Follow Your Heart?
  1. Introduction
    1. Follow your heart — This is very common advice
      1. We hear this very often as the moral of the story, especially in modern movies.
      2. It seems to be the general wisdom for dealing with difficult situations.
    2. What does Follow your heart mean?
      1. Deep down inside, you know what is right — We really know what the right thing is to do.
      2. The right thing to do is the same thing as what we really want to do.
    3. Christians say it too.
      1. In general Christians are thinking of our conscience when they say this.
      2. Trying to encourage people to listen to their conscience.
    4. The Book of Jeremiah has a lot to say about following your heart:




        1. Isaiah supports that same stance.
        2. Christ died because everyone was following their heart!
  2. What Jeremiah Says - Let's dig deeper into what Jeremiah has to say about this.

      1. Jeremiah 23:16 — This is about the false prophets in Israel.
      2. The false prophets encourage the people who follow their heart.
    2. Jeremiah 7:23-24 but walked in the counsels [and] in the imagination of their evil heart
      1. In v. 23 God is imploring Israel to return to Him in obedience.
      2. Instead of listening to God, they followed their heart and went backward, and not forward.
      3. Jeremiah 16:12 ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me
        1. At the root of this is pride. They made themselves the ultimate authority, not God.
        2. Jeremiah 17:5-8 Cursed [be] the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm
      4. Obeying your heart is the opposite to obeying God
        1. Jeremiah 11:8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded [them] to do; but they did [them] not.

        2. Jeremiah 9:13-14
        3. Psalms 52:7 — The wicked man trusts in himself
      5. But these verses say that they followed their evil heart not everyone's heart is evil right?

      1. Jeremiah 17:5-8 proclaims a curse on those who trust in men and a blessing to those who trust in God.
      2. Verse 9 is part of the explanation why. Our hearts are so wicked and deceitful, that we can not trust them. I can't even discern the wickedness of my own heart.
        1. What do you mean I don't understand the wickedness of my own heart?
        2. Our heart is very good at justifying our own actions. (Proverbs 18:17)
        3. Think about how easy it is to see the problems in other people, but not in ourselves, that is our deceitful heart. (Matthew 7:3-5)
        4. There is a root of pride here. Pride refuses to admit that we are wrong, that is why it is such a hard sin to deal with.
      3. Only God can plumb the depths of our heart. That is why we must rely on Him and not our own heart.
      4. Psalms 19:11-13 — This was a Psalm of David, the man after God's heart (1Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22)
        1. v. 11 — David knew what was right by studying God's word, not by listening to his heart.
        2. v. 12 — David couldn't know all the sins of his own heart, he had to cry out to God to cleanse him.
        3. v. 13 — Only as God lead and worked in his life was he able to live holy.
      5. Jeremiah 4:14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?


        2. God's call to repentance and restoration seems to be making the general assumption that every heart is wicked.
        3. This is consistent with what we find elsewhere in the Bible
          1. Genesis 6:5; Romans 3:9-23; Romans 5:12; Galatians 3:22

    4. Imagination of our Heart
      1. Jeremiah 7:24 but walked in the counsels [and] in the imagination of their evil heart
        1. Their heart was their guide, whatever it said they did.
        2. They did whatever their heart imagined. Today we would say they followed their dreams.

        1. Their heart led them to false Gods.
        2. We don't worship carvings today, but anything that gets higher priority than God is an idol: my job, car, girlfriend/wife, etc.
        3. That is often where following my dream leads isn't it? Putting a too high of a priority on something here on earth.
      3. So our heart dreams up evil and rebellious things for us to do and creates idols for us to worship.
    5. Mark 7:18-23 — The heart is the key to sin. Jesus said that sin originates in the heart.
  3. Who do I follow?
    1. I can not trust myself because there is nothing good in me. I have nothing good to bring to God, only rottenness


      3. God gives us gifts and skills, but just like the bad apple, sin poisons everything in our lives.
      4. Only God can take the rottenness and restore it.

        2. Isaiah 61:3-10


        1. This is part of God's promise to bring Judah back from captivity.
        2. A heart that seeks God, is a gift from God.
          1. Ezekiel 36:27

        3. Note also the phrase a whole heart, God is not content with partial loyalty, or partial commitment.

        1. Ultimately then only God can change us.
        2. But He works with us and there are choices we must make. The first is to ask Him to change us.
    2. Right response of the heart

        1. The fear of the Lord needs to be real (in our heart).
        2. Not just something we talk about or give intellectual assent to.
      2. Jeremiah 12:2-3 Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou [art] near in their mouth, and far from their reins. But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

        1. Jeremiah 12:1-4 — Jeremiah is coming to God about the ungodly and asking when He will judge them.
        2. Jeremiah 12:2 — For these people, God is near in their mouth, and far from their reins. In other words, they claim to know God but do not allow Him control of their lives. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
        3. In contrast, Jeremiah says that God has tried or tested his heart and unlike those in verse 2 it is committed to God. So true loyalty and obedience to God rests in the position or attitude of the heart.

          1. Egypt and these other countries were outwardly disobedient to God.
          2. Israel, although it had a show of obedience, was not sincere which was just as bad.

          1. God is calling Israel to repent and return to Him. (Jeremiah 4:1-3)
          2. They are not only to outwardly dedicate themselves to Him, but inwardly their heart needed to be dedicated to Him as well.
          3. They needed to be consumed with what God was concerned with. God was calling for a radical change in their life.

        1. The right position of the heart is to delight in God's words
        2. Deuteronomy 4:5-6; Psalms 19:8; Psalms 119:16-80; Ezekiel 36:27
      4. Note that here the heart is not leading, it is following.
        1. The heart is to seek God, to obey God, to be loyal to God. In other words, the heart is to follow God.
        2. The heart is not meant to be a leader, it is meant to be a follower.
        3. What would happen if we tried to shoot an arrow backward?
          1. The fletching would catch every wind gust and wildly whip the arrow around.
          2. However when we shoot it forwards and allow the fletching to trail behind, it does a great job of keeping the arrow flying straight.
          3. In the same way, when our heart is set on following God then it will help to keep our life in line.
    3. So then what do we follow?
      1. Follow the one who works in us to restore us: The Holy Spirit

  4. Conclusion
    1. Maybe I would never say, follow your heart, but do I have the same attitude?
      1. Do I chase my own desires. (Jeremiah 13:10)
      2. Am I controlled by my emotions. (Jeremiah 7:24)
      3. Do I justify my own actions or do they truly align with God's commands? (Jeremiah 11:8)
      4. Do I trust in my own strength. (Jeremiah 17:5-8)
    2. Instead, I must seek God (Jeremiah 29:12-13) and replace those four with these:
      1. Delight in God (Jeremiah 15:16; Revelation 3:17-18)
      2. Be wholly loyal to God (Jeremiah 12:2-3)
      3. Fear and obey God (Jeremiah 32:39)
      4. Let Him meet my needs (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

        2. Luke 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
