The Heart Is Deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9)

She he does yell a lot. Let me go here and because there's a lot of I should be doing that I don't. All right. So, we're on pin. All right. So, yesterday we talked about we're in Proverbs in chapter 4 and and 23 and uh wow. I guess I zoomed in the camera. I feel like I should sit back a little bit. Wow. Scare me. Uh we talked about Proverbs 4 and 23 and uh and that verse was above all else guard your heart for everything that you do flows from it. And I said to you yesterday that there's a scripture that kind of sounds on the surface like it competes with that or or that it collides.

And that's Jeremiah. So we're going to go old school. So that's Jeremiah 17:9. And it says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?" So let's unpack that for a second. So the heart is deceitful. Um uh it it doesn't it if we are left to our own devices and we don't have the word and the scripture and church and accountability and the things that we need in our life um we we all t and please someone correct me at the end if I'm wrong but we all can kind of tend to wander toward the wrong direction. We kind of get off the path.

And so what Jeremiah is saying here is it is deceitful above all things. that it we we we can't trust it. We were born in a sinful nature. He says it's desperately sick. Uh the there's a Hebrew word for that and I wrote it I typed it out because I would never remember it and it's pronounced anush and and that means incurable. So that's that's a wound that will never close. It's incurable humanly speaking. And so when he says, "And desperately sick," he's saying it's a it's something that never stops. It's a wound that never closes. It's something that is always going to it's always going to be a a a an area that we have to consider.

And that's the reason why these two verses go so good together. They're not actually fighting each other. One is the diagnosis and the other is the treatment plan. So the diagnosis is Jeremiah 17:9. And Jeremiah says, "The heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately sick. Who can who can understand it? Who can trust it?" And Proverbs says, "Above all else, guard your heart." So well, how how how is that the diagnosis in the treatment plan? Well, uh, in Jeremiah and I'm sorry, in Proverbs, it talks about guarding your heart. You're going to you're going to you're going to post a century at the gate.

We Why do we post a century there? Why do we why do we why do we put someone under the guard? Is it because we trust the gate? No, it's because we do not trust the gate. Because we don't trust what can happen. And so we we have to put something there that's going to protect it. And that's why we guard it. And so what what Jeremiah is saying in this verse is that listen, this thing right here left to its own device in its own accord can really leave us off off course. Right? We have human flesh, human desires, things that are contrary to what the spirit wants.

Enmity with uh uh friends with with man is enmity with God. And so this is the thing that we have to guard. And we have to do what I can't remember who it was that that threw it out there yesterday. I think it was Chris and I don't know if he's on today or not, but he talked about how do how how does he do that? He guards his eyes and his ears. He's trying to keep these the bad element. He wants to keep it away because he he knows that's his trigger. He knows the enemy knows that. So he he guards himself by not doing these things. We live in a society where what what does society tell us?

Follow your heart. No. Jeremiah says, "No, don't do that. That's the bad thing, right? Your heart can be deceitful above all else." And that we have to guard that. And then and then how do we do that? We we can't uh we can't trust it on our own. And so we have to have external standards for that. We have to we have to we have to do other things. And what are those other things? We have the word. We have wise counsel. We have uh we have courageous. We have beautiful. We have accountability groups. We have freedom. We have these things inside of our church.

We have we have the people that we go to. We have our wife. We have our our spouse. We have our our our mother, our father. We have people that we can go to that can hold us accountable because that's where we need to be because Jeremiah has said the heart is deceitful above all else. And so these two verses go hand in hand together. So what Jeremiah is saying is so let's diagnose the problem. The problem is we were born into sin. And that doesn't go Christ died on the cross to cover our sins. It doesn't mean we wake up tomorrow and we're now not subject to a sinful nature.

we are. But if that happens and we and we've we've accepted Christ in our lives, we know that he's going to wash those over with his blood and tomorrow we're going to wake up and we're renewed. But it doesn't mean that we still don't battle the the flesh for today. And so Jeremiah is pointing that out. And what Proverbs is saying, so we got to guard this thing now. We got to we got to we got to post some centuries here at the gate. We got to we got to do the things that we got to do to make sure that the enemy doesn't get in because he's he's not just trying to get in.

He he he we were born in that sinful nature. It's already there and so we have to put we have to put people in place and things in place to guard that for us so that we are safe and so that we are protected. So these two verses don't collide. They work hand in hand. One is the diagnosis Jeremiah telling us what our problem is and Proverbs Solomon a thousand years later saying here's how we here's how we here's how we cope with it. Here's how we work with it. There's only one person who has the ability to cure this and that's Christ. And and he came after this fact to die on a cross for all of our sins.

But we we still need to guard that because we're still flesh. We haven't we haven't gotten our new body yet. We aren't in heaven. Uh we're still subject to the things that the world throws at us. Which is why Chris greatly yesterday said, "I watch what I I watch and I and I I I I I have uh I'm careful what I listen to because those things have a way of getting in." All right. So, thoughts, comments, suggestions. Yeah. I'll um and good morning everyone. I just want to say everyone also I apologize the last few days including one day last week I did not attend this Bible study but I want to apologize to the group and to been apologizing to God there.

I just want to stay committed. Nonetheless, um it's taken me forever. I mean, uh it's a lifelong journey, but what we're talking about guarding the heart and that it's incurable in the sense of we're we're creatures that covet. covetous. I think that's a word. But with the things that we covet, whether materialistic, whether things we look at, things we hear, things we want, the how society conditions us for more and more and more and more status this, status that or have this this tangible thing, this car, this new thing. I could say the expression cliche less is more, but it's not just less is more.

It's I think maybe if we can count on one or two hands the people that matter the most to us the things that really are wholesome and pure to us then I think we we're that much more we're above all that sinful conditioning that societal pressure of oh you need this you need this and therefore regarding our heart as you're trying to explain because so much that we think at first glance is oh that's good for me in reality it's just it's eating us here over time. And those things can be as Go ahead. I'm sorry. But it wasn't me. I don't know. I don't know if that was an echo or not.

Was that someone else? I don't know. Maybe it was an echo. Well, all all I was going to say was it it it could be it could be work. And that's the struggle that I have. I have to battle that, right? It has to be the hours that I put in that that this isn't who I this isn't define me. I I'm a I'm a a Christ follower first. I'm a husband second, I'm a father third, and somewhere down the road, I'm a business owner. And I I have to guard myself against that. I have to remember that, you know, I don't have to be here till 7 o'clock at night, that I am allowed to go home.

Uh that that uh that, you know, it um that we have to make we just have to make sure that we're guarding where we're at. We have to remember in the in that order, right? Who's number one? That's God. That's who we have to put first. Then second is our spouse. And then third is our kids. And then fourth might be work. Maybe it's your relationship with your parents. I I don't know. Um but we have to make sure and I'm only speaking to what Dave was talking about. You know, the priority in your life. And so that if you I think what Dave was talking about is if you shrink that in it, it may make the guarding part maybe a little not easier but simpler, right?

Still difficult thing to do, but it might make that process simpler. All right. Anybody else? We got we got the minute. Okay. So again, kind of wrapping this thing up then. It's, you know, we we we the heart is not your necessarily your emotions. It's the it's the it's the it's your brain. It's the control center of who you are. It speaks to everything that you do and know and want and feel and touch and taste and and everything. And and God says in Jeremiah the prophet says that that this is is wicked. Um and one thing that I didn't cover if you if you read um Jeremiah and you're in 179, the three or four verses before 179 talks about not trusting the flesh, it talks about just trusting in God.

And so he ends that little section with why? Because the heart is deceitful. So he did, this is some scripture that Jeremiah decided to blurt out, right? So he was talking about trusting God with all that you do. And then he ends with why because the heart is deceitful above all things. All right. So let's uh let's let's uh if there's no one else, 30 seconds. We'll bow our heads. We'll go to prayer. All right. Let's pray it out. Father, thank you so much for today and who you are. Thank you for allowing these these this text which is hundreds or a thousand years apart, Father, for um for for walking in sync with one another.

Just one more place in the word where apologetics holds true. Where the Bible doesn't ever contradict itself. It it works in complete harmony. And why? Because these were not man's words, but these were this was you, Father. This was you inspiring the word that was written. And you're perfect. And so we know that we can trust it. And so, Father, we just thank you for that. We thank you to let us know that that this is something that we have to continually guard. It's not a, "Oh, I'm all set. I'm done. I'm good." Um, but that it it uh it needs that constant attention.

And and thank you for pointing that out. Thank you for giving it to us in two separate areas of the of the word. Father, that the next step is for us. And we pray that you will give us the strength, the courage, the wisdom, the discernment to choose those close friends, to choose those people that we can that we can trust with our heart, that they'll hold us accountable, that they won't be afraid to tell us when we're missing it, and they'll they'll have no problem standing up and and pointing it out because that's what we need. That's why we that's why we put them as the guard.

That's why we put them there is to get that counsel from them. And so, Father, give us the courage not just to put them there, but the wisdom to listen to them uh when they're when they're pointing out something that maybe they see that that we don't. Um because that we know, Lord, is crucial. So, Father, thank you for today. Uh watch over us. Uh allow us to continue to spread your word. Allow us to remember to think about those people when our feet hit the ground. um that our salvation is secure, that our election is on point, but that there are people that are in our path that we know that maybe it's not, Father, and allow us the courage and the strength to talk to them about that.

Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for waking us up. We thank you for your son that he does wash over our mistakes every day. That every day we wake up, all those graces and mercies are renewed. We love you. We praise you. And as always, in your son Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right. See you guys tomorrow. Have a blessed day. Thank you. Bye guys. Thanks. Bless one. Thank you.

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly edited for readability.