A. Are you willing to pray with the words of David from
Psalm 139:23-24? Do you want God to know
what is in your heart? David said,
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
B. Whether or not you are willing to make this request to
God, He does know your heart and every thought that passes through it. Therefore, you must learn to see yourself as
God sees you in order to know the truth about yourself and to be led "in the
everlasting way."
II. GOD KNOWS YOUR HEART
A. It is a clear fact of Scripture that God knows the
hearts of everyone.
1.
In many passages
to follow in this lesson, we will see that God is indeed the one "who knows the
heart" (Acts 15:8).
2.
Consider how
Jeremiah acknowledged God's knowledge of his heart in Jeremiah 12:3, when he
said, "But You know me, O LORD; You see me; and You examine my heart's attitude
toward You."
3.
The fact of God's
knowledge of all things including the heart is emphatically stated in Hebrews
4:12-13:
For the word of God is living and active and sharper
than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and
spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart. And there is no
creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the
eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
B. Not only does the Father know your heart, but so does
the Son and the Spirit of God.
1.
In John 2:24-25,
the Bible says that Jesus did not entrust Himself to men "for He knew all men,
and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself
knew what was in man." Thus, Jesus had
knowledge of men's hearts even while He was on earth.
2.
In His message to
the church at Thyatira, Christ said from heaven, "I am He who searches the
minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds"
(Rev. 2:23).
3.
Likewise, the
Spirit of God "searches all things, even the depths of God" (1Cor. 2:10). He also searches the depths of man and
intercedes for us (the saints) in prayer as revealed in Romans 8:26-27:
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes
for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows
what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according
to the will of God.
C. Because God knows your heart, it is impossible for you
to deceive Him.
1.
Men often succeed
in deceiving other men and even themselves, but God knows their hearts and
cannot be deceived. For this reason,
Galatians 6:7 warns, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man
sows, this he will also reap."
2.
Detecting a
deceitful heart is difficult for men, but time and time again the Scriptures
show that God sees the heart clearly.
a. In Jeremiah 17:9-10, God said, "The heart is more
deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the
mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results
of his deeds."
b. For those who would attempt to secretly give their
hearts to someone or something other than God, Psalm 44:20-21 asks, "If we had
forgotten the name of our God or extended our hands to a strange god, would not
God find this out? For He knows the
secrets of the heart."
c.
In Luke 16:15,
Jesus revealed God's knowledge of man's heart when He said to the money-loving
Pharisees, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God
knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in
the sight of God."
III. LEARN TO SEE YOURSELF AS GOD SEES YOU
A. Man judges by appearances, but we must learn to look
beyond these and see ourselves as God sees us.
1.
Consider the
lesson learned by Samuel when he attempted to identify Israel's king by
appearance.
a. Samuel went to anoint a new king from the sons of
Jesse. When he saw Eliab, he thought,
"Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him" (1Sam. 16:6).
b. However, God said to Samuel, "Do not look at his
appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for
God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD
looks at the heart" (1Sam. 16:7).
2.
Many times, the
Lord Jesus warned us about giving the mere appearance and pretense of religion.
a. Over and over, Jesus warned against imitating the
hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who appeared to be righteous, but inwardly they
were "full of hypocrisy and lawlessness" (Matt. 23:28).
b. In Matthew 6:1-18, Jesus warned against practicing
religion "to be noticed" (v. 1) or "to be seen" (vv. 5, 16) by men. Such empty appearances are meaningless.
3.
Therefore, we
must understand that simply appearing to be righteous and looking religious to
others will not suffice in the eyes of God.
Our hearts must be truly right to please Him.
B. When we learn to see ourselves as God sees us, we will
also learn to seek Him with all of our hearts.
1.
David, who was a
man after God's heart (Acts 13:22) and the one whom God chose to be king by
looking at his heart (1Sam. 16:7), gave some advice to his son Solomon that we all
could use.
a. In 1Chronicles 28, David called Solomon to build the
temple, and in verse 9 he said,
"As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your
father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD
searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but
if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever."
b. These words give the assurance that God knows the
hearts that are truly seeking Him and He gives them success. It is just as Jesus said, "Ask, and it will
be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you"
(Matt. 7:7).
c.
These words also
reveal that there is an impenetrable barrier to those who have forsaken God. No one will please God who does not
faithfully seek for Him (Heb. 11:6).
2.
To learn this
lesson is to keep the greatest commandment, which Jesus declared as this: "You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37-38).
C. By seeing ourselves in heart as God sees us, we will
find confidence before Him.
1.
After encouraging
Christians to have a sincere, active love for one another, John gave this
message concerning the heart and confidence in 1John 3:19-22:
We will know by this [love of the brethren -- v. 18]
that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our
heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we
have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we
keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
2.
The confidence we
can have before God is:
a. Knowing the truth of God's word and the truth about
ourselves;
b. Knowing that our hearts are right with God because He
has cleansed us from all unrighteousness through Christ (1John 1:9);
c.
Knowing that He
hears and answers our prayers as we seek after Him with our hearts by keeping
His commandments and doing "the things that are pleasing in His sight."
IV. CONCLUSION
A. Indeed, God knows our hearts and esteems us
accordingly. False, outward appearances
will not deceive Him, for He sees the inward content of the heart.
B. Therefore, let us love and seek for God with all of
our hearts. In the words of David from
Psalm 139:23-24, let us call on God to search our hearts, expose our faults to
us, and lead us in the everlasting way.
