Transforming Hearts: The Gift of Divine Love

"i said there was more significance to cutting a covenant than you might think meaning lay the metaphor aside now meaning he gives you a new kind of heart he gives it what kind of heart he tells us he tells us a heart that will have is its natural reflex it's effect a heart verse six second half of the verse put your very eyeballs on it so that you will love the lord your god that's what the new heart does it's the meaning of the new heart if it's not happening the heart's not there or there's a temporary hardening that's come upon this new heart the new heart loves god with all the heart and with all the soul that you may live" [00:39:37]

"i believe that that promise applies literally to corporate israel not apart from individual conversions but this i believe that if i lived long enough i would see someday the headlines in tel aviv and jerusalem flash millions of jews turn to jesus as their messiah i think that's implicit here and the reason i do is because paul does in romans 11 verses 1 and 2 11 and 12 15 24 26 i can't put those verses together in any other way than all israel will be saved does not mean all the elect from jews and gentiles will be saved which is what most of you been taught probably if you belong to a but i won't say the kind of church i love these people they're my best friends okay" [00:40:54]

"the miracle of of having 29 4 verse 29 verse 4 of chapter 29 reversed he has not given you a heart to know or ears to hear or eyes that is reversed by chapter 30 verse six one person at a time because it's a heart it's a hard heart that's being replaced this is not an a corporate esprit de corps that comes across israel this is a human heart with deadness and blindness and deafness cut away and in its place a heart that loves god loves god loves god loves god that's the new heart loving god with all your heart and soul and mind and strength this is god verse 6 of chapter 30 is god sovereignly securing guaranteeing bringing about the ultimate purposes of creation and redemption the reason he made the world" [00:44:09]

"here he describes what happens when he gives his people a new heart to love him look at the second half of verse nine i want you to see these very words because i'm gonna build the rest of this message on this it's it's the greatest news in the world i hope you will see verse nine second half of the verse the words the lord will again take delight in prospering you just let those sit for a minute the lord will again take delight in prospering you surely that does not mean he will delight in doing good things for you while finding you yourself to be morally ugly displeasing reprehensible i delight in doing good things but when i look at you i get no pleasure at all you're hard you're blind you're rebellious surely that is not what verse nine means" [00:45:51]

"the doctrine that every one of you who is a believer a christian was justified as an ungodly person before you were beautiful before you're pleasing is a magnificent essential doctrine and it's not here in the foreground it's in the background what's in the foreground here is the beautification of the people of god on the basis of mercies what's in the foreground here is a heart that once hated god now loves god that's beautification the the beauty of the people of god is their love for god so when it says that he takes delight in them in prospering them he means i i'm enjoying i'm going to enjoy you again look at verse 10 at the very last clause of verse 10 when when it's going to happen when you turn to the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul in other words when verse 6 comes true i'm going to delight in you" [00:47:02]

"because we're on the brink of the most ultimate purpose for which god created the world and performed a history of redemption and sent his son and established a church and will bring everything to consummation what's it all about we're very close to the center of answering that question so god is securing in verse six securing guaranteeing bringing about in our hearts the purpose of creation and to see the wonder of this we have to pause here and ask about the meaning of loving god with all your heart almost every speaker has alluded to this so let me pick on don carson entailments you like that word don carson likes that word and he gave us five entailments of loving god now don that's an ambiguous word entailment and he didn't leave us in ambiguity about the relationship between loving god and obeying god because don carson has not become a book writer blessing to the church by specializing in ambiguity" [00:49:33]

"loving god entails obeying god everything goes up to me what what does entail mean at that point because it could mean loving god is obeying god or it could mean loving god results in obeying god well he left us in no doubt he went for number two he was his language consequence reflection grounded in amen amen amen thank you don don't have to disagree with don carson in public because i want to say and this is just vastly important that doing things for god is not the essence of loving god it's fruit it's result it's consequence it's reflection of it's grounded in love for god which raises the question well what is it and don quoted lest anybody have this text in your mind jesus said if you love me you'll keep my commandments right those are separate things if you love me result you will keep my commandments it does not say if you love me that is keeping my commandments or if you obey me that is loving me it's not equal" [00:50:15]

"loving god is treasuring god more than anything or anyone else watch my verbs i'm i'm just groping like you would i'm just trying to find english words treasuring loving god is finding him to be supremely precious loving god is being satisfied in god more than spouse more than children more than health more than life psalm 63 3 the steadfast love of the lord is better than life what amazing word don't you love the bible so that's the beauty i said verse six is about not about justifying the bride while she's ungodly it's about beautifying the bride by making her one who finds god to be her treasure to be more precious to her than anything that's what's happening in verse six so let's let's stay right here because we i haven't gotten to the issue yet how is this the goal of the universe those are big words so we're here at verse 9 and 10 again let me collapse the two verses the lord will take delight in you there at the end of verse 9 the lord will take delight in you when you turn to the lord that is when you love the lord that is when you delight in the lord treasure the lord find the lord to be supremely treacherous the lord delights in your finding him to be your delight" [00:52:16]

"god has done everything in creation and redemption for that god has communicated so much of his glory so much of himself that by the miracle of grace that's verse six by the miracle of grace we see him and love him as supremely beautiful and satisfying so that god now looks on us with delight because nothing reflects his own glory and his own worth like our delight in him loving him god enjoys our enjoyment of god forever that's the goal of the universe to create a people who would be first justified as ungodly ones through faith in union with jesus and then beautified by having hearts of stone taken out or heart circumcised so that their hearts find jesus to be supremely valuable supremely precious and satisfying on which he then forever looks with joy and it's all of grace free sovereign grace raising the spiritually dead giving sight to the blind eyes giving hearing to deaf ears from him and through him and to him are all these things to him be glory forever" [00:55:23]

"he secured bought guaranteed made certain both the divine promises and the human response that's the point of chapter 30 verse 6 and 29 4 he bought the miracle for you christ came down from heaven christ came up from the grave so that this is doable because by the holy spirit poured out in consequence of that bloodshed your heart is taken out and a new heart is put in the ultimate aim of creation and redemption guaranteed by the blood of jesus he calls it the blood of the covenant chapter 22 verse 20 of luke the blood of the covenant at the cost of his life christ bought the beautification of his bride and her beauty is her delight in him that's what i've argued from deuteronomy 30. now here it is one more time ephesians chapter 5 verses 25 to 27. we so often read this in relationship to marriage which it is of course that the wonder of what it says about christ in the church goes by a little too fast so let's take it as the consummation of the purpose of creation christ loved the church and gave himself up for her verse 26 that he might sanctify her that is beautify her verse 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor that's the goal of creation everything was designed that the sun might purchase a bride beautified in splendor for himself to the honor of his father in the power of the blood-bought spirit on behalf of his father christ came to create a beautiful bride out of a hard-hearted rebel people you and me this blood bought beautified bride will be god's delight forever i mean what else does it mean when he said i want her to be beautiful when she comes to me why i enjoy beauty she's gonna be my joy forever it's what i've been about all these thousands of years and her splendor will be her delight in him and so it will be forever" [00:57:37]

"choose life women that you and your offspring may live loving the lord your god obeying his voice holding fast to him for he is your life that's not too hard for you it is only as hard as it is to enjoy what is supremely enjoyable look to him as your greatest treasure and he will do it father do it do it now in this room granted women who have labored under the illusion that to love you is to work we lay down that error and see you as all satisfied see you as their supreme treasure and their greatest delight just see you and be changed do it i pray we can't we know we can't we can't do it at the beginning we can't keep it happening we are so utterly radically deeply dependent on your grace and your spirit every moment of our lives to wake up believers and lovers in the morning that we despair of any other source of hope do this miracle i pray as these women go to the four winds may the aroma of christ be spread i ask in jesus name" [01:05:28]