Reblogged from Saved by Grace….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many times have you heard someone say, ‘you don’t know their heart?’ If you know Scripture, you do know their heart, ‘for the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?‘ God examines our hearts, He knows every thought before it is even formed.  The Lord Jesus teaches what comes out of the heart in Matthew 15:19, ‘For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.’ This is what defiles, or makes unclean.

Theologian John Gill details our ‘evil thoughts’ – ” Of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, of fellow creatures, and of all sorts of wickedness. The thoughts of sin are evil, are to be hated, forsaken, and for which men are accountable to God. All wicked imaginations, carnal reasonings, lustful desires, and malicious contrivances, are here included; which take their rise from, and are devised, and forged, in the corrupt heart of man.” I also like what Albert Barnes has to say about the matter and want to share his words, ““Evil thoughts” These are the first things – these are the fountains of all others. Thought precedes action. Thought, or purpose, or motive, gives its character to conduct. All evil thoughts are here intended. Though we labor to suppress them, yet they defile us. They leave pollution behind them.” Next on the Lord’s list is murder; once more, Gill enlightens us, “inveterate hatred of men’s persons, malice prepense, schemes to take away life, all angry and wrathful words, and actual effusion of man’s blood.” Matthew Henry’s commentary states “ sins against the sixth commandment; these come from a malice in the heart against our brother’s life, or a contempt of it. Hence he that hates his brother, is said to be a murderer; he is so at God’s bar, 1Jo_3:15. War is in the heart, Psa_55:21; Jam_4:1″.

Moving on to sexual sins – adultery and fornication- again, Henry says “Adulteries and fornications, sins against the seventh commandment; these come from the wanton, unclean, carnal heart; and the lust that reigns there, is conceived there, and brings forth these sins, Jam_1:15. There is adultery in the heart first, and then in the act, Mat_5:28.” If someone who acts upon their lust of homosexual desires, which is birthed from their own lust in their mind, how is that considered by some to be genetic? Sin is a choice we make because we are sinners, not because God made us do anything we choose to do.

Concerning ‘theft’, M. Henry writes “Fourthly, Thefts, sins against the eighth commandment; cheats, wrongs, rapines, and all injurious contracts; the fountain of all these is in the heart, that is it that is exercised in these covetous practices (2Pe_2:14), that is set upon riches, Psa_62:10. Achan coveted, and then took, Jos_7:20, Jos_7:21.” I have seen people at work take 20 minute breaks when we are only allowed 10, is that not stealing time from your employer? Theft comes in a variety of ways, sometimes we are unaware of all its ways.

Lastly, we will look at false witness and slander, this is a huge problem in my workplace. Let’s look at commentary from Matthew Henry, “False witness, against the ninth commandment; this comes from a complication of falsehood and covetousness, or falsehood and covetousness, or falsehood and malice in the heart. If truth, holiness, and love, which God requires in the inward parts, reigned as they ought, there would be no false witness bearing, Psa_64:6 : Jer_9:8. Sixthly, Blasphemies, speaking evil of God, against the third commandment; speaking evil of our neighbour, against the ninth commandment; these come from a contempt and disesteem of both in the heart; thence the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost proceeds (Mat_12:31, Mat_12:32); these are the overflowing of the gall within.”

Albert Barnes goes a little deeper into these sins.. “5. “False witness.” Giving wrong testimony. Concealing the truth, or stating what we know to be false – a violation of the ninth commandment. It proceeds from a desire to injure others, to take away their character or property, or to do them injustice. It proceeds thus from the heart. 6. “Blasphemies.” See the notes at Mat_9:3. Blasphemy proceeds from opposition to God, hatred of his character Rom_8:7, and from a desire that there should be no God. It proceeds from the heart. See Psa_14:1. Mark adds several things to those enumerated by Matthew: (a) “Covetousness.” The unlawful desire of what others possess, this always proceeds from the heart. (b) “Wickedness.” The original here means malice, or a desire of injuring others, Rom_1:29. (c) “Deceit,” i. e., fraud, concealment, cheating in trade. This proceeds from a desire to benefit ourselves by doing injustice to others, and this proceeds from the heart. (d) Lasciviousness. Lust, obscenity, unbridled passion – a strong, evil desire of the heart. (e) “An evil eye.” That is, an eye that is sour, malignant, proud; or an eye of lust and passion. See Mat_5:28; Mat_20:15; 2Pe_2:14, “Having eyes full of adultery, that cannot cease from sin.” (f) “Pride.” An improper estimate of our own importance; thinking that we are of much more consequence than we really are. This is always the work of an evil heart. (g) “Foolishness.” Not a lack of intellect – man is not to blame for that – but a moral folly, consisting in choosing evil ends and the bad means of gaining them; or, in other words, sin and wickedness. All sin is folly. It is foolish for a man to disobey God, and foolish for anyone to go to hell.”

In Luke’s Gospel we find this…

Luke 6:45 “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Once more, we look into Matthew Henry’s commentary, “The heart is the treasure, and the words and actions are the expenses or produce from that treasure, Luk_6:45. This we had, Mat_12:34, Mat_12:35. The reigning love of God and Christ in the heart denominates a man a good man; and it is a good treasure a man may bring forth that which is good. But where the love of the world and the flesh reign there is an evil treasure in the heart, out of which an evil man is continually bringing forth that which is evil; and by what is brought forth you may know what is in the heart, as you may know what is in the vessel, water or wine, by what is drawn out from it, Joh_2:8. Of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; what the mouth ordinarily speaks, speaks with relish and delight, generally agrees with what is innermost and uppermost in the heart: He that speaks of the earth is earthly, Joh_3:31. Not but that a good man may possibly drop a bad word, and a wicked man make use of a good word to serve a bad turn; but, for the most part, the heart is as the words are, vain or serious; it therefore concerns us to get our hearts filled, not only with good, but with abundance of it.”

Unless God has regenerated you, which includes the renewing of the mind {Romans 12:2; Eph. 4:23} you will wrongly ‘assess’ your own heart. Most compare themselves to those who are more wicked than themselves and figure since they do not kill, they aren’t that bad; they do not cheat on their husband or wife literally but they are unaware of what Christ taught in Matthew 5:28, if you even look at another with lustful intent, you are guilty of adultery. How many are in this category, thanks to pornography and the entertainment industry. Only a regenerated heart/mind can discern the teachings in the Bible concerning the wickedness of the ‘heart’. In our time, to tell someone how wicked their heart is simply isn’t done; instead, you hear motivational speeches as well as humorous stories as pastors strive to please men and tickle the ear…their condemnation is not idle and their destruction is not asleep {2 Peter 2:3}.

I close with this from Thomas Watson…

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked! Who really knows how bad it is?” Jeremiah 17:9

The human heart is full of hostility against God.

The human heart is the very nursery of sin. The human heart is the storehouse where all the weapons of unrighteousness lie. The human heart is a lesser Hell.” For from within, out of a person’s heart—come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” Mark 7:21-23

You may also be interested in John MacArthur’s sermon entitled ‘sins of the mind’, which I HIGHLY recommend…found here…

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