven and earth. You are the omniscient God. As for me, under the scrutiny of your eye, under the examination that you give, as for me, I've given all of this in uprightness. That is, I've done this for your pleasure, for your honor, for your glory.
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Now, I want to tell you something, folks. That is a tremendous, tremendous undertaking. When you can ask God to search your heart, and you can truthfully say before the omniscient God of heaven and earth, "I've done this in uprightness according to your word for your honor and your glory, you can search me."
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Now I'm going to tell you why it's so important. I've preached for over 52 years. There have been times in my life that I genuinely thought I was serving the Lord. The Lord opened my eyes and I was serving myself. Or I thought I would be doing something for God's honor and God's glory.
#62 | 45:48 to 46:10 | cleaned
Next thing I know, I understand I'm doing it out of the pride of my own heart or for the praise and recognition of man and not for God at all. And I got news for you. God can indeed slap us down and humble us. And when He opens our eyes and lets us see how miserable we really are, even as Christians. Wow. It's an eye opener. And so David is praying in verse 18, "Lord, you keep these things in the hearts of your people. You keep them mindful that you are the God that tries the heart and that you have pleasure in uprightness."
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Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 139. I want to show you how thorough David is. Psalm 139, and look if you would please at verses 23 and 24. Psalm 139, verse 23, verse 24. Look what David asked. "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." So David is asking God to search him, to test him, to try him and reveal to him any wicked way in him so that he might turn from it and repent. And then God would lead him in the way everlasting.
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I often tell people there are two prayer requests that you need to pray, and you need to pray them one after the other. The first one is, "Lord, show me myself." If God only showed us ourselves, our pride, our arrogance, our sin, our rebellion, our wickedness, our disobedience, even as believers. If He really showed us that, He would slap us down to the ground so quickly and make your head swim.
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We cannot, what does the Bible say in Jeremiah 17, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." We don't know our hearts. Not the way God does. But the second one we see is this, "Lord, show me Thyself." Because once God shows us ourselves, and then if God reveals Himself, we know that all the answers to our problems are in Him. We see His holiness, His purity, His grace, His mercy, His goodness, His kindness, His love. So we pray, "Lord, show us ourselves," but we also pray, "Lord, show us Thyself." And you know what David said in Psalm 51 in verse 6? You remember, that's the passage where David was confessing his sin.
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He said this, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom." God desires truth in the inward parts. So we need to be truthful with God. We aren't accurate with God, because God already knows. I tell people, I get tickled many times, people say, "you know, sometimes I just get so aggravated, sometimes I get so angry, sometimes I get so mad, and I just don't even want to pray." And I said, "you know what you should do?" "What?" "Well, you should go ahead and pray and tell God about your frustration and your anger, because He already knows it. And just be honest with Him and ask Him to help you deal with it." It's just that simple.
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Let me show you a passage. I want you to look in Isaiah 33. Isaiah 33. Then I want to make some application. Look, if you would, Isaiah 33, and let's begin with verse 14. Isaiah 33, verse 14. Look at what he says. "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites." Then he asked these questions. "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" Wow.
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And then he begins to talk about the obedient life. He says, "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off."
#69 | 50:59 to 51:35 | cleaned
When you examine verse fifteen, that verse just simply deals with straight out obedience in every area of life. God says you want your munitions to be sure, you want your bread to be sure, you want your water to be sure, you want to behold the king in all of his beauty. Obedience is the answer. Now, let me make just a couple of applications.
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The first one is this. It is indeed a great satisfaction and comfort to a godly man to know that God examines the heart and the reins and that God knows the motives and the desires and the intents of the heart. How can I say that? Well, there have been times in my life when I've really wanted to help people. Times in my life, I've really tried to do certain things for the benefit of others. And guess what?
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It blew up in my face. It turned out wrong. I did not intend for it to turn out wrong. I did not desire it to turn out wrong. I did not want it to turn out wrong. But it did. It was something beyond my control and out of my hands. And all I can do is sit back and say, "Lord, you do know my heart. You do know my intent. You do know my motives and my desire. You know everything."
#72 | 52:40 to 53:14 | cleaned
And that's the only consolation that you have. And I tell people the two hardest truths I ever learned in my life in the ministry. Number one, you can't help everybody. And number two, sometimes those you can help are your own family and your own friends. And you try, but it doesn't work out. But God knows your heart, and God knows the motives. It's just like Peter. You remember Peter denied the Lord three times? When you get to John 21 three times, our Lord asks Peter, "Lovest thou me more than these?" Finally, the third time our Lord asks Peter the same question. "Lovest thou me more than these?" Peter, being grieved, said, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." What was he doing?
#73 | 53:17 to 54:18 | cleaned
He was appealing to our Lord's omniscience. He said, "Yes, Lord, I stumbled. I failed. I denied You three times. And yet, Lord, I know that was wicked and wrong and disobedient, but yet, Lord, You know that I love You." So he's falling back on the omniscience of God. You see, it was Peter's pride and arrogance who said, "though all men forsake thee and deny thee, yet will not I." And our Lord said, "Really? Before the cock crows twice, you'll deny me three times." And Peter had to come back and say, "Lord, I was wrong. You were right. But Lord, I love you. And you know that I love you."
#74 | 54:18 to 55:04 | cleaned
So, let me put it to you like this. This truth terrifies the wicked. When they stop and try to entertain the thought that God is going to hold them accountable, not just for their actions, not just for their conduct, not just for their behavior, but for their wrong motives, wrong desires, wrong intents, and He knows every one of them. So what is a comfort and consolation to the child of God is consternation and terror to the enemies of God. That we know that God tries the heart and that God has pleasure in uprightness. So here's the thing. If we desire to please God, then we must learn to walk in uprightness. Wow. We must learn to consciously say, "Lord, I know You're examining my heart. I know You're trying my heart. I know You're scrutinizing my heart. And Lord, to the best of my ability, to the best of my knowledge, by Your infinite grace and mercy, I want to please Thee. I want to honor Thee. I want to obey Thee. I want to worship Thee."
#75 | 55:05 to 56:32 | cleaned
Grace in my heart and not depravity. And you have to remember this. Your actions will always reveal what is in your heart. Always. Always. So the question is not what is in your wallet. It's what is in your heart. Because out of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And out of the heart are the issues of life. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
#76 | 56:34 to 57:15 | cleaned
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, Father, that You are indeed the God who tries our hearts, tests us, examines us, scrutinizes us. And we thank you, Father, that you have pleasure in uprightness, and we ask that you would help us to walk uprightly and to please Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T19:04:28Z

What Do You Have in Your Heart?

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver contrasts the depravity of the natural heart (Genesis 6:5) with the grace-filled heart (1 Chronicles 29:18), emphasizing that all actions flow from the heart. He expounds David's prayer that God would keep two truths ever in the imagination of His people's hearts: that God tries the heart and has pleasure in uprightness. The message calls believers to seek God to prepare their hearts, turn from evil, and walk in obedience, knowing that God examines every thought and motive.

Opening

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 29:17-20

"I know also, my God, that Thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me in the uprightness of mine heart, I have willingly offered all these things, and now have I seen with joy thy people which are present here to offer willingly unto thee. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee. And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision."

And David said to all the congregation,

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 29:17-20

"Now bless the Lord your God."

And all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord, and the king.

Introduction: The Heart as the Fountain of Life

The Heart Defined and Its Centrality

Scripture Reading — Luke 6:45

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

Scripture Reading — Luke 6:45

"for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

So inevitably, invariably, whatever is in your heart is ultimately going to come out. So if you'll look back at Matthew 15, our Lord is talking to His disciples.

In fact, they ask him a question, and he answers that question very clearly. Matthew 15, beginning there in verse 15.

Scripture Reading — Matthew 15:15-20

"Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable."

In other words, teach us exactly what you're trying to say. And Jesus said,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 15:15-20

"Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man."

Context: David's Offering and Prayer for the Temple

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 29:2-5

"Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, which was the finest gold, by the way, three thousand talents, he said, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal: The gold for things of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artificers.

Contrast: Depravity vs. Grace in the Heart

Now one of the things that caught my eye as I was reading through 1 Chronicles recently was this verse, verse 18. And he said, David is praying and he says,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 6:5

"keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people."

Scripture Reading — Genesis 6:5

"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Isn't that amazing? Now you have God seeing every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man in Genesis 6:5, that it's evil. And when you get to 1 Chronicles 29, verse 18, David is saying,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 6:5

"keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people."

God's Preparation of the Heart and Human Responsibility

Scripture Reading — John 6:37, 44

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 27:6

"So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God."

Well, you can't prepare your ways unless your heart is prepared. So Rehoboam did not prepare his heart. Jotham did, and consequently he prepared his ways as well.

Scripture Reading — Ezra 7:10

"For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments."

Scripture Reading — Luke 12:47

"And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes."

First Truth to Keep: God Tries the Heart

Scripture Reading — Psalm 7:9

"Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just:"

And then he says this,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 7:9

"for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins."

Wow! Now, are the reins different from the heart? Why would he say he trieth the hearts and the reins? Well, look in Psalm 26, verse 2. Psalm 26, verse 2.

We'll come back to it later. But look what David says.

Second Truth to Keep: God Has Pleasure in Uprightness

I cannot please Him without walking worthily. I cannot please Him without obedience. I cannot please Him without studying and increasing in the knowledge of God.

David's Example and Prayer for Self-Examination

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:23-24

I often tell people there are two prayer requests that you need to pray, and you need to pray them one after the other. The first one is, "Lord, show me myself." If God only showed us ourselves, our pride, our arrogance, our sin, our rebellion, our wickedness, our disobedience, even as believers. If He really showed us that, He would slap us down to the ground so quickly and make your head swim. We cannot, what does the Bible say in Jeremiah 17, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." We don't know our hearts. Not the way God does. But the second one we see is this, "Lord, show me Thyself." Because once God shows us ourselves, and then if God reveals Himself, we know that all the answers to our problems are in Him. We see His holiness, His purity, His grace, His mercy, His goodness, His kindness, His love. So we pray, "Lord, show us ourselves," but we also pray, "Lord, show us Thyself." And you know what David said in Psalm 51 in verse 6? You remember, that's the passage where David was confessing his sin.

Application: Comfort for the Godly, Terror for the Wicked

What Do You Have in Your Heart?

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	612171319105
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Genesis: Early World, Judgment, and the Nations
Genre	Sermon
Date	2017-06-04
Dictation Name
Book	Book 075: Genesis — Chapter 30
Source Timed Segments	77

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Heart as the Fountain of Life: Weaver introduces the central question—what is in your heart?—contrasting it with a credit card commercial. He asserts that the heart is the most important part of our being, from which all actions flow.
The Heart Defined and Its Centrality: The heart is primarily the mind and understanding. Proverbs 4:23 and 23:7 teach that everything flows from the heart, and Jesus confirms in Luke 6:45 and Matthew 15:18-19 that evil actions begin with evil thoughts from the heart.
Context: David's Offering and Prayer for the Temple: David and the people gave willingly for the temple. David acknowledges that all they gave came from God's hand. His prayer in 1 Chronicles 29:18 asks God to keep certain truths in the hearts of His people.
Contrast: Depravity vs. Grace in the Heart: Genesis 6:5 shows the natural heart's imagination is only evil continually, while 1 Chronicles 29:18 shows the grace-filled heart. The question 'What is in your heart?' reveals whether depravity or grace rules.
God's Preparation of the Heart and Human Responsibility: David prayed for God to prepare the hearts of His people. Proverbs 16:1 teaches that heart preparation is from the Lord, yet humans have a duty to seek Him and turn from evil, as seen in Rehoboam and Jotham.
First Truth to Keep: God Tries the Heart: David's first request is that God's people remember He examines the heart. The Hebrew word 'tries' means to scrutinize and test. God tests hearts to reveal them, as with Abraham, and searches the innermost recesses (reins).
Second Truth to Keep: God Has Pleasure in Uprightness: The second truth is that God delights in uprightness (straightness, rightness). Pleasing God involves walking worthily, being obedient, and increasing in knowledge, as seen in Colossians 1:10 and 3:20.
David's Example and Prayer for Self-Examination: David offered willingly in uprightness, inviting God's scrutiny. He prayed in Psalm 139:23-24 for God to search him and reveal any wicked way. Believers should pray 'Lord, show me myself' and 'Lord, show me Thyself.'
Application: Comfort for the Godly, Terror for the Wicked: Knowing God examines the heart comforts believers when their good intentions fail, as Peter appealed to Christ's omniscience. For the wicked, this truth is terrifying because God judges motives. Obedience is the path to pleasing God.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

The heart determines all conduct

Since actions flow from the heart, a depraved heart produces evil, while a grace-filled heart produces obedience. The question 'What is in your heart?' is therefore crucial.

Weaver argues, 'If a person has his heart filled with the depravity of darkness, then his actions... are going to be contrary to God... If... grace fills the heart... his actions... is going to be one of obedience.'

God's examination of the heart should be a constant awareness

David prayed that God's people would forever remember that God tries the heart. This awareness should shape motives and actions, as God will judge the secrets of men.

Weaver says, 'This is the first truth that should never ever leave your mind... God will scrutinize, God will examine every area of your thought, every motive, every desire, every intent.'

Pleasing God requires conscious obedience

God has pleasure in uprightness, meaning He delights in straight, right, obedient living. Believers should actively seek to do what pleases Him, as children obeying their Father.

Weaver asks, 'Have you ever consciously asked the Lord, "Help me to do that today that is pleasing in thy sight"?' He cites Colossians 3:20 to show that obedience pleases God.

Human effort is required alongside divine enablement

Though God prepares hearts, individuals must seek Him, put away idols, and turn from sin. Rehoboam's failure and Jotham's success illustrate the consequences of neglecting or fulfilling this duty.

Weaver states, 'We have a duty and an obligation and a responsibility to seek Him to prepare our hearts.' He cites 1 Samuel 7:3: 'put away the strange gods... and prepare your hearts unto the Lord.'

God's omniscience comforts believers when intentions are misunderstood

When good intentions lead to bad outcomes, believers can rest in God's knowledge of their hearts. Peter appealed to Christ's omniscience after his denial, and believers can do the same.

Weaver says, 'All I can do is sit back and say, "Lord, you do know my heart. You do know my intent..."' He references Peter in John 21: 'Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.'

Scripture References

1 Chronicles 29:17-20: David's prayer acknowledging God tries the heart and has pleasure in uprightness; he asks God to keep this in the hearts of His people.
Proverbs 4:23: Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Weaver calls this one of the most important messages for Christians.
Proverbs 23:7: As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Used to show that everything flows from the heart.
Luke 6:45: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good... for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Matthew 15:15-20: Jesus teaches that what proceeds from the heart—evil thoughts, murders, adulteries—defiles a man. Evil acts begin with evil thoughts.
1 Chronicles 26:27: Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord. Context for the wealth given to the temple.
1 Chronicles 29:2-5: David's personal offering of gold and silver for the temple, over and above all he had prepared.
1 Chronicles 29:6-9: The chief rulers and people offered willingly with a perfect heart, and David rejoiced.
1 Chronicles 29:16: David acknowledges all they have comes from God's hand and is His own.
Genesis 6:5: God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually. Contrasted with 1 Chronicles 29:18.
Proverbs 16:1: The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord. Used to show God prepares hearts.
John 6:37, 44: All that the Father gives will come to Christ; no man can come unless the Father draws him. Illustrates God's preparation of the heart for salvation.
2 Chronicles 12:14: Rehoboam did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. Example of neglecting heart preparation.
2 Chronicles 27:6: Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord. Example of heart preparation leading to right ways.
Ezra 7:10: Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach. Example of personal responsibility in preparation.
1 Samuel 7:3: Samuel tells Israel to put away strange gods and prepare their hearts unto the Lord. Shows the duty to turn from evil.
Luke 12:47: The servant who knew his lord's will and prepared not himself shall be beaten. Illustrates failure to prepare.
Psalm 7:9: The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. Shows God's thorough examination.
Psalm 139:23-24: David's prayer for God to search him, try him, and reveal any wicked way. Model for self-examination.
Colossians 1:10: Prayer that believers walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful and increasing in knowledge. Defines pleasing God.

Historical References

David's preparation for the temple: David and the people gave vast wealth from personal treasuries and spoils of battle to build the temple. David's prayer in 1 Chronicles 29 occurs in this context.
Rehoboam, son of Solomon: Rehoboam did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord. Weaver notes Solomon's only son was a fool.
Jotham, king of Judah: Jotham became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord, implying heart preparation.
Ezra the scribe: Ezra prepared his heart to seek, do, and teach God's law, exemplifying personal responsibility in heart preparation.
Peter's denial and restoration: Peter denied Christ three times but later appealed to Christ's omniscience: 'Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.'

Important Quotes

The heart is the fountain from which everything pours. Our actions, our conduct, our behavior, everything just flows right out of the heart.

Summarizes the central premise that all outward behavior originates in the heart, making heart-condition paramount.

You cannot commit an evil act without first having an evil thought. Everything begins with a thought.

Explains Jesus' teaching in Matthew 15 that evil proceeds from the heart, emphasizing the primacy of inner thoughts.

Genesis 6 and verse 5 is what man is by nature. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 18 is what man is by grace.

Crisp contrast between the depraved natural heart and the grace-transformed heart, framing the sermon's main question.

The ability is God's, the responsibility is ours.

Concise statement of the balance between divine sovereignty in heart preparation and human duty to seek and obey.

Your actions will always reveal what is in your heart. Always. Always.

Reinforces the inescapable link between heart condition and outward conduct, urging honest self-assessment.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does understanding the heart as the 'fountain' of all actions change the way you evaluate your own behavior and thoughts?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that everything flows from the heart, citing Proverbs 4:23 and Matthew 15:19.

[Question]

In what ways have you experienced the tension between God's preparation of your heart and your own responsibility to seek Him?

[Context]

Weaver discusses Proverbs 16:1 and the examples of Rehoboam and Jotham, stressing both divine enablement and human duty.

[Question]

What practical steps can you take to 'prepare your heart' to seek the Lord, as Ezra did?

[Context]

Weaver cites Ezra 7:10 and 1 Samuel 7:3, urging believers to put away idols and turn from evil.

[Question]

How does the truth that God tries the heart and reins (innermost recesses) affect your daily thought life and motives?

[Context]

Weaver explains the Hebrew word 'tries' and the concept of 'reins,' showing God's exhaustive knowledge.

[Question]

What does it mean to you that God 'has pleasure in uprightness'? How can you consciously seek to please Him in your daily walk?

[Context]

Weaver defines uprightness as straightness and rightness, and cites Colossians 1:10 and 3:20 on pleasing God through obedience.

[Question]

When have you found comfort in God's omniscience, knowing He understands your heart even when others misunderstand your actions?

[Context]

Weaver shares personal experiences and references Peter's appeal to Christ's knowledge in John 21.

[Question]

Why is it important to pray both 'Lord, show me myself' and 'Lord, show me Thyself'? How might these prayers transform a believer?

[Context]

Weaver recommends these two prayers for self-examination and seeing God's holiness, leading to repentance and growth.

Applications

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