Jeremiah 17:9-10 ESV
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
‘I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.’”
I sometimes hear other people and some pastors quote Jeremiah
17:9, and they apply it to all people, including to Christians, and that always
bothers me. Why? Because, as Christians we should have hearts which are now
surrendered to God. Our hearts shouldn’t be deceitful and desperately sick
(wicked). Now I would agree that our fleshly hearts are like this before we
have changed hearts, and prior to the Spirit living within us. But shouldn’t we
now have changed hearts, renewed of the Spirit of God?
For, we read in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.” And we read in Matthew 6:20-21 that we are to lay up
for ourselves treasures in heaven.. for where our treasure is, there our heart
will be also. And in Matthew 12:34-35 we read, “Out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth
good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”
And in Matthew 22:37 we read, “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” But how
can we do that if we all have deceitful and wicked hearts? And in Luke 8:15 we
read, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold
it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” So, some
people have honest and good hearts.
And in John 7:38 we read, “Whoever believes in me, as the
Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” And
in Acts 2:46 we read about “glad and generous hearts.” And in Acts 4:32 we
read, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul,”
and that was a heart surrendered to God. And in Acts 13:22 we read, “I have
found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.”
And in Acts 15:9 we read, “having cleansed their hearts by
faith.” And in Romans 5:5 we read, “because God's love has been poured into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” So, we can, by faith
in Jesus, have cleansed and pure hearts. And in Romans 6:17 we read, “have
become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were
committed.” So, we can have obedient hearts to God.
And in Romans 10:1 we read, “My heart's desire and prayer to
God for them is that they may be saved.” And 2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God,
who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In
Galatians 4:6 we read, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of
his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”
And Ephesians 3:17 says, “so that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love.” And
Ephesians 6:6 says, “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as
bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” And in
Colossians 3:15, “compassionate hearts.” We read in 2 Thessalonians 3:5, “May
the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of
Christ.”
And in 1 Timothy 1:5, “The aim of our charge is love that
issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” And in 2
Timothy 2:22 we read, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness,
faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure
heart.” So, if we believe in Jesus Christ with God-given faith in him, we can
have pure hearts, good and honest hearts, and we can love God with our whole
heart.
We can have glad and generous hearts, and hearts which are
surrendered to Jesus Christ, and we can be people after God’s own heart, and
have cleansed hearts, and hearts filled with the love of God. And we can have
obedient hearts and hearts which desire good for others. We can have hearts
filled with the light of truth, and Spirit-filled hearts, hearts that are
committed to doing the will of God, compassionate hearts, and hearts which are
directed to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
So, yes, in our sin nature, we have deceitful and wicked
hearts. But once we have been transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of
God, and our hearts have been cleansed and made new by God-given faith in Jesus
Christ, and God is living within our hearts, by faith in him, our hearts
shouldn’t be deceitful and desperately wicked. Now they should be pure, honest,
good, moral, upright, godly, generous, and hearts filled with the love of God.
But this doesn’t mean that everyone who professes faith in
Jesus Christ has a pure, honest, upright, and godly heart committed to
obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. This comes through us daily dying to sin
and to self and us daily surrendering our hearts to the Lord and walking in His
ways and in His truth. But it is the Lord who tests our hearts, and He will
give to each one of us according to our ways (see Romans 2:6-8; Galatians
6:7-8).
So, just know that not all of us have deceitful and
desperately wicked hearts, not if our hearts have been cleansed and renewed of
the Holy Spirit. But we still live in flesh bodies, and so we still have the
ability to return to wicked and deceitful hearts if we cease to surrender our
hearts to the Lord, and if we stop obeying the Lord, in practice, and if we go
back to living in sin and for self. So, we need to guard our hearts so we keep
having pure hearts.
The Pure in Heart
An Original Work / Originally posted on July 2, 2023
Reposted on October 25, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
My Sheep
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
My sheep hear me.
They know me.
They listen to my
voice and obey.
I call them and lead
them.
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
They will never
follow strangers.
They will run away
from them.
The voice of a
stranger they know not;
They do not follow
him.
So, I tell you the
truth that
I am the gate, so
you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find
forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever
enters
Not by the gate;
other way,
He is the thief and
a robber.
Listen not, the
sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good
Shepherd,
Who laid his own
life down for the sheep.
I know them. They
know me.
They will live with
me eternally.
The thief only comes
to steal and
Kill and to destroy
the church.
I have come to give
you life that
You may have it to
the full…
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
No comments:
Post a Comment