The Condition of the Believer's Heart

things Saints welcome to Columbus Bible churches live-streaming program for Sunday morning and I wanted to say what date it is the data is escaping me but it's 29th I believe so thank you for being with us looking forward to when we can again meet in person as a reminder this upcoming week we will continue to do the live streaming question-and-answer session Monday through Friday will meet at 7:00 p.m. so you can meet us in this same internet location on Facebook what I'm going to take up this morning during the 10 o'clock hour one st. sent me a number of good questions that pertain to the believers heart so that the topic the title of this message this morning is the condition of the believers heart let me open us in a word of Prayer and we will get started father God thank you for this time thank you for your word may this time be edifying to the Brethren may we come to a better understanding of your word that we might be the ambassadors you want us to be we pray these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen the topic this morning is the condition of the believers heart many Saints have the understanding that at salvation their heart is changed in their heart becomes pure I'm going to teach something different this morning this is my understanding with all things you need to search them out you need to be fully persuaded in your own mind and so I want to approach this topic by considering three different questions and this will be the outline of what we're going to cover the first question is this is Jeremiah 17 verse 9 trans dispensational the second question is is the following is the issue in the dispensation of grace the mind and flesh and not the heart the third question does the heart remain deceitful above all things after salvation when a believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and Christ lives within him we'll take up each of those three questions because the answer to each of those three questions will help us understand the condition of our hearts today during the dispensation of grace so question number one is Jeremiah 17 verse 9 trans dispensational now when we say trans dispensational here's what we mean there are some truths that are true across time that in other words they were true in time past they're true in but now they'll be true in the future is Jeremiah 17:9 something that was true in time past and continues to be true today and I'll tell you my belief is that the answer is yes Jeremiah 17:9 was true in time past and it continues to be true today during the dispensation of grace so look with me at Jeremiah 17 verse 9 Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it so Jeremiah 17:9 says about the human heart is that it is desperately wicked and it is deceitful above all things that's a verse that I quote a lot I think it's an accurate description of the believers heart today let's look and see if that's what scripture says now what will happen is what some folks will do is they'll object to the use of Jeremiah 17:9 today because that verse was clearly in time past and we live today during the dispensation of grace but I would encourage you to think about it this way there are a lot of things that are that were true in the Old Testament that continued to be true today you know one thing for example is God promised Noah that he wasn't going to flood the earth is that promised true today yes that promise is still true today well what Jeremiah 17:9 says about the human heart did that cease to be true has something about that changed what I would tell you is this when you think about the question of whether something has changed from time pass to but now you have to think about it as something more than well that verse is time passed so I can ignore it that's not an appropriate approach it seems to me the proper test is this is there a reason scripturally that tells me something changed from time passed in other words if something is revealed in time past and scripture tells us that it has changed then we know that it has changed that what was true in time past is no longer true because something has changed when there's a verse that tells us that then so be it but if something was revealed in time past and there's no indication that it has changed we need to be very careful and hesitant to say that something has in fact changed now by the way Jeremiah 17 verse 9 it's not something that is part of the Old Testament law it's it's not for example something that says these animals are unclean and Paul said every creature of God is good Jeremiah 17 verse 9 is a description of the human heart did the human heart fundamentally change did the human heart fundamentally get better because we live during the dispensation of grace and I would tell you I think the answer to that is no look with me at Genesis chapter 8 Genesis chapter 8 Genesis 8 verse 21 this is post-flood in other words Genesis 8 is after the Lord has flooded the earth Genesis 8:21 and the Lord smelled a sweet savour and the Lord said in his heart I will not again curse the ground any more from and sake for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth neither will I again smite anymore every living thing as I have done so this was after the flood God says that he's not going to curse the ground again and he says that even though man's heart is evil and the point is even though man's heart is wicked God's not going to curse the ground was you think about the promise that God made not to flood the earth again that promise continues continues continues continues all the way through the dispensation of grace and even on into the future well if man's heart was going to change so that the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart was not only evil continually that promise wouldn't have to endure for perpetual generations you may recall this but when God promises not to flood the earth is it's described as an everlasting covenant it's a covenant made with perpetual generations it goes on and on and on and the reason it goes on and on and on is because man's heart problem goes on and on and on look with me at Romans chapter 1 now of course one of the most helpful things to do if you're trying to figure out if something in time past continues to be true today is to look at what Paul himself had to say about it so look with me at Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1 because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither we're thankful but became vain in their imaginations notice and their foolish heart was darkened did the heart of the lost man get any better because of the institution of the dispensation of grace Paul says that man's foolish heart was darkened look with me at Romans chapter 2 verse 5 Romans 2 verse 5 now some would say Romans 1:21 is a reference to time passed it's not a reference to the dispensation of grace but look with me at Romans chapter 2 verse 5 but after thy hardness and impenitent heart his man's heart good during the dispensation of grace apparently not scripture describes it as man's hardness and impenitent heart in other words man's heart is unbelieving but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasure is unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God what Paul does in Romans 2 is he describes man's heart as impenitent and treasuring up wrath think through this with me for a moment if you would we live during the dispensation of grace one of the great things about the dispensation of grace is that there is Gentile access to God if you look in time past Israel was God's chosen people Gentiles are described in Ephesians 2 as without hope there was a separation between Israel and Gentiles we live during the dispensation of grace where what's happened is Israel has fallen and there is no difference between Jew and Greek in terms of availability of the gospel Gentiles today can be saved just as Jews in the exact same manner we live during the dispensation of grace because what God has done is God has delayed the judgment that was going to be poured out on the earth in Acts chapter 2 Peter said this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel and he was speaking of the wrath and judgment of the 70th week so we live during this time of grace where mankind can get saved by the gospel of Christ freely and immediately it's that simple but what happens if you do not get saved during the dispensation of grace what happens is this the longer that you live every single day what ends up happening is you sin more and you sin more because you have an impenitent heart what you end up doing then is you treasure up so what I would suggest to you based upon Romans 1:21 based upon Romans 2/5 based upon Jeremiah 17:9 and so on is that man's heart at least with regard to the lost man is not any better it's not any different during the dispensation of grace than it was in time past so the answer to question number one is this is Jeremiah 17:9 trans dispensational the answer to that is yes let's take up question number two question number two is the issue in the dispensation of grace the mind and flesh and not the heart in other words is our issue today that our hearts are actually fine they're good they're pure they're clean but the problem is the flesh and the mind and what I would the way I would answer that question is this the issue for a believer during the dispensation of grace is their heart / mind now why do I say that I say that for this reason in the scriptures the terms heart and mind are interchangeable get with me Jeremiah 31 Jeremiah 31 Jeremiah 31 verse 33 but this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people the part that I want you to notice from Jeremiah 31 is this Jeremiah 31 verse 33 specifically says that God will put I will put my law in their inward parts then write it in their hearts so there's two phrases in that verse that we want to focus on I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts so compare that with Hebrews chapter 8 Hebrews chapter 8 Hebrews and we'll look at chapter 8 and in Hebrews eight we're gonna look at verse 10 Hebrews 8:10 for this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts what Hebrews 8:10 is very similar it's not identical but it's very similar to Jeremiah 133 Jeremiah 133 said I will put my law in their inward parts Hebrews 8:10 changes law to laws and it changes inward parts to mind so this is proper I'm not suggesting this is in there the Holy Spirit can quote itself and the Holy Spirit knows what it said the first time so it knows how to say something that has the same meaning the second time as you look at scripture one of the things you'll notice is the New Testament quotes the Old Testament all the time and it almost never quotes it verbatim it often quotes it with a rewording that doesn't mean there's an error what it means is the Holy Spirit knows what he wrote the first time and he knows what he meant and he knows how to express the same thought using different wording it's not an error it's just an alternative way of expressing the same truth in Hebrews 8:10 it says and write them in their hearts and that's exactly what jeremiah 31:33 did so what we notice in Hebrews 8:10 is Hebrews 8:10 refers to jeremiah 31:33 it changes the wording ever so slightly what it does is it changes law to laws and it changes in word parts to mind it quotes writes them in their hearts identically okay so what's the big deal well notice with me Hebrews 10 16 so just two chapters later we're going to see another quotation of Jeremiah 31 but it's going to be different Hebrews chapter 10 verse 16 this is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days very clear it's quoting Jeremiah 31 after those days saith the Lord now notice this I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them now if you notice what God did in Hebrews 10 16 is he swapped hearts and minds I'm gonna just call this out specifically jeremiah 31:33 says I will put my law in their inward parts Hebrews 8:10 says I will put my laws into their mind but Hebrews 10 says I will put my laws into their hearts well which is it did God put them into their hearts or did he put them into their minds what's the answer look also at the second part of that verse jeremiah 31:33 says write it in their hearts hebrews 8:10 says write it in their hearts but Hebrews 10 16 says in their minds will I write them in other words here's what's going on Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8 use hearts and minds in one particular way but when you get to Hebrews 10 it swaps them where Hebrews 8 says heart Hebrews 10 says mind where's Hebrews 10 says minds Hebrews 8 says hearts well you say well how can that be well look with me at Hebrews 10 15 because there's another thing that you need to be aware of Hebrews 10:15 where of the Holy Ghost is also where the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us for after that he had said before in other words Hebrews 10:15 the verse right before 10 16 says that Hebrews 10 16 is a quotation of the Old Testament it's a quotation of the old test but it swaps hearts and minds so here's the answer and it's really actually quite simple whenever you are looking at two verses in the Bible that seemed to say different things the question is not which verse is true because both verses have to be true scripture does not contain errors the Holy Spirit does not make mistakes so it's not which verse is true both verses are true but for both verses to be true then they have to be saying equivalent things what that tells you is that scripture uses the terms heart and mine interchangeably they have the same meaning now some may may be troubled at that they may say well wait a minute it's a different word it has to have a different meaning that's that's not the way that language works there are things in language called synonyms where there are different words that have the same meaning and by the way if you if you read the translators to the reader at at the preface of the King James Bible it was written by the translators in 1611 it specifically sells says that they did not tie themselves to uniformity of phrasing that in other words in one place they would use one word and in another place they would use a different word and they didn't feel the need to repeat the same word every time get with me if you would James chapter 4 so while you're getting James for I'll just sum up Hebrews 8 and Hebrews 10 in this way if you take the position that the Bible doesn't have errors which of course I think that's the position you should take then what Hebrews 8 and Hebrews 10 require is that hearts and minds be interchangeable terms I think you'll see the same thing in James chapter 4 James chapter 4 verse 8 draw a nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you cleanse your hands ye sinners notice and purify your hearts you double-minded when it says purify your hearts the thing that's obviously impure is the heart but it doesn't say purify your hearts ye of unclean hearts it says purify your hearts ye double minded seeing that verse the term heart and mind are being used interchangeably you should search this out for yourself you can decide for yourself what you think I would tell you that the words hearts and mind seem to be used interchangeably in the scriptures and it seems to me that the verses require that understanding get with me Hebrews chapter 8 or I'm sorry I'm sorry Romans chapter 8 get romans chapter 8 now once we see that hearts and minds mean the same thing I think it's easy to understand what is the basic challenge in the believers life wouldn't it be great if what had happened is the moment you got saved all your sin problems disappeared wouldn't it be great if the moment you got saved all the things you struggle with they just went away but we know that's not the case in fact if you read Romans 7 Paul talks about that which I hate that do I Paul struggled with the flesh as well the answer as to what we need to do is found in Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 verse 5 for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the Spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace what Romans 8 is saying is simply this if your carnally minded if your mind is carnal it's going to produce death but if you are spiritually minded it's going to produce life in peace so the basic issue of life is your thought life it's what you think about in your mind and in your heart look with me at proverbs 23 proverbs 23 proverbs chapter 23 and we're going to look at verse 7 proverbs 23 verse 7 for as he thinketh in his heart so is he let me give you an example let me sort of explain it this way do people sometimes think differently on the inside from what they are on the outside at times do people have a nice polished righteous exterior and they seem Pleasant and well behaved but yet inwardly they think otherwise you know that that's true you know that you interact with people where they put on a front but what's really in their heart is different from that and what proverbs 23:7 says is that the real you is what you think in your heart now by the way isn't that another proof that heart and mind are the same notice what it says proverbs 23:7 for as he thinketh in his heart we normally think about thinking in our minds right but that says you think we're in your heart because your heart in Scripture is the same thing as your mind think of it this way no man robbed a bank without thinking about it first you know obviously what he had to do is he had to think about which bank am I going to rob he had to think about what time am I gonna rob this bank he had to think about who's gonna drive the getaway car in and my point is simply this I'm taking a simple example but before a man puts a criminal plan in motion he thinks about it he premeditates he plans even in crimes of opportunity even in something where he decides on the spot to commit a crime what happens before his hand reaches out and punches someone in the nose what happens his mind told his fist to punch the person in the nose evil thinking proceeds evil action that's just the nature of it your body does what it is instructed to do so the key to our life is what we need to do is we need to get a hold of our thought life get with me if you would second Corinthians chapter 10 2nd Corinthians and let's look at chapter 10 this passage is is probably the most helpful passage in Paul on the subject 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds verse 5 casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God notice and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ now that's that's the answer but that's hard to do isn't it what that says we have to do is we have to bring into captivity what every thought to the obedience of Christ so what we need to do is we need to be vigilant in our thought lives at times what we do is we let our minds wander we let our minds dwell on evil things and instead what we need to do is we need to take those thoughts captive and bring them into obedience to Christ look with me at Romans chapter 2 I'm sorry Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12 verse 2 and be not conformed to this world that's an instruction written to believers you realize most believers are conformed to this world that in other words they look they act they behave they think just like the world does because they're conformed to this world and be not conformed to this world but be transformed that's what we need how do we do that by the renewing of our mind by the renewing of your mind in other words a real change takes place from the inside out not the outside in let me give you this example what a lot of fundamentalist religion does is this when you join a church and you get involved they'll give you a list of standards and rules we don't do this we don't do that this is how we dress this is how we talk these are the places we go these are the places we don't and here's our list of rules for righteousness Jesus Christ described that pharisaical approach as whited Sepulcher in other words you can polish the outside you can have people dressed the exact way you want them to dress you can teach them to talk the way you want them to talk but that doesn't change the inner man the inner man is what the inner man is and the only way that you can truly make a change that is not superficial that is not cause medic is that you have to be transformed by the renewing of your mind real spiritual change is from the inside out and it's based upon taking captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ so now let's deal with question three so in question two the and I maybe I'll just reread question two question two was is the issue in the dispensation of grace the mind and the flesh and not the heart I don't think that's quite the way to phrase it because heart and mind are the same the issue during the Spence ation of grace is the inner man our thought life it's that we have to be renew transformed by the renewing of our mind so let's then deal with the third question and this is one that will perhaps have some controversy but we we move forward question three does the heart remain deceitful above all things after salvation when a believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and Christ lives within him in other words what the question is asking is this I can understand that the lost man's heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked but is that true after salvation because at Salvation the believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit and it's salvation Christ lives within him so is it really true even for the believer that the believers heart is deceitful above all things in desperately wicked and I'm gonna suggest to you I think so so why do I say that get romans chapter 8 romans chapter 8 verse 9 romans chapter 8 verse 9 but ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his does the Holy Spirit dwell within you it does Romans 8 specifically says that if you're a believer the Holy Spirit dwells within you Galatians 2 verse 20 Galatians 2 verse 20 I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not i but Christ liveth in me so a couple things happen when you get saved the Holy Spirit indwells you Galatians 2:20 described Christ as living within you so maybe our inner man is okay maybe he's all good but think with me for a minute if you would feed ins for verse 30 Ephesians 4 verse 30 and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God where aiyee are sealed unto the day of redemption the Holy Spirit does in dwell you but can we grieve him by our behavior clearly we can so let me give you this test if I could write down the ten worst thoughts you had during the last week whatever they are and then what will happen is the next time we have a public meeting or maybe you could want to share these on Facebook you can share with us the ten worst thoughts that you had and we'll take volunteers and whoever wants to can go first now of course I'm not encouraging people to really do that I don't think you should do that because I don't really want to hear about your sin life and you don't want to hear about mine and it's just not a profitable thing to do but ponder what's going on there for a minute the source of those 10 worst thoughts that you have was that the Holy Ghost that indwelt you well let's not put the blame on him was it Christ living within you no it's not his fault either whose fault is that well that fault is is your fault and and that fault is is because I would suggest to you your heart is just as bad as it was before now you may think well that's not my heart that's not my mind that's that's that's my flesh that that's not my heart or mind well we're gonna look at some verses together on that and I'll say this be careful about deceiving yourself into thinking your heart is okay and doesn't have any problems that itself might be a form of deception and so as we look at these verses let me tell you what I think they're going to show and then we'll look at them together and you can decide for yourself it is possible today for the believers heart to be 100% pure so it is possible for that but it is something that requires tremendous effort it does not happen automatically at Salvation sometimes I get the sense that people's think well at Salvation my heart was made pure and I'm going to show you that based upon verses in Paul that is not true a believer can have a pure heart but it's only through tremendous effort it's only through taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ but the reality is that the vast majority of believers do not have a pure heart so what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you multiple verses in Paul in those verses I'm gonna suggest this you can decide will demonstrate the believers do not automatically have a pure heart so get with me Ephesians 6 in Colossians 3 Ephesians 6 and Colossians chapter 3 Ephesians 6 in Colossians 3 notice Ephesians 6 verse 5 servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ so let's make sure we understand what that verse is saying to us servants be obedient is a command in other words it's an instruction to servants that they should be obedient you are only commanded things that you need to do you are not commanded things that you already are so for example is there a command in scripture that says be eternally secure there's no command like that and the reason there's no command like that is there's nothing for you to do the moment you believe the gospel you became eternally secure scripture never says be eternally secure because it would be nonsensical you already are there's nothing you need to do and you couldn't change it if you wanted to but when Ephesians six 5 says be obedient it's because you have options you may choose to be obedient you may choose not to be obedient because you have options you're told which one you're to do you're to be obedient so now look at the verse again servants be obedient and I'm gonna skip a few words here in singleness of your heart well if you're commanded to have singleness in your heart then apparently it's something you don't automatically have compare that with colossians 3:22 colossians 3:22 servants obey in all things your masters according to the flesh not with eyeservice as man pleasers but in singleness of heart fearing god see what Ephesians 6 in Colossians 3 do is they command you to have singleness of heart because you don't already and because you have free will in the matter just to state the obvious are there Christians today that are not good servants of their masters are there saved people today that are not obedient to their bosses where they have a bad attitude where they are resentful where they disobey where they do things that they're not supposed to do you know that's the case and then they do that why because they don't have singleness of heart they still have a heart problem if they didn't have a heart problem those verses wouldn't say what they say let's look at another example first Timothy chapter 1 first Timothy chapter 1 first Timothy 1 verse 5 now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned so if you read that verse at first glance you can say aha look we have pure hearts it specifically says that right charity out of a pure heart well what does it actually say the end of the commandment in other words the goal the objective of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart that verse doesn't say that everyone already has a pure heart you know how I know that read verse six first Timothy one verse six from which some having swerved Oh apparently there's some believers that didn't fully perform the end of that commandment you know what swerving is swerving is you're headed in a direction and you take violent action to turn somewhere else are there times where saved people swerve away from what God told them to do you know that that that they do and so they don't have a pure heart so what happens in first Timothy 1 even though it's talking about a pure heart it says the end of the commandment the goal is a pure heart dunce everyone already has it and in fact it tells you in the very next verse that some people have done what they've swerved away from it just to state the obvious have you as a saved person ever intentionally done something that you knew you shouldn't do even as a saved person you know you have and I have as well and the reason why is we swerved away from what God commanded us to do we knew what we should have done and we knew it was wrong but we decided you know what I'm gonna do it anyway and the reason we did that is our hearts are not automatically a hundred percent pure Romans eight twenty seven Romans chapter eight verse 27 and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God according to that verse I believe that's a reference to Jesus Christ he searches the hearts well listen if your heart was a hundred percent pure there wouldn't be anything to search would there it'd be a boring pointless exercise but he searches the hearts why because our hearts are not 100 percent pure look with me at first Corinthians four first Corinthians four you're gonna see the same thing 1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5 no I think it's interesting that 1st Corinthians 4 is right after 1st corinthians 3 when you read 1st corinthians 3 it talks about the judgment seat of Christ notice what 1st Corinthians 4 verse 5 says 1st Corinthians 4 verse 5 therefore judge nothing before the time well that's a reference to the judgement seat of Christ isn't it you're not going to go to the great white throne judgment as a believer think about this with me there'll be a great white throne judgment for the lost that will demonstrate their guilt and they will be cast into hell the great white throne judgment is not for you but what will happen is if you're a believer you'll be caught up you'll get a new body and you will go through the judgment seat of Christ at that time the judgment seat of Christ doesn't determine whether you go to heaven or hell because if you're a believer you're 100% going to go to heaven the judgment seat of Christ determines people's rewards 1st Corinthians 3:13 says the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is our works are going to be evaluated well now look at 1st Corinthians 4 verse 5 therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come clearly a reference to the judgment seat of Christ notice what it says who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness oh I don't think I like that and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God here's the reality the judgment seat of Christ will make manifest the counsels of the hearts if the counsels of the hearts were 100% pure then that would be a pointless exercise you there would be nothing to make manifest you know everyone would have pure thoughts and intentions and prieur councils of their arts but the whole point of that verse just read it again who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness do you think those things are good the hidden things of darkness are not good the counsels of the hearts is a reference to the fact that sometimes the counsels of our hearts are not pure and you know that do save people sometimes do things for wrong motives do they do things out of bitterness and envy and strife and vainglory you know that people do that even save people do that and that's why our hearts are not 100 percent pure that that's proof of that and at the judgment seat of Christ what's going to happen is the counsels of our hearts are going to be manifested it's actually a terrifying verse because here's what happens what we can do today in society is I don't tell you all the terrible things that are in my heart and therefore you don't think worse of me and you don't tell me all the terrible things that are in your heart and therefore I don't think worse of you and so what happens is we like each other and we get along and we have you know warm happy thoughts about one another because we don't realize what a bunch of scoundrels we're all around that's the reality of life I mean if you know that don't you so is your heart 100% pure as a believer I don't think so the verses again and again are saying the opposite of that Ephesians chapter 3 Ephesians chapter 3 Ephesians chapter 3 and look with me at verse 16 that he would grant you so this is something God grants according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man verse 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith Paul writing to believers says Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith well wait a minute aren't our hearts already 100% pure what is this stuff about Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith apparently it's a maybe yes or maybe no issue that's what the verse says first Thessalonians 3:13 first Thessalonians 3:13 first Thessalonians chapter 3:13 to the end he may doesn't that tell you this is a goal this is aspirational this is a hope it's not something that's already happened to the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints well that's a reference to the catching up that's the Lord Jesus Christ coming with all his Saints and it says to the end he may doesn't say he already has doesn't say he 100% will he may establish your hearts unblameable the whole point of that is it would be great it's God's desire it's his preference that at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ every believers heart be unblameable but the very way the verse is written it tells you that it's an uncertain thing and that some believers are not going to have unblameable hearts why because their hearts are just as ordinary as they ever was second Thessalonians 3 verse 5 2nd Thessalonians 3 verse 5 notice what Paul says here he says this for the Thessalonians and the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God well if God has to direct your hearts into the love of God then they're apparently not already 170 or they need help they need to be directed into the love of God so we looked at verse after verse in Paul pertaining to the believers heart where God is commenting on the fact that their hearts are not already 100% pure there's action they need to take there is uncertainty as to what will happen at the judgment seat of Christ because of the condition of their hearts so let me tie this all thing together with this conclusion and perhaps this message is maybe it's a downer for some of you because maybe you're learning some things about your heart that you're not happy to hear and let me just put it this way the first step in solving any problem is to tell the truth about what the problem is if you don't tell the truth about what the problem is you're not going to be able to solve it that's just how life works our hearts were desperately wicked and deceitful before we got saved our sin nature has not changed our hearts and minds are the same thing and our hearts are just as ordinary as they were before but what is now the case is we have the opportunity to do better we're not guaranteed that we will do better we were not magically given a new heart at the moment of salvation but what we have is this we have a choice we choose whether we are carnally minded or spiritually minded we can either take captive every thought to the obedience of Christ or we can let our minds dwell on the things that our sinful Minds want to dwell upon and so what I would suggest to you is it's really simple the issue in life is this take control of your thought life take captive every thought to the obedience of Christ that's the answer let's close in a word of Prayer father God we thank you for what you have given us in salvation we thank you it's not dependent upon our obedience because we don't always obey we thank you that our salvation is guaranteed by what your son did for us on the cross we thank you that the Holy Spirit has sealed us under the day of redemption we thank you that it is impossible for us to lose our salvation but we pray Lord that you would help us to do better that we would do a better job of being spiritually minded that we would do a better job of taking captive every thought to the obedience of Christ it's in his holy name that we pray amen

Channel: Columbus Bible Church

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Length: 48min 23sec (2903 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 29 2020