Cut to the Heart

Posted on April 23, 2023

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Cut to the Heart

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19

1 Peter 1:17-23

Luke 24:13-35

What is it that must happen for a person for them to believe something to be true? What must happen for people to believe that salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone? It might be just an observation but it seems that it has become more difficult to bring someone into salvation than it was just even a decade ago. Now this might not be the case every where in the world but it certainly seems to be the case in the UK and is quickly moving in that direction in the United States as we seem to be venturing towards a post Christian society. The UK has already become post Christian and we are not that far behind.

Earlier this past week we had our district assembly for the Eastern Michigan District Church of the Nazarene. During the final remarks shared with us with Dr. Busic, our General Superintendent for this year, he shared with us a comparison of time. Dr. Busic was born in 1964 and shared that it was a very different time back then for the church and for evangelism. It used to be that you could go door to door and people would welcome you into their homes and you could share the gospel with them. It used to be that you could go up to a house of a complete stranger and invite their children to church and the parents would send their kids on these buses with people whom they never met and they would trust them to take their kids to church for a few hours and then would trust these strangers to bring their kids back home safely. How many of you know that this is no longer 1964? In fact, in many cases, you cannot even pull into someone’s drive way just to turn around because you missed someone’s house because the owner of the house whose driveway you just pulled into may just end up opening fire on you.

Dr. Busic shared with us a scale from 1-10 and 10 is meaning that a person is completely won over to Christ and is a believer. 1 Means the exact opposite. So, on a scale of 1-10, how close do you think people in 1964 were to being completely won over to Christ? The statistics show that the average person in 1964 was probably somewhere around an 8 of 10 in the steps to coming to Christ. That means it shouldn’t have been too difficult to win these people over since they were mostly there anyway but just need that last bit of help the rest of the way. Now the scary part is where the average person sits on that scale today. Experts believe that the average non believer today would be a 3 on the scale. That is a pretty far leap to coming to Christ for the average non believer today. In the UK it is most likely on a scale of 1. We are not that far behind that now. So, what must happen for us to love someone to Christ? For that I think we need to go back to a principle that we can learn from the New Testament church.

In Acts 2, we continue to read about Peter’s address to the people after Pentecost came. Keep in mind that the people whom Peter is speaking to are most likely at around a 9 on the non-believer scale so there is just one more hump for them to get over to get to Jesus. Hence why so many people were added to their number in this single day. Peter tells them this truth and assurance that “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” Though yes it might see like Peter has it easy at this point in making converts who are so close as it is, the principle of what must happen still remains the same. It says in verse 37, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” They realize at this point that they are guilt. Their guilt “cuts” them to the heart. This is key right here. Without being cut to the heart there is no decision for Christ here. 3000 that day were cut to the heart and came to believe, and there were many more whom we do not know who were not cut to the heart and they still did not believe. However, the principle here is that those who were cut to the heart, believed and became sold out for Jesus and salvation from their sins. It does not matter where someone is on this non-believer scale. Unless they are cut to the heart they will not believe.

I grew up going to church from about 5-6 years old. We finished building our house and my dad decided that we were going to make church a part of our lives. So, we went and I went to Sunday school and I learned the stories of the Bible and I learned about this person named Jesus but I did not understand that Jesus and God were one and the same. During these earlier years though I would say I was at about an 8-9 on the non-believer scale. I was ok with going to church and it was something that our family just did and the people were all really nice. However, I did not yet understand who Jesus is. Over time I found myself moving farther down that scale as I grew and became more exposed to secularization and the post Christian world. It led me to a point in which I no longer wanted anything to do with Church and I was not sure that there even was a God. I was led to believe by “science” that the “facts” point away from a Devine creation and more to random happenings and reactions. This is what Secularism teaches. So, I left the church and spent a year calling myself an atheist. In my heart I believed that I was following the truth and I felt sorry for all of those people believing in this silly lie about there being a God of the universe.

At the age of 14 I was invited to go on a work and witness trip and I only wanted to go because part of the trip would be traveling and seeing other parts of the United States. I had no idea of what to really expect on this trip and I don’t really think that I understood that I would be going with a bunch of Christ followers. But I went and my life was changed on that trip. We had left on Halloween night after we finished our trick or treating and we drove for 3 days to get to Sun Valley, Arizona. About 5 days after we had left, we had found out that one of my classmates had taken his life on Halloween night. Life and death suddenly became very real and Heaven and Hell also became very real to me as well. However, I experienced the love of Jesus Christ on this trip and though I was so far down on the non-believer scale when I started the trip I was cut to the heart and went from a 3 to a 10. As time has continued and the more I learn, the more cut to the heart I become. I have learned that the “science” I was hearing about was not actually science at all and that the facts actually point to a creator. You know recently there was an article with CNN that talks about this observation that NASA scientists have observed now that just baffles to evolutionist and old earth believing scientists. You see whenever energy is used to create matter which everything solid that you can see and touch, there is an equal amount of anti-matter that is produced which is the exact opposite of matter. This is something that is observed all the time in labs with particle accelerators. So, since we know this is a scientific fact and law of nature and since we know that the universe has to be billions of years old according modern day “science,” and we know that all matter was created during this huge explosion billions of years ago, then we should be able to look out into space and observe that there is equal amounts of matter and anti-matter everywhere in the universe. However, there is a problem that has these scientists stumped. You see what is actually observed is that there is very little if any at all of anti-matter in the universe compared to the vast amount of matter we see. So, the conclusion of these scientists is that something must have happened to all of the anti-matter and we just have not figured it out yet.

The Bible tells us in Genesis that in the beginning there was nothing and God then spoke everything into existence. So, in the beginning matter was not created by a release of energy but by the voice of God. Since matter was created by God then one could hypothesize that we should see that there is very little if any anti-matter in the universe since matter was not created through the natural way in which it is created today. It is truths like this that even non-believers find that continues to cut to my heart and makes me more on fire for Jesus.

However, this information may not be the same thing that cuts to someone else’s heart. Not everyone will be won over by logic and reasoning. However, there is something out there in the world that will cut them to the heart. It is our job as Christ followers to pray for these non-believers that they may also be cut to the heart and be saved.

Luke 24 tells us this story about two disciples walking on the road that led to Emmaus. They were discussing with each other everything that had happened since the crucifixion and now Jesus’ body is missing and they are so distraught and confused. Jesus appears before them but they do not recognize him. Actually, it says they were kept from recognizing him which shows that Jesus had the power to do that. Jesus walks along with them asking them questions. They tell him all that has happened and the sad news that Jesus was crucified and then his dead body is now missing. They still do nut understand and believe. Jesus begins to teach the everything that the prophets had spoken about himself and how all these things had to be. But here Jesus is giving a scripture lesson and they still do not see who he is. When they get to Emmaus, they ask Jesus to stay with them as it is close to evening and they seem to be enjoying his company and teaching as well. When Jesus broke bread with them their eyes were finally open and they could see it was him and he immediately disappears. Then we are told that they asked each other, “were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?” They were being cut to the heart as they walked along the road. The same principle is happening here on the road to Emmaus. When one is cut to the heart then they will truly believe. We believe with our hearts and if our heart is stuck in the world of sin and secularism then that is where we will be and live out our lives. However, when Jesus shows up and cuts his way into our heart and stands between us and secularism which will lead us to hell then we may believe and find the pathway of righteousness which leads us to heaven. Have you been cut to the heart with the truth? And if so, are you praying for others to be cut to the heart as well? Are you praying that God may use you to help people to be cut to the heart? Let us seek to be continually cut to the heart ourselves so that we may live in such a way that cuts others to the heart as well.