People seek to discover their hearts. Only God can know a heart. The Word can be engrafted upon us. Liberty comes through the precepts. Meditate on the statutes and lift your hands. (Proverbs 18:2; Psalm 119:41-48)

Speaker(s): Thomas Schaller
Sermon 12454
6:30 PM on 2/5/2023

P. Schaller –

Okay. Wow. Precious. The ladies do a great job song leading. Emma and Anu did a great job at our marriage
getaway and all the team. Julius. The Braganza girls. Thank you.
A short word to introduce our night. Turn to Psalm 142. I have a good joke for all of us. We had a
beautiful morning. How was it in Fed Hill today? Good. In the church. Yeah? We had Friday
morning prayer meeting in Fed Hill. It was a great time.

As I also looked at the audience, I also see James and Dana Wilczek. Maybe we could just
have you stand for a moment so we can talk about you for a minute. Maybe we run the
microphone. You know what would be good is for everybody to hear – I guess I’ll tell it. Maybe
let’s get the microphone to them. You can say something or not.

They’re like missionaries in their heart. Bible school people and disciples. Dana had it in her
heart to go to Singapore and join the team and then God said to her don’t say anything to your
husband. Don’t manipulate like you usually do! Don’t beg and plead with him. Just don’t say
anything about it. And then what happened, James? The Lord told me to go. What happened?
The Lord told me to go. Where did that come from? I think the Lord.

And then what happened? He told you to go and then what? I told my wife. We’re moving. She
was excited. Really? I was surprised! So, you said, Dana, God’s told me we’re to move to
Singapore and she is totally in shock cause that was in her heart, right? Dana: Well, it was in his
heart first. Back in June during Convention, he got a call from God to go visit. But in my mind, I
thought we were staying in Tennessee and building a house. So, I’m like, oh, Singapore. This
isn’t a house.

So, we went and visited and then he – we didn’t talk about staying there, but he said to me two
days before we left in November pray to see if God is calling us here. So, I didn’t have any
inkling that God was calling us there. And we went back to Tennessee. We’re living our life.
We’re on fire for God. We’re happy with everything and God, I was just praising God in the car
one day and he said, okay. You’re going to go to Singapore.

So, I said, I’m not going to mention this to James. And then three days later, he comes up to me
and says, we’re going to move to Singapore. I asked him when did God first talk to you about
this? But it was back in November when we were there but he didn’t tell me. So, we didn’t talk
about it at all. And so, then I said, okay. If that’s what God is speaking to both of us then that’s
what we do.

Wow. Thank you. When are you going? Probably March. In a month? Yeah. Do you want any of
us to pray for you? I want all of you to pray for me and your families! Wow. That’s so good.
That’s so great. Thank you so much and thanks for coming to the marriage getaway. Alright.
How about those couples that we called on the phone that would share something? Would you
come on down front here? Who are they? (Testimonies followed).

Wow. They would find – isn’t that amazing. They are seeking. They don’t need to find us, right?
They can find, we want them to find Christ, amen? And that’s us, too. But that’s beautiful. Turn
with me in your Bibles to Proverbs 18:2 for our introductory thought. We had a beautiful day today.
Thank you for your love and prayers. Constantly around the world.

Eurocon is coming up in a few weeks and we’ll be flying. Some. And pray about it going to
Budapest where some of us lived. Actually, we had about 300 people from around the different
parts of the world come and live and be on that team through the 1990s. A lot of us have a
history there. We have friends. We have footsteps of faith. God doing something that no human
being could do. But you and I are called by God for this work.

Look at Proverbs 18:2. We mentioned it at the 11:00. What kind of understanding? He doesn’t, he
only has two eyes in his head. How many eyes do you have? I wonder. Eyes represent
understanding and perspective. We walk as men with two eyes. But a wise man he has more
than two eyes. He has help from the Holy Spirit. He understands. And then part b. We draw the
picture like this. Here’s a man. His desire is to discover his heart. That’s his life. That’s why
sometimes people study psychology because they want to discover themselves. It’s very easy
to do.

We are all curious about ourselves, why we do what we do. Why am I depressed? Why am I
afraid of people? Why do I have a personality disorder? Why is my temperment this way or that
way? It’s very natural but it’s also from God saying, no. You don’t need to discover your heart. I’ll
tell you your heart. Your heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. Who, who can know it?
Can you know your heart? Not really. God knows my heart. Are you a good man? Yeah, I’m a
good man. I’m an honest guy. I’m legit. I’m the real thing. I’m an honest guy. I don’t think so. Why
do you say that? Because God says that. You and I if we look at Romans 3:10-18, we have a
good description of ourselves. Maybe that’s all we need to know. My heart is deceitful,
desperately wicked.

Is that why the marriages struggle? Is that why men abandon their families and leave home and
is that why relationships are broken because we’re good guys? Because we’re honest and legit
and dedicated and committed? No. Not according to what we read here.

A fool – this is a strong word, isn’t it? Sometimes translated “simple.” The word simple means
open. You’ve heard us speak about this before. Open. Open mouth. Open door in a house.
Close the door. The animals will come in. Close the door. The insects will come in. Close the
screen door. The mosquitoes will come in. Close the door. The goat will come in from the
farmhouse. Close the door. The snake will get in the house from the basement. Close the door.
The simple man doesn’t close. He stays open. And he receives way too much. Way too much. I
think I got another message right now. Way too much. Way too much. That’s the message. He
receives way too much stuff. He is not shutting down. He has no way. He doesn’t know how to
do it because of his heart. He doesn’t have a heart to filter it. It’s not in his heart. He eats up the
stuff in life without saying, no.

No. Let’s practice that for a minute. No. Let’s say it gently, softly. No. Saying it like draw out the
O. Nooo. Nooo. Do it sharp. No! Do it loud. No! No! Never! No! No! No way! Can’t happen! Not
here! Not in this house. No, it can’t happen. How about that? I’m just playing around. Think
about it.

Look at vs. 2 again. He doesn’t enjoy this, this message tonight, this morning. He doesn’t enjoy
the church. He doesn’t enjoy God’s Word. Doesn’t enjoy reading it out loud. He doesn’t enjoy
the fellowship. He doesn’t enjoy the rebuke, the reproof, correction. He doesn’t enjoy the
teaching. Why? Because he wants to discover himself here. Hey, this is about me. You’re talking
about God. I want to hear about me. I want to know about me.
Notice here. Here’s another guy. And here’s God. There’s Jesus. He hears Jesus. Lose your life
and you’ll find it. No, I got my life. I got my life. It says lose your right to your life. You’ll find life.
Okay. I will follow you.

What does he do? The new birth gives us a new heart. This is love. Love. First commandment.
Love God. God is in our life now. What do you want to know? Do you want to know your own
heart or do you want to know God? I would like to know God. I’ll take care of myself later. I’ll let
God deal with me. I want to know God. Could I hear your Word? Could I follow you, obey you,
trust you. Yes, come unto me. Learn of me. I got something for you. I will teach you. You will
rejoice. You will have faith. You will have patience. You’ll have grace.

Where does that come from, Lord? Me. I am God. I am the way, the truth, the life. I am your
peace. I am your way. I am the answer for your life. No, no, Lord. They say that I need to learn
about myself. And Jesus said, no. I already got that covered. You’re a miserable, empty person.
I cannot trust you. I need to take you to the cross, crucify you, raise you from the dead, make
you a new creation, fill you with the Holy Spirit, speak my Word into your Spirit and you’ll have
fellowship with me and you’ll know me. When you know me, I gotcha. I got you. I’ll take care of
you.

Notice something. Let me see if I can put that joke in there. Well, I’ll tell two of them. One of
them was this morning. A four-engine airplane had an engine on fire. Billy Graham said that
actually happened to him on one of his trips. The engine was on fire but they landed safely. But
he told this joke. The second engine went on fire. The third engine and then before the fourth
one went on fire, the pilate came out of his cabin with a parachute on. He said, don’t worry. I’m
going to go get help!

When I heard that joke, I thought about what the world says to us. They don’t care about you.
Psalm 142:5, no man cares for my soul. The world system doesn’t work. It will not save you. It will
not help us. It works. Actually, in many ways I’m thankful for it. Many of us are operating today
because of all the benefits of our civilization but behind it all is God.

And then we see the collapsing of the American family. We see the collapse of moral values.
We see the foolishness of people searching for their own heart and finding it to be something
less than what they hoped it to be. And we are believers who have found a new way. Because
let me draw a short, little picture here. It goes like this: my heart is so bad. There’s a hole in it.
This heart of mine is so bad that God says I can’t fix it. I got to give you a new one. A new heart
without a hole in it.

You know what the Bible doesn’t say change your heart?. The Bible says believe Christ. He has
given you a new one. But he does say change your mind. Change your – it’s a different word.
Change your mind. That’s my decision. You can agree with God in your mind. I’d like to show it
to you.

Turn to Psalm 119 and how it works. I was reading this outloud in my study room yesterday, and
just working on it and thinking about it in my heart and praying as I was reading it. Psalm 119:41,
was any of those pictures coming up? None of them? Wow, you guys were letting me do that
drawing. Look at the child drawing pictures! Okay. Okay. Thanks, P. Steve. Thank you. Okay.
I believe you know this teaching and you’re following it with me, but this is the part that takes a
little exercise that you can take it home with you and you can think about it.

I’m going to try to help you with it because you are born again. Born again means I have a heart from God and so
I can be before God totally before God in faith. And all the things in my life, everything about it,
the sad things, the good things, things I don’t think about. Things I am deciding to think about.
I’m deciding in my heart what am I going to think about. So, in my prayer I’m there trusting God.
I hurt somehow or I’m afraid.

Like David said in the cave. He said no man cares for my soul. I look at my right hand and
nobody is there. I kind of think somebody was there but nobody really was there. Kind of like
people are in the room but maybe they aren’t really there. Or my mother is there but she may
not really be there. Nobody really can be there for me except God himself.

That’s why the psalmist said I have nobody in heaven but you and nobody on the earth but you
only. And even in heaven it says it that way, vs. 26. Even in heaven there isn’t anyone but you.
Wow. So, this is what I did. I just want to share it with you, vs.41. This is a prayer and you read it
outloud to yourself and something from this text will kind of stick to your heart. vs. 41. And now
I’m thinking, Lord, according to your word salvation. That’s what I believe you. I believe you for
that.

vs. 42. I have an answer to somebody who mocks me. I have an answer to the atmosphere that
oppresses me. I have an answer to somebody who ridicules me. Somebody puts me down but it
doesn’t matter to me because I have your Word. Your Word is able to quicken me and build me
up. But I think there are layers in the Word. I like that thought, too. You have the Word. Let’s say
it’s like this. Here’s the Word. Here’s the Word. And it’s something like there’s one dimension.
And then there’s another dimension to the Word. And then there is something even more to the
Word.

The Word is more than just like what you think you know about it. It’s life. The Word is life. My
words they are spirit and they are life. This is because you are born again and have a new heart
and that Word that is in the Spirit of God it comes to you. But you and I have to read it. We have
to think about it. Change my mind. Not my heart. That’s already done. My heart is after God. My
heart is the new birth. My heart is the gift of God, the grace of God given to us in Jesus Christ.
Already done.

Read vs. 43. I really believe it’s something other than us. It’s not our, it’s your Word. Don’t take it
out of my mouth. If your Word is in my mouth, the Word that said, “let there be light and there
was light.” The Word that said to the man laying by the pool of Bethseda, “take up your bed and
walk.” That same Word that is in our Bible, that Word that goes into our spirit and into our heart
and in our meditation. That meditation is what elevates you and is able to build you up.
So that you are not in this swamp over here. Where are we? That swamp of knowing myself.
Woe is me. Oh my fears, my depression, my failures. Oh, no one likes me. My problems. My
difficulties. My self image. Oh, how will I ever change? You will never change. That’s like the
world talking to you. That’s like here’s your meditation. You will never change. You have chronic
depression. You have many of these different – and I’m not a doctor. I’m not a psychiatrist or a
psychologist.

I’m just telling you that the world doesn’t always – why not get counsel from God? Hundreds and
hundreds of years. Thousands. Two thousand years. Four thousand years. The Jews lived by
the Word of God. Christ lived by the Word of God. The church lives by the Word of God. The
saints that mean anything in life they live by the Word of God.

What do we do in our marriage? We kind of get – receive with meekness the ingrafted Word.
There you go. That’s a good verse for our message here. Receive with meekness the engrafted
Word. I know this sounds a little mechanical, but you’ll get the idea. You’ll follow it with me.
Let’s go to vs. 44. I think that means I keep this forever and ever. I’m like this before the Lord in
my heart and waiting on the Lord. And then the memory. God can bring words and then
meditation. And then he says something. Look up this – literally I believe it works like that. He
can put it in my heart. I might look up a verse. Look up Isaiah 61:10 or verses that are in our
reserve, in our bank. Things we have heard and relate to. Our theology, our doctrine, our Bible
studies, our meditation, our quietness.

Listen, I can say to God, I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I know that. My memory is not
good. I’m also getting older, so I don’t know. I know that before you you gave me a new heart
and I decided in my heart to relate to you based on what you have said. I will not, I will not
accept the garbage that comes in this life. I don’t want it. I do but I repent from it. I do get
confused by it or troubled by it but I repent from it. I come to this place. Okay.

Go to vs. 45. That’s fun. I will walk at liberty. It’s almost like if I hit, if I walk in your precepts,
everything is working fine. I have liberty. I can be who I am. I have liberty. I’m not self-conscious.
We’re God conscious. How did you get your liberty? I got occupied with his precepts. We get
occupied with his life. We are worshippers of God, so we have liberty. Liberty. We have a lot of
liberty to do a lot of different things, and that is one of the characteristics of a Spirit-filled brother
or sister is that they walk in liberty. Sensitivity.

vs. 46. I love these NFL football players, athletes, golfers, Olympic gold medalists. I love the
quarterbacks. I love the guys that – they don’t care. Are you kidding me. Do they care about the
– if they have the Spirit of God and they have the opportunity to give a testimony, they will not
back off before kings and they will not be ashamed cause they know how they got to where they
got. And they believe and they know because this is what they say. But we don’t have to be
great people. We just are who we are. And we are very satisfied with who we are because that
Word resonates in our new heart.

vs. 47. Do I love them? Here it goes in the prayer. I don’t love them. I love them. I don’t love
them. I should love them. I don’t love them. Lord, do I love them? And he goes, you love them.
Yes, Lord, I love them. You see this is like working in. I got to be honest with God. Do I love
them, Lord? Do I love your law? Do I love your rules? Do I love your judgments? Do I love your
testimony? Do I love what you have to say to me? Do I love being corrected by you?

And then I have to reflect on it. There’s something in me that says no. Then there is that waiting
on God and I say, Lord, it’s the difference between these two pictures. I hope you can get this
with me. The difference between these two pictures. It is me trying to discover myself.
And I say, do I love your commandments? Do I love? Or this picture with the new heart. God
says, you love me and I say, I do. You love my judgments. I say, I know. I do. I love them. I love
what you say more than anything. I love your ways more than any way. I love your heart and
your mind.

What is happening in my meditation? What is happening in this process of fellowship with God?
I’m being very honest with God and he’s also speaking to my heart on the basis of the new birth,
on the basis of grace, on the basis of his Son, Jesus Christ. Christ came into the world to
change us, fill us, satisfy us, equip us, make us able to say I can take a beating. It’s okay. I can
take a beating cause Christ is in me.

I’ve learned to be abased. I’ve learned to abound. I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me. I am the first one to say, I cannot. And then God is the one that says yes you
can. You get that. God says, yes. You can. Wait a minute. Lord, did you say it? He says, I did.
And enjoy it. I say, I do.

Look at the next verse, vs. 48. Here it comes. Here’s the final part. I just want to tell you. It will
come to you. It will come to you strong. It will come. It’s real. It will come. This life of faith, it
works. It will come. The power of God will come. It will come in your spirit. It will come in your
heart. It will come in your worship. It will come in your devotion. It will come in your prayer. It will
come in Body life. It will come. It will build you up.

You just say, you just say it’s real. Thank you, Jesus. I’m a sinful man but I don’t think like that.
I’m thinking another way. I have found Jesus Christ in my daily life. I have found Christ in my
trials. I have found Christ and this other stuff, I mean it just kind of falling away, dropping away.
I’m not spending a lot of time thinking about myself and my stuff. God will take care of that. We
have found the high road, the living and moving way. We have found the way of faith, a way of
worship, a way of faith and simple trust and praise.

But here comes that funny joke. There was a guy who joined in the army, and he never wanted
to jump out of an airplane. He was so pessimistic about it. They put him in the paratrooper
group anyway. He said I never want to get in an airplane, never fly. They said you have to. You
have to jump out of a plane. I don’t want to. I don’t want to do it. I’m not going to do it. They said
we will throw you out of the plane. You have to do it. We’ll force you but we’ll give you two
parachutes. We’re going to throw you out of the plane. If the first chute doesn’t open up, the
second one will. And besides, there will be a jeep down there waiting for you when you land.
So, they threw him out of the plane. He pulled the first chute. It didn’t open. He said, I knew it. I
knew that would happen. So, he pulled the other cord. That didn’t open. He said, I knew it. And

probably the jeep isn’t down there waiting either!
Do you know what I mean by that? There’s some people so stubborn. And this one here, this
picture. I’ll never change. I’m occupied with myself. I got my way. And that’s how I’m going to
live. And I’m a Christian. God says to us, you have no idea what I can do for you. You have no
idea how much I’ll satisfy you. How much peace you will have if you trust me. You have no idea.
It will happen to you. I will fill you with my Spirit. I will satisfy your soul with good things. I will
carry you. I will show you. I will anoint you with fresh oil. I’ll call you by name. I’ll lead you in and
out. I’ll guide you with my eye. I am God. Amen. Would you pray with me, please. (Prayer)

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