Jeremiah 17:9 says, “the heart is desperately wicked above all things, who can know it?”
This week, Michael writes: The Apostle Paul said, “In my flesh dwells 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.
Christian author 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 covers (and hides) his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.” Men and women 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 and depraved 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. Bible Commentator 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 and women 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 and women 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 as it deceives itself into thinking it is the candle of the Lord (Proverbs 20:27). 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, to sin is to break fellowship with God. 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.
Let's continue Michael's message on desperate hearts in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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