"A Matter of The Heart"

 "But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed." (John 7:49 KJV)

  "And so the LORD says, "These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but there hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligent will disappear."" (Isaiah 29:13-14 NLT)

 Somehow this cursed thing is really not all that bad! If you think you have what it takes to please God, to practice righteousness and holiness, to be able to say, 'I have achieved perfection,' then you are cursed of God and have no hope of fellowship with Him. But, on the other hand, if you know that you are utterly broken and lost without God's mercy and grace; a sinner from birth, born into sin and in need of a Savior; have no other way, but to die to yourself and be dead to this world: then you are cursed of this world, but alive unto God! 

 It just so happens, this curse word, is a word that is only useful for a Biblical application. We might not totally understand what that means, but it has an amazing, wonderful, and magical truth behind it, that turns the whole meaning of it up-side-down and completely around! I have a wonderful picture upon my wall, titled, "Righteousness." The picture shows a broken and sinful man kneeling at the foot of the cross, his hands folded, his face down, bitterly weeping and begging for mercy. In the base of the picture is a puddle of water, and within that puddle is his reflection: a reflection of spectacular glory, a full and joyful expression, looking up at the cross, totally justified and forgiven! 

 To that point, as Pastor Bryan reminded me, King David sinned far worse than King Saul did; the difference was, that Saul denied his infractions, but David owned what he did, and he begged for God's mercy! "A man after God's own heart!" That was the illustration of David given by God; because the heart of God, is to pour out His mercy...

""Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. See how I used him to display my power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations. You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious."" (Isaiah 55:3-5 NLT)