Stiffnecked and Uncircumcised in Heart and Ears

[00:00:00] All right, let's get our Bible and turn to Acts, chapter seven. Again. We're going to read the same three verses, three or four verses that we read this morning, but take a different approach. [00:00:13] Look at these verses in particular. [00:00:25] It all right. Acts, chapter seven, verse number 51. [00:00:39] Stephen, concluding his sermon, summarizing it, bringing it, bringing it to its climax, laying at the feet of the Jews. [00:00:50] A most grave indictment, not just about the generation that he was speaking to directly, but only that the generation to whom he was speaking was following in a long line of rebels. [00:01:11] It's no wonder they got mad at him. [00:01:14] Verse 51 ye, stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did. So do ye. [00:01:26] Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted, and they have slain them? Which showed before the coming of the just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. [00:01:44] Let's pray together, Lord in heaven. As we look at these few verses again, as we look at Your Word and different parts of Your Word, to understand what's being said here, we ask you to meet with us and to teach us. [00:02:00] Ask You, Lord, to help us to examine our hearts and our heart's orientation towards you. [00:02:07] Ask that you would give us wisdom and understanding, give us delight in Your Word even as we read it. I pray that you would help our heart, Lord, to be right in Your sight. [00:02:21] And Lord, I pray that you would bless your word and the study of your word to our hearts tonight. [00:02:28] Please, Lord, help your people. [00:02:31] In Jesus name. Amen. [00:02:34] So the Bible says in Proverbs that we should keep our hearts with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. In other words, whatever is in our heart, whatever is the attitude, whatever is the I mentioned in my prayer, the orientation. You might say that the perspective of the heart, especially as it relates to God himself, will determine our relationship to God and all the other things that come out of our life. In other words, out of the heart proceed the issues of life. All the things that come out of the life, they come from the heart. And Jesus said this as well. He said, out of the abundance of the heart proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, etc. So not only the bad, but also the good comes out of the heart. And our relationship to God is also determined by how our heart is oriented toward the Lord. [00:03:36] And in verse number 51, notice that Stephen levels an indictment not just about verse 52. He talks about how that they have betrayed and murdered the Just One, the one that the Righteous One, the one that was sent to be their deliverer and to be their ruler. [00:03:57] They have now betrayed and murdered him, which are wicked and ungodly works. But why did they do that? They did that because of verse number 51. [00:04:06] Because they had a stiff neck and they had an uncircumcised heart and ears. That was what led them. In other words, out of the heart came all of these other things. So we might divide it like this. [00:04:24] The stiff neck refers to their response to God's work in their life. [00:04:30] And the uncircumcised heart and ears, you could say, refers to the kind of the state of their relationship to is a to call a Jew, especially in this day. The Jews had a level of autonomy in their nation. They didn't have their kingdom like they had back in the days of David and Solomon, but they did have a level of rule, which is why this council is here in So. So there was a certain level of pride that went with that. And to look at a Jew who was stephen himself was a Jew. Some people say he was a Hellenistic Jew, which is a Jew of Greek that lived among the Greeks. [00:05:17] We talked about that earlier. Remember the Grecian, that is a Jew who lived among the Greeks. Some people say Stephen was that. I don't know that for sure. But what is clear is that Stephen, by saying that they were stiff necked and especially the term uncircumcised in heart, he is essentially saying that they are not Jews, that they are not of God's people. In other words, they are no better than the heathen. They are no better than the Gentiles. [00:05:49] And to them that was I mean, absolutely, they were filled with blinding fury. They lost it. In fact, what it says here, they were cut to the heart in verse 54. Note they were cut to the heart, but it did not affect it did not cause a good outcome. We think of conviction. They were convicted. [00:06:12] They were pricked in their heart like other people who like us. When the Lord knocked on our heart's door and he convicted us and he pricked our heart about our need for Him, we responded in our case, we responded positively. But that's not always the case. They responded very negatively. They were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. How many of you have ever seen someone angry? That angry where they clench their mouth and grind their teeth? I mean, that is just hatred. What that is. That's a face that personifies hatred. [00:06:50] But of course, the contrast is evident verse 55, because Stephen is full of the Holy Ghost. So you see this total black and white contrast here and they rushed upon him. Notice in verse 57, they cried out with a loud voice. And notice they stopped their ears. [00:07:10] Does that mean they actually put their fingers in their ears, like literally? Or is this just figurative, like they just didn't listen. [00:07:17] I mean, just imagine seeing these people just full of rage, their veins on their neck bulging, their faces red, their teeth are grinding together, their eyes are full of rage and their fingers in their ears. That's a funny, funny picture. They don't want to hear another word. [00:07:41] But all of that came from verse 51, the indictment. Stephen levels at their stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. Again, this refers to the orientation of their heart to God. [00:07:54] And I just want us to examine our own hearts, right? [00:08:02] Where is our heart in relation to God? [00:08:08] Where is our heart and how does it respond to God's work and God's voice and God's urging and God's influence in our heart? [00:08:20] How do we respond to that? Because that's what's being described here. There's two things being described. First is stiff necked and the second is uncircumcised. We'll look at these separately, but they do occur together in one other place in the Bible, which is in Deuteronomy, chapter ten, verse 16. Listen to this. It says this circumcise. Now stop right now stop deuteronomy. This is the end of the life of Moses, right? Deuteronomy means second law. So this is when Moses is repeating the law that God gave him on Mount Sinai to Israel at the end of his life, when they're just on the other side. Jordan right? He's repeating that law. [00:09:00] They've already been through circumcision. They've already been through all that. They've been through that. The law included several provisions about circumcision and when it was done and how it was done and all those things. [00:09:12] Even still, he says this circumcise, therefore the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff neck. See how they occur together, the state of the heart and the stiff neckness. They occur together. Now, to be stiff neck simply means this. And we're going to again do a walk through the Old Testament really quick to show the way it's used in different places to really get an understanding. But here's what it means. To be stiff neck means to be stubborn, to be obstinate, to be rebellious, to be unwilling to receive instruction or correction. [00:09:57] All right, so let's look at a few passages. [00:10:00] We probably won't come back to Acts because I want to look at several other passages, but let's start in two chronicles, chapter 32nd. Chronicles, chapter 30, verse number eight. [00:10:23] Second Chronicles 30, verse number eight. The Bible says this now be well. Let's read verse seven. I often only write down verse one verse, and I always go back and read the context. And be not ye like your fathers, similar to what Stephen is saying, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see. [00:10:52] Now, be ye not stiff necked as your fathers were. Notice, but yield yourselves unto the Lord and enter into his sanctuary which he hath sanctified forever and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. So what we see here is to be stiff necked is to be unyielding, to be unyielding in the face of God's influence. Look at Proverbs chapter 29. [00:11:23] We won't stay in any of these verses very long, so we'll just hurry through them. Proverbs 29, verse number one. [00:11:35] Proverbs 29, verse number one. The Bible says, he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed. And that without remedy. [00:11:51] You see that. But when is his neck hardened? His neck is hardened as a result. And in response to reproof, you see that he's often reproved. [00:12:03] And the way he is responding to that reproof is obviously not good. It's negative. And as a result of that constant negative response to reproof, his neck is hard. In other words, he's becoming one who cannot be corrected, who is beyond correct. The heart is not open to correction anymore. Look at Isaiah. Chapter 48. [00:12:31] Isaiah 48, verse number four. [00:12:40] Well, verse number three, of course. Isaiah 48, verse three. I have declared the former things from the beginning and they went forth out of my mouth and I showed them. I did them suddenly and they came to pass because I knew that thou art obstinate and thy neck is an iron sinew and thy brow brass. [00:13:05] You see that? In other words, the Lord took steps to knowing the way they were. The Lord took steps to deal with them because they are obstinate. Obstinate is defined as this firmly adhering to an opinion or chosen course of action, despite argument, persuasion or entreaty. It means to be inflexible, resolute, stubborn, self willed, and it's indicative of stubbornness. So here's an obstinate person, which is what the verse says. An obstinate person is a person who is set on their ways. Again, we talked about reproof a minute ago. They're set on their ways and nothing is going to change that. [00:13:53] And of course there's a good kind of obstinacy right in good things, to be firm and to stand firm, as Ephesians chapter six says, but obstinace in the face of God is wicked. Obstinace in the face of God comes from a stiff neck and a heart that is hardened. Look at Jeremiah. Chapter seven. Just the next book over, we'll look at two verses in Jeremiah, chapter seven, verse number 26. [00:14:31] Jeremiah, chapter seven, verse 25 says, since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt, unto this day I have even sent you, sent unto you all my servants. The prophets keep make note of that many, many times, especially in the book of Jeremiah. What does the Bible say? How that God sent the prophets? How? Five letter word begins with E. [00:14:55] Anybody know? [00:14:59] Nobody? [00:15:01] The Lord talks about how he sent the prophets. Early, early notice. It says here even I've sent unto you all my servants, the prophets daily rising up early and sending them. Why does that matter? In other words, God saw their error afar off and to nip it in the bud, as it were, to head it off and to correct it early. Because the longer the error in sin is left unmolested and remains as it is, it becomes firmer. It like concrete. It just sets up firmer and firmer and firmer and it gets more difficult to extract. And so what did God do? The Lord tried to correct them and reprove them when the sin had not yet fully hardened at the point at which it was greatest. [00:15:54] It would probably have the greatest benefit. All right, be mindful when you deal with your children. [00:16:00] Be mindful when you deal with anybody. It is better to deal with a problem earlier rather than waiting for that problem to fully manifest itself and go into something that is much later, much later, difficult to deal with. It's better to deal with it early. That's what the Lord does here. But notice in verse number 26. Yet they hardened hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. [00:16:31] Look at chapter 17. [00:16:34] So we see. They would not listen. [00:16:36] Then we get to chapter 17 and verse number 23. But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff that they might not hear nor receive instruction. They would not listen in chapter seven. They will not hear or receive instruction in chapter 17. Then you flip over a couple of pages to Ezekiel, or a couple books anyway, chapter two. Look at that. Ezekiel, chapter two, verse number three. [00:17:22] Ezekiel, chapter two, verse three says this and he said unto me, son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this very day for they are impudent children and stiff hearted. I do send thee unto them and thou shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord God. Now note that we've seen this several times. [00:17:48] Listen, god sends reproof. God sends his word. God sends his prophet. God intervenes right in the midst of these people going away from the Lord. In the midst of these people departing from God and rebelling against God in various ways. God doesn't wait to the end. God starts early and he intervenes. He puts his influence in their lives, in the life of the nation to stop the nation from going down that path. Here's what I want you to see. There is an influence of God. [00:18:24] They're not just going along and doing their own thing. God is actively influencing them. That's what we see here in verse number verse number four. [00:18:38] He says at the end of verse four thus saith the Lord God. This is the Lord talking to Ezekiel now. And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are a rebellious house, yet shall they shall yet shall know that they have been a prophet among them. So again they were rebelling, but God sent a prophet. God intervened. You go to act back to Acts, chapter seven. You don't need to go there. You can go ahead and start turning to Genesis 17, but I'll go back to Acts and remind you of what it says real quick. [00:19:10] We're going to be in Genesis 17 next. Acts seven says this in verse 51 again, ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in hardened ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. Here's what I want you to understand. [00:19:29] To be stiff necked means to be stubborn and obstinate and rebellious and unwilling to receive instruction or correction. It means you have set yourself on a course of action. [00:19:46] No matter what kind of correction or argument or entreaty or I should say, no matter what kind of influence God brings into your life, be it preaching, be it a personal correction, be it a misfortune in your life that God sends as a corrective measure in your life, to be stiff neck means you will not relent. I will not relent. I'm going to maintain this path. I'm going to continue no matter what. [00:20:17] That's what it means to be stiff necked, to be stubborn, even when God is working in us, even when God is trying to give us instruction, even when he is trying to show us the right way and correct our path. Early I just want to ask you a question. [00:20:40] How do you respond to God's correction in your life? [00:20:45] How do you respond to God's correction in your life? Every one of us deals with that question because every one of us steps out of the way that God wants us to go. Every one of us steps out of God's will for us. But the question is not that that's going to happen. You are going to mess up, and I'm going to mess up. [00:21:06] You know what? God in his grace is going to intervene. [00:21:11] He's not going to stand by and let you and let me, his children, persist in a path that is evil or destructive. He's not going to do it. He loves us too much. He has too much grace, he has too much mercy to stand by and watch it happen. And that's why, again, I always go back to parenting. Maybe it's my stage in life, but that's why passive parenting is not a thing. [00:21:37] You cannot stand by while your kids are going away from what you have taught them and more importantly, away from God. You can't stand by and do it. [00:21:48] God does not do that with us. [00:21:51] You say, well, I'll drive them away. Not if you deal with it in the right way. Now, they might not receive it. That's another question. [00:21:59] But you can't stand by and let them do it. [00:22:03] That's not what the Lord does. He intervenes. He influences us. He steps between us and that thing we're going after that path, that's wicked, that's out of the way. He steps on that path like the angel did before the donkey with Balaam stepped right in the middle with his sword drawn and dared the dawn. The donkey was smart enough not to go. [00:22:27] That's what God does in our life. [00:22:31] But our response to that kind of correction determines whether we're stiff necked or not. That's what we're talking about here. [00:22:40] Do you have a tendency to be stiff necked to the Lord? [00:22:45] Let me ask you another question. [00:22:47] When the Lord sends correction in the form of another person correcting you do you respond well to that because your response is indicative of where your heart is in this matter. Are you stiff necked or are you, as we saw in the first verse, yielded to the Lord? Do you refuse and despise reproof or do you receive reproof to the Lord and to his correction that he must give to us from time to time? We must not be obstinate. We must listen. We must humble ourselves and be tender and willing. [00:23:39] Willing to be corrected, willing to be molded. [00:23:44] But the second thing he says to them in Acts chapter seven we'll see in Genesis 17, in just a minute is this idea of uncircumcised. Now, I'll be honest with you. [00:23:54] I don't feel like I have my brain completely around what it means to be circumcised in heart. So we're going to look at a few verses together starting in the first example of circumcision. The first mentioned principle states that you can learn a great deal about a matter based upon how God mentions it the first time. So in Genesis 17 is when we see it. [00:24:17] And we see it starting in verse number one. [00:24:22] The Bible says and when Abram was 90 years old and nine the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect and I will make my covenant between me and Thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. [00:24:43] Now, notice verse three because this, I think, tells the story. [00:24:47] And Abram fell on his face. [00:24:51] Now, by the time we get to Genesis 17, you know what has already happened? Abram has already believed in the Lord. You remember when the Lord took him out at night, showed him in the stars and even though he was old, even though his wife was old and she was past the age of bearing children he had no children god took him out. He said, look at the stars. He said, So shall thy seed be. And at that very moment, at that moment, in that instant, in his heart was God soft faith. [00:25:20] He believed the Lord at that moment. And at that moment, God saw seeing his faith counted that faith as righteousness even though abraham wasn't righteous. [00:25:31] That's what we call justification by faith. So that's what happened. That's already happened by the time we get to 17. [00:25:38] In verse three, abram fell on his face. [00:25:43] Do you see his heart? [00:25:45] In other words, what he's doing with his body is showing where his heart is with the Lord. Abraham is a man who is walking with God. [00:25:53] He is a man whose heart is open to God. He follows the Lord. You think of all the different places the Lord wanted him to go, and the Lord led him out of his homeland into the land of Canaan, and he had no inheritance. He wandered without any place to go. He wandered, and God protected him. And he messed up sometimes, but again, God intervened, right? Remember Abimelech and all those stories? God intervened with Abraham, and God protected him, because God was not going to take his hand off of Abraham, just like he doesn't with us. [00:26:25] And so Abraham walked with God. Abraham was a man whose heart was open to God. [00:26:31] Abraham, if I might say, was a man who had a circumcised heart. [00:26:37] You understand what I mean? [00:26:40] And at this point in chapter seven, god is establishing a covenant. [00:26:46] Verse seven says, and I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. And I will be their god. [00:27:09] All right, look at verse nine. And God said unto Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant, therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee. Every man child among you shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token. Notice that word, token of the covenant betweaks me and you. So here's what's happening. We're going to move on from here. [00:27:40] Abraham walks with God. Abraham is already righteous before God by his faith. He's already a man of faith at this point. But God is going to establish a covenant, and God is establishing a covenant with a man who has faith, a man who is following the Lord, a man whose heart is tender toward God already. [00:28:01] And so God is establishing a covenant with him with a token that is a symbol, a sign, a mark. [00:28:09] Now, this outward sign of circumcision did not bestow any goodness or did not change Abraham outside of his physical body. It did not change the heart of Abraham. Abraham's heart was already right. [00:28:25] His heart was already, if you will, circumcised before this covenant. And the symbol of this covenant was ever instituted. His heart was already right. That's what I want you to see. God saw Abraham's heart already, and then as a result of that, established this covenant with him. You could see as he bowed before God, he's tender, he yielded to God. He's a man who loves God. He's the one that built all those altars, remember? And he fellowshipped with God. That was Abraham. Every time you see him with the Lord, even in his mistakes and failures, you see a man who loves the just. I wish I could live a day with Abraham. Maybe I don't. Because you try to imagine the life of Abraham was so much different than we can imagine a nomad, a guy who lived in tents made of animal skin. [00:29:21] Brother Stewart's like, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. [00:29:26] Until you had to live there, right? All the time. [00:29:30] I mean, it's just completely different than anything we could ever even think of. [00:29:38] But the problem is this. By the time you get to Acts chapter seven, the Jews had taken that sign of the covenant, that outward symbol of circumcision. [00:29:49] And that was all that mattered. [00:29:52] There was no heart. [00:29:54] They didn't care where their heart was with God. [00:29:57] They had the outward sign, and they thought, I'm good. Just like I said about John the Baptist, what he said this morning, the children of Abraham. Hey, I'm circumcised all these wicked, ungodly heathen. Uncircumcised heathen. Well, God's going to deal with that in just a minute. Look at Romans. Chapter Two. [00:30:18] Romans, chapter two. [00:30:23] I'll just review this a little bit, or not review it, but summarize Romans chapter two. Because Romans chapter two is addressed to the Jews. Verse number one of Romans two says, therefore thou art inexcusable, o man whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou judgest thou that judges DOST the same things. So chapter one deals with those who do not know God, who do not have God's word. Chapter two deals with those that do have the law of God, which is the Jew. [00:30:52] Here's what summarizing, here's what Romans chapter two teaches. The Jews are addressed because they did the very wickedness they condemned in others. [00:31:05] They did exactly what they condemned in others. [00:31:11] The Jews had a heart that was impenetrant, as we see in verse number five. But after thy hardness and impenetrant heart, they had a hard and impenetrant heart that reminds us of the stiff necked that we just saw earlier. They boasted in the outward marks of their relationship to God, in other words, circumcision. [00:31:40] They were arrogant in their delusion that they knew God's will and God's law and could instruct others. That's what we see down in verse number verse number 18, or verse 17, really. Behold, thou art called a Jew and restest in the law and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will and approvest the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the law. And thou art and art confident. Thou thyself art a guide of the blind. And a light of them, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher babes. You can hear the arrogance just pouring out of these people, which has the form? Notice the form of knowledge, not the substance, the form. You know what the form is? That's the shape, but that's not the real thing. A form is a shadow. [00:32:32] It has the outline, but it's not the real thing. That's what circumcision was. They had the form on the outside, but there was no real relationship to God. There was no heart like Abraham's heart toward God at all. [00:32:46] They looked the Part, they had all the trappings and markings of the Part, but their heart did not have that. [00:32:57] They were arrogant. And they boasted in the Law as if that came from them or something. It came from God. [00:33:05] But notice verse 25 or verse 24. Listen to this. Now, we know I've already talked about the Grecians, right? Grecians? What are they? [00:33:16] Not the Greeks, the grecians. [00:33:19] They were the Jews who lived among the Greeks. They were scattered about. Listen to what this says. [00:33:25] For the name of God is blasphemed or spoken against among the Gentiles through you. [00:33:33] You know what that says. All the Jews are scattered about. They were listen, by and large, they did not know God. They had circumcision, and they were proud of that. And they had the Law, and they were proud of that, but they didn't keep it. They condemned others when they themselves were doing the same thing. They were full of pride and arrogance. They did not have any kind of relationship to God, and they certainly did not have the faith of Abraham. Their heart was yet uncircumcised, even though their flesh was. [00:33:59] And because of that, out in those various provinces of the Roman Empire and the Greek Empire, you had these little pockets of Jews. And the Gentiles wanted nothing to do with it, because even the Gentiles saw that it was fake, even though they were full of pride. [00:34:20] Verse 25 for circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law. Now that's talking about circumcision in the flesh. Now follow this closely, but if thou be a breaker of the law that's what we're talking about in chapter two, right? Thy circumcision in the flesh is made uncircumcision. So here you have a man who is circumcised in the flesh, and God says, oh, you violate God's law. You don't have a heart to follow the Lord at all. You're not obeying what the Lord says and walking with him like Abraham, well, that circumcision in the flesh is uncircumcision. [00:34:58] It doesn't matter. It's null. [00:35:01] That's pretty strong. [00:35:05] Verse 26 therefore, if the uncircumcision, that is, those who do not, that's Gentiles, if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, stop. How does that happen? [00:35:20] You know how that happens. How does a gentile. Who doesn't have God's law, keep God's law because he believes in Christ. Listen. [00:35:30] And because he believes in Christ, god gives him a new heart and God circumcises him on the inside. You know what happens when that happens? All of a sudden, like Abraham, he wants to believe in the Lord and follow the Lord and humble himself before the Lord. Just like we saw with Abraham, he has the circumcision of the heart. And now, because of what the heart work that God has done in him, he wants to follow the law of God, you see? And so he does. [00:35:59] Not perfectly, but he does. [00:36:05] So the question then is, so now we're talking about a Gentile who's now doing the righteous, keeping the righteousness of the law, even though he's not circumcised. [00:36:18] The question is, then shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? In other words, is that not as good as having the outward sign, verse 27 and shall not uncircumcision? Which is by nature that's the Gentile, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision does transgress the law. In other words, I'm good. [00:36:46] I'm circumcised. [00:36:49] I am of the covenant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. [00:36:54] And here you have a Gentile who actually follows the law, looking at the Jew and saying, you're wrong. [00:37:03] That's just like Stephen saying you're uncircumcised in heart and ears. Now, the difference is, Stephen was a man who was a Jew, so he was circumcised in the flesh, but he was also circumcised in heart. [00:37:16] And he recognized that they weren't. [00:37:20] Notice what it says for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly talking about that sign of that covenant. Neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Here's what that means. It simply means it simply means God is more interested in the heart than some symbol in the flesh. [00:37:56] Here's the thing. [00:37:59] Sometimes, even in our churches, we allow some of these outward marks of spirituality to deceive us. [00:38:12] And we think that because we check the boxes of these outward marks of spirituality that somehow proves or demonstrates that we are actually spiritual, that we actually are following God, that we actually love God. And that's not true. [00:38:28] Now, we know if our heart is right with God, that affects things in our life. But oftentimes, just like with the Jews, they figured, well, hey, I'm good. I'm right with God. I've got the mark of this covenant, I'm good, without any consideration of the heart. And sometimes we allow those outward checkboxes. We check those and we do all the outward things. And we think that equals having a right relationship to God. And it doesn't. [00:39:01] We let the outward things stand in place of the true things that are in the heart. [00:39:08] And all the while we're unwilling to consider if we truly possess that which is on the inside. [00:39:17] You see, that's why the Lord wants us to examine our heart. [00:39:25] I just want to read these few verses and we'll be done. [00:39:29] Philippians three three says this for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Colossians 211 in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. [00:39:53] So it's very clear that God is looking at the heart. And what that tells us is these Jews rejected Christ because their orientation toward God, their heart toward God, was way off. They did not have a heart of faith. They have a heart of trusting in works. They were not like Abraham at all. They did not have a heart to follow God. Of course, they were stiff necked, and that regards how they responded to God's influence in their life. But as far as the way their heart is in its relationship to God, it was not right. It was uncircumcised. It was like a heathen. That's a perfect way to put it in it. Their heart with God was just like a heathen, no different. Even though they had the mark on the outside, you know what? That determined their response to the Lord. [00:40:48] So what is the true state of your heart with the Lord? We already talked about what is our response when he corrects us that's stiff necked. But where is your heart at with God? Do you have that faithfulness, that desire, that love, that delight in the Lord like Abraham had, where you're willing to follow him everywhere and do his will? [00:41:13] Or do you just have the outward things that make you look the part and give you the form, but there's no substance? You know, Abraham's circumcision wouldn't have mattered at all if there wasn't a changed heart inside that was tender and desirous to live for God and love God in his heart. [00:41:35] But we have the promise of Deuteronomy 30, verse six, which we can apply to us because the Lord says it. Now, listen, this goes back to the Old Testament. [00:41:46] This is the last verse I want to read. [00:41:50] In Deuteronomy, chapter six, they're about to go into the land of Canaan in Deuteronomy did I say chapter six, chapter 30? I'm sorry. In Deuteronomy, chapter 30, they're about to go into the land of Canaan. They've already been through the whole circumcision bit. [00:42:06] Now follow me. [00:42:08] They've already got the mark in the flesh. [00:42:11] But the Lord says at that point, and the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live. [00:42:30] That's the effect of that inward circumcision. You see that how different that heart is. Before, I didn't love the Lord. Before, I didn't want to serve the Lord. But God has changed my heart. [00:42:44] God has changed my heart. [00:42:48] You know, it wasn't the outward sign that affected the heart. [00:42:54] The outward sign had no benefit at all, except there was an inward an inward change in the heart. [00:43:05] And let's pray together.