‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me.
9 sermons cite this verse
He said, because a lot of people are writing checks, but their heart is not in it. He said, people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Today, the title of the message is heart check. Okay? Heart check. Everybody say heart check. Heart check. And today, this is all it's going to be is a heart check. chapter 7 verse 1 because God doesn't want you to just have a blessed wallet. He wants you to live a blessed life. Just say it one more time with me. Say blessed life. That means he wants your marriage, your family healthy. He wants your relationships blessed. He wants everything you do to be blessed. And I want to look at how we can live a blessed life. Matthew chapter 7 verse 1. It says, Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. I have a simple question for everybody. …
These people say they're mine They honor me with their lips But their hearts are far from me and their worship of me is nothing more than man-made it's rules that they've learned and they started to put into practice They honor when it gets them another position or takes them up but when nobody's looking in the back of a cave will you honor? I mean I think it's very significant that this whole thing does not happen in front of anybody else. It happens in a cave. And God says if you honor in a cave. You'll honor in the palace. If you if you honor that's what integrity that word integrity It means you do the same thing in front of people That you do behind closed doors And this is one of the key things that's missing from the body of Christ right now honor is missing But when I look at the life of Jesus Who in anybody on earth Should have been honored Should have been served Like if I was Jesus I wouldn't have touched the ground the whole time I was on earth Y'all know what I'm saying Like I would have had people either carrying me Or invented the hub around Or something I would have just But that's my selfish self But Jesus walked the same roads the disciples walked He didn't have he didn't have any special treatment matter of fact when we talk about honoring down at the last supper in the midst of everybody who's followed him he gets down on his knees. …
… You get at the answer with this text from Jesus. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain, that means zero, do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. So, guitar, shame. Is he worshiping? And the answer is maybe. Seriously. Am I worshiping right now? Maybe. lips do not make worship. Lips do not make praise. They don't. Jesus said, with their lips, they're honoring, they're praising, their songs are going up. And in many churches, God is holding his nose because the worship leader is in bed with the secretary. So, what is praise? Praise is the heart's affection for all the excellencies of God spilling over with song, spilling over with obedience. That's praise. Otherwise, it's worthless. Zero. That's the answer to the first question, as I understand it. This is real heartfelt affection for God or it's not praise. What is glory? We use that word. I use that word as much as any other word and it is very difficult to define but I have three go-to words that help me. …
… from your heart, with your heart. Jesus said, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. So the job of a pastor and a worship leader is to do everything we can in prayer and design and the feast of the word to help people wake up. that their hearts come alive. I don't think it's worship if it's just words or just hands in the air. You can put your hands in the air and sleep with your girlfriend that night. It happens. That's not worship. That stinks in God's nose. It says so in the Bible. So it really matters that we cultivate with your heart. So let me end with, okay, if fullness of the Holy Spirit, be filled with the Spirit is the key to that, all of that. How do you get filled with the Holy Spirit? And I'll give you just three steps that I think are biblical. Number one, pray for it. That's how I began tonight, right? …
… Isaiah 29. The Lord says, these people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. I just like that verse. God is showing us something. He's saying these people, they come to church or they listen to worship and they love worship. They love to sing. but when it comes to giving, they're like, what? I'm not giving. Giving? What? He said, their lips are close, but their hearts are far away. Watch this. Jesus taught us that wherever your treasure is, your heart will be with it. So how do I get my heart to be with God? I give my money and my heart follows. Your heart follows finance, not your finance follows heart. You understand what I'm saying? So I want to give God the first and the best of my life because I know it's not a money issue. It's a heart issue. And I want to tell the Lord, you have won the competition for my life and I will not serve money. I will serve you. I will have no idols in front of you. …
… It is not mere words. Do you remember how Jesus said, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship or praise me. So I asked ChatGPT. I typed in, please compose a 30-second prayer to God in the spirit and theology of Don Carson in praise to the glory of God's grace. Click. three seconds later, this is what I was given. Gracious Father, we bow before you, the sovereign Lord of history and redemption. From eternity past, you purposed to lavish grace upon undeserving sinners through the blood of your beloved Son. We praise you for the glory of your mercy, unearned, unmeasured, made manifest in Christ crucified and risen. May our lives, redeemed and sanctified by your spirit, be vessels of praise to the riches of your grace. To you be glory forever and ever. Amen. that's a machine I'm asking, is that praise? No! This people, these machines, honor me with their lips and their bites. …
… That is essential. Jesus said this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me what's the problem you got my lips I don't have your heart I don't have your emotions I don't have your affections I don't have your love I don't have your delight I don't have your treasuring you're not mine this is radical we believe in conversion we believe in miracles that cause people to be born again so that new hearts stone taken out flesh put in that's how you get saved this joy that we are going to have in God for this life through many sufferings is going to last forever and get bigger and bigger and bigger. We're almost done. Ephesians 2 7 this has got to be one of the most amazing promises in the Bible he saved us so that in the coming ages he might show his immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus It's going to take eternal ages for us to receive the fullness of the display of the glory of the kindness of God. …
… In the Old Testament, there are people, he says, you know what, they praise me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Man, I just felt like I needed to throw that out there and let you know that everything can change in a second. That's the beauty of the cross. That's the beauty of what he can do. Like, he can wash it all away. That's how intense his mercy is. That's how off the charts his love is. But you've got to make a decision. You've got to make a decision to really believe and to follow him. maybe this is the first time you understood what was happening on the cross. The Bible says that he made Jesus, who knew no sin, become sin on our behalf. That through him, we might become the righteousness of God. So it was like on the cross, God, remember I said his love is off the charts. I mean, who does this? He looked at us who all were sinning. …
And in the same way, Jesus elsewhere in the New Testament says, this people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. See, God doesn't want that kind of worship. That's religion. That's not authentic faith. We are to come with our hearts filled with a sense of awe and reverence and adoration, and the worship that we offer is a sacrifice of our praise to His name that we bring with joy. And also we are told it is to be according to truth. I don't think there's ever been a time in Christian history where the church has been exposed to more of what is called experimental worship. And so often the experiments are driven by Gallup or Barna poles. And the idea is like a marketing survey, we say, what do people want on Sunday morning? Do they want sermons that will give them popular psychology? Do they want warm, fuzzy feelings where their felt needs are met? if that's the case, then we need to tailor worship according to the felt needs of the people. …