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2 Nov 2003 - `Integrity of Heart'
(It being Reformation Sunday, before the sermon Rev Stegen
gave a brief history of Martin Luther's tribulations till he came to salvation by faith
instead of works. See more on
Reformation Day here)
(Summary of sermon by Rev Erlo Stegen)
" I know, my God, that you
examine thoughts and are pleased with integrity. ...."
David was
giving his closing words just before he died and was praying for his son Solomon and the
nation of Israel. In his prayer we see how David had got to know God ("my God")
as the one who tests the heart and its integrity. Do you know the Lord as the One who
tests hearts?
Jesus said that looking at a woman
lustfully is adultery which has happened in the heart. This is the God with whom we have
to do!
David had been through a time of denial
regarding sin which he tried to keep covered by cunning and deceit but God taught Him a
lesson he never forgot.
At the beginning of the revival at
Mapumulo it happened that a little girl sitting under a tree saw a huge eye looking at
her. Instantly, she was convicted of her sins. She had no pen and paper so she grabbed the
nearest objects to write with - a piece of coal and cardboard. She wrote down her sins by
name so that she would not forget what Jesus had shown her. She brought the that piece of
cardboard and asked for prayer. God's all-seeing eye is upon you too.
When Jesus was with the Samaritan woman
at the well she then ran to her town and called the people to "come and see a man who
told me all things that I ever did - could this be the Christ?" (John 4:29). Being
with Jesus exposed everything in her heart.
In Hebrews 4: 12 and 13 we read about
the God who tests the integrity of the heart by His Word: "For the word
of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the
point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the
desires and thoughts of the heart. And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is
naked and exposed to his eyes to whom we must render an account."
The anointing of David
gives an insight into God's way of seeing things which is so different to ours. In 1Sam 16
God says that he does not "... view things the way men do.
People look on the outward appearance, but the
Lord looks at the heart."
On this Reformation Sunday may it be
true that the Lord brings about true reformation in your heart. Pray that He would remove
your heart of stone and replace it with a soft heart of flesh, a new and upright heart.
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