Episode Transcript
Alright, we'll be in Proverbs chapter 15, verse 13.
Proverbs chapter 15 verse 13.
The title of the message tonight is Making People Well.
Making people, well, this will be the first time y'all have heard me preach out of any place other than Daniel.
So it's so good to see y'all tonight here on Wednesday night.
Proverbs 15:13.
We're looking here, teaching verse by verse to the book of Proverbs, and it begins with the words a merry heart.
A merry heart.
Now the Hebrew word or root word that this word merry comes from literally means to brighten up, to brighten up a merry heart or a brightened up heart, a bright heart.
So picture yourself in your mind, picture an oil lamp, one of those old-fashioned oil lamps, and that oil lamp is in a dark room.
If you can just visualize that in your mind, and it's running out of oil.
Some of the older folks in here have seen that before.
You've watched the old oil, the old lamps run out of oil.
And it's running out of fuel, and its flame is burning dimly.
Because the oil is almost gone.
And the human heart is very much like a lamp.
It burns.
And it's either bright or it's dim.
And we're talking about a merry heart.
We're talking about a bright heart tonight It takes matters of hope and joy in the human heart to make it burn brightly.
We've seen people with hope and joy, and they burn brightly.
We see people suffering from hopelessness. depression and all, they burn quite dimly.
Sometimes, unfortunately, they burn out altogether.
And we can burn a while Out of sheer survival.
I've had to do that before.
Most everyone in here has had to do that before.
Determination will get you going for a while.
But if our heart is not eventually filled up with hope and joy, then our lamp will burn out and our heart will grow sorrowful and grow dim.
We may not realize it, but we commonly use this same type of Hebrew explanation of the heart in our own English language.
For example, if someone has lost hope, If they're in a state of defeat or depression, then we sometimes say they've lost that glimmer in their eyes.
We've said that, haven't we?
They lost that light in their eyes.
Or if someone is joyful about something, then we may say, well, they're just glowing or radiating with joy.
It's the same thing that we're reading here in Proverbs tonight.
So the point is when health love, purpose, approval, and a sense of well being run out in life, because we all feed on that, don't we?
And when that runs out in life, and all we're left with is burdens Sorrow, obligations, sickness, criticism, rejection, fear.
In condemnation, our hearts burn with a dim, flickering flame.
You ever felt that way before?
Sure, you have.
I see heads nodding.
I need to get my water because I forgot it.
Forgive me for that.
So, God's grace is the fuel that brightens our heart.
The goodness that He gives us, the mercy that He shows us, it's the grace of God that brightens our heart.
Whether it's imparted through man, whether it's imparted through nature, whether it's imparted through the Word of God spiritually, through the circumstances of our lives, we hear good news or whatever it is.
When it fills our heart, that grace of God, it fuels the fire within us, brightening our hearts and making them, as Solomon said tonight, merry.
Now listen to what God told Moses.
God is somewhat in an argument with Moses at this time.
God has told Moses that he's going to send him before Pharaoh.
He's going to bring his people out of Egypt.
You'll remember, Moses said, Oh, you know, I'm not a good speaker, and all these other things.
And so then God says, Well, I'm going to send Aaron with you, and he can speak on your behalf.
How about that?
Then God makes a comment about Aaron that's very fascinating that I think most people, most of the time, we just overlook.
Because it's just kind of cast in with the story.
But listen to what God told Moses in Exodus 4:14 concerning the fact that he was about to meet his brother, which he had not seen in a while.
It says, And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, that's because he argued with God.
And he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?
I know that he can speak well.
And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee, and when he seeth thee, he will be glad.
What God's saying is, he's going to be brightened up.
He's going to have a merry heart.
When he sees you, Moses, he's going to be glad.
His heart is going to be merry.
It's going to be bright.
Now, what do we learn from that?
God knew through his creation how he designed the family, how he designed the human heart.
God knew that Aaron seeing a loved one that he had not seen in a while would brighten his heart.
And that means God knows that us seeing loved ones that we haven't seen in a while brightens our hearts and encourages our heart.
And with that in mind, We should learn from this tonight to never forsake your loved ones.
Never forsake your loved ones.
Listen, if you've got loved ones you haven't spoken to in a while, call them.
Go by and see them.
Pay them some attention.
I lost a friend of mine last night, a preacher friend of mine that I've known since I was in my 20s.
And I hadn't spoken to him in a while.
I tried to call him, but I didn't get him.
But I hadn't spoken to him in a while.
But just the thought coming home of how final it was that I can't speak to him now until I see him in heaven.
Even if I wanted to, I can't.
Can't go see him.
I can't call.
Can't send an email or anything like that.
And so don't.
Forsake your loved ones, your family, your close friends.
Don't forsake them.
And that goes for spiritual loved ones too, your spiritual family.
Don't forsake them.
Because you don't know how low their light may be burning.
It may be burning really, really dim.
And just being able to see or hear your voice.
May be what really cheers them on.
You could be the cause of the brightness in somebody's heart.
How many?
of you enjoy watching reunions between family members when they haven't seen each other in a while.
I absolutely love watching that.
I love it.
When I'm at the airport, sometimes.
Now, we don't do it much anymore.
I used to, I'd mail Tammy off to Indiana to go see her family sometimes. and I'd go pick her back up.
I'd say mail her off.
I'd fly her out there.
Then I'd go pick her back up at the airport.
And finally I told her, what, a few months ago, I said, yeah, they still don't do that anymore.
I'll just go with you every time.
I'd rather just not be a part.
Just don't want to be a part.
So I'll just go with you.
And we may not be able to stay gone as long, but we can go more often.
How about we just do that?
So that's kind of what we decided to do and have been doing.
But when I used to fly her off, I got a kick as I was waiting for her to come from the secured area to the non-secured area.
I get a kick out of these flights that came before her.
And I'd see people.
Sometimes they'd have signs, and they'd be out there waiting in the non-secured area for the passengers to walk out.
You'd see them.
And then you'd see them go, Oh, there they are, there they are.
And you'd see them with the sign they're getting ready.
And then the door opens and they come out and they go, oh, and they all hug each other.
And I just get such a kick out of that.
And I think.
Just think what it's going to be like when we get to be reunited with God.
And we get to have that.
Close contact with our Creator and with our loved ones as well.
Yes, I want to see my loved ones when I get to heaven, but I want to see my Creator.
I want to see the one that made it all possible.
And I saw a video of a retired sheriff this week.
He's in a nursing home now, and he's just sitting there, as a lot of old people do.
He's just sitting there in his wheelchair at a table, just kind of Leaning forward like that, just waiting on his time to die.
That's what a lot of them are doing.
And I think that's the way they feel.
It's really true.
Just sitting in there and Waiting on the day to go by, the next day to go by, his head's down, he has no expression on his face at all.
Then you see these two uniformed sheriff's deputies walk in who used to work under him.
And they walk in, they said, good afternoon, sir.
And you saw him kind of look up like this, because he probably thought they were about to give him some medicine or something, you know.
And he kind of looked up like this, and when he recognized their faces, like a brand new man.
His heart brightened up on the inside, and it made his countenance shine on the outside.
And that's why Solomon said, a merry heart, that's the inner part of man, look back in your text now, maketh a cheerful countenance.
So, watch my hands gestures here now.
A merry heart.
Now, the word heart in Hebrew means the center of something.
So we're talking about the sinner, the inward man, the part of man that we can't see, that innermost man.
A merry inward man makes a glad countenance, and that's the face.
So the face will portray the heart, won't it?
Now we can pretend, can't we?
Have you ever had anyone you were around, you didn't want to be around them?
Or there was something going on you didn't like, and you put on a nice smile?
It's just a big lie.
You put on that nice smile, and as soon as they walk away, you go, oh, right?
But when it's real.
The face reflects the heart, whether it's dim or whether it's bright.
Now the Hebrew word translated merry means bright, but the Hebrew word translated cheerful means to make well.
To make well.
There's something truly medicinal about having a merry heart.
I mean, it's.
Healing to a person.
It may not always heal them outwardly, but I know it does.
I know there's a certain amount of physical healing that comes when the heart is cheered.
It helps.
It helps a person's health.
But I'll tell you this: there are wounds that go much deeper and hurt much, much worse than the physical wounds.
And the physical illnesses, and that's the wounds on the inside of a man.
That heart.
In a merry heart.
It makes well, it makes a cheerful, it makes a well countenance.
It makes them look well like that man in the nursing home.
He goes from this to the smile and the glow on his face.
Depression can cause chronic fatigue, pain, sleep disturbances. and weakened immune and cardiovascular system.
That's just from depression.
A merry heart makes a well countenance.
And it makes a person well.
I've missed seeing Abigail Abigail's friend, Natalie.
I've missed seeing her the past few services.
You know why she hadn't been here, y'all know?
She was with her brother last year.
With her brother?
Okay.
Well, it's not as bad of a sin as it could have been, but But I've missed seeing her.
And when you know, we have a lot of Natalies.
My niece is named Natalie.
We have a Natalie granddaughter and we got Natalie Natalie.
Any other Natalies in that?
That's about it, isn't it?
The three?
The three.
And so sometimes you don't know which Natalie we're referring to.
Do you know what I call Abigail's friend?
I call her sweet Natalie.
That's what I call her, sweet Natalie.
And she's so sweet and she's so kind.
And what I like about Natalie, she almost always has a cheerful countenance.
Just the sweetest face.
And a lot of times after church when Abigail's wheeling her out in her wheelchair and she comes by, if I'm standing here, she'll go, Can I have a hug?
And she's so precious.
The cheerful countenance doesn't mean that her muscular system is well.
You know what it does mean?
It means her spirits.
Well, you ever read her Facebook post?
They get pretty deep, don't they, brother?
Pretty spiritually deep.
It means her spirit's well.
It means her heart and her soul are well.
And if that part of a person is well, then everything else will be well one day.
But if that part of a person is not well, then nothing will be well one day.
What makes Natalie have a cheerful countenance when her body's not well?
I love What one of the apostles said one time, right when he was about to heal a man.
Do you know what he said?
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.
I like that.
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole.
He could as well have just said, Jesus Christ makes you well.
He makes you well.
The gospel of Jesus Christ makes people truly well on the inside.
And that's how come so many persecuted believers, sick believers, dying believers may be harmed and in pain on the outside.
But they have a well heart on the inside.
And that's how come I have gone to hospitals on many occasions to visit dying people.
And when I go, I sit in my vehicle, I pray that God will give me the words to say.
And I'll be an encouragement to them.
I take my phone in that has my Bible app on it in case I need to read some scripture to them.
And if they're godly people, In every case, I have left with them ministering to me.
It's always amazed me.
I've gone into some places, and sometimes I feel like I'm trying to give the best hope I can to people who don't have any.
But when I've left with godly people, they have had many times. a cheerful countenance on their face, reflecting the inner peace of the grace of Jesus Christ.
The gospel of Jesus Christ makes us well.
The sense of forgiveness The sense of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, it creates a merry heart that takes those broken by sin and makes them well.
Eternally well.
Now, look in the text, however, and we'll see the flip side of that.
But by sorrow of the heart.
On the other hand, what does it say?
The spirit is broken.
Broken.
Jesus Christ maketh thee whole, sin maketh thee broken.
And a broken heart is going to have a broken countenance in the end.
A whole heart is going to have a cheerful countenance in the end.
So let's first compare the sorrow of the heart to a merry heart.
The Hebrew word translated sorrow here has the idea of carving with a knife.
You know what you do when you carve something with a knife?
Well, I can tell you one thing: it doesn't matter what shape you carve it into.
The more you whittle away on that piece of wood, the less wood you're going to have.
And that's why the sorrow of heart has the idea of carving.
Some people they can carve and they can try to make their heart look so pretty and so beautiful.
But there's all those shavings down there that sin takes away.
And in the end there's no heart left at all, a sorrowful heart, one carved away with the sharp knife, the sharp sword of sin.
Sorrow cuts away at the heart, causing the inward man to be broken, literally smitten and wounded.
People who are broken by sin, they have no genuine smile.
They're just carrying around a broken heart on the inside.
Nehemiah was a man with a broken spirit, just like that once, because his heart was wounded due to the condition his country was in.
Nehemiah chapter 2, verse 1 through 5.
Nehemiah said, And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the 20th year of Artaxerxes the king.
That wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it unto the king.
Now I had not been before time sad in his presence.
Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad?
Look at the countenance here.
Look at the countenance.
He has a sad countenance.
Not the kind of countenance that Solomon spoke about, that a Maryheart gives.
He has a sad countenance.
He said, seeing thou art not sick, this is nothing else but sorrow of heart.
Isn't that interesting?
So what's happening here, the countenance, like we talked about before on the face, is portraying his heart.
And King Artaxerxes is looking at him and he says, Man, you've got a sad heart.
I can sit on your face.
You're not sick.
You're sad.
He wants to know what's wrong.
So he says, Then I was very sore afraid.
He didn't want the king to get mad and kill him or punish him.
And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever.
Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my father's sepulchres, or that's graves, lieth waste?
And the gates thereof are consumed with fire.
Now, that's because of what we studied in Daniel, by the way, when Judah was ransacked.
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request?
Or how can I help you?
So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, That thou wouldst send me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulchres, that I may build it.
Now, Nehemiah was a man cut to the heart by sorrow over Jerusalem's war-torn condition, and only the restoration of God's kingdom could make him well.
The good thing is, King Artaxerxes did what was right.
What did King Artaxerxes do when he saw the sad countenance, when he recognized the broken heart?
He asked Nema what the problem was, and when he learned what it was, he did what God had put in his power to do to make it right.
The Bible says, Withhold not good to him to whom it is due when it is in the power of thine hand to do it or to give it.
And God had put that into the power of King Arxerxes' hand.
He could actually give him the permission to go build and actually supply the lumber to do it.
Some people are damaged goods, and they're in need of hope and joy that only God can give.
And if God puts that in our power, To be able to give to someone what they need to make it right doesn't mean money all the time.
It may mean a visit.
It may mean cheerful words to cheer them up.
Whatever God puts in the power of your hand.
To try to brighten the heart of a person whose spirit is broken.
If you've got it in your hand, then brighten that heart up.
When we realize that Moses was able to brighten up his brother's heart simply by seeing him again.
It makes us realize that we don't always have to have the power of a king to brighten someone's heart.
Sometimes our involvement in the lives of others may just be the medicine they need.
It may be something as simple as a visit, an act of kindness, a phone call.
A compliment, a sincere compliment.
You know, some people get nothing but criticism.
But a sincere compliment or some help that's in the power of our hand if we're able to help. to cause their lamp to burn brighter and make a lasting difference, maybe even eternal difference, in their lives.
So, with that, we'll go ahead and close tonight.
And, Lord willing, take back up with the next proverb next Wednesday night.
Father, I pray tonight that you'll take your precious word that we study tonight.
And you'll let this proverb sink deep into our hearts that we'll take it home with us and that we'll apply it, that we'll be like King Artaxerxes.
That when we see the sad countenance, we recognize the broken heart.
Then we look to see what's in our hand.
And if it's in the power of our hand to make the heart whole, if you've put that in our hand, that we'll then put it in their hearts.
We ask this in Jesus' precious name.
Amen.
