Good morning. My name is Kyhl Pearson and I have the amazing privilege to serve on staff here at Saylorville as the Men’s Ministry Director. It’s been an amazing journey the last five years! In fact, if you would have told me five years ago that I would be up on stage at Saylorville bringing the Word of the Lord, I would not have believed you. I am incredibly grateful for what the Lord has done in my heart, what he is doing in my heart through the Ministry of Saylorville Church. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be here this morning having the approval of the elders and the deacons and you as a congregation. The number of texts, phone calls, side conversations that I’ve had with you guys over the last couple weeks has been amazing! And so it is an incredible privilege to be able to stand here before you as an elder candidate here at Saylorville. Thank you! I’m grateful for what the Lord is doing. I’m grateful for what you guys are doing and what you have affirmed.

Not only do I have the privilege here at Saylorville to be the Men’s Ministry Director, but I also have the privilege of serving on our Counseling Team. If you’re joining us for the first time, or maybe you haven’t been here for a while, or maybe you were here last week and you need a reminder, we’re in our Real Council series. We’re wrapping it up today. When we say real counsel, we are talking biblical counseling. We’re not talking therapy. We’re not talking psychiatry. Nobody’s writing prescriptions. Nobody’s giving a diagnosis. What we mean by biblical counsel is that we take our problems, and we take our people and we take them to the Word of the Lord. And as we point our people and our problems to the Word of the Lord, the Word of the Lord leads us to Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor. That’s where we’re going this morning.

As we get started, I’m curious how many of you have ever had a nickname? Awesome! So, nicknames can be some funny things. Sometimes nicknames come from words of affirmation. So for example, my nine-year-old daughter, Emory, 99% of the time I call her “Sweet Pea.” My five-year-old son, Miles, 99% of the time I call him “Little Man.” They’re terms of endearment between me and my children. Sometimes nicknames are given to us at the expense of ourselves, because people are making fun of us like my nickname in High School. My nickname in High School was “Chuck.” Chuck has nothing to do with who I am, has nothing to do with my name Kyhl. It has everything to do with the shoes that I wore to my freshman basketball tryouts. I wore old school Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars because they were the only shoes that I had. And the upperclassmen took it upon themselves to nickname me Chuck, because they were making fun of me because I didn’t have the cool shoes. But I embraced it! Chuck actually became my identity in High School, so much so that… I know people don’t wear letterman jackets around here, but it is actually embroidered on my letterman jacket from High School. It became my identity so much that in my High School graduation as I walked across the stage and they called my name, my friend’s dad stood up and yelled, “His name’s not Kyhl. It’s Chuck!”

There’s a historical figure we’re going to talk about today who had a nickname, and his nickname described him. There was a duke, Reginald III, and his kingdom was on the border of the Netherlands and Germany in the 14th century. But Reginald, he was known as “Reginald the Fat.” I would have preferred Reggie, but he was Reginald the Fat. Now Reginald had a brother named Edward, and Edward and Reginald did what brothers do best, and they got in squabbles, so much so, that Edward staged a coup and overthrew Reginald and took over his kingdom. And then instead of slaughtering his brother as so often happens in these situations, Edward built a prison specifically for his brother Reginald the Fat. We’re going to circle back to that in a minute.

But have you ever thought about that? — because we all too often are held captive in a prison designed specifically for us; situations, circumstances, thoughts, dreams, hopes, expectations that hold us captive. Our hearts are held captive by an invasive force. Can you relate? Paul, author of the majority of the New Testament, hero and example to Christians around the world and throughout the centuries, he wrote this in Romans chapter 7:

Romans 7:15, 20b

15 “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want to do but the very thing that I hate.”

20 “… it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me.”

Now… do you relate? That something deep inside that is screaming to get out, that is craving to be fed… Idols of the heart. That’s where we’re going today. And much like Andrew who… if you didn’t listen to Andrew’s message last week, you should go do that. It was phenomenal! — but much like Andrew shared last week about worry and anxiety that they are mentioned over 300 times in Scripture, our hearts, the core of our being is mentioned over a thousand times in Scripture. Today we are only going to be able to scratch the surface. But it’s my prayer this morning, and has been all week, that this scratch would not be caused by my words, but that the living, active Word of God that is sharper than any two-edged sword would do the scratching, and that it would pierce our hearts today. So with that prayer in mind and out of respect for the Word of God, I’m gonna ask you to stand with me as we turn to Psalm 19 and read verses 12 through 14.

Psalm 19:12-14

12 “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

This is the Word of the Lord. You may be seated. First things first. When it comes to your heart, you have to know that idols crave dominion. It’s right there in the text. “Let them not have dominion over me.”

As I was thinking about this passage, I was thinking about idols of the heart. I kept going back to a passage of Scripture that if you know me well, you would know that I cannot escape this passage. It has been on my mind for like the last five or six years. That is the life of Absalom found in 2 Samuel 13 through 18. And so today, as we look at what the Psalms have to say about our hearts, we are going to look at that in tandem with the life of Absalom. So if you’re unfamiliar, let me get you acquainted with Absalom.

Absalom is the son of David, King David, and Absalom has a sister named Tamar. He has a half brother named Amnon. Amnon is so infatuated with his sister, Tamar, that he sets up this ruse so that he can get her to come and take care of him while he is pretending to be ill. In doing so, he sends everyone else away and when he is left alone with his sister, Tamar, he assaults her. After he has assaulted her, after he has completed his heinous act, he dismisses her and sends her away. This is where we start to get a picture of Absalom’s heart. Second Samuel 13 verses 20 to 22 say:

2 Samuel 13:20b-22

20 “… So Tamar lived, a desolate woman, in her brother Absalom’s house.

21 When King David heard of all these things, (the things that Amnon had done) he was very angry.

22 But Absalom spoke (to Amnon) neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had violated his sister Tamar.”

Can any of you relate? Something happens and you get angry, or maybe it doesn’t even start out with anger. Anybody ever been annoyed? Less hands and more chuckles, so I know you’re tracking.

There was an individual about six years ago that I found annoying. Actually, I didn’t really find them annoying. I found the sound of their voice annoying. (audience laughs) But then it wasn’t just the sound of their voice. It was the words that came out of their mouth. And then it wasn’t the words they were saying. It was the actions that they were doing. And then it became, when I saw them, I was annoyed. Then when I thought about them, I was annoyed. And then when I thought about them and was annoyed, I was annoyed because I was thinking about them and I didn’t want to be thinking about them in the first place! And if I’m being brutally honest with you, it got to the point where when I would see this individual from across the room, I could literally feel my blood pressure rise!

This is Absalom, because annoyance unchecked leads to hatred unchained. Absalom didn’t check anything. He sat on it for two years! You have a two-year gap between 2 Samuel 13:22 and 2 Samuel 13:23 at which point in time Absalom threw a party, and he invited all of his brothers.

But before we get to that party, how many of you guys leave things unchecked? Maybe this morning you left things unchecked. Maybe you worked third shift, got in an argument with your boss and you’re stewing inside. Or maybe you pulled into the parking lot and you were having an argument with your roommate, your spouse, your kids, and as you pull into that parking spot, everybody is checking their faces and the mirrors, wiping the tears out of their eyes so that when you walk in here this morning and somebody asks you how you’re doing, you can sit there and go, ‘Brother, better than I deserve!’ — but inside you are stewing! This was Absalom.

And so he throws this party, and in the midst of their festivities he sends his friends to kill his brother Amnon… dead. Absalom’s hatred had become like my nickname in high school had become… his identity! He didn’t check it at the door. He relished in it! He ruminated on it, and and it drove him to murder… in the name of justice. There was no room in Absalom’s heart for anything but his hatred.

Jesus in the New Testament has words to say about this. In Matthew, chapter six, in the middle of the sermon on the Mount, it says:

Matthew 6:24, ‘You cannot serve two masters, for you will love the one and despise the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.’

And while Jesus is specifically talking about the idol of money at this point in time it fills in with anything else that we set on the thrones of our hearts, because idols crave dominion, and the Lord will not share His glory with another.

So this morning, my question for you is: Who or what has become your identity? What is sitting on the throne of your heart? But not only do idols crave dominion, idols are also clever chameleons. We see this in verse 12:

Psalm 19:12-13

12 “…declare me innocent from hidden faults.

13 Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins;”

The sins that the Psalmist calls out here, they are interesting, hidden faults and presumptuous sins, because when you look at them and you take a long look at them, they are two sides of the same coin. They are the sins that you and I just don’t care enough about. They’re seemingly too small and insignificant that we don’t confess and repent of because we can’t see them, or they’re so ingrained in who we are that we continue to do them anyways. This too reminds me of Absalom. Absalom is a presumptuous individual. 2 Samuel 14…It’ll come up on the screen, but I’m going to paraphrase:

You see that Absalom is the best-looking man in all of Israel. From the tip of his toe to the crown of his head, no blemish is found within him. Then there’s this seemingly obscure verse that talks about Absalom’s hair, and it says, ‘Once a year he would cut his hair when it was heavy on his head, he would cut it, and the weight of it was 200 shekels.‘ I don’t know about you guys, but my bathroom scale does not weigh in shekels. I have no idea what that means! I had to do some research. 200 shekels is a little over five pounds. So, Absalom… I mean, that dude looks good! All right? He looks good, and he’s got great flow. Okay? This is Absalom. Okay? He kills his brother. And then he leaves, leaves Israel for a little bit. Comes back. But when Absalom comes back, his heart that was jaded by hatred before is just as black as ever… because sin doesn’t satisfy! We see that with Amnon. All Amnon wanted was Tamar. And then when he got what he wanted, he was disgusted with her. Absalom just wanted revenge, and when he got it, there was still a craving for more. Maybe some of you are there this morning. There’s that thing… just a little bit more. Maybe you’re like John Rockefeller… just one penny more. Sin doesn’t satisfy.

So when Absalom comes back and his heart is as black as ever, but because the dude looks good, he is what people would look to… He is who people would look to be the next king. And because his heart is jaded with hatred, there’s this thought, ‘I can rule this kingdom better than my dad. I’ve got this!’ And so as he starts to amass followers and followers came, he and David’s men get in this skirmish. Absalom sees David’s men in this skirmish and he flees. He runs. He gets on his donkey and starts riding away. All that gorgeous flow waving in the wind behind him. And Absalom goes under this tree, and when he goes under this tree, his donkey keeps going and Absalom stands still. Absalom is caught by his hair on this tree! And we’re not talking one of those like WWE clotheslines that like knock people to their booties. The dude is stuck fast in this tree! — long enough for David’s men to catch up. It doesn’t say this in the text, but I like to think they saw him and giggled, because seeing a guy hanging by his hair in a tree is funny… at least to me! Then they turn around and they go back. And they tell Joab, one of David’s generals, ‘Hey, we just saw Absalom and you’ll never believe it. He’s hanging in this tree by his hair!’ And Joab’s like, ‘Dude, why didn’t you kill him?’ ‘David told us not to.’ Joab, like any other general, was like, ‘Man, I don’t got time for this. This is our enemy, I’m gonna put an end to this!’ He takes three spears, goes out, finds Absalom hanging on the tree by his hair, and he skewers him!

Now, if you were anything like me, when I first read that story in Second Samuel 18, I remembered that a couple days before I read that verse about his hair, and I thought to myself, how ridiculously good looking do you have to be to not comb your hair and still be considered the best looking man in all of Israel? But then I started thinking about my hair. My hair is fairly thick, by God’s grace, and it grows fast, fast enough that I have never gotten up in the morning and looked in the mirror and thought, ‘Man, I should get a haircut next week.’ Typically, (and if my barber was here, he would attest to this) typically, I wake up and I look in the mirror and think, ‘Holy smokes! I needed a haircut last week!’ It grows on us little by little, and we don’t realize it until it’s out of control. Our heart’s idols are exactly like that. Psalm 106 verse 36 says:

Psalm 106:36, “They served their idols, which became a snare to them.“

You thought of your hidden faults and your presumptuous sins being a snare to you? Maybe you have, but maybe not in those words. Maybe it comes out a little bit different. Maybe it looks like you treat repentance and confession like symptom management. ‘If only I could have victory over this, then I would be good.’ Don’t get me wrong. You may be putting in the work. You may be fighting sins like online shopping addiction, gambling, anger, pornography, substance abuse, self-harm… and by God’s grace, you may have victory over one of those things for a time. And then you get a week or two or three down the road and find out that you were enslaved to something else. And then it’s all over again. ‘Man! If only I could get rid of this, I’d be good!’ This happens because idols are clever chameleons. Just like ‘Man looks at the outward appearance and God looks at the heart,’ [1 Samuel 16:7b] we have a tendency to see the low hanging fruit of our sin and not address the root issue behind them. We’re not taking the time to address our issues of self-control. We’re not taking time to look at our idols of affirmation. We’re not taking time to look at our idols of autonomy, or comfort, or self-righteousness. But those idols that lay beneath the surface, sometimes we feed those and it doesn’t even have to be fed by a bad thing.

So let’s say, for example, you’re an elder candidate at Saylorville Church and you’re asked to preach on a Sunday morning. I would argue that that’s a good thing. But this is how my thoughts went the last few months. ‘People are going to see me. People are going to hear me. What if they don’t like me? I want them to like me. What can I do to make them like me more? Maybe I should get a haircut. How do I dress so that I don’t come off homeless?’ (audience laughs) ‘I can’t talk about my sin, because my sin is ugly and if they see the ugly side of me, they’re not gonna like me, and they have to like me!’

Do you see the progression? It’s like with my annoyance where I started ‘here’ and ended up ‘way over there.’ It happens with all kinds of things. Maybe you’re prone to gossip and slander. And that maybe what’s coming out on the surface, but the root of it is you are feeding your own self-righteousness. Maybe you’ve never been in a community group, (Spoiler alert! Special plug. You can get signed up today. Community groups are open right now) but maybe you are neglecting to be in community because you are feeding your idol of autonomy, and I can do this on my own. Maybe there has been any other thing that has been set on the throne of your heart and you are finding your identity in that. It could be your 401(k). It could be your kids’ sports achievements. It could be your enneagram number, your past trauma or your clinical diagnosis. If you have a relationship with Jesus, you are not your number. You are not your trauma. You are not your clinical diagnosis whether it has been handed down to you by a doctor or a late night Google search. If you have a relationship with Jesus, you are a blood-bought child of God… and that is your identity!

[2 Corinthians 5:17b] “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

And while that may be the reality, we don’t always see that. Sometimes it’s so much easier to cling to a label like a nickname and have that become our identity than it is to live with the fact that we might, or address the fact that we might possibly be living in sin.

I read this fascinating quote the other day that says:

“Just because someone has a social problem “doesn’t mean they have a mental illness… And if you call it a disease instead of disobedience a person needs treatment and not repentance.”

Unknown

Sin is what is wrong with us even, and especially when we can’t see it.

Sin is what was wrong with me when I gave my life to the Lord in December 2006, but clung to self-harm because that’s the only way that I knew to deal with anything. I didn’t know what it meant to surrender my sins to Jesus fully until I got caught in my sin in December 2007. Sin is what was wrong with me when I would see that individual we talked about earlier and my blood pressure would start to rise. Sin is what was wrong with me on Monday when I was talking to my daughter and my wife had to lean over and remind me, “Kyhl, it is far better in this situation to be kind than it is to be right.” If you can’t see it, when left to myself I idolize orderliness. And all of these situations came up at a time where things seemed seemingly out of control and in chaos. And when left to myself, that idol that hides itself so well craves dominion over my heart still. I don’t know about you, but I need significantly less treatment and a whole lot more repentance. Let me say that again. I need significantly less treatment and a whole lot more repentance.

That’s not to say that there is not a time and a place for a diagnosis. That’s not to say that there is not a time and a place for a prescription, but so often we turn to psychology, we turn to therapy for help with our problems instead of turning to the God of the universe Who

[Psalm 139:13b] 13b ‘knit us together in our mother’s wombs, 14 ‘who fearfully and wonderfully made us,’ Who not only made our heart but knows it better than we ever will.

Maybe you’re sitting here this morning and you’re sweating bullets, or maybe you’re sitting here this morning thinking, ‘Man, it stinks to be those guys. I flew by under the radar,’ —in which case you, too, are being presumptuous about your sin.

It reminds me of our friend Reginald the Fat. Remember that prison that was designed specifically for him? Once he was put in this prison, some of the people of the area came to his brother Edward and said, “How can you do this to your own flesh and blood?” — to which Edward replied, “My brother is no prisoner. He is free to leave whenever he chooses,” because, you see, this prison that was designed specifically for Reginald the Fat, it had standard-sized windows, standard-sized doors, no bars and no locks. Some legends go as far as to say there were no doors on the prison. And Edward told his brother, “You can have everything back when you can walk out that door, ” — But then Edward, knowing his brother would live up to his name, he would send a platter of all of Reginald’s favorite delicacies in every day. And Reginald lived up to his name, and he would gorge himself, quite literally becoming the epitome of “fat and happy.” And he sat there for 10 years until his brother Edward died and somebody busted down the walls and brought him out, at which point his health was so deteriorated that he only survived about a month and a half.

Maybe some of you are sitting there like Reginald today. The doors are open, but you keep feasting. Maybe you’ve sat in church. You’ve sat in this church. And if you’ve sat in this church, you’ve heard the Gospel because at Saylorville we are unashamed of the Gospel because this is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. [Romans 1:16] But you’ve checked out, or maybe you have been called out of that prison. But like Lot’s wife, instead of looking forward to what God has called you to, you are looking back to what was and it is destroying you! When it comes to your heart you have to know that idols crave dominion. And idols are clever chameleons. And those are scary daunting truths. But you also have to know that when it comes to your heart, God smashes idols. Look at verse 14:

[Psalm 19:14] “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.“

This whole prayer of Psalm 19 revolves around having an encounter with the living God.

‘The God whose law is perfect and refreshes souls.’ [Psalm 19:7] Because…

‘God did not send His Son to abolish the law but to fulfill it.’ [Matthew 5:17]

‘The God whose glory is declared day and night throughout creation.’ [Psalm 19:1]

This prayer that “the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart may be acceptable…” can only happen because He makes us acceptable. The only reason that our words and our heart can be unified is because He is the Great Unifier. And the only reason that we can be acceptable and unified is because He is the Redeemer. Not a Redeemer… the Redeemer. And our hearts, if you haven’t seen it, are desperately wicked [Jeremiah 17:9] and in need of a Redeemer. Remember, it’s not what has been done to us, that’s the problem. It’s the sin that dwells within us, that’s the problem. We are all Absalom, destined for death at the hands of the hidden faults and presumptuous sins that demand that we get caught and hung on that tree to die. We need a Redeemer because we can’t do heart surgery on our own.

So let me tell you about this Redeemer. His name is Jesus, and He is the Son of God, the second member of the Trinity, and He is perfect! — More perfect than Absalom’s physical appearance. He is Holy, set apart. Holy means that he was without sin. Holy means that sin doesn’t stick to Him so that when He came and went and hung on the tree for us, He took all of the sin that creeps its way through our hearts, through our veins, and out our hair follicles, demanding that we get caught up and snagged on that tree to die. He takes all of that on Himself. Then, like Absalom, as He is hanging on that tree, He was pierced by a spear, but see, like you and I, that would be the end of us. But, praise the Lord, our sin can’t hold Him down! And it didn’t! And on the third day, He rose again according to the Scriptures so that He could pave the way for us to be reconciled to God. And He is not hanging on that tree, and he is not buried in the ground. He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, and He ever lives to make intercession for us. [Hebrews 7:25] And that’s the best news ever! When you, dear friend, encounter the risen Jesus, He will set you free. But unlike Reginald who was powerless to escape that prison, the Lord has paved the way. Look at the words of the Psalmist:

“Declare me innocent…” [Psalm 19:12b], “Then I shall be blameless…” [Psalm 19:13b]

Friends, it is not what has been done to you. It’s all about what He has done for you. And it’s my prayer this morning that we would go out from this place asking the Lord not just to cut our hair, but to cut out all of the rot that is within us, because we can’t stand up under it… But He can. Like Reginald needed somebody to let him out, when you encounter Jesus, Jesus doesn’t just open the doors. He breaks down the walls, takes the plate away and changes your appetite. He’s changed mine. Has he changed yours?

Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for today. Thank You for the opportunity to be here with Your church. I pray, Father, that Your Word would pierce our hearts this morning, that we would find ourselves dying to ourselves, the idols that can’t stand before You, and leave us running to You, because in You there is hope in the newness of life. We love You and we praise You.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. [Music]