THE HEART OF MAN

By Evangelist R. E. Rhoades (Dusty)

Part I – THE HEART OF MAN

Jesus Christ once rebuked the religious leaders of His day in the following manner:
(“That which cometh out of man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness,
an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within and defile the man” -
Mark 7:20-23). How we need to harken to this message of our Lord in this present time.
Many would have you believe that all the aforementioned things are a result of improper
environment, education, racial segregation, not enough unity among churches, or even
lack of government controls. Not thinking our Lord knew what He was saying, many
would have you believe the remedy for man’s heart condition is to be found in better
housing, better schools, better medical facilities, intermarriage, and a world
amalgamation of churches having no creed except man’s concept of god or gods.

MAN IS TOTALLY CORRUPT

The reprobate mind of man is never admitted by the reformer. It is always the
“condition” outwardly and never the inward man that receives attention. Slums are torn
down and great new apartments are erected; guidance centers go up and psychologist go
to work; marches are made and ultimatums delivered. The “great Society” is put into full
gear and multitudes proclaim the good news, “The golden age of man has arrived.” But-
under all of the veneer and sham a disconcerting note is heard-the crime rate is
increasing, women are attacked in broad daylight while onlookers stand helplessly by,
an old man is hit by a drunken driver and no one reports it because they are afraid of
having to go to court. A mother spoon feeds her baby raw whiskey until it dies. A son
shoots his parents because they won’t let him have the car on Saturday night. College
students walk around the campus with signs displaying filthy four-letter words,
campaigning for “freedom of thought and speech.” We are told we are to do anything
and everything we want-be totally uninhibited for it might affect our “inner man” if we
do not. And on and on we go toward “the golden age of man.”
 Paul, writing in Romans, chapter one, said (inspired by the Holy Spirit) the following:
“God gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to dishonour their own
bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served
the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever”. Paul certainly knew the source of
the trouble, because he identified the heart as the seat of rebellion against God. When
God gave man up to the reprobate mind, the natural result is found in Romans 1: 26-32.

Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward
another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves

that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only
do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them

And all of this because (verse 21 says “…their foolish heart was darkened”!

Is it any wonder then, why men cannot understand the underlying fault in the basic
makeup of man? Because of the condition of the heart of man, it becomes necessary for
the child of God to know something of the nature of God’s work in the heart. Does the
child of God ever lose his corrupt heart? Is the heart of the one in whom there has been
a work of grace ever cleansed? Does not Jeremiah say: “The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it”?

GOD’S WORK IN THE HEART IN SALVATION

When a person becomes a child of God in the new birth experience, God does a work
in his heart. Read 2Corinthians 1:21-22 (“Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath
anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts”.) This
very fact of the sealing of the Spirit in the heart of man should be enough, but read on in
chapter 3:3, (“Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us,
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of
the heart”.) So—when God does the finishing work of salvation in the heart of man, there
is an operation of the Spirit of God. This is why Paul, writing to the Ephesians, Chapter
1:13-14 said, 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his
glory.

Note the order: ye heard, ye believed, ye were sealed. The preached Word of God,
heard with the ear of faith, is believed in salvation, becomes a reality when the Spirit of
God seals the heart. The seal of God in the heart of the believer is fourfold: 1) it becomes
the evidence of genuineness; 2) it is the owners seal; 3) it is the container of security;
and 4) it is the evidence of a finished transaction. When a child of God receives the
sealing of the Spirit, it causes him to believe that one day there will be an additional
work done when Christ comes for His own, confirmed by the beloved Apostle to the
gentiles in Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together
until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we
ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

The seal of God has a two-sided characteristic to it. We read in II Timothy 2:19
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.
And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity”.

When God seals the child in his heart there is a side exposed to God - the
identification of His own; for the sealed child of God is required, because of this seal, to
depart from iniquity. Just suppose the child of God does not depart from iniquity, what
happens when sin enters into a heart that has been sealed by the Spirit of God? There is
much said about it in the Word, and not a few difficulties have been encountered by
Christians in this regard. Theologians generally are split concerning the true teaching of
the Word here and we delve into some of the aspects below hoping to settle a few age-
old arguments.

1. A person does not lose his salvation when sin is conceived in the heart; otherwise
the following statement would have no sense to it. (“Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day
of redemption”. - Ephesians 4:29-30). If corrupt communications grieves the Spirit of
God, then we ought not to do it, but no mention is made at all of unsealing
 because of this sin. On the contrary, we are told the Spirit of God seals us unto
the day of redemption.

2. In the two sided seal of God, the admonition comes in opposition to a statement
of fact. The fact: God knows His own; the admonition: let those who name the
name of Christ depart from iniquity. Then two things are immediately evident: a)
there is no discernment of the wages of sin (Romans 6:23), and b) there is an
underestimation of the rottenness of the human heart. The heart changes in
stages, but in rare instances has been known to undergo an immediate change.
Peter uttered this truth when he reported to the council at Jerusalem after having
gone to the house of Cornelius, “And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them;
purifying their hearts by faith”, Acts 15:8. The words purifying denotes a continuing
action, otherwise the word would have been in the past tense, purified.

3. I Thessalonians 5:19 says, “Quench not the Spirit”. It has been argued time and again
that this means to put out or stop the action of the Spirit. Some would have you
believe that the believer puts the Spirit away from himself and thereby looses his
salvation. One such person made this statement, “When I went into that bar I left
the Holy Spirit out on the sidewalk,” showing ignorance of a basic truth of the
Bible, vis-à-vis: the Holy Spirit goes where the believer goes, always! This is
where grieving and quenching come in; it is not so much getting rid of the Holy
Spirit as it is dampening the influence of the advice of the Spirit, Who inhabits
the heart of man as God’s seal of redemption

4. There are some that agree that God does place the seal there, that it is definitely
an action of a sovereign God, but argue that man has the power to break the seal,
thereby breaking the covenant of grace. Believing this does little to strengthen the
ties of the believer, rather it has a weakening effect upon the testimony.
Inevitably we must ask the questions: a) what sin breaks the seal; b) how long
must you continue in it or how little; c) where is the point of “no return; and d)
when restoration comes, does God again seal as before, or is it just a repair job on
the former? Observe how endless the questions could be and how utterly
impossible a foundation the works covenant has. The seal of God is not just
placed; remember II Corinthians 3:3 where Paul said, “…written not with ink, but with
the Spirit of God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart”.

The blessed truth of redemption in the grace covenant is the circumcision of the
heart. The heart is possessed by both male and female, Jew and Greek, bond and free
and in this act of the Holy Spirit all demands of the law disappear and division is broken
down. We who were once strangers and aliens now have the middle wall of partition
broken and spiritual heart circumcision is the evidence given by God that a finished work
is done. To believe that grace is extended only as long as we do not sin is failure to
believe in a finished work of Christ. The Spirit of God is given in the heart of the believer
to remind us of that finished work.

THE HEART OF KNOWLEDGE

In Proverbs 18:15 we find this gem, “The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ears of
the wise seeketh knowledge”. The connection of heart and ear and heart and mouth in the
Bible is interesting. Belief first finds root in the heart and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation, but it is through the ear of faith that the heart first gets light.
Man’s heart is in the seminary of sin. All of the wickedness of the world finds its source
in the heart of man. Reconsider Mark 7:20, blessed is the man who learns this early in
life, for much trouble could be avoided if we heed our own hearts.

There are 165 references to the heart in the New Testament. The Greek word for heart
is kardia – and when we find hardness of heart it is from the Greek sklero-kardia.
Hardness of heart is a condition that comes from misuse and huge calluses appear
instead of the tender spots that were once there. When man becomes stubborn and
refuses to bow down to the will of God, that man has hardness of heart. Lest we forget,
remember this also—we may fool others readily, even those closest to us, but God can
never be deceived! Samuel went to the house of Jesse to anoint the future king of Israel
and upon being confronted with those fine looking young men would have immediately
poured the oil upon the head of the tallest, fairest, grandest of them all, but listen to the
word of the Lord as it came to Samuel (“…look not on his countenance, or on the height of his
stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” I Samuel 16:7). What a lesson to be learned here!
We can’t even trust our eyes at looking at ourselves in the mirror, for the heart is seldom
reflected in the glass! We, as the Corinthians, have the tendency to “glory in appearance
and not in heart.” To be critical of one’s own heart is difficult, but not when we are
honestly looking for the source of the power failure we have all had at one time or
another in our spiritual lives.

WHAT MUST BE FIRST

Many would have you believe that we must all work for God from sunup to setting
sun, always busy doing something. To work and have the work accepted is indeed
wonderful, but I wonder if we consider the biases for getting acceptance of the work of
our hands. It isn’t what we do that is important; rather it is what we are that counts.
God is not primarily interested in what we do, but He is vitally interested in what we
are; if what we are isn’t right, whatever we do will never be right. On the other hand if
what we are is right, whatever we do will always be right. Many are going about trying to
establish their own righteousness in doing, meanwhile forgetting that the doing must be
done in the strength of-being. Every man must know that his deeds, his thoughts, his
words, and his very life find inception in the heart.

The law of comparison in the believer’s life should never be what others do,

or how big the project is, or even the standards we set for ourselves, but it must be the
Word of God. When something is crooked and only slightly bent, it is sometimes
difficult to know just how bad it really is; therefore we need a straight edge by which to
compare it. This is the function of the Word of God in our lives; to find some other
comparison is sheer folly. When we are impatient and rebellious, when despair and
backsliding take over, the first place to look for trouble is in the heart through the Word!
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” said
our Lord, and the Bible is the mouth of God.

FOUR THINGS THAT CAUSE OUR HEARTS TO STRAY

Rare is the Christian who can honestly deal with the heart, for the heart is incurably
wicked and deceitful. Yet there are some things we can guard against and to do so is
wisdom indeed. Four of these things are set forth here:

1. PRAISE—when we are praised there begins a work of pride in the heart. Pride is
natural to the carnal man and we must guard against praise. Turn it off and turn it to
the Lord Jesus Christ, for if there be anything good in us it has to find its source in
Him Who inhabits our heart.

2. RICHES—to have the goods of this world is wonderful, if we know how to handle
them, but rare is the child of God who knows how to do so. Guard against piling up
that which would capture your heart, for where a man’s substance is that is where his
heart is. There isn’t a person among us who could not be better stewards of what God
has given us and too many times

we get to trusting in what we have rather than what we are!

3. EASE—the third thing we are to be on guard against is ease, for here is the father of
slothfulness. An idle mind and heart becomes the workshop of Satan—here is where
the father of lies finds lodgment and when the foothold is gained it is difficult to rout
him out. He loves to involve one of God’s own in the affairs of this life so that first
things become last.

4. CRITICISM—this last item is on an equal with praise, for just as praise arouses
pride, criticism arouses bitterness and strife and wrath. It is a rare person who can
take both praise and criticism equally. The heart wanders easily and to find a fixed
position is virtually impossible when bitterness creeps in. Have you noticed how
easily you get offended when someone dares to mention your pet sin? Multitudes
have gone to hear an evangelist preach and will amen him to death as long as he
stays off their pet sin, but once he treads on their front porch there is an immediate
desire to find something else to do for the rest of the meeting.

*****

A crisis in a person’s life will often reveal the heart, “for out of the heart are the issues of
life”. The home life of the individual is controlled largely by the condition of the heart
with God. This holds true in our business and our churches as well as in the very world
we dwell. Many a failure in the home started in backsliding, although you could never
get any of the involved people to admit it. Explosions in the church come about because
hearts are not right with God. People get offended and start talking, and like the
proverbial snowball, the further it goes the bigger it gets. The heart that is not right with
God explodes little things into big things and many a mole hill becomes a mountain
right in the heart. Even the way we treat the truth reveals our heart’s condition. To
refuse truth when we claim to know it is a revelation that the heart is not right with God.
When this becomes known, the heart is judged by the very truth it refused.

PART II - SEVEN KINDS OF HEART AGAINST GOD

Many folk can never discern between that which is right and that which is wrong,
simply because they are running their lives by a set of moral rules and regulations that
find no source other than what people think [Humanism]. We are often more guided by
others’ opinions that matter not, rather than by the Word of God which never changes.
Our ideas and sense of moral values are changing constantly but the Word of God goes
on as ever. Once men were shocked as women began to expose their ankles—now they
are bored with topless bathing suits. Has the Word changed, or just opinions? First we
must find out what kind of heart we have in order to define the trouble we are having, so
we take up the first kind of heart that is against God:

1. THE NATURAL HEART

I Corinthians 2:14 tells us “the natural man receiveth not the things of God for they are foolishness
unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”. To be blind to obvious
spiritual truths has one of two indications: either the person is lost or he is filled with a
heart of sin! The lost man, the natural man if you please, has no discernment and he will
inevitably choose that which is contrary to the Spirit of God simply because it is his
natural bend to go in opposition to the will of God. He thinks he is doing “right” and
may be a moral man, as far as the basic values of the world are concerned, but he can
never please God and instinctively he knows it down in his heart. As long as the heart
remains unmarked by the Holy Spirit, the natural man can never receive the things of
God and he must remain an enemy of God. This is so hard for the lost to understand,
and it is also a difficulty with many of the redeemed of the Lord. They fall into the
pattern of thinking along with the world when they say, “Why, he is one of the finest
men I know! You surely can’t believe he won’t go to heaven! I admit he isn’t interested in
the things of the Lord, but look at all the good things he does, etc., etc.”

Let us not be deceived—the natural man has no place in God’s economy and must
forever be an enemy of God unless the heart is inhabited by the Spirit of God. Paul also
tells us in Corinthians “if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost”. This is the reason we
have so many versions of the Bible coming out today—the natural man, with the heart
that has never been changed, is trying to get a Bible he can understand, but try as he
may there will be no understanding. Without faith it is impossible to please, or to know,
God.

2. THE DOUBLE HEART

In Hosea 10:12 we read, “their heart is divided, now shall they be found faulty”. There are
multitudes today who deny the divided heart, but they exist just the same—in the church
and out of the church. James said, “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” and then to
clarify what the “double minded man” is we read in James 4:8 “….. purify your hearts, ye
double minded”. Our Lord warned us against dividing our affections between heaven and
earth and Paul in Colossians also tell us to set our affections on things above and not on
things of the earth.
 Can a man love sin and God at the same time? Can the heart be divided between two
loyalties? Can it be possible we have the love of the world and do not love the father? If
we are to believe the Bible, we must believe John, writing at the close of the Apostolic
age, who said, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him”. Many professing Christians today are doing more harm
to the cause of Christ than all the infidels who ever lived, simply because they are
double minded and cannot seem to make up their minds just who, or what, they are
going to serve.

3. THE UNSTABLE HEART

Instability is not a very desirable characteristic and surly no informed executive

would hire a man who had a record of being unstable. Nor, on the other hand, should a
pastor be expected to use a person in his church who has proven time and again the
instability of his testimony. When a person is blown about by every whim and fancy, and
never seems to know just where he is going to stand, he is pointing a finger to a mixed
up life and saying, ‘Look at me—I am an unstable Christian’. “Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them
that love him”. The person who really cares about Christ will be stable; Paul admonishes us
to “... be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord”.

In travel that carries this writer around the nation, there are things that are so
evident in our time it becomes necessary to call them to your attention:

a. Most of the folks who now are serving the Lord in some capacity will not be doing
so in a short time. The average tenure of service is somewhere in the vicinity of 5-
7 years. Think about it! How many folk do you know who were faithful just a short
time ago but are not now serving Christ in any capacity whatever?

b. Many folk who have been right down the line as far as sound doctrine is
concerned are now off chasing some strange “ism” and have departed from the
local church, the doctrine they once held, and are avid pursuers of strange fire.

c. There are very few today who will go right down the line with the denomination
their church has become a part of. Baptists do not know why they are Baptist.
Presbyterians know little of the Westminster confession, as is also true of the
 Methodist and Wesley, etc. Only the cults seem to be thoroughly grounded in
what they believe, and this is to our shame. We are unstable and blown about—
even as Jude pointed out, “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering
stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” We are even as “clouds without
water, carried about by winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up
by the roots”.

4. THE PROUD HEART

(“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” Proverbs 16:16). Surely the
wise man will admit there is nothing quite so fatal as pride; virtually no one likes a
proud man, especially another proud man. Pride takes on so many subtle forms that
we must admit it surely is of the devil. If we quit a habit, pride takes over! We attain a
spiritual plateau, and if we are not watchful pride knocks us off. We get a little
education in the things of the Lord and immediately we set ourselves up as one who
knows more than we actually have learned. Peter’s denial in Christ was due, in part,
to pride, for he boasted, “Lord, if they all desert you, you can count on me!” Yet the
first one to run when trouble came was this proud man of God. In God’s list of sins of
the reprobate mind of man (Romans 1:30) we find “backbiters, haters of God, despiteful,
proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,” etc. Pride is surely a product of the heart that is
against God, for to find something in us that is deemed good by us, is nothing more
than pride. To think ourselves to be something when we are nothing is self deceit,
according to Paul.

1. THE HARD HEART

Like stone that defies the chisel, the heart of man is unaffected by either the love of
God or the terror of the Lord. As an evangelist, this writer has preached all over this
nation on the terror of the Lord from II Corinthians 5. Also a particular sermon on Hell
serves to move even the speaker while he is preaching it! Added to these two topics, the
Lord from time to time, will lay a message on the author’s heart for a congregation and
one can scarcely help marveling at the hardness of heart displayed by the audience. To
the other extreme, the topic of the crucifixion, laden with the love of God for sinful man,
has been preached with the same effect. The preacher’s heart is broken but the audience
is unmoved, unshaken.

When God’s wrath is poured out on the human race in the tribulation period, and it is
terrible just to read about it, let alone experience it, we are told in Revelation 16 that “they
repented not” to give God the glory. In our own land we have earthquakes, floods,
hurricanes, fires, wrecks, destruction, and war scares in ever increasing numbers over
the past ten years, yet church attendance is going down; apostasy is becoming more
evident each day as folk depart from the faith. There seems to be no fear of Almighty
God in our time, and if it continues as it is now going, there will virtually no signs of
revival in the next few years. Our hearts cry out for revival in our time, and we know of
others who would pay the price of Holy Ghost revival, yet the bulk of our professing
church today is not remotely interested in anything that will bring about a change of
heart. Yes, the hard heart is against God!

2. THE DECEIVED HEART

When a man thinks himself to have arrived at some spiritual peak that exists only in
the imagination of his mind, he is deceived. Recently a person told this writer that she
had not sinned since the day that, as she put it, “God saved and sanctified and filled me
with the Holy Ghost.” God surely has little opportunity

to work in the heart of a person who thinks that there is no need for repentance from
day to day—and never needs to cry out for deliverance from a mind and heart that
departs from the straight and narrow path at a drop of the hat. One moment we have
peace, the next moment terror. There is one area in which we have little experience and
we must enter it every morning –that is the realm of a day and time we have never
entered before. Each day is not alike, nor are the temptations today anything like those
of tomorrow. To think we have stored grace is foolishness; God does not store up grace:
He imparts it daily, as needed. When no need is felt, grace is neglected, and the heart is
deceived. David Brainerd needed daily assurance, as did the great Moody. Saints down
through the ages have acknowledged the need of daily grace because the heart is
“incurably wicked and who can know it?”

3. THE SATISFIED HEART

When a mountain top is reached and we view the valley we have left below, there is a
tendency to want to build a tabernacle and just stay there. But look yonder over the next
vale! There is the next range and beyond that an Everest that no man has ever climbed.
It remains, after nearly 2,000 years, for someone to scale the utmost heights of Christ’s
love and grace. There are areas of delight awaiting all who will never be satisfied.
Contentment in Christ is much to be desired, but never confuse contentment with
satisfaction of less than the best. Moody, when challenged with the statement. “It
remains for a man to be totally committed to Christ’” said, “By His grace, I’ll be that
man!” Yet, by his own admission there were heights beyond, which were never reached.
 In the lives of the saints, who answer the roll call of the ages in Christ, there is always
that desire to go onward and upward, toward a goal that has been left for the few who
are willing to sacrifice everything for the cause of Christ. To be satisfied in a world of lost
men and blinded slaves of sin is not God’s way. To be satisfied when we have lost the
battle to the enemy time and again is to lower the colors of Christ and lay aside the
shield of faith. When Christianity stops conquering, and we are at a virtual standstill, we
go down to depths of shame. The satisfied heart is exemplified in Peter, who, as a
spokesman for the trio accompanying Christ to the mount of transfiguration, said, “let
us stay here!” while in the valley below was a struggle for a life of a boy. The disciples
couldn’t cast out the demon and our Lord told them, upon arrival. “This kind isn’t
coming out except by prayer and fasting.” Peter would have stayed on the mount—the
boy would have gone to hell! Who cares about the valley when we are enjoying the air of
the heights? Sincerely, there is no room for the satisfied heart in a world that knows not
Christ and His redeeming love.

PART III – SEVEN TYPES OF HEART THAT PLEASE GOD

In studying the Bible, we find a number of people who stand out like bright lights in a
sea of darkness. All have received the benediction of God upon them and are in the great
cloud of witnesses who have gone on before, having died in faith that there is a city
whose builder and founder is God. For a man to please God in a world of sinners is
impossible, and would remain an unsolved enigma to this day if it were not for the fact
that God has given us a Way to please him.

Man is ever trying to come up with something to offer God in lieu of what God has
ordained we should bring. Some would offer a sinless life, or at least one lived as “best
we can”--others would go into the life of the cloistered wall—while others would deny
certain things in life that others seem to enjoy—all with the view in mind of pleasing
God. But has not God given us the only condition whereby we may come to Him in
salvation? Did not He send His Son to die for us on the cross of Calvary? Will God
accept any other payment as a propitiation for our indebtedness to him?

Surely all will admit readily that Christ alone is God’s offer of payment, and to refuse
Him is to refuse salvation. To refuse his ruling in our hearts by faith is against God.
Someone must sit on the throne of our heart. It will either be the Lord Jesus Christ or
King Self who will sit there.
 To please God there are seven different kinds of heart outlined in the Word of God
and they are set forth below. Read them prayerfully, with self-examination, and see how
you rate on the checklist at the end of the book.

1. THE TREMBLING HEART

Billy Sunday is reported to have made the remark, “If God’s people were as afraid of
sin as they are of holiness, what an impact they would have on the world.” The penitent
heart that is trembling and afraid of sin is so rare as to be almost extinct today. We have
conferences and discuss the general trend of ungodliness, yet virtually nothing is ever
done about it because God’s people are not afraid of sin any longer. In a recent article in
Reader’s Digest, May 1965, page 13, we read that the FBI released a report containing
the following crime facts: there were 2.5 million major crimes committed in 1964, a 13%
increase over 1963; more than 40% of all arrest are of youth under the age of 18; The
crime rate increased five times as fast as the population since 1958. This is staggering;
for as bad as things are, the author had no idea the darkness was so thick. When figures
like this are announced, there are very few of the children of God moved to get up and
do anything about it. The lethargy and apathy so noticeable among us is slowly
strangling us to death.

Where are the trembling hearts of just a few years ago? Yet, unless there is more of
this kind of heart among God’s own, in very short order we will have just about run our
course. The secret to Paul’s tremendous success as an evangelist is found in his attitude
toward sin—surely this man had a trembling heart! Listen to the cry of this man in
Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Listen
to the trembling heart speaking to us in I Corinthians 9:27, “…lest that by any means, when I
have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

Paul wasn’t afraid of loosing his salvation, but he was trembling for fear that his own
ministry might be allowed to go on the shelf and he should become adokimos (Gr.) or
not approved. With a sign of relief he comes to the end of the journey and writes
Timothy, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” This is the
man who wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” Philippians 2:12 yet
finished his course with joy. If anyone ever had a trembling heart, it was Paul

2. THE TENDER HEART

 We are warned to, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed unto the day of
redemption.” In this same context, Ephesians 4:30-32, we note the elements of “grieving”
among which are “bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour and evil speaking, be put away from
among you, with all malice.” Then, to give the positive side of these negative things, Paul
tells the Ephesians to “…. be ye kind one to another, Tenderhearted, as God for Christ sake hath
forgiven you.”

There are not very many today who can forgive as easily as they find fault. There is a
place for church discipline, which should be practiced according to the Word. But there
is also a place for mercy and tenderness. In Galatians 6:1, Paul tells us, “Brethren, if a
man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of
meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” The tenderhearted Christian
is not afraid nor ashamed of tears, and quite readily admits his heart is touched by the
Spirit more easily each day.

3. THE PERFECT HEART

There are many who say a perfect is impossible, yet there is a case on record where a
man actually thought to remind God of his perfect heart and God remembered and
stayed the hand of death upon him. This interesting account is found in II Kings 20:3.
(Hezekiah (after being informed of his imminent death) reminded God, “… remember now
how I walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight?”
We are told that God gave him another 15 years in which Hezekiah did the greatest work
of his entire life. It was during this time that a good portion of the Bible was preserved
and Hezekiah’s scribes were the ones God allowed to get the job done. The man who was
used of God was the man who could say, “I have had a perfect heart before god.”

4. THE BROKEN HEART

When the sin of David with Bathsheba came out into the open, as all sin must,
Nathan, the prophet of God, confronted David with what he had done. It was at this
time that the psalmist David wrote the 51st Psalm. In the first few verses we find
David using the three principle words for sin in the Old Testament—transgression,
iniquity and sin. There are 133 different words for sin in the Old Testament and 122
in the New, making a total of 256 words in the entire Bible having a meaning of sin,
once sin becomes “exceedingly sinful” it becomes necessary for the sinner to approach a
holy God in an acceptable manner. David knew this for he cried out, “hide thy face” -
“purge me” - “wash me” - “blot me”- cleanse me” - “create in me a clean heart, O God and
renew a right spirit within me.” Then, after the heart cry had gone up, we find David
making the statement that has been the guide for centuries, “…a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.”

Much more has been accomplished for God by those with broken hearts than by
any other type of people. When the heart of Peter was broken we find him
accomplishing much—when Paul was broken on the road to Damascus the world
knew it—the 9th chapter of Romans reflects the heart of Paul where he wept over the
sin of Israel. Jeremiah interceded for his people with a broken heart, as did Moses,
and when God sees the heart break of His own, God does something about it.

Sin has abounded—iniquity is rampant—our day is a day of debauchery and

shame, yet few are broken-hearted over it. Revival in our time may well be
impossibility, unless there is a broken heartedness by God’s people in the Body of
Christ.

5. THE PURE HEART

It was said of Hugh Latimer, “There goes a man of pure heart!” The queen of
England feared him more than any man in her kingdom. So was it said of John Knox,
but there are few in the history of the church who stand as those with the pure heart.
In the Sermon on the Mount, our Saviour said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
see God.” In the new birth experience something happens to the heart of man. It
changes very slowly in some instances, but change it does.

In Acts 15:9 Peter makes this statement, “And put no difference between us and them,
purifying their hearts by faith.” Note the words purifying continuing action of the verb)
and faith. The action of the Holy Spirit is one of continuous influence in the heart of
the believer, but before the pure heart ever comes to fruition there are many hours
and days of frustration; the desire to do good is there, but the other law warring in
our members does much to replace the purity we desire. The other word called to
your attention is faith—this too is continuing. Just to say we have saving faith is not
enough. Faith is a purifying element in the life of the believer, and to exercise faith is
our greatest privilege and joy. Faith unlocks all the doors of mystery—faith brings
blessings without measure—faith counts promises of God as already accomplished—
faith causes God to perform miracles in order to vindicate His Word. The pure in
heart get that way by faith and become purer in heart in the same manner. What
saves? FAITH! What keeps? FAITH! What purifies? FAITH!

Blessed are the pure in heart, whose heart is being purified by faith.

6. THE OPENED HEART

There are few names in the Bible that have more endearment than the name of
Lydia—a seller of purple in the city of Thyatira. It is said of her in Acts 16:14 …. “whose
heart the Lord opened”. This is the first mention in the New Testament of a Gentile
woman being baptized. As a matter of fact, the first woman mentioned as being
baptized at all was in Acts 8:12 where Philip, preaching the Kingdom message,
baptized “both men and women”. Lydia is alone in the distinctive position of being the
one whose “heart the Lord opened.” When her heart was opened so was her home.
The heart that is open holds no dark corners, no hidden recesses, and no cesspools of
sin. The heart that is open has light, seeks only that which glorifies Jesus Christ, is
susceptible to the leadership of the spirit of God.

To be open-hearted is to be closed to appeals of satanic forces which would

destroy and kill. The open-hearted Christian can be a real testimony of God’s grace
and there is no place for the wickedness of an evil heart. Our Lord’s words to the
disciples on the road to Emmaus caused their hearts to burn within them and we are
told in Luke 24:31: “And their eyes were opened and they knew Him…” In verse 32 they said,
“And did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us
the Scriptures”. Then later on, in verse 45, to the other disciples we find, “Then opened He
their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures”. When we see the opened heart,
and the inserting of the Word, we once again are reminded of the Psalmist
declaration. “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee”. Surely in
salvation the heart is opened, for in Romans 10:10 we read, “For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness”. Through the preaching of the Word, the heart is opened
and life enters in.

7. THE STEADFAST HEART

 “O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory;” So said David in
the 108th Psalm, verse 1. Paul tells us to be “steadfast, unmovable, and always abounding in the
work of the Lord”. Faithful Christians are so scarce today one would be tempted to
make a museum specimen out of the first one that comes along. Here today, gone
tomorrow, might well be said of many today. The quality that made the pioneer spirit
in our country was that of being steadfast. This is the essence of the early church, for
it could be said of them that they “earnestly contended for the faith”, even unto death
when needs be.

Paul knew men of this caliber—one thing for sure, Demas was not one of them.
Ah, but how about Luke? Here is a man, who, as far as we know, didn’t manifest
unusual gifts, had no coterie of his own, like Peter, Apollos and Paul, yet he was the
steadfast one! When all had gone back to the place they found it necessary to flee to,
Luke remained. After all the hundreds of names that pass across the stage in the
early church, Luke alone remains to the end. What wouldn’t the average pastor in the
world today give for a dozen Luke’s—or for that matter, just one? This quality of
sticking when it isn’t popular to stick is missing among God’s own this day, and if the
current trend continues, what will it be like in another five years? “For their heart was
not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant”. (Psalm 78:37).

*****

Now for the checklist, Paul told the Ephesians not to try to work with eye service,
but rather with fear and trembling, in singleness of their heart, as unto Christ…doing
the will of God from the heart. We read Hebrews 4:12-13 where it says, “The Word of
God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight but all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

Knowing that only God knows our hearts and we can hide nothing from Him, does
it not seem necessary to you to try to understand your own heart? This being so, let
us examine ourselves:

In my opinion I have the following heart condition—

 □ NATURAL — unsaved, never having received Jesus Christ as my
personal Saviour. This being so, I hereby this day believe in my heart and am willing
to confess with my mouth that God raised Him from the dead for my sin and
complete justification. I promise to tell someone every day that I am a child of God
because of Christ’s redemption made possible for me at the cross.

□ DOUBLE HEART — I am saved, but I have divided my loyalty

between Christ and the World and I promise my Saviour that from this day forward I
shall endeavor to put Him first in everything I do.

□ UNSTABLE HEART — I have been tossed about by whims and fancy

far too long, and I am resolving this day only that which will elevate my Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ. I will be sound in everything I believe and will immediately
cast out anything and everything that does not give Him the glory.

□ THE PROUD HEART — I must admit that I have a great deal of pride
and it doesn’t become me as a Christian. By faith in the indwelling of Christ, I
promise to always take the lower place and will quit trying to make myself something
when I really am nothing.

□ THE HARD HEART — I haven’t shed a tear in a long time, especially

over the souls of the lost. The terror of the Lord has not moved me, yet I know that
multitudes of folk are heading for everlasting destruction and I pledge myself to
compassion and tenderness to the best of my ability.

□ THE DECEIVED HEART — I know that my elevated position was

only fantasy and in reality I have not grown very much at all. To be deceived about
one’s spiritual condition is dangerous, and I hereby ask my Saviour to enable me to
trust Him more implicitly day by day. I want only His will for my life.

□ THE SATISFIED HEART — Lord help me never to be satisfied with

anything less than Thy righteousness. Knowing there are yet heights I have never
gained, I must begin my starting where Thou dost put me. Help me to be “more than
conqueror” through Jesus Christ who love me and gave Himself for me.

******
 Or could it be that there are some who prefer to check off the condition of their
heart in the list below? There are some who can do so by now. Is your heart:

□ TREMBLING □ PERFECT □ PURE □ TENDER □

BROKEN □ OPEN □ STEADFAST

In the light of the Word of God, be honest with yourself; if you are not who will be
this side of judgment?

*****************

“Search me, o God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there
be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24