VALENTINE HEARTS
Valentine’s Day is coming this Tuesday, so if you haven’t gone out and gotten your sweetheart a card, a box of candy or some roses, then you better get hopping. The origin of Valentine’s Day is fascinating. Today the secular celebration of Valentine’s Day ignores its traditional religious roots. Nevertheless, this day initially was set apart in honor of St. Valentine. It is difficult to separate legend from history, but one account holds that Valentine (or Valentinus as he was also known) was a priest who served in the church of Rome in the third century A.D. During this time, the Roman Emperor, Claudius II, issued a decree that made it illegal for young men to get married. The emperor based this new law upon his belief that unmarried men made better soldiers than those who yearned to get back home to their wives. Valentine saw this as an assault on the Christian institution of marriage. And so, Valentine ignored the emperor’s decree and continued performing marriages regardless of the men’s ages. Some say that when Valentine performed these marriages in defiance of the emperor, he would cut hearts out of paper and give them to the groom. He did this to remind the groom of his vows to his new bride and as a token of God’s love for both newlyweds. Of course, this did not go over well with the Roman emperor. Valentine was eventually arrested and brought before the emperor for trial. At first, the emperor was quite impressed with Valentine. But when he preached a Gospel message to the emperor and urged him to accept Christ as his Savior, the emperor was infuriated. He promptly sentenced Valentine to death unless he renounced his faith in Jesus. Valentine refused and the emperor proceeded to have him beaten with clubs and then beheaded. This death sentence was carried out on February 14th in the year 269 A.D. Immediately before his execution, legend has it that Valentine fell in love with his jailer’s daughter and wrote her a parting letter signed simply: “From your Valentine”—the very same expression penned on so many Valentine cards today.[1]
Again, how much of this is fact and how much is legend is debatable. But you can see from all this why most Valentine cards and candy boxes will have one thing in common. In all likelihood, they will have a heart prominently displayed somewhere on the card or the box. It goes back to those paper hearts that St. Valentine distributed at his marriage ceremonies. And now they continue to be symbols for this “day of love” that we call “Valentine’s Day.” But why did St. Valentine choose the “heart”—as opposed to a liver or kidney? How does the heart rate such glowing attention? Well, for a very long time, people have come to associate the “heart,” not as a mere organ that pumps blood, but as something uniquely related to the very core of our beings. With that being the case, it would be a very good thing for us to continuously have “heart checkups.” That’s right!—daily heart checkups will prolong your life. Do you know why? The answer has nothing to do with the heart beating in your chest. It has everything to do with the “heart” that is your soul—the very essence of your being—and where it’s going when that heart in your chest stops beating one day. So, what kinds of “hearts” are there? Well, you could describe them in a variety of ways. This morning, let’s take a look at some very different types of hearts that are far more important than those depicted on Valentine cards.
HEARTS OF STONE. The first one to consider is a “heart of stone.” Now, those who have hearts of stone have either never heard of Jesus (which is unlikely in this country), or they have heard of Him but have rejected Christ or are otherwise completely indifferent about Him. People with such hearts call themselves always “looking out for number one.” But, in reality, they are basically self-centered, arrogant and selfish by nature. Paul reflected upon such people when he told the Christians in Rome: 21 “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.” Romans 1:21-22 (NLT2) The problem is the longer anyone maintains such a worldly outlook, the harder their stone hearts become. Paul described such people to the church in Ephesus: 18 “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the HARDENING OF THEIR HEARTS.” Ephesians 4:18 (NIV) And at some point, they get what they want in their lives—a world without God. And a world without God is a world without the peace or love of Jesus Christ.
Now, let me ask you this: Are people like that hopeless when it comes to their salvation? Can a person who has filled his or her lifetime with sin and consistently rejected God for so many years that their hearts are like a block of concrete—can they ever hope to be saved? Can an atheist like Richard Dawkins, for example, who has written so many books and given so many speeches to convince people there is no God—can someone like him ever have their solid stone heart made pliable in a manner that can be reshaped by God? Of course, they can! It isn’t easy, but God doesn’t deal in easy. He specializes in dealing with those things that seem impossible. But as we have said many times: “With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 (NIV) Don’t ever look at someone and think, “That person could never be saved—they are just too far gone!”
Now, there are multiple problems in thinking something like that. One of the biggest problems when we presume to know whether someone is saved or not, or whether we think they are beyond salvation, has to do with an important verse that appears in Matthew’s Gospel. There, Jesus said: “God will judge you in the same way you judge others, and He will apply to you the same rules you apply to others.” Matthew 7:2 (TEV) Based upon what Jesus says here, I don’t think it is wise to judge someone else by ruling out their chances of salvation. If you judge someone in such a way harsh manner, do you really want God to do the same when you stand before Him to be judged? Probably not! So, we are the ones who need to stop all the judging and leave that department to God.
And by the way, there are plenty of examples of atheists who had hearts of stone and whose hearts were eventually changed. Take Anthony Flew for example. Flew was one of the most prolific atheist writers of the 20th century. In one of his books, he touted himself as “the world’s most notorious atheist”—which was no exaggeration whatsoever. And yet, when he examined the evidence for the existence of a Divine Creator God, his heart finally softened as his mind grasped the compelling reasons for believing in a Creator God. Now, it takes more than that. Saying God exists is a mere baby step forward. I hope that I am wrong, but there is no indication that Anthony Flew ever accepted Jesus as his Savior by the time of his death in 2010 at the age of 87. It could be that Flew waited a little too long in beginning his spiritual journey. Nevertheless, no one would have predicted that this hard-core atheist would have ever taken a step toward believing in God’s existence.[2]
Of course, there are other atheists, who did take that final step towards Christ—men like C. S. Lewis, Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel—to name a few. And what happened to their hearts of stone?
Well, you might say that they were transplanted. And who performed the heart transplant surgery? God did. God told them, as He tells us today: “I will give you a new heart—I will give you new and right desires—and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your STONY HEARTS OF SIN and give you NEW HEARTS OF LOVE.” Ezekiel 36:26 (TLB) When you allow God to chisel out your stone-filled worldly heart and you accept the love of Jesus Christ which allows you to have a new heart, then you have a heart that’s pliable to God’s will. He will take that new heart on mold it to conform more fully to His will and His plan for your life. The old Christian hymn describes this so well when it says: “Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still.” This is the picture of God, as the Master Potter, remolding a newly transplanted heart!
PAPER HEARTS. Now the second kind of heart relates to what St. Valentine handed out—those paper hearts. Of course, those paper hearts of St. Valentine had good theological symbolism. But, the problem is that some of God’s people want nothing more than a “paper heart.” God doesn’t want you to live solely with “paper hearts.” The Christian who is satisfied with a paper heart comes to church at Christmas and maybe at Easter. They deem themselves “holy” on those two days, but the other 363 days in the year you couldn’t tell them apart from the rest of the world. You see, the problem with a paper heart is that it’s based upon a paper-thin faith. People with paper-thin faith think they are right with God. They look at themselves and think: “I’m just as good as the next guy. I do good things, and those good things cancel out the bad. So, since Jesus is such a loving Savior, I’m sure he’ll overlook the bad and take me into Heaven anyway.” That’s what their paper hearts tell them.
But, paper hearts often lie. Paper hearts tend to be very deceptive. In fact, they are extremely self-deceiving. The Bible tells us that: “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT2) The hearts of humans love to tell themselves that they are doing just fine. They are very good at saying things like: “Everyone tells a lie sometimes—so, what’s the big deal?;” “Using God’s name with a cuss word or two isn’t so bad;” “What’s wrong with taking a peak at a little internet porn every once in a while?” “A corporate giant like Walmart’s not going to miss that little item I just stuffed in my pocket;” “What’s wrong with shacking up with my girlfriend?—Everyone does it.” The list of those heart felt self-deceptions could go on and on. King Solomon got it right when he wrote in the Book of Proverbs: “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD WEIGHS THE HEART.” Proverbs 21:2 (NIV) The self-deceived Christian with a paper heart seems to forget that God knows exactly what’s in our hearts. He sees every dark corner of every human heart. He knows your “secret” desires and your “hidden” motives. 1st Chronicles 28:9 hits it on the head in saying: 9 “The LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” 1st Chronicles 28:9 (NIV)
The famous pastor-theologian, George MacDonald, once said: “The secret of your own heart you can never know; but you can know Him who knows its secret.”[3] Your heart might be successful in even fooling you, but it can never fool God. There is nothing that you can hide from Him. We see so many Christian leaders today who seem to have forgotten that. But, the Bible reminds us: “The Lord says: ‘These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their HEARTS are far from Me.” Isaiah 29:13 (NIV) Recently, some well-known preachers and evangelists thought they could hide their sins from God, but they were only deceiving themselves. There is the exceedingly sad case of Ravi Zacharias. Ravi was a wonderful defender of the Christian faith. He wrote amazing books defending Christianity. He was an amazing speaker for Christ all over the world. Shortly after a brief, but extremely painful battle with cancer, Ravi died in May of 2020. In his latter years, he was accused of sexual abuse of various women. He denied the charges and the Christian world believed him. But following his death, a thorough investigative report revealed that Ravi had not been the least bit forthright. The evidence was compelling that this world-famous Christian leader had engaged in “sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual abuse, and rape”[4] over a prolonged period of time. His cell phone and laptop had hundreds of photos of women in their 20’s and many of those photos were sexually explicit. Not long after his death, several workers in the massage parlors owned by Zacharias came forward and accused him of sexual misconduct.
Ravi Zacharias’ story is a tragic one. This man who was a fierce spiritual warrior for Christ had allowed his heart to stray. At one time, he had a strong and faithful heart, but somewhere along the way he allowed it to become a weak heart of paper. You might even say as weak as tissue paper. There is a great lesson in this. It does not matter where you are in your journey with Christ—whether you are a new convert or a seasoned Christian leader on the worldwide stage—remember the advice given Proverbs 4:23, which tells us: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (NIV) If you fail to keep up with regular heart checks ups—like we do here very Sunday—you might find that your “heart of gold” has degenerated into a “heart of paper mâché.”
Before leaving Ravi Zacharias, we can also benefit by considering the reaction of some religious leaders to the news of Zacharias’ sins. Immediately upon his passing, people were asking where Ravi went: Did he go to heaven or did he go to hell? Again, I want to emphasize that we should not speculate upon such matters because that is something strictly up to God. We weren’t there during Ravi’s last hours here on earth. We don’t know what conversations, confessions or expressions of repentance that may have taken place between him and His Savior in those last few hours. What we do know is this: The thief on the cross confessed his sins and accepted Christ during his final hours and was reserved a place in Paradise.[5] It is my fervent hope that Ravi did the same as that saved thief.
Now, there is one other HEART that we cannot fail to mention. It is the greatest HEART of all. It’s the HEART OF GOD. Let me leave you with the following Valentine’s Day thoughts as offered by the Christian author, Daphne Delay, as she reminds us: “God’s heart ached for you and me when we were separated from Him. His heart still aches for those yet to believe and receive Him. God set the first stage. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He remembers your birthday. And every day with God is Valentine’s—His opportunity to woo you again with sweet-nothings and whispers of courtship. I hope you will allow Him to woo you again and again. Every day of the year, you are His greatest delight.”[6] We don’t often think of it that way, but she’s absolutely correct!
God showed His Love for us—not in a heart-shaped box of candy or cards stamped full of pretty, red hearts—but with the crimson blood of His Son that stained a wooden cross. There, Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all of those who confess their sins, repent and allow Him into their heart of hearts. And so this morning, heed the words from the Book of Hebrews followed by the plea of David in his prayer to the LORD. Hebrews 4:7 offers the following crucial advice to all those who have not yet surrendered their hearts to Christ: “Today when you hear [God] calling, do not harden your hearts against Him.” (TLB) And then, David gives us a good model prayer for our daily heart checkups. We need to turn to God and pray: “Create in me a PURE HEART, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 (NIV) If you will allow God to do exactly that, then you too can take advantage of one of most treasured Scriptures of all relating to our hearts—it is the one in which Jesus said: “Blessed are the PURE IN HEART, for THEY WILL SEE GOD.” Matthew 5:8 (NIV) If you need a full heart transplant today, or maybe it’s time for a thorough heart checkup, then come forward during our closing hymn and join me here at the altar, and let your hearts be purified by the blood and the love of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
Darvin Satterwhite, Pastor
Forest Hill Baptist Church
February 12, 2023
©2023 All Rights Reserved as follows:
Anyone is at liberty to use this sermon or any portions thereof for educational or religious purposes, with or without credit. The pastor believes the material presented herein to be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its potential use as an aid in the study of God’s Word. The publication of this material is a grace ministry of Forest Hill Baptist Church in Louisa, Virginia.
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[1] Saint Valentine, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org (Accessed 2-6-2023); “History of St. Valentine,” CERC, https://catholiceducation.org.
[2] Kyle Butt, “Former Atheist, Antony Flew, Dies at 87,” Apologetics Press, https://apologeticspress.org (April 18, 2010).
[3] George MacDonald (1824-1905) Hodge, Elesha, comp. Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World Volumes 1-4. Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1997. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
[4] Ray Sanchez, “Famed Evangelist Ravi Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct, his ministry says,”
CNN, https://www.cnn.com/ (February 12, 2021).
[5] Luke 23:39-43 39 One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" 40 The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, "Don't you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. 41 Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong." 42 And he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!" 43 Jesus said to him, "I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me." (TEV)
[6] Daphne Delay, “Every Day of the Year,” Christian Broadcast Network, https://www1.cbn.com (2019).
