In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal experience of visiting a chapel in the Philippines and seeing nuns praying and meditating. He uses this experience to emphasize the importance of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices to God and allowing Him to transform our minds and viewpoints. The speaker then delves into the significance of the heart, both physiologically and emotionally, as the center of our personal lives and the passage of life. He highlights the importance of guarding our hearts diligently, as it is the source of life and the place where the word of God is sown and the Holy Spirit convicts our conscience.

Probably some of you will expect me to speak on 1st of June, but I'm not. The reason is 1st, 2nd, 3rd of June are so connected to one another that I don't think it's good to speak on 1st of June and have a few months on 2nd of June. So we'll try to put them all together, God willing, later on. So this morning it will be something different. Will you please turn to 1st Samuel chapter 16. 1st Samuel chapter 16, verse 7. 1st Samuel chapter 16, verse 7. But Jehovah said to Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on the height of his statue, because I have rejected him. For it is not as man seeth, for man looketh upon the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh upon the heart. 2nd Chronicles chapter 16. 2nd Chronicles chapter 16, verse 9. For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro through the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him. Psalm 139. Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24. Psalm 139, verse 23. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Prove me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Dear Heavenly Father, as we continue in thy presence, we do desire to see thy face, that the light of thy countenance will shine upon our hearts, that thou may reveal thy heart to us, that we may be drawn deeper and deeper into thy very heart. We commit this time into thy hands, and look to thee for thy blessing, and unto thy glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. This morning we would like to share on this matter of the perfect heart. The perfect heart. In 1st Samuel chapter 16, we find that it is said, man look at outward appearance, but God look at the heart. You know, we as human beings, we always look at outward appearance. As a matter of fact, this is the only way that we know how to work, look, or where to look. We do not know the heart. Not even our own heart. It is said in Jeremiah chapter 17, that the heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable. Who can know it? But God is the one who searches the heart, and tries the rain, and give to each one according to his ways, according to the fruit of all his doings. Human beings have a natural inability. We cannot look upon heart. We are not able to. We do not know heart. The only way that we know is outward appearance. What our eyes can see. That is all we can do. And because of this disability natural to us, we find that even in our relationship with God, in our view on God's work, and of course with our relationship with one another, it is inevitable that we always look at outward appearance. When we come to God, we tend to honor him with our lips, but not with our heart. You remember our Lord, you said in Matthew chapter 15, the Lord said, this people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. In vain do they worship me. When our Lord Jesus was in Samaria, you remember he talked to a Samaritan woman, and when the conscience of that Samaritan woman was stirred, she began to ask this question, you Jews worship in Jerusalem, but we Samaritans worship at this mountain, Mount Gerizim. Now where should we worship? In other words, worshiping God is a matter of time and space. When do you worship? Where do you worship? These are the important factors in worship. But the Lord Jesus said no. The Lord said the hour is coming and now is. The true worshipers do not worship in Jerusalem, nor do they worship on Mount Gerizim, but the true worshipers worship God in spirit and in truth. And that is to say, you worship God with your heart. The same thing is true when we look at God's work. Now dear brothers and sisters, when you consider the work of God, what do you look for? Probably we are looking for numbers, bigness. If you have large numbers, you are successful in God's work. If the number is small, then probably God has not blessed. We measure God's work by outward appearance. We forget what the Bible says when you build on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Some may build with gold, silver and precious stones, and others may build with wood, straw and stubble. Now you remember if you build with wood, with straw, with stubble, you can build a big house. Because they are cheap. They do not cost you a lot. And you can build a big house to be seen by everybody. But if you build with gold, silver and precious stones, they are so costly, you cannot afford to build it big. Probably all you can build is just a tiny little thing. And people rarely notice it. But dear brothers and sisters, the Lord tells us one day at the judgment seat of Christ, fire shall appear. And you know wood, straw and stubble are just good for fire. They will be completely burned. You will be saved, but barely saved. But gold, silver and precious stones, when they are tested by fire, they glow. They become brilliant. And you shall be rewarded. The same thing is true in our relationship with one another. When we look at one another, where do we look? We look at outward appearance. That's the reason why on Sunday, every Christian is a saint. A real saint. Now of course, I am saying unscriptural. Because as a matter of fact, every Christian is a saint. No matter whether you are saintly or unsaintly. You are a saint. You are one sanctified by the Holy Spirit. But brothers and sisters, when we look at one another, we look at outward appearance. I remember once upon a time, when I was in the Philippines, I went to a mountain. And there, as I wandered around, I saw a chapel. So I went into that chapel. And when I went into that chapel, I was at the end of that chapel. And I looked to the front. I found that there was an altar there. And a few white statues, kneeling statues before the altar. No movement. Statues. But when I look again, I saw they were not statues. They were nuns in white. They were there praying, meditating, contemplating. I don't know what they were doing, but there they were. And they were without any movement. And when I saw that, my first reaction was, how pious, these nuns. Why? I look at outward appearance. I do not know the heart. But God looks upon the heart. He does not look upon outward appearance. But we are human beings. This is natural to us. Do not say that you always look at heart. You don't look at outward appearance. You do. This is our disability. This is what we are. We always look at outward appearance. We measure things. We measure people. We measure success or failure. We even measure our relationship with God with outward appearance. Because we do not know the heart. Not even our own heart. But God is very different. The Bible said God looks upon the heart. Because our God is the God of heart. When you read the Word of God, you'll find it is sometimes very challenging and puzzling. You'll find that there are people that we consider as good from the record. But God rejects them. There are other people whom we consider as bad. Maybe not so good. And yet God loves them. It seems as if with some people God is willing to overlook their faults. Even sin. Does God condone sin? Never. But with some people, you'll find that God seems to be able to ignore their wrongs. Not in the sense of completely ignoring, but in the sense of even with all these wrongs, God still accepts them. Why? Because God looked upon their heart. And if their heart is right with God, God knows with all their faults, with all their sins, with all their shortcomings, God is able to deal with them and to bring them to himself. But with some other people, they may be quite good. And yet God looks upon their heart and find their heart is wrong. And if their heart is wrong, no matter how good they are, one day he will come out to be completely wrong. Let me use an illustration. Saul, King Saul. Do not be prejudiced against him. Saul actually, if you look from the human standpoint, he is not a bad person. He had a good appearance, of course. His one head above all the other people must be at six footers or seven footers today. And in the beginning, you'll find he was a humble person too. Because when he was children king, they couldn't find him. Why? He hid himself among the luggage. Not a bad person, but something wrong with his heart. You remember in 1st Samuel chapter 12? God, through Samuel, told him that he was to wait in Gilgal for seven days. And then Samuel will come and offer sacrifices. So here was Saul, he was waiting in Gilgal he waited and waited until the seventh day and Samuel didn't show up. But the enemy, the Philistines, were at Nishmesh. And Saul felt well, Samuel didn't come. And if the Philistines will come to Gilgal, and we haven't sacrificed yet, we haven't prayed yet, what will happen to us? So he forced himself, he said, to offer burn offering and sacrifice to God. He felt he had to pray to God first, before the enemy came. Very religious. But just when he finished offering, Samuel arrived. Samuel was not late. Still within the seven days, but Saul couldn't wait. And Samuel said, you did a foolish thing. Now the kingdom is to be taken away from you. And God will find for himself a man after his own heart. In other words, you are not a man of heart. You are not a man with a heart towards God. Your heart is wrong. And again in chapter 15 of 1st Samuel, God gave him another chance. God sent him to destroy the Amalekites. He went with his army, he destroyed the Amalekites, but he spared the best of the flock and the best of the herd. He thought they were, it was a pity to devote these dead things to destruction. And he even spared the life of the king of the Amalekites. Samuel arrived. And Saul met Samuel and said, look, I have done what the Lord has commanded me to do. And Samuel said, what did I hear? I hear the luring of the cows and the bleating of the sheep. What's that? Oh, he said, I really destroyed everything, but the people, the people want to keep the best to sacrifice to God. And I believe you all remember the words. Does God delight in burnt offering and sacrifices than in hearkening to his voice? Forbearance is better than sacrifice. Attention better than the facts of man. In these two instances, you can see that even though Saul was not bad as if you judge by outward appearance, but God look upon his heart and say his heart was not right. And because of that, eventually you'll find he sank so low, he wanted for murder to kill David. And finally, you'll find that he even consulted a witch. God, then you think of David. Here was David, King David, a man after God's own heart. But what a man he was. You find that in David's life, he committed two hideous things. In 2 Samuel chapter 12, you'll find he, he murdered, he took other people's wife. He committed adultery. But of course, all the time, his heart smoked. So when Nathan came to him and said, you are the man. He said, I've sinned. I've sinned. And if you read Psalm 51, that was written because of this. You'll find how he cried unto God, asked God to give him a clean heart, a steadfast spirit. He said, God, you're looking upon a broken and a contrite heart. That's what you're looking at. David, even he sinned grievously, and yet you'll find his heart was broken before God. In other words, God could still touch him and restore him. And then another occasion you'll find in 2 Samuel chapter 24, you'll find when he was reigning and overcoming all his enemies, then somehow pride came into his heart, and he wanted to number the people of Israel. In other words, he wanted to know how many soldiers he had, how great he was. But as soon as he numbered them, his heart smoked. He knew he was wrong. And how he cried out to God, and he said, I have sinned. Take away my iniquities. It is my sin. Do not allow the people to suffer because of me. Now, dear brothers and sisters, you'll find here is a man. From outward appearance, he was not as good as Saul, or he was not better than Saul. As a matter of fact, the sin he committed from human viewpoint was grievous than the sin. Probably we will think what Saul had committed. But here you'll find the difference. God looks upon the heart. God saw David's heart. His heart was tender and soft. Broken and contrived. A heart that can be touched. That heart that will return to God. A heart that really seek God's will. But Saul's heart was hard. God looks upon the heart. But man look upon outward appearance. If this is the case, dear brothers and sisters, where should we look at? Should we look at our appearance? Or should we look upon the heart? Of course, we should look upon the heart and not look upon outward appearance. In other words, we need to realize that outward appearance are undependable. It is only the heart that God looks at and God measures. Therefore, do not let us measure things, measure people, measure work by outward appearance. We need to repent of that. And we need to learn to look upon the heart of things. The heart of people. The heart of God. Now, of course, we cannot change ourselves. God can. If only we are willing to be changed. He can change. Our viewpoint. You know in Romans chapter 12 he said, present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and perfect will of God. In other words, the renewing of the mind. Your mind can be changed. Your viewpoint can be changed. The way you look can be changed. How? Through presenting your bodies a living sacrifice. If we present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God, God will change our viewpoint. And by His grace, we will be able not to judge our outward appearance, but learn to measure by the heart. Now, what is the heart? Physiologically speaking, the heart, the cardiac, it is the center of your physical life. You'll find that the blood, which is your life, goes in and out through the heart. It is the very center of your physical being. And because of this, the Bible uses the term heart, and apply it in a moral and spiritual way. So the heart, according to the word of God, speaks of the center of your moral and spiritual being. Vine says, the heart is the hidden spring of the personal life. It is the center of human depravity. But thank God, it is also the sphere of divine influence. You know, the heart is the hidden spring of the personal life. In other words, all your life has a spring in the heart. It comes from the heart. When you think of human depravity, you find that human is so depraved, that it is the heart that is deceitful above all things, and incurable. That is human depravity. But thank God, it is also sphere of divine influence. In other words, God is able to work upon that heart, and even put his law in that heart, so that you will do the will of God. Professor Lynch says, the heart is a center of the bodily life, the center of the psychological life, and the center of the spiritual life. In other words, the center of the entire man. And that is what Becks says. The heart is a center of the entire man. Now, Watchman, he says, he said, even though the spirit is the highest point, highest part of your being, but it is the heart that is the center. It is the heart that represents you. The heart is the real I. It is the passage of life. Because in Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23, it says, God keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. In other words, life comes into us through the heart, and life flows out of us through the heart. How do you come to receive the life of God? First of all, you'll find the word of God is heard. When the seed, that is the word of God, is sown. In Matthew chapter 13, it said, a sower, he goes out to sow the seed, which is the word, and the seed is sown upon the heart. The word of God is sown upon the heart. So, when we hear the word of God, then you'll find the Holy Spirit convicts our conscience. Our conscience gets convicted. Then our emotion is stirred, and we begin to repent, which is a change of mind. Then we decide with our will to receive the Lord Jesus. And the Bible said, you receive with your heart. And this is the way that life comes into us. And it is the same way that life goes out of us. Because out of the fullness of the heart, you speak. Some people say, now thought does not come from the brain. Thought comes from the heart. The brain is only the mechanism. The heart is not only the passage of life. Life goes in and out. But the heart is also the switch of life. In other words, you can switch life on and off. Just like you switch on the light. You can block the light. Or you can let the light grow and develop. And it all depends upon your heart. If you shut up your heart, your life is shut in. If you open your heart to God, then you'll find God's light will flow into you, and overflow through you. It is the switch of life. Now Oswald Chambers said, he said, the heart is the center of our body, and our soul, and our spirit. All the activities of the body, and the soul, and the spirit, are centered upon the heart. He said this like an altar. And the body is like the outer court. Whatever you offer on the altar, will eventually tell in the extremities of your body. Your heart, you can say, it is me. That's the simplest way of putting it. It is me. Now I'm not going to speak at length on what the heart is, but just let me tell you this. So far as the heart is concerned, I think we are clear on one thing, and that is, it is the center of our whole being. According to the Word of God, the heart, in a sense, stands between, or link, the spirit and the soul of man. We find that in the soul of man, there are three main functions. Emotion, mind, intellect, will, volition. These are the functions of our soul. And then you find in our spirit, there are such functions as communion, intuition, and conscience. But if you read the Word of God, you'll find where the heart is. The heart seems to include all the functions of the soul, plus the conscience of the spirit. So that's the way you'll find the heart links together our spirit and our soul. For instance, you'll find in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, it says that, sprinkled as to our hearts, from a wicked conscience. Sprinkled as to our hearts, from a wicked conscience. Chapter 10 verse 22. So here you'll find that when the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses us, it actually cleanses the evil conscience of the heart. You know, within our heart there is a conscience. And our conscience bothers us. But the blood of the Lord Jesus comes and cleanses the evil conscience of our heart, so that our heart comes to peace. And then in the same book of Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 12, it says, for the Word of God is living and operative, and sharper than any to a sword, and penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joint and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the hearts. In other words, you'll find in the heart there are thoughts. Thoughts, the mind, and the intents, will, volition. So in the heart you'll find all the functions of the soul are in the heart, plus conscience of the spirit. Now of course, emotion, that's very clear. Your heart rejoices, your heart is glad, your heart is sad, you know, and as you'll find, say, in Psalm 16, you know, my heart rejoices. Emotion is also in the heart. So the heart is the link of your soul and spirit. It is the passage of life, the switch of life, or as Alfred Chambers says, the rendezvous of perfect life. That is the heart. So you can see how important the heart is. It is a very spring of your personal. All your life depends upon the conditions of your heart. And that is the reason why God looks upon the heart. God knows that outer appearance are nothing, but the heart is the very center, the root, the spring, the key to everything. Now what kind of heart does God, is God looking for? In 2nd Chronicles 16, verse 9, He says, For the eyes of Jehovah run to and through, through the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards Him. You know, the eyes of the Lord run to and through, through the whole earth. In other words, the eyes of the whole earth. And what is it that God is looking for? He is looking for some people whose heart is perfect towards Him. And if He can find anyone whose heart is perfect towards Him, then He will show Himself strong on their behalf. In other words, you'll find that He is for you. He is committed to you. Now if this is what God is looking for, and He is searching, this is what He is looking in you. He is not judging you by your outward appearance. He is looking at your heart. And He wants to find out whether your heart is perfect towards Him. If your heart is perfect towards Him, then He is perfect towards you. He says strong. He will show Himself strong on your behalf. Now whose heart is perfect? What is perfect? You know the word perfect, in Hebrews, is shalem. Not shalom, shalem. And the word shalem has several meanings. It means complete, whole, right, made ready, peaceful, just, a perfect heart. It does not mean sinless perfection, because no one is sinless perfect, except one, our Lord Jesus Christ. He who knows no sin. Was made sin for us, that we may become the righteousness of God. But aside from the Lord Jesus, none is sinless perfect. And yet the Bible does teach perfection. In Matthew chapter 6 it says, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Now perfect there means whole, mature, grown up. In the Old Testament time you will find that God uses David as a standard of a perfect heart. God has found a man according to his heart. God is finding David a man whose heart is right towards God. Whose heart is open to God. Whose heart is with God. Whose heart seeks for God and for his will. Here is a man who has a heart and heart relationship with God. Here is a man whose heart is tender, soft, broken, contrite towards God. He is a man who seeks to satisfy God's heart. David. God finds in David a man with a perfect heart. He is not perfect, but he has a perfect heart. And you know God measures all the kings according to the standard in David. Do you remember David? How he exhorted his son Solomon, Solomon, my son, serve God with a perfect heart. And then you will find he will bless you. But unfortunately we find that Solomon, even though he is the very embodiment of wisdom, and yet he was led astray by his foreign wives into idolatry. And the result was he did not serve God with a perfect heart. That is the verdict. The Holy Spirit. Now in the Bible you will find a few other kings. For instance Asa. King Asa. The Bible says King Asa, he served God with a perfect heart in all his days. God looked upon his heart and found that his heart was perfect towards God. But of course we know later on because God blessed him, he began to be proud of himself, you know. And he began to do things that were not right. Hezekiah. Hezekiah had a perfect heart towards God. When God sent Isaiah to him and said, now you're going to die. Set your house in water. He turned his face towards the wall and wept and said, God I have always served you with a perfect heart. He was not perfect. God answered his prayer. Give him 15 more years. But during these 15 more years, if he knew that, he shouldn't ask God to give him 15 more years. He lost the kingdom to Babylon through pride. And he begot a son Manasseh. And the sins of Manasseh is the reason for the destruction of Judah. Jehoshaphat. King Jehoshaphat. He served God with a perfect heart. Unknown a few kings served God with a perfect heart. And David is always the standard. Then of course we find there are other people who do things right. But without serving God with a perfect heart. For instance, the grandson of David. No. The grandson of Solomon. Abiram. Abiram did the wrong thing. He did not serve God with a perfect heart. Amaziah. He did the right things. The son of Jehosh. He did all the right things. But he did not serve God with a perfect heart. So you find that in the scripture, you find the Holy Spirit make his comment, you know, about this one and that one. And everyone is judged according to the heart. Whether there is a perfect heart or not. Now of course we know David is but a type of Christ. Our Lord Jesus is the son of David and greater than David. And of course our Lord Jesus, He had a perfect heart. And His perfect heart is all perfection. All perfection. How He served God His Father with a perfect heart. All the time. In all things. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This is our Lord Jesus. He served God with a perfect heart. Now we need a perfect heart. Because with the Lord His perfect heart is all perfection. With us our perfect heart is according to the light we have. Walk in the light as God is in the light. And we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of God's Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins. In other words, we, our heart can be perfect so far as the light we receive. In other words, whatever God has shown us, we obey. We follow. And God considers that as perfect heart. All right? What is a perfect heart? First, a perfect heart is a complete. In other words, it is the whole heart. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. It is a heart that is not divided. Purify your heart, ye double-minded. You know, sometimes we are double-minded. In other words, we think of this and we think of that. We think of God and we think of ourselves. What will become of God, but what will become of me. And we are double-minded. And you know, when you are double-minded, purify your heart. Your heart is divided. The problem is in the heart. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. What is pure in heart? Pure in heart simply means your heart is completely, wholly, towards God. The Lord Jesus said, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and serve man. If your heart is single, if your eye is single, then your whole body is bright. If your heart is double, if your eye is double, if you have double vision, then your whole body is in darkness. And how terrible is that? Dear brothers and sisters, we need to be single-eyed towards the Lord. In other words, we see the Lord and nothing else. When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He saw the Father only. He did not see environments. He did not see man. He did not see anything else. He only saw His Father. Single-eyed towards the Father. And that's the reason why in Song of Songs you'll find how the Beloved praised that virgin because she has a dove's eye. You know, a dove's eye is very pretty. You look at a dove's eye, it's really pretty. But what is prettier than appearance is a dove can only see one thing. What God requires of us is a perfect heart. In other words, a whole heart. Is your heart holy towards God, pure towards Him, with no arterial motives, no other consideration, undivided? That's a perfect heart. Number two, a perfect heart is a clean heart because the word means just right. A clean heart. Now, how can we have a clean heart? A clean heart is cleansed by the precious blood of the Lamb. It is true that sometimes we find our heart being defiled. Defiled by sin, by the world, by self, the flesh. We need to be cleansed. Like David prayed, O Lord, create in me a clean heart. A heart that has been cleansed, washed by the blood of the Lamb. If your heart condemns you, God is greater than your heart. But if your heart does not condemn you, then you have boldness before God and know that whatever you ask, He will grant it. You find Paul always said, testifies that he stands before God and man with a conscience void of offense. That's a clean heart. That you can stand before God and before man, that there is nothing in your heart that condemns you according to the light you have. You have obeyed. That's a perfect heart. Now, what is a perfect heart? Number three, a perfect heart is a joyful heart. A joyful heart. I mentioned Psalm 16, and you'll find in the Psalm, it is said, I have set Jehovah continually before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart rejoices, my glory exalted, my flesh moreover shall dwell in hope. A perfect heart is a joyful heart. You know, why is it that our heart is not joyful? Because we look around, we look at people. How can you see people and be joyful? How can you look at yourself and be joyful? How can you look at your circumstances and be joyful? You cannot. But if your heart is perfect towards God, you'll only set Him before you. And all you see is He. Therefore you rejoice. You rejoice. No matter what happened, no matter who hurt you, you see the Lord. And because your heart is completely occupied with Him, you cannot but rejoice, knowing that He is with you and for you. All things work together for good to those who love the Lord, who are called according to purpose. What is a perfect heart? Number four, a perfect heart is a peaceful heart. A heart that is at peace with God. A heart that there's no controversy between you and God. Because you have done whatever He has commanded you. There is no struggle, no controversy between you and God. Your heart is at perfect peace. That's a perfect heart. When the peace of God garrisons your mind and heart, you know your heart is perfect. And number five, a perfect heart is a willing heart. Because the very word perfect means made ready. In other words, your heart is always ready for Him. Made ready. Whatever the will of God may be, I'm willing. Well, whether you are able or not, that's another matter. But at least you are willing. You're always willing. That's a perfect heart. So when you sum up all these things, you'll find what God is looking for in you and in me. Dear brothers and sisters, may I repeat, it is not outward appearance. It is the heart. Now, I do not say the outward appearance doesn't matter at all. It does. It reveals what is in the heart. If the heart is right with God, it will tell even in your outward appearance. So finally, how can we have a perfect heart? Now, I think in order to see this, probably we have to go back a little bit to the very beginning. In other words, you'll find that before we were saved, what was the condition of our heart? The Bible said our heart was a stony heart. Ezekiel 36, 36. Our heart was a stony heart. In other words, our heart was hardened through sins. But thank God, even that hardened heart can be melted by the love of God. So when we believe in the Lord Jesus, something happened to our heart. God said, I will take away from you your stony heart. I will give to you a new heart. And this new heart is a heart of flesh. In other words, it is soft, tender, sensible, touchable. So brothers and sisters, thank God for that. When you believe in the Lord Jesus, you don't know how much you receive when you believe the Lord Jesus. When you believe in the Lord Jesus, you receive a new heart, a heart of flesh. And there's the reason why. Think of that. After you believe in the Lord Jesus, is it not true, whenever the name of Jesus is mentioned, it melts you? Now, why is it so? Because your heart is a sensitive, it's tuned to God. You have a new heart. But, unfortunately, even this new heart, the heart of flesh, can be hardened. Gradually you find the world begins to cloud upon your heart, the cares of this life. Gradually even sin began to creep in. Gradually you'll find yourself begins to rise up. And gradually you'll find your heart begins to be hardened. Each time when the voice of God is heard and disobeyed, your heart hardens a little bit. And that's the reason why you find the exhortation is, today if you hear His voice, harden. Whenever you hear the voice of the Lord, whenever the Lord speaks to you, and you just melt before Him, and you obey Him, then your heart is kept in tenderness. But when you hear the voice of God and you resist it, you harden it a bit, the next time it's not that loud anymore. The next time it's not loud anymore. The next time you do not hear it anymore. Your heart is hardened. So the problem is, thank God we have a new heart. But how can we keep it? The Bible says keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. There is nothing that we need to keep more diligently than our very heart. But we cannot keep it. Thank God there is one who is able to keep it. The one who gives it is the one who can keep it. Therefore you'll find in Proverbs 23, verse 26 it says, My son give me your heart, and your eyes will delight my ways. Brothers and sisters, after God has given us a new heart, do not try to keep it by yourself. You are not able to. But when God gives you a new heart, you give it back. Lord, here is my heart. I give it back to you to be kept for you. God is able to keep our heart from being hardened. Let him keep your heart. Don't keep it in your own hand. Surrender it. Give it to God. Let him keep it. And you'll find he is faithful. He will keep it. But of course, there is something you need to do daily. And that is after you have given your heart to God, daily you need to turn your heart. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3 it says, When our heart is turned to God, then the veil is taken off. And we shall see the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, and be transformed from glory to glory according to his image, by the Lord the Spirit. So daily we need to turn our hearts towards the Lord. Oh brothers and sisters, this is our responsibility. We cannot keep it. We have given it to him, but still we need to turn every day. And then we need to pray every day. The prayer of the psalmist, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there's any grievous way in me. Lead me in the way everlasting. Brothers and sisters, we need to ask the Lord to search our heart. It is no sense for us to search ourselves, because we do not know our heart. But let God search us. He is the one who searches the heart. So we need to ask him to search our heart, and know our thoughts. See if there's any wicked way in us, then lead us in the way of. Brothers and sisters, I do believe that if we really give our heart to the Lord, and learn to turn our heart to him daily, and ask him often to search our heart, you will find God will show himself strong. Dear Heavenly Father, oh how we praise and thank thee that thou has given us a new heart. It is a heart of flesh, but we acknowledge that we cannot keep it. We offer it to thee, and we pray that thou will remind us always to turn our heart towards thee, and let thy light search us, so that we may be kept in purity, in wholeness, in righteousness towards thee. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.