Desperate Hearts
Jeremiah 17:9 says, “the heart is desperately wicked above all things, who can know it?” The Apostle Paul said, “In my flesh dwelleth no good thing.” The fallen nature that we inherited from Adam seeks the things of this world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. However, Jesus said, blessed are they who hunger and thirst, not for the things of this fallen word, but for God’s righteousness. They are blessed because they shall be filled. Only God can satisfy and fill those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
CS Lewis said, if you’re looking for a religion that makes you comfortable, then Christianity is not that religion. It’s uncomfortable to admit when we’re wrong. However, Proverbs 28:13 says, “He that covereth (and hides) his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Men of this world seek to justify themselves. Those who deny God think that they are in charge of their own lives… that they can define for themselves what is just and praiseworthy in order to appease their own selfish hearts. They take pride in their own self righteousness that says, I’m not subject to a holy God. Then they think they’re justified when they transgress God’s righteous standard for truth.
The Sermon on the Mount explains Jesus’ keys to the kingdom of heaven… the things that set believers apart as followers of Christ. Matthew Henry said, It’s folly to trust in man, for he is frail and deceitful. Our own hearts deceive us into thinking that we trust in God when we really don’t. It’s a common mistake for men to think their own hearts better than they really are. God’s standard for truth says that the heart of man is deceitful above all things. A deceived heart calls evil good and good evil. Then It colors the lie with a rosy deception. It distorts the truth, blinds the eyes, and cheats men so that they fall into their own ruin. The heart of man is deadly, desperate, and past relief. Its conscience is seared with a hot iron…. it deceives itself into thinking it is the candle of the Lord. It twists the truth into a corrupt, watered down disposition. The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. As the Apostle Paul said, “Who can deliver me from the body of this death?”
Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing. To bear good fruit you must abide in the vine. I am the vine and ye are the branches.”
To know the condition of our fallen hearts, we must compare our hearts to the righteous standard… the Word of God and Jesus Christ, the word of God made flesh. There is no hope apart from the grace of God through the payment for sin Jesus Christ made on our behalf.
We can know our hearts when we walk in the light as Christ is in the light. Then when we walk in the light as he is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In 1 John, the sin is to break fellowship… In order to have a right relationship with God, we must reconcile our hearts with God. Our first priority is our vertical relationship with our Heavenly Father.
In a season of comfort and complacency our heart will be tempted to fall into sin. King David left the battlefield, forsaking God’s call as Israel’s commander in chief. Instead, he retreated to his palace for rest and relaxation. Then in a moment of complacency, he gazed longingly upon his neighbor Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop. He was consumed with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. David’s lust was consummated in adultery, deception, and murder.
1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The sin is anything that breaks our fellowship with God by leading our hearts away from God’s heart. Sin is missing the mark. The mark is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The solution to sin is to pursue the mark…. to chase after our Lord together with others who also chase after Christ.
Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. David in his confession said in Psalm 139:23-24, search me O Lord and know my heart… if there is any evil thing in me. Create in me a new heart O Lord, and cleanse me from all iniquity.
It’s easy to deceive our own hearts. As men, we look at our own outward appearance. However God looketh upon the heart. Men often do the right things but for the wrong reasons. The people said to Jesus, didn’t we cast out demons…didn’t we prophesy and do many wonderful works in your name? Jesus said, depart from me ye workers of iniquity… I never knew you. He said to the Pharisees in Mark 7:6-7, “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
How do we know if we’re doing the right things for the right reasons? According to 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding (the truth of the Law of God) as in a glass (mirror) the (spiritual) glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory (of the flesh) to glory (of the spirit), even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” When we through through Christ’s eyes behind our eyes look into the word of God, it reflects our true nature as born again believers… the reflection of the Holy Spirit of God in Christ in us.
The nature of God is mercy, grace, compassion and love. Romans 3;23 says, all have sinned and come short of God’s righteous standard. The solution to sin is the Saviour from sin. According to Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin Is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Thank God for reproof and correction. For whom the Lord loves, he takes the time with care and concern to chastise. To correct means to return to an upright position. Even though it’s painful to be straightened, when we have our vertical relation with Him in alignment, we can live in the abundance of life to which he’s called us. The blessing is in seeking the Blessor and not the blessing…
… that our hearts may be made right to praise and glorify our Heavenly Father through His son, our Lord Jesus Christ… that we may ever live in Fellowship, in communion with our Lord to love, honor and glorify God.
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
