If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened.If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear:
4 sermons cite this verse
… The psalmist says in Psalm 66, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Listen to this. If you're living in overt sin with no desire to repent, you are not a Christian. If you are living in overt sin with no desire to repent, you're not a Christian. Now you're saying, well, Greg, you're wrong on that. Everyone struggles. I didn't say if you're struggling with sin. Overt means you're living this way. You're not gonna change the way you're living. You have no intention of repenting. Don't tell me you're a Christian. Are you a Christian? Do you pass the test? Or are you pretending to be a Christian when you really aren't at all? Amen. Judge not lest you be judged. Okay, hold on. I am judging you. Because the Bible says, judgment begins at the house of God. And if we don't see any spiritual fruit in your life, why should I believe that you're necessarily a Christian? Listen, a person can make visible change in their life and not necessarily be a Christian. …
… because you got secret sin Psalm 66 verses 18 through 20. Psalm 66 verses 18 through 20. This is, all these points are important, but this is especially critical and important for this verse here. It's very critical that you understand this. Let me read this verse to you real quick. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly the Lord has heard me. He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Oh, that's so powerful. God says when we are in the right posture, in the right heart, in the right direction, and in the right place. He won't turn his, he will hear our prayer. He will extend mercy to us. I love this passage. It means wonderful. But here's the key to this verse, verse 18. Here's the key. If I regard iniquity in my heart. …
… Here's number two. Let's go to Psalm 66, verse 18. Psalm 66 and verse 18. Now, this is a very significant and important one. It's a very significant and important one. It says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. Wow, that's, y'all, did y'all get that? If I regard iniquity. Now, the key word in this passage is the word regard. That's the key word, regard. What does that word mean? I'm glad you asked the question. the word regard means if I can see it in my mind here's what that means you don't have to actually do the sin all you have to do is see it okay y'all y'all are confused let me break it down to all you have to do is imagine it picture it in your mind that's where most of y'all mess up because y'all be dreaming about stuff I feel tension over here in these two sections right here. If I can picture it in my mind, if I can imagine it in my mindset, if I can put it in my mind to think about it, it impacts God's ability to respond to my prayers. …
… So the fifth reason we forgive is in order to worship. Psalm 66 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. He's not going to answer my prayers if I am a bitter, sinful person, and I'm not willing to repent and turn from that sin. I can't enter into His presence to worship because I have something of conflict going on with one who is also a brother. So why do we forgive? Because it's like God to forgive, because it avoids guilt, because it makes sure that we don't set ourselves up as a higher standard than God. We forgive to be forgiven, and we forgive to worship. Number 6, we forgive to avoid discipline. James 2.13, judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Did you get that? Judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. I don't know any believer who would affirm that they want judgment in their life. …