There is presently a commercial on television for a personal heart monitor that can provide an individual with a medical grade EKG, the results of which can be sent immediately to their doctor. The commercial consists of a man on the street inquiring of those who pass by “how’s your heart?” Various responses are provided by the individuals surveyed from “its beating” to “pretty good”. In this commercial the reference is to the large organ inside our chest cavity that pumps blood through our body, with its healthy functioning vital to our physical life.
The Bible frequently speaks about the “heart”; however, it is not referring to this bodily organ, but to the core or center of our spiritual being, from which our thoughts, desires, affections and motivations originate and proceed. The condition of this heart is vital to our spiritual life, our life in relationship with God.
The Bible is our personal diagnostic tool for evaluating the condition of this heart (Hebrews 4:11-13). Tragically, it reveals in each of us that the condition of this heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, with every intention/motivation of it being only evil continually (Jeremiah 17:9) (Genesis 6:5).
Jesus gives His diagnosis of the condition of the human heart in Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” These and more are what subject man to God’s wrath and judgement (Romans 1:28-32).
God, in making mankind in His image and likeness, made man righteous or upright, with a good heart such that our thoughts, desires, affections and motivations would be consistent with God’s righteous nature and character and bring forth the God glorifying joys, pleasures and delights that God in His infinite goodness intended for man from the beginning (Genesis 1:31) (Psalm 16:11) (Psalm 36:8). However, as I noted in my previous post, our present sin-corrupted heart is a result of Adam’s sin of ingratitude as He rejects God as the source of his good, seeking it in the creation rather than the creator, with all mankind who proceed from him joining him in doing the same (Jeremiah 2:12-13) (Romans 1:18-25).
With our hearts now filled with pride and ingratitude, trusting in our own wisdom, our clever schemes and inventions as the ultimate source of our good (Ecclesiastes 7:29) we are not just unwilling, but incapable of loving God preeminently as He commands and deserves, nor loving other image-bearers of God as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:34-39).
The consequences of such have been the corruption of God’s good creation with the pain, sorrow and suffering that proceeds from that corruption, and ultimately death – spiritual, physical and eternal, wherein we are cut off from the glorious life with God for which we were created and upon our physical death consigned forever to the place referred to in the Bible as Hell or the Lake of Fire ((James 3:14-16) (Ezekiel 18:20) (Revelation 20:14-15).
Thankfully, this is not the end of God’s display, God’s expression of the glory of His goodness toward mankind, which by the way is displayed every day despite our sin, in what is referred to as common grace (Psalm 145:9). Mankind’s sin and rebellion actually sets the stage for the glory of God’s goodness and grace to be put on display in ways that will result in uninhibited, joyful praise and thanksgiving to Him throughout all eternity from those who receive this ultimate expression of His goodness and grace.
In the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, Chapter 18, we see God, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, calling the sinful, prideful nation of Israel to repentance – to turn from their sin, their ingratitude and resultant disobedience toward God despite all of the blessings He had bestowed upon them, that they may escape His judgement. In Ezekiel 18:31, He tells them to get for themselves a new heart, essentially new desires, longings, affections and motivations that are consistent with His. Of course, this is impossible for them (and us) in ourselves to do, which God makes clear in Jeremiah 13:23. Being spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, we not only lack the ability to do so, but also the desire, despite His promises of judgement (Psalm 10:3-4) (Jeremiah 18:11-12).
However, God, who is rich in mercy and abundant in grace, planned from the foundation of the world to magnify His greatness, His goodness and the glory of His grace, by bringing forth out of this present world filled with ingratitude and discontent and all of the evil it produces, an eternally grateful, joyful people who will glorify Him now and throughout eternity for His unfathomable goodness (Psalm 107:21-22). He would do so by granting to whomsoever He will, the gift of eternal life, restoration to the glorious life with God for which man was created, a gift received through faith in His most glorious and valuable of gifts, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16) (Galatians 1:3-4) (Romans 6:23) (1 John 5:11-13) (2 Corinthians 9:15). This faith in Jesus will also be a gift from God to those whom He chooses to bestow it (Ephesians 2:8-10).
It is through and on account of Jesus’ sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross, miraculous resurrection and ascension to His throne in Heaven, as a man, that God is able to grant men and women every spiritual blessing necessary to be restored to His image and to the glorious life with God for which we were created (Ephesians 1:3-6).
These blessings/gifts begin with our being raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, what the Bible refers to as regeneration or being born again. Regeneration is a supernatural, sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit who comes as a gift to live in those He makes spiritually alive (John 3:3-8) (Titus 3:3-6) (Ephesians 2:1-7) (John 14:15-17).
The Holy Spirit then creates in us a new heart (prophesied throughout the Old Testament), with new affections, desires, longings and motivations that are centered on God, a heart capable of experiencing the humility and heartfelt gratitude to God that produces love for and glad obedience to God, as we now, by faith, are able to see the glory of God in the person and work of Jesus (Deuteronomy 30:6) (Ezekiel 36:25-27) (Jeremiah 24:7) (2 Corinthians 4:4-6) (Romans 5:5).
It is on the basis of Jesus’s sinless life and substitutionary death on the cross for our sin that we escape the judgement and condemnation of God we deserve, and be declared righteous, able once again to live in God’s immediate presence without fear or shame (2 Corinthians 5:21) (Romans 3:21-24) (Romans 8:1). It is by Him we are granted repentance, the desire and ability to turn from our self-centered life of ingratitude to a God-centered life of praise and thanksgiving (Acts 11:18) (Psalm 136:1-3). It is through faith in Him we become the beloved children of God and have intimate access to God the Father in prayer (Galatians 3:26) (Matthew 6:8-13). It is His image that we are being conformed to while in this world by the Holy Spirit, with the promise that when we see Him in all of His glory, we will be made like Him, restored to the glorious image of God in which we were created (2 Corinthians 3:18) (1 John 3:1-3) (1 Corinthians 15:49).
And finally, Jesus, our Savior, our Lord and our God, is the one who now is interceding for those who put their faith in Him (Hebrews 7:25). He is doing so to keep them/us, who live in the midst of great enemies (the sin-corrupted world, our human weakness, and the devil’s temptations) from stumbling, from falling back into an attitude and life of ingratitude, that He may present us blameless on that final day in the presence of His glory, as well as the glory of the Father, Holy Spirit, and Holy angels; and with exceeding great joy proclaim Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Jude 24-25) (Matthew 25:34).
So, what then can I offer to God for all of these blessings that abound unto me in and through the person and work of my Lord Jesus? Nothing more and nothing less than sincere love, contentment and gratitude from my new heart displayed in glad obedience to His will and joyful praise of and delight in His glorious person, both now and forever, Amen. (Psalm 116:12-17) (Psalm 100:1-5) (1 Timothy 6:6-8).
Jesus Thank You – A song of Praise.
Grace and Peace ×
Thank you my Brother James.
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By grace through faith and even that’s a gift. Thank you Jesus!