Would you turn to 1 Kings 8.
I'd like to read the 61st verse of 1 Kings 8. Let your heart, therefore, be
perfect with the Lord our God to walk in His statutes and to
keep His commandments as at this day. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come into your presence in Christ's name. And we ask in
his name that you would be pleased. To meet with us. Lord, you said in your word where
two or three are gathered together in your name there you are in
their midst and Lord, how we desperately need your presence.
Deliver us from hearing the words of a man, but let us hear from
thee the living God. We ask that Christ might be exalted,
that we might be enabled to look to him only. Lord, we confess
our sins, we pray for forgiveness and cleansing. Lord, our sin
is ever before us, but how we thank you for the blood of thy
son that cleanses us from all sin. Be with all your people
wherever they meet together, in Christ's name we pray, amen. Let your heart therefore be perfect
with the Lord our God to walk in his statutes and to keep his
commandments as this day. Let your heart be perfect. Solomon said in Proverbs chapter
four, verse 23, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of
it Out of the heart are the issues of life. Now your heart, my heart,
that's who we really are. That's who we really are. He tells Israel, make sure your
heart is perfect. Now one of the things about Solomon,
he tells Israel this. You make sure you walk with a
perfect heart to keep God's commandments. And, and let me say, before I
go on, if that's talking about keeping
the 10 commandments, if that's what it is talking about, number
one, I've kept them in Christ. I've kept them. If Christ kept
the law, I kept the law. And so. I don't try to keep the
law, I've kept it. Now, personally, I've not kept
one commandment one time, nor have you. And if what he's talking
about is an attempt to keep the Ten Commandments, me and you
are in real trouble, aren't we? But that's not what he's talking
about. You've got to remember, you've got to look at the scripture
in light of other scriptures. What is he talking about when
he talks about having a perfect heart and keeping God's commandments
and statutes? I hope we'll learn this by the
end of this passage of scripture. But when Solomon said, let your
heart therefore be perfect with the Lord, turn to first Kings
chapter 11. Verse one, the King Solomon loved
many strange women. Together with the daughter of
Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidianites,
Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the
children of Israel, you shall not go unto them, neither shall
they come in unto you, for surely they will turn your heart away
after their gods. Now, A heart that is perfect
is not turned away after other gods. Now let's go on reading. Solomon clave unto these in love,
and he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, and his wives
turned away his heart. For it came to pass when Solomon
was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect
with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father."
Now this had something to do with being turned after other
gods, contrary to the God of the Bible. the true and living
God. Now Solomon, the wisest man to
ever live, proved to be as big a fool as there's ever lived.
Remember, man at his best state is what? Altogether vanity. Solomon is an example of that.
This man who God had blessed so greatly His heart was not
perfect as was the heart of David his father. Now David, I love
the way he is called a man after God's own heart. That is the
highest commendation anybody could have. A man after God's
own heart. You know what that means? That
means the same things that are important to God, his own glory,
the honor of his son, the greatness of his grace, the same things
that are important to God were important to David. Same things. That's what it is to be a man
after God's own heart or a woman after God's own heart. God said,
his heart beats with mine. God knows his glory is above
all. David felt that way too. Look
what David said about other gods in Psalm 115. Now, any God that
is not the God of the Bible, the sovereign, absolute, holy,
just God. God as is revealed in scripture.
Look what David said about these other gods in Psalm 115. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God?
But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Now here's a mark of who God
is. He does whatever he wants to do all the time. All the time. That's speaking of his sovereignty.
That's the God of heaven. He does whatever he wants to
all the time. Everything that happens is his
will being done. Him being in control. That's
the God of the Bible. A God that's not like that is
not God. It's another God. Now let's go
on reading. Verse four. Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak
not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but
they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell
not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but
they walk not, neither speak they through their throat. They
that make them are like unto them. And so is everyone that
trusteth in them." You're trusting in a nothing, an idol is what
he's saying. Oh Israel, trust thou in the
Lord. Now you can see how David David had his problems. We know
that, don't we? David had his problems. We've seen that going
through his life. David had his problems, but David
did not go after other gods. He is the one who had this perfect
heart, the man after God's own heart. Solomon did not follow
the Lord with a perfect heart. Now, like I said, the heart is
what we really are. It's the inner man. I think of when David is described,
where the Lord was looking for David and his brothers are brought
before Samuel and Samuel said, the Lord has not chosen these.
And he says, the Lord seeth not as man seeth. Man looketh on
the outward appearance, the outward countenance. The Lord looketh
on the heart. The heart is who we really are. The mind, the will, the inclinations,
the appetite, the emotions, the passions, and this is what the
Lord sees when he looks upon us, and he's the only one who
can see it. Now remember that. He's the only one who can see
the heart. You can't see into somebody else's
heart, and when it comes right down to it, you can't see into
your own heart. I love that scripture, he that trusts in his heart is
a fool. He's a fool. You can't really see in your
own heart. You have ideas and so on, but the Lord is the only
one who really sees and knows the heart. Now, I think it's
interesting. The first time the heart is mentioned
is in Genesis chapter six, verse five. 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. What a description. Jeremiah
17, nine, the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately
wicked. That's why I say you can't know
your heart. You can't look at it. It'll deceive you desperately
wicked and deceitful above all things. Now the perfect heart. is the heart God gives in the
new birth. It's not found in the natural
man. It's the heart God gives in the new birth. Now, God said
in Ezekiel 36, a new heart will I give you. A new heart will
I give you. Uh, you need help? Can somebody pull... We... Go ahead and take her out. Excuse me. The new heart, the perfect heart,
let's get back on track. The perfect heart is the heart
God gives in the new birth. A new heart. One that was not
there before. Now understand, God doesn't change
your heart. He doesn't. You still got the
old heart that's just as bad as it ever was. But if you've
been born of God, you have a new heart that was not there before. A new heart also will I give
you. This is what the Lord was talking
about when he said, blessed are the pure in heart. In the Beatitudes,
blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. That
heart God gives in the new birth is a pure heart. And Solomon
had this new heart, and yet look what he did. Does that scare
you? It scares me when I see the direction
Solomon took. He had this new heart. He was God's child. He was saved. He knew the Lord. And yet, look at the direction
he took. And he didn't have this perfect
heart that David had. And I certainly see why David
cried continually, I mean we find it in Psalm 51, but this
ought to be the prayer of our heart all the time, create in
me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Now, notice what Solomon says
this perfect heart will do. Verse back to 1 Kings 8, Verse 61, let your heart therefore
be perfect with the Lord our God. And here's what this perfect
heart does to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments.
Now that's what the perfect heart does. It walks in his statutes
and it keeps his commandments. Now, like I said at the beginning,
I've kept them all perfectly. In Jesus Christ, when Jesus Christ
kept the law, I'm so united to him that when he kept it, I kept
it. Whatever he did, I did. That's how real justification
is. When I'm given his righteousness,
it is my personal righteousness before God, just as my sin became
his personal sin and he died for it. His righteousness becomes
my personal righteousness. Thank God for that. Is that what
he's talking about? Well, you could say it is, but
more than that, he's talking about keeping commandments of
the gospel. Um, the word statutes. Walk in His statutes. The word
means, literally, His boundaries. His limits. Now what is the boundary? What is the limit? Where's the
place we can walk? There's only one place we can
walk is in Christ. That's the limit. I go beyond
that limit. If I want God to see me in my
own works in any way, I've passed the boundaries. I've crossed
the line, haven't I? I walk in His boundaries, in His limits. I keep His commandments. Turn
to 1 John 3. Hold your finger there in 1 Kings
8. Turn to 1 John 3. Verse 23. And this is His commandment. That we should believe on the
name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave
us commandment. Now here's a commandment I keep.
I do believe on the name of his son. I believe that I'm saved
wholly for his namesake and I'm relying on his name. And I do
love his people. Those are commandments that every
believer keeps. And this is what the perfect
heart does. It walks in his statutes and keeps his commandments as
of this day. Now, what is this perfect heart? I see what it does. It believes
the gospel. What is this perfect heart? I hope this will be helpful.
It was helpful to me to think about it where, you know, it's
when you read the Kings and the Chronicles, And even Samuel,
when you talk about the heart, there's times where men had a
perfect heart, but they didn't do what was right. Scripture
points that out. And there's times people did
that which was right, but without a perfect heart. So what is this
perfect heart that he's telling people to walk with? Well, the
word is translated by these words, a full heart. A full heart. Complete. A just heart. A heart made ready. These are
the way the word is actually translated. A heart made ready.
A peaceable heart. A perfect heart. A quiet heart. A whole heart. Now what is this
heart that he's speaking of? Now I think it's interesting.
The word perfect is used three times with regard to A perfect
and just balance. A perfect and just weight. A perfect and just measurement.
Now, what that has to do with, this word, God, a perfect weight
is his delight. What this has to do with, first
of all, is honesty. Honesty. An honest heart. Now what is an honest heart? The only honest heart there is
is one who admits before God that it's nothing but sin. That is honesty. Someone who
doesn't see that about themselves is not practicing honesty. They're being liars. And that's
the problem with, you know, somebody that's dishonest will look at
this passage of scripture and they'll say, well, that means
that I need to keep the law. I need to obey his commandments. I need to never lie. You're just
looking at the Ten Commandments. And somebody that will look at
the Ten Commandments like that are just basically dishonest
people. They're not practicing honesty
before God because the only way you're going to be honest before
God is if you see and confess you're nothing but dishonest
before Him. Everything you do is sin. And if you look at yourself
in any other way, any other way, You're not practicing honesty.
You've got an unjust measurement. You've got an unjust weight that
is not real. And you're trying to figure out
ways to make yourself look in such a way that you're really
not. You're not practicing honesty. That's the way the word is used.
Now, the word is also used with regard to the stones untouched
by human tools to make the altar. Now, you remember when God said,
when you make an altar, use whole stones, untouched by human tools. And if a tool has touched it,
it's polluted. It's polluted. It's no good.
Now what this tells us is this perfect heart is the work of
God. It's the work of God alone. And
if you put your hand on it, it's been polluted. It's not real.
If you think that this perfect heart comes from you doing something
to make it perfect, you've missed it all together. That's not a
perfect heart. That's a man-made false heart. The perfect heart is untouched
by human tools. Now, it's also translated made
ready. I love this concept. And we looked at this a couple
of months ago. When the temple was being made, all the stones
that the temple was made of were cut up beforehand. and made perfect,
made ready beforehand before they were brought to the construction
site. So there would be heard the sound of no working in the
temple. Isn't that glorious? No working
in the temple. This was the perfect construction
project for the temple, which had the tabernacle. The stones
were made ready beforehand. Now this is a reminder to us
of how much salvation is by grace. It was all made ready beforehand. Now this perfect art, it's something
made ready beforehand. That means you don't have anything
to do with it. I mean, it has nothing to do with your works.
It's his work alone. And if you've got this perfect
art, you acknowledge that, you embrace that, you rejoice in
that. It was made ready. All the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. And here's another
scripture, it's in 1 Chronicles 12, 38, where it said, it talked
about the men who kept rank were of a perfect heart. The men who
kept rank were of a perfect heart. The men who stayed in their place. Stay in your place. That's not
what that's talking about. Where's our place? In Christ. In Christ. I don't want to be,
I'm staying rank. I don't want to be found anywhere
else at any time, but simply in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I, it says the men who did that were of a perfect heart. Being
satisfied to be in Christ, being content to be in Christ so that
all that God sees is Jesus Christ. That's what Paul meant when he
said, Oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. Now that
is this perfect heart that won't look to other gods, that won't
be turned aside as Solomon was. This word heart is also several
times talked about as being willing. When David said, who are we that
you've enabled us to give so willingly with a perfect heart?
A perfect heart has to do with willingness. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Paul, this is something
that a perfect heart always says, will. To will is present with
me. You're talking about free will?
Well, you know better than that. I'm not talking about free will or no
such thing. But I'm saying that a perfect
heart is a willing heart. To will is present with me. I
would be just like Christ. I would never sin again. I would
esteem all others as better than myself. I would be, how to perform
it, I don't find it, but the will is always there. It's always
there. This perfect, turn to Romans
chapter 10. Here's the perfect heart. Verse nine. that thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead. Thou shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. With the heart man believeth.
Now this is that perfect heart he's talking about. The heart
that believes the gospel with the heart man believes. Now,
what does that mean? Because I guarantee you, everybody in this room has
asked themselves the question before. Do I believe with my
heart or is just all my stuff right here in my head and it
hadn't reached my heart. And that concept really is not
scriptural. What you believe in your head,
you believe in your heart. What you believe in your heart, you
believe in your head. You can't separate the two. The heart is
the understanding. I understand that the righteousness
of Christ is the only righteousness I have. I understand that. I
love it being that way. I love having his righteousness
as my only righteousness. And if you give me the choice,
would you rather be saved by your righteousness or Christ's
righteousness? It's a no-brainer. I would much rather be saved
by Christ. That's my choice. And that's
what he's talking about when he's talking about serving the
Lord with a perfect heart. It's that heart that believes
unto salvation. And I would like to serve the
Lord with a perfect heart in the sense that I'd never sin
again. I'd like that. I'd want to be that way. But
that perfect heart is the heart that looks to Christ only. That's what it is. If you look
to Christ only, if He's all you have, if He's all you want, if
He's all you need, if He's all you desire, if you look to Christ
only and you won't by the grace of God look anywhere else, God
has given you that perfect heart. And if you look anywhere other
than Christ, you've got a divided heart. You've become like Solomon. Solomon Served other gods. He looked other gods through
those things. That's, that's exactly what's, what's happened now.
A perfect heart. The, the, the thought I want
to leave you with is I don't want to be half-hearted. Do you? I don't want to be half-hearted
in following the Lord and serving the Lord. I think of what the
Lord said to the church at Ladd to see here's what they thought
about themselves. The church at Ladd to see said, we're rich.
We're increased with goods. We have need of nothing. We're
in good shape. Don't worry about us. And the Lord said, you don't
know that you're naked and wretched and miserable and blind and poor. That's that lukewarm church. I don't want to be that. I don't
want to be lukewarm. That's what happened to Solomon. He became
lukewarm. He lost his zeal for God's glory
and God's honor. I don't want to go there, and
I know you don't either. May the Lord give us this perfect heart. I
want to be like Caleb. Remember what the Lord said about
Caleb in Numbers 14? He said he had another spirit
in him. He hath followed me fully. Now that's the perfect heart
he's speaking of. He hath followed me fully. May the Lord grant
us this perfect heart. I want to have it. Amen. Thank you.