And now this afternoon, in the moments that remain, I'd invite you to turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter nine. Going to read some verses at the very end of the chapter and carry the reading into chapter 10. The 1 Samuel chapter nine will begin in verse 25. And with God's word open before us, let's seek the Lord in prayer. O Lord, as we bow now in Thy presence, with Thy word open before us, we do pray that Thou wilt quicken us by Thy word. We pray Thou wilt strengthen us, encourage us. We invite Thee, Lord, even to challenge us and convict us, because our desire is to draw close to Thee. Our desire is to bring glory to the name of our Redeemer. So, Lord, instruct us from Thy word, and minister to every heart need. And we'll give thee the thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. 1 Samuel 9, verse 25. This is the word of God. Let us hear it. And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house. And they arose early. And it came to pass about the spring of the day that Samuel called Saul to the top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us. And he passed on. But stand thou still a while, that I may show thee the word of God.' Then Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance? When thou art departed from me to-day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel's sepulchre in the border of Benjamin, at Zelza, and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found, and lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shalt meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. And they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread, which thou shalt receive of their hands. After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines. And it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tablet, and a pipe, and a harp before them, and they shall prophesy. And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. And let it be when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee, for God is with thee. And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal, and behold, I will come down unto thee to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days shalt thou tarry till I come to thee, and show thee what thou shalt do. And it was so that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart and all those signs came to pass that day. Amen, we'll end our reading in verse nine. We know the Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his word for his name's sake. I wanna call your attention in particular to that last part of verse nine, which reads simply, God gave him another heart. God gave him another heart. Does this new heart mark the beginning of Saul's conversion? Is this his salvation? After all, salvation is a new heart. Salvation is a matter that pertains to the heart. So we read in Romans 10 in verse nine, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Was this the experience then of Saul that we find here in 1 Samuel 10? Well, this has been actually a debatable point throughout much of church history as to whether or not Saul was even really a saved man. The verse could refer to regeneration, which is tantamount to receiving a new heart, but it may also mean that God endued him with a special unction. An unction that would transform Saul from a lowly farmer in a lowly tribe of Israel into a ruler and prince over God's people. An unction, then. If we view the verse this way, then the meaning would be that Saul experienced such an effusion of spiritual power that he was lifted to a higher plane in such a way that he gained new divisions, new desires, and such a renewal of spiritual strength that it was as if all things became new. I've spoken to more than one Christian who has had such experiences of Christ that so far exceeded any previous experiences in their lives that it leads them to wonder whether or not such an experience marks the real beginning of their salvation. Most notably, I have met Christians described this way upon their discovery of the doctrines of grace. Oh, it has such an impact on their lives that they wonder, was I even a Christian before I made this discovery? They may have made a profession of faith before that experience. They may have assumed that they were saved before that experience, and they may well have been saved before that experience. But there are nevertheless these baptisms of power that come from the Holy Spirit that have the impact of making all things new again. Interestingly enough, when we read Samuel's prediction in verse 6 that the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, the literal rendering suggested by most commentators I consulted is, the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon thee. The meaning being, suddenly endowing thee with the capacity to act in a manner far superior to thy previous character and habits, And instead of the simplicity, ignorance, and sheepishness of a present, thou wilt display an energy, wisdom, and magnanimity worthy of a prince." So one commentator notes, you know, I kind of wonder about that very thing when I think of our current president. Is he a saved man? Well, I would be rather reluctant myself to hasten to that conclusion, but on the other hand, quite possible that he's been endued with an unction that has lifted him up to a level that he's never known and how we ought to pray for him and thank God for what we see up to this point. This comment certainly brings to mind the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 in which the Spirit came upon the apostles as a mighty rushing wind. And whether we take the text to refer to initial salvation or a renewed unction for a specific purpose, The truth that stands out in the chapter is that Christianity is a religion of the heart, which is another way of saying that true religion affects the very core of our being. That's the meaning of heart. It refers to the deepest parts of our souls. And the recognition that true religion affects us this way also indicates to us that there's no place for superficial Christianity. You know what the term superficial means? Listen to this definition given for it. Superficial is of affecting or located on the surface. concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious, shallow, apparent rather than actual or substantial, superficial. I'm afraid that in reading such a definition, it gives me cause to wonder how much of Christendom today is affected by superficiality. The point I want to stress today, however, is that Christianity is not merely a decision made along the way. It's a new heart. And when you gain a new heart, then every part of your life is affected. Your actions are affected. Your words are affected. Your attitudes are affected. Your affections are affected. And so in the case of sinners outside of Christ, the need is for new hearts. And in the case of Christians whose hearts have become calloused by sin and the world to the point where spiritual sensitivity is all but lost, the need for them is for renewed hearts. And I wonder this afternoon, what is your heart condition? The scripture certainly emphasized the truth that our hearts must be tended to. And that's what I'd like to focus on this afternoon, the matter of tending to your heart. Keep thy heart with all diligence, we read in Proverbs 4 in verse 23, for out of it are the issues of life. We must then tend to our hearts. And in particular, I'm interested in the renewal of our hearts. We must tend to the renewal of our hearts. And in the passage we've read, we discover a number of things we must learn in order to tend to the renewal of our hearts. Think with me first of all, one of two points that I'll make this afternoon. We must know the need for heart renewal. We must recognize the need for it, and the need, I'm afraid, is constant. We don't know the exact condition of Saul's heart previous to this occasion. One might argue that there was evidence of grace in his life. After all, he was obedient to his father. He wasn't puffed up with pride. He was respectful to Samuel. He was certainly submissive enough to stand still a while in order to be shown the word of God, as we read, chapter 9, verse 27. His humility and submission were arguably the factors that initially would have qualified him for the call of God to be king over the nation. Be that as it may, in order to rise to the occasion that was before him, he had to undergo a heart renewal. And I take this, the meaning of our text, God gave him another heart. Another heart was in order for the monumental task that was upon Saul at that particular moment in time. Now, if you were to do a simple word search on the word heart, you would discover the heart receives a lot of attention in the Word of God. About 200 times in the Psalms and Proverbs alone, and 100 times in the New Testament, you find that word heart. And a cursory reading of the references reveals a number of heart conditions where the need is for heart renewal. In the case of a sinner outside of Christ, the heart can be described as a closed heart. We look in Acts 16, not terribly long ago, the example of Lydia, where we read in verse 14, and the Lord opened her heart. That statement makes it plain, doesn't it, that her heart was not opened before the Lord opened it. And this is the trouble with the sinner outside of Christ. His heart is closed to Christ and closed to the gospel. His heart is described as being blind, willfully blind by Paul in Ephesians 4, 18. And a blind heart corresponds to the understanding being darkened. I'm sure many of you are aware of a familiar text in Jeremiah 17 and verse 9 where we read, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and who can know it? This is why a sinner is a fool to trust in his heart. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Proverbs 28 verse 26. And yet isn't that the popular maxim in our day? Just follow your heart, the world says. Equally foolish is the notion that sinners are good at heart. They may do dumb things along the way. They may fall into sin, into serious sin. They may hurt themselves and hurt others as well, but basically they're good at heart, the world reasons. The goodness that the world attributes to the heart only reveals the pride of the heart. Paul describes the heart of sinful men as foolish and darkened and impenitent in Romans 1.21 and in Romans 2.5. This is why the need for sinful men is for a spiritual heart transplant, if you will. In spite of how he mistakenly may think that his heart is decent and warm, the truth is that the heart is a heart of stone. And in salvation, the promise of God is for a new heart. So we read in Ezekiel 36 and verse 26, a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. The sinner goes from a heart that is stone cold toward God and Christ to a new heart that beats in devotion to Christ and to his word. So the need of the sinner is for a new heart Just as in the physical realm, the condition of a man's heart may be beyond bypass surgery to the point that all that can be done for him is to transplant in him a new heart, so in the spiritual realm, that new heart is always the need for those that are outside of Christ. If you find yourself today awakening to the reality of your heart condition before God, I would urge you to call upon Christ for a heart that will believe in him and in his word. Nothing short of this will do, you see, to land you safely on heaven's shores. No amount of heart reformation, no amount of heart resolution to do better, nothing short of a new heart will suffice to the saving of your soul. So we find the heart condition of the sinner described in scripture. We also find various heart conditions that can apply to the Christian, which underscore the need for constant heart renewal. In fact, I find it rather amazing how many different heart conditions are mentioned in the Psalms and in Proverbs. We find, for example, the condition of a double heart. In his complaint that the godly man ceaseth and the faithful fail among the children of men, David goes on to say in Psalm 12 and verse two, they speak vanity, every one with his neighbor with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The people described by David are those who might seem to have a heart for God, but they also have a heart for the world and a heart for sin. They think they can have the best of both things, so to speak, God and sin. James, in his epistle, prescribes the remedy for this heart condition. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded. He says in James 4 in verse 8. A heart in such a condition that manifests allegiance to God but at the same time allegiance to the world or the flesh has become a defiled heart and it needs the application of the blood of Christ to purify it. It also needs to be united rather than divided. And so we find the psalmist praying in Psalm 86 and verse 11, unite my heart to fear thy name. Oh my, there's a petition we can and should utilize often. Lord, unite my heart to fear thy name. We see in the course of Saul's life that this heart condition would dominate his life, this double heart, so to speak. In one instance, he manifests contrition, but in the next instance, he manifests hostility toward God. Saul's a very perplexing character that way. In the end, it's difficult to say whether or not he was saved or lost. I have my own view on that, and I could be wrong. I tend to think he was lost. Dr. Cairns would disagree with me, but Dr. Cairns wasn't perfect. Be that as it may, difficult to say. And you certainly don't want to be in a position, practically speaking, where it's difficult for others to discern whether or not you're truly a Christian. We find another condition, the condition of a troubled heart. Psalm 25 and verse seven, the troubles of my heart are enlarged. Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses. Not hard from the context of Psalm 25 to figure out why the troubles of David's heart are enlarged. He's under conviction for his sins. In fact, I think you could say this entire psalm, Psalm 25, depicts a struggle to gain assurance of sins forgiven. So you find in verse seven, Psalm 25, remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions. According to thy mercy, remember thou me for thy goodness sake, O Lord. Few verses later, verse 11, for thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. And then a few verses after that in verse 18, look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins. I think the picture emerges out of that Psalm of David just exercising greater fervency over the course of that Psalm. Lord, forgive me. Lord, please look upon me for good. Lord, look upon my affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins. It's like there's increasing fervency over the course of that song, over that very petition, which indicates, doesn't it, that his was a troubled heart at that time. Then there's the condition of a weak heart. Psalm 27 in verse 13, I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. We've been looking at that notion in prayer meeting in recent days, and that is the solution to a weak heart. We find the condition of a broken heart. Psalm 34 verse 18, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and save us such as be of a contrite heart or contrite spirit rather. And in this case, it's not hard to perceive why the psalmist's heart is broken. It's broken over sin, broken over his own shortcomings. We find a restless heart full of anxiety. Psalm 38 and verse eight, I am feeble and sore broken. I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. There are many other heart conditions also. In the interest of time, I won't try to cover them all, except to list some more of them for you. We find the condition of a failing heart, Psalm 40, verse 12, a pained heart, Psalm 55, verse 4, an overwhelmed heart, Psalm 61, verse 2, a grieved heart, Psalm 73, verse 13, a desolate heart, Psalm 143, verse 4, and a sick heart. Proverbs 13 and verse 12. I will take a moment to mention one other heart condition, because this condition receives so much attention in the Bible. It's the condition of a hard heart. Psalm 95 and verse eight, harden not your heart as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. This is a condition that a Christian brings upon himself through his failure to maintain the proper spiritual sensitivity to the things of God. Most often, you could say, it comes on as a result of our neglect of the means of grace, which leads inevitably to a loss of spiritual sensitivity, which is what a hard heart amounts to. It's referred to in Isaiah as a fat heart. A hard heart and fat heart have something in common, spiritual dullness. The symptoms for such a condition are given in Isaiah 6 and verse 9. A people hear, but don't understand. They see, but they don't perceive. In other words, they hear with the physical ear, but rarely, if ever, do they hear with that inward spiritual perception of the heart. No less than seven times this heart condition is referred to in the New Testament to explain why the Jews rejected the gospel. This is indeed a frightful heart condition, because as an act of judgment, God gives people over to this condition. And where this condition reaches epidemic proportions, you discover a nation that is filled with hard-hearted hypocrisy. They're characterized as those that draw near to God with their mouth and honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Christ. Isaiah 29, verse 13. Such, then, are the heart conditions found in scripture. There are so many conditions described in the Bible that I dare say that even in a congregation the size of ours, many of these heart conditions undoubtedly are represented here this afternoon. There are undoubtedly those among us who suffer from troubled hearts or weak hearts or broken hearts or hearts that are overwhelmed or desolate or sick. There are undoubtedly some here today who know what I'm talking about when I describe a hard heart, a heart that lacks spiritual sensitivity. All these heart conditions underscore the need for heart renewal. And so seeing the need, Consider with me next and finally that if we would tend to the renewal of our hearts, we must not only see the need, we must know the source for heart renewal. We must know the source, and I use that term source very deliberately rather than say we must know the prescription or we must know the plan. No, we must know the source for heart renewal. There is, of course, just one source for heart renewal, and that is God himself, or Christ. Note again the words of our text, verse Samuel 10 and verse 9, and it was so that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart. God gave him another heart. Christ alone possesses the ability to renew the human heart. Christ alone in this respect must be viewed as the great physician. We thank God for the great advances that have been made in modern medicine in order to treat the physical heart. The more we learn and the faster we learn it, the better off thousands will be who are potentially vulnerable to physical heart disease. But the conditions we've touched upon already are conditions that are beyond the reach of modern medicine. You cannot treat such conditions with medicine or surgery, although, mind you, sinners try to treat their sickness of soul by numbing themselves to their heart troubles through drugs and drink. And while they may succeed in numbing themselves through such artificial stimulants, the real problem of their sick souls only grows worse. You see, nearly every heart condition that I described under the previous heading can be traced to one of two things, or in some cases, to both things. The first problem is the problem of sin. Sin is what creates a double heart. A proud heart can lead to a broken heart or to a hard heart. And the second problem, and it's in a similar vein, is simply that of unbelief. Unbelief leads to a troubled heart or a faint heart or a restless heart or an overwhelmed heart. The solution Christ prescribes is so simple and yet somehow we managed to make it more difficult. Let not your heart be troubled, he says, and we've looked at that text recently in John 14.1. You believe in Christ, believe also in me. What's the solution to a troubled heart? Believe in Christ. You must believe that He loves you. You must believe that He died for you. You must believe that His love is constant toward you. What is it that leads us to doubt these things? I think it would be safe to say that it's a lack of our constancy toward Christ. Why would God love you continually when your devotion to Him falls so far short of loving Him with all your heart and soul and mind and strength? Why should He love you when you fail Him time and again? Oh, when we look to our own hearts, we can find countless reasons for God to be done with us. This is why we doubt God's love and favor and grace when the circumstances of life become difficult. We look to our own hearts and find no trouble coming up with reasons as to why God would deal harshly with us. Job's friends were firmly convinced that Job's sufferings had to be on account of his sins. Years ago, when I went through the book of Job in Sunday school, I raised the question, if sin was the reason for Job's sufferings, then would God ever be lacking an excuse for causing any of us to suffer to the same degree? I dare say that if God measured his treatment of us by what our sins deserved, we wouldn't merely be going through hard circumstances in life. We'd be burning in hell. This is why we must go to the source. We must look to Christ rather than spend countless hours dwelling on the conditions of our hearts. Oh, it's not a bad thing for us to search our hearts and to invite God to search our hearts. But as a number of preachers have said, for every look you take to your own heart, you ought to take 10 looks to Christ. And make sure your emphasis is that way. This is why we must constantly be seeking God for heart renewal. The psalmist demonstrates this practice to us in many of the verses that I've already cited. What is the solution to a defiled heart? Psalm 51, verse 10, created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. What is the solution to a heart that is overwhelmed? Psalm 61 and verse 2, from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. What is the solution for a heart that fails? Psalm 73, verse 26, my flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. You see how in every instance we're driven back to the source. Listen to the psalmist in Psalm 55 as he states the condition of his heart after elaborating on the causes that led to his condition. We read Psalm 55, verse 3, I think we could say that the psalmist, of the psalmist, that his heart is sore pained because of the spiritual enemies that magnify his iniquities and impress upon him the simple truth that the heart knows, that is, that sin invites and deserves wrath. Sin calls for everlasting death. The truth of sin's penalty is a fearful matter that easily can and does lead to trembling and overwhelming horror. But now listen to the psalmist's resolution for his terrible heart condition. It's given to us in verse 16. As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me Oh here is prayer and here is constant prayer morning and evening and at noon and here is fervent prayer I can remember reverend to Massey and once making a very practical remark that when you pray, you do better to pray out loud. Sometimes the circumstances don't always allow that, but whenever they do, that's the way to pray. Pray out loud. Your mind has to be more engaged, you see, if you're praying out loud. I can pray silently in my mind and I can so easily lose my thought along the way. when my internal voice grows so weak and so easily distracted. The author of Hebrews prescribes the psalmist's actions to the people of God when he writes in Hebrews 10 and verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. What is it that washes or purges our hearts? It's none other than the blood of Christ. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Christ, then, is the one who gives new hearts. Christ is the one who purges the heart. Christ is the one who renews the heart and all on the grounds of his atoning blood. The solution to any and all of the hard conditions we've touched upon, as well as those I haven't mentioned, is the same. We must go to the source. We must flee to Christ. Oh, may the Lord help us then to examine our hearts and to know our hearts to the extent that we can, recognizing that there are limits to that. And may he draw us to himself for the renewal of our hearts at such times when renewal is needed, which is quite often. Let's close then in prayer. O Lord, as we bow in Thy presence now and bring this meeting to a close, we thank Thee for Thy Word and we thank Thee for the Holy Spirit. We invite Thee, Lord, to search our hearts. May we be engaged along with Thee in such heart searching so that we may indeed discover any wicked ways that lie within us. and then seek Thee for the forgiveness that is so freely offered and be led in the way everlasting. So, Lord, undertake for us and help us to tend to our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.