SEMESTER 6
396 – Is Thy Heart Right With God
BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE
COURSE: ECCLESIOLOGY VI (HYMNOLOGY) LESSON # 96
THE DOCTRINES AND EFFECTS OF CHURCH MUSIC – IS THY HEART RIGHT WITH GOD
Read: Mark 7:1-6
and Mark 7:14-23
INTRODUCTION:
1. How often we hear the admonition: “You need to get your life right with God.”
2. We frequently hear: “Get your heart right with God.” (Jer. 17:9)
3. To such a question as this song asks, I can only say, I want it to be right.
III: By the brother who called and asked: “Are you right with God today?”
4. I might answer: “If I know my heart, I am.” But I do not know my heart.
5. This song has a pertinent question and it is very humbling to the honest Christian.
6. Let us examine ourselves by the questions of these verses.
I. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF OUR AFFECTIONS?
“Have thy affections been nailed to the cross?… Countest thou all things for Jesus but loss?”
1. Earthly desires are one of our greatest spiritual tests. (Mat. 13:22)
2. These affections are a most frequent cause of men rejecting Jesus as Lord.
III: It is not frequently His Savior-hood that men reject, but His Lordship. (Hear on tape.)
3. Our Lord said, “What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
4. He insists that we cannot serve God and mammon. (Mat. 6:24)
III: The man who rejects Christ for the world is more objective than he who tries for both.
II. WHAT IS THE DEGREE OF OUR SELF-CONTROL?
“Hast thou dominion o’er self and o’er sin?… Over all evil without and within?”
1. The flesh always lusts against the spirit and vise versa. (Gal. 5:17)
III: Every Christian must fight this battle every single day.
2. Do you have victory over outside evil (the objective temptation of Satan)?
3. Do you have victory over the evil within your heart (subjective Temptation)?
III: By the man who frequently called me about his thought life?
4. These questions, faced honestly, will never make us proudly claim victory.
III. WHAT IS YOUR FEAR OF SIN?
“Is there no more condemnation for sin?… Does Jesus rule in the temple within?”
1. Every sane and cognizant human being has some kind of fear of sin.
2. It is either of the condemnation of sin, or the pollution of sin.
3. When our heart is made free, we know we are not under condemnation. (Joh. 5:24)
4. Then we have a different dread of sin. It is pollution. (Rom. 7:24)
5. Are you troubled about hell hereafter, or sin in your heart right now?
IV. ARE YOU WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD?
“Art thou now walking in heaven’s pure light?… Is thy soul wearing a garment of white?”
1. The natural man always loves darkness rather than light. (Joh. 3:19)
2. Conversely, walking in the light is an attribute of regeneration. (I Joh. 1:6-7)
3. Every individual has a clear preference in this matter. What is your preference?
4. You say: Yes, I am a Christian. (Upon what premise is that statement based?)
5. I simply ask you to be investigative and to be honest.
6. Is your heart right with God? If not, look to Him for mercy! Look to Christ?