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Thoughts of the Heart

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” (Genesis 6:5-6)

These two verses, describing the incurable wickedness of the antediluvian world that finally brought on the global Flood, contain the first two of over a thousand occurrences of the word “heart” in the Bible. Note the contrast: man’s heart was evil; God’s heart was grieved.

Both the Hebrew and Greek languages treated the heart as the center of a person’s being, the seat of all feelings and thoughts, and we do the same in English. The writers knew that the heart is a physical organ that circulates the blood as a basic to physical life. Leviticus 17:11, among other Scriptures, notes that “the life of the flesh is in the blood,” but only rarely was the word used thus in Scripture. Nearly always the word is used symbolically in reference to the deep essence of a person’s being. It is also used occasionally to refer to the innermost part of physical objects (e.g., “the heart of the earth,” Matthew 12:40).

In this first occurrence, it refers to the “thoughts” of the heart. Somehow, before one thinks with his mind, he thinks with his heart, and these deep, unspoken thoughts will determine the way he reasons with his brain. Jesus confirmed this in Mark 7:21: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts.”

How important it is, then, to maintain a heart that is pure. In fact, in sharp contrast to the first occurrence of “heart” in the Old Testament referring to man’s evil thoughts, the first occurrence in the New Testament is in the gracious promise of Christ: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). HMM

A Created People

“This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.” (Psalm 102:18)

Only God can create, and whenever this verb (Hebrew bara) is used in the Bible, the subject of the verb, either explicitly or implicitly, is God! However, certain “progressive creationists” contend that creation does not have to be instantaneous but can be a protracted process—some form of evolution. The verse above is used as a proof text for this position, the idea being that the Jewish “people” are being gradually created (“molded”) into a nation that will eventually bring praise to God.

This type of scriptural distortion illustrates the extremes to which theistic evolutionists and progressive creationists will go to force long evolutionary ages into Scripture. In the context, the psalmist is not speaking of a long process but a future event. He is speaking of a future time to “have mercy upon Zion,” when “the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come” (v. 13). At that future time, “the LORD...shall appear in his glory” (v. 16). Then will come the glorious day “when the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD” (v. 22).

It is only then that “the people shall be created” who “shall praise the LORD.” When a person receives the Lord Jesus Christ by faith as his Creator and Savior, he does indeed become “a new [creation]” (2 Corinthians 5:17), and the miracle of regeneration is always recognized in Scripture as an instantaneous event accomplished by the Creator in the mind and heart of the believer at the time of conversion. As for the Jews who are alive when the Lord returns, “in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David” (Zechariah 13:1). Multitudes will believe and become “new creature in Christ Jesus” at that time. HMM

Saving Faith

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” (James 2:14)

The well-known apparent “conflict” between James and Paul focuses especially on this verse. The apostle Paul says emphatically: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Yet James, also an apostle, insists: “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:20).

But no real conflict exists. In our text there is a definite article before the word “faith.” James’ question is, literally, “Can that faith save him?” This is obviously intended as a rhetorical question with a negative answer. In the context, James teaches that a “profession of faith” is not enough to produce salvation if that faith “have not works.”

Since that kind of faith does not save, then what kind of faith does save? The answer is given by Paul in the very verses quoted above. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that [i.e., that faith which is the inference in the original] not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” In other words, true saving faith is not a man-generated faith of some kind, it is a supernatural gift of God! And that faith does save, because it is part of the new nature implanted by the Holy Spirit when a new believer is born again. Furthermore, this faith does inevitably produce good works, for the verse following says that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Faith must be faith in something, and true saving faith must be centered in the saving gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in His inerrant Word. Such faith will inevitably result in a changed life and good works. That is the faith that saves. HMM

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: Absolute Assurance

“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” (Romans 8:33-34)

This is an amazing proof of God’s limitless love for us. God Himself did not hesitate to deliver His own Son as payment for us. God gave the dearest, the most precious, the most excellent gift He could possibly give—His one and only Son—for you and me!

God will, therefore, “freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32). The Word of God contains much Scripture written on these “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). The omniscient Creator acted in love toward us, and He did so knowing “our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).

Surely you will remember the gentle record that “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God’s love was given unilaterally toward us. We must be drawn to our Lord’s love by the heavenly Father Himself (John 6:44).

Since the entire process is God’s process from beginning to end, “he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). HMM III

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: God Himself Is For Us

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

This stunning statement is founded on the unalterable attributes of the triune God (Romans 8:31-35). God Himself secures our salvation; who then can possibly undo His work?

    “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).
    “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
    “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me” (Psalm 56:11).

God Himself is the giver and the protector of our salvation.

    “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).
    “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28).
    “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

What can possibly undo the work of the omnipotent and omniscient triune Godhead and Creator of all things? It is utter foolishness to yield our eternity to the Savior and then conclude that our feeble efforts could somehow thwart a work of eternity. HMM III

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: God’s Fail-Safe Plan—Glorification

“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 8:30)

God “glorifies” those whom He has justified. The Greek term is doxazo, with the core meaning “to make glorious, adorn with luster, clothe with splendor.” It is the same word the Lord Jesus uses of what the heavenly Father will do for His beloved Son. “It is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God” (John 8:54). It is also the same word the heavenly Father speaks about Himself. Jesus prayed: “Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John 12:28).

Paul addressed the awful sentence that would be executed on those who reject the substitutionary work our Lord accomplished on Calvary. All who reject it are doomed “because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” (Romans 1:21-23).

As for us, we are to share in the glory that our Lord will receive, so that “God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11). When all the redeemed stand before the throne in heaven, we will all sing the Song of Moses: “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy” (Revelation 15:4). HMM III

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: God’s Fail-Safe Plan—Justification

“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 8:30)

This summary phrase has the “list” of what God does when He causes one of the sinful sons or daughters of Adam to “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). We will not ever grasp the fullness of the omnipotent and omniscient Father in heaven who draws us to Him (John 6:44).

We do need reminding from time to time that our justification is based on our calling, which came about because we were “predestinated” to be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). Those heavenly decisions were made since God had foreknowledge of our “members...which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:16).

Yes! I am saved to “the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25). I was “rendered righteous” when the great Creator God, the King, the Lord Jesus Christ, was made “to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” the triune Godhead remains “just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:24, 26). HMM III

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: God’s Fail-Safe Plan—Calling

“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 8:30)

God has “called” those whom He has predestined. The Greek term is kaleo, widely used to convey a specific invitation. Note how the Scriptures use kaleo with the formal identification of the name Jesus: “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins....Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:21, 23).

Just so, Jesus is “called” a Nazarene (Matthew 2:23). The lord in the parable of the vineyard “calls” the laborers (Matthew 20:8), and the king in the parable of the marriage feast “bids” those in the “highways, and as many as you find” to the feast (Matthew 22:9).

This same invitation (a specific and identifiable calling) is issued to believers when we “were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9). It should come as no unusual matter, therefore, that because God foreknew how we would respond to His invitation, He could then “pre-order” the end product of that calling, having “saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:9).

May we never tire of the precious knowledge that God’s “calling” was an invitation that had an eternity behind and ahead of it—merely executed in time and space. HMM III

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: God’s Fail-Safe Plan—Foreknowledge

“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29)

God “foreknew” everyone who would become His children. The Greek term is proginosko and is used only four other times in the New Testament. It means precisely as conveyed: “to know ahead of time.”

Paul used it in Acts 26:5 when he told Agrippa that the Jews “knew [him] from the beginning.” In Romans 11:2, Paul spoke of Israel whom God “foreknew,” and Peter insisted that the Lord Jesus was “foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20).

The common use, however, is illustrated in 2 Peter 3:17, where the twice-born are told: “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.”

The foreknowledge of God is very specific of every living creature. “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father” (Matthew 10:29).

“(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of him that calleth), it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger” (Romans 9:11-12).

Is it not affirming to know that “he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4)? HMM III

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: Confirming God’s Purpose to Us

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

This power-packed promise is sometimes misquoted, failing to complete the qualifiers that secure the good for which all things work together. Frequently overlooked is the context upon which “all things” are based.

    “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22).
    “All things which are written may be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22).
    “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21).
    “Every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:12-13).

The “all things” are promised to those who “love God.” That is defined by obedience to His commandments (1 John 5:3). Further, those who love God are “the called.” That definite article demands all that follows in Romans 8:29-30.

And finally, those who love God and who are “the” called are absolutely and consciously aware that God has “made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself....In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ” (Ephesians 1:9, 11-12). HMM III