THE HEART
by J. C. Ryle
The heart is the main thing in true religion. I make no excuse for asking the special attention of my readers, while I try to say a few things about the heart.
The head is not the principal thing. You may know the whole truth as it is in Jesus, and consent that it is good. You may be clear, correct, and sound in your religious opinions. But all this time you may be walking in the broad way which leads to destruction. It is your heart which is the main point. "Is your heart right in the sight of God?"
Your outward life may be moral, decent, respectable, in the eyes of people. Your minister, and friends, and neighbors, may see nothing very wrong in your general conduct. But all this time you may be hanging on the brink of everlasting ruin. It is your heart which is the main thing. Is that heart right in the sight of God?
Wishes and desires are not enough to make a Christian. You may have many good feelings about your soul. You may, like Balaam, long to "die the death of the righteous." (Num. 23:10.) You may sometimes tremble at the thought of judgment to come, or be melted to tears by the tidings of Christ's love. But all this time you may be slowly drifting downward into hell. It is your heart which is the main thing. Is that heart right in the sight of God?
I. In the first place, I will show the immense IMPORTANCE of the heart in religion.
How shall I prove this point? From whence shall I fetch my arguments? I must turn to the Word of God. In questions of this kind it matters nothing what the world thinks right or wrong. There is only one sure test of truth. What says the Scripture? What is written in the Bible? What is the mind of the Holy Spirit? If we cannot submit our judgments to this infallible umpire, it is useless to pretend that we have any religion at all.
For one thing, the Bible teaches that the heart is that part of us on which the state of our soul depends. "Out of it are the issues of life." (Prov. 4:23.) The reason, the understanding, the conscience, the affections, are all second in importance to the heart. The heart is the man. It is the seat of all spiritual life, and health, and strength, and growth. It is the hinge and turning-point in the condition of man's soul. If the heart is alive to God and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is dead and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God. The heart is the man! Tell me not merely what a man says and professes, and where a man goes on Sunday, and what money he puts in the collecting plate. Tell me rather what his heart is, and I will tell you what he is. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." (Prov. 23:7.)
For another thing, the Bible teaches that the heart is that part of us at which God especially looks. "Man looks at the outward appearance—but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Sam. 16:7.) "Every way of man is right in his own eyes—but the Lord ponders the heart." (Proverbs 21:2.) Man is naturally content with the outward part of religion, with outward morality, outward correctness, outward regular attendance on means of grace. But the eyes of the Lord look much further. He regards our motives. He "weighs the spirits." (Prov. 16:2.) He says Himself, "I the Lord am the searcher of the heart, the tester of the thoughts." (Jer. 17:10.)
For another thing, the Bible teaches that the heart is the first and foremost thing which God asks man to give him. "My son," He says, "give Me your heart." (Prov., 23:26.) We may give God a bowed head and a serious face, our bodily presence in His house, and a loud amen. But until we give God our hearts, we give Him nothing of any value. The sacrifices of the Jews in Isaiah's time were many and costly. They drew near to God with their mouth, and honored Him with their lips. But they were all wholly useless, because the heart of the worshipers was far from God. (Matt. 15:8.) The zeal of Jehu against idolatry was very great, and his services in pulling down idols brought him many temporal rewards. But there was one great blot on his character which spoiled all. He did not walk in the law of God "with all his heart." (2 Kings 10:31.) The heart is what the husband desires to have in his wife, the parent in his child, and the master in his servant. And the heart is what God desires to have in professing Christians.
What is the heart in man's body? It is the principal and most important organ in the whole frame. A man may live many years in spite of fevers, wounds, and loss of limbs. But a man cannot live if you injure his heart. Just so it is with the heart in religion. It is the fountain of life to the soul.
What is the root to the tree? It is the source of all life, and growth, and fruitfulness. You may cut off the branches, and wound the trunk, and the tree may yet survive. But if you hurt the root, the tree will die. Just so it is with the heart in religion. It is the root of life to the soul.
What is the mainspring to the watch? It is the cause of all its movements, and the secret of all its usefulness. The case may be costly and beautiful. The face and figures may be skillfully made. But if there is anything wrong with the mainspring the works will not go. Just so it is with the heart in religion. It is the mainspring of life to the soul.
What is the furnace to the steam engine? It is the cause of all its motion and power. The machinery may be properly made. Every screw, and valve, and joint, and crank, and rod may be in its right place. But if the furnace is cold and the water is not turned into steam, the engine will do nothing. Just so is it with the heart in religion. Unless the heart is lighted with fire from on high, the soul will not move.
Would you know the reason why such multitudes around you take no interest in true religion? They have no real concern about God, or Christ, or the Bible, or heaven, or hell, or judgment, or eternity. They care for nothing but what they shall eat, or what they shall drink, or what they shall put on, or what money they can get, or what pleasure they can have. It is their heart which is in fault! They have not the least appetite for the things of God. They are destitute of any taste or inclination for spiritual things. They need a new mainspring. They need a new heart. "Therefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he has no heart unto it." (Prov. 17:16.)
Would you know the reason why so many hear the Gospel year after year, and yet remain unmoved by it? Their minds seem like Bunyan's "slough of despond." Cartloads of good instruction are poured into them without producing any good effect. Their reason is convinced. Their head assents to the truth. Their conscience is sometimes pricked. Their feelings are sometimes roused. Why then do they stick fast? Why do they tarry? It is their hearts which are in fault! Some secret idol chains them down to the earth, and keeps them tied hand and foot, so that they cannot move. They need a new heart. Their picture is drawn faithfully by Ezekiel, "They sit before you as my people, and they hear your words—but they will not do them—for with their mouth they show much love—but their heart goes after their covetousness." (Ezek. 33:31.)
Would you know the reason why thousands of so-called Christians will be lost at last, and perish miserably in hell? They will not be able to say that God did not offer salvation to them. They will not be able to plead that Christ did not send them invitations. Oh no! They will be obliged to confess that "all things were ready" for them, except their own hearts. Their own hearts will prove to have been the cause of their ruin! The life-boat was alongside the wreck—but they would not enter it. Christ "would" have gathered them—but they "would not" be gathered. (Matt. 23:37.) Christ would have saved them—but they would not be saved. "They loved darkness more than light." Their hearts were in fault. "They would not come to Christ, that they might have life." (John 3:19; 5:40.)
I leave this branch of my subject. I trust I have said enough to show you the immense importance of the heart in religion. Surely I have good reason for pressing the subject of this paper on your notice. Is your heart right? Is it right in the sight of God?
Would you know the reason why such multitudes around you take no interest in true religion? They have no real concern about God, or Christ, or the Bible, or heaven, or hell, or judgment, or eternity. They care for nothing but what they shall eat, or what they shall drink, or what they shall put on, or what money they can get, or what pleasure they can have. It is their heart which is in fault! They have not the least appetite for the things of God. They are destitute of any taste or inclination for spiritual things. They need a new mainspring. They need a new heart. "Therefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he has no heart unto it." (Prov. 17:16.)
Would you know the reason why so many hear the Gospel year after year, and yet remain unmoved by it? Their minds seem like Bunyan's "slough of despond." Cartloads of good instruction are poured into them without producing any good effect. Their reason is convinced. Their head assents to the truth. Their conscience is sometimes pricked. Their feelings are sometimes roused. Why then do they stick fast? Why do they tarry? It is their hearts which are in fault! Some secret idol chains them down to the earth, and keeps them tied hand and foot, so that they cannot move. They need a new heart. Their picture is drawn faithfully by Ezekiel, "They sit before you as my people, and they hear your words—but they will not do them—for with their mouth they show much love—but their heart goes after their covetousness." (Ezek. 33:31.)
Would you know the reason why thousands of so-called Christians will be lost at last, and perish miserably in hell? They will not be able to say that God did not offer salvation to them. They will not be able to plead that Christ did not send them invitations. Oh no! They will be obliged to confess that "all things were ready" for them, except their own hearts. Their own hearts will prove to have been the cause of their ruin! The life-boat was alongside the wreck—but they would not enter it. Christ "would" have gathered them—but they "would not" be gathered. (Matt. 23:37.) Christ would have saved them—but they would not be saved. "They loved darkness more than light." Their hearts were in fault. "They would not come to Christ, that they might have life." (John 3:19; 5:40.)
I leave this branch of my subject. I trust I have said enough to show you the immense importance of the heart in religion. Surely I have good reason for pressing the subject of this paper on your notice. Is your heart right? Is it right in the sight of God?
II. I will now show you, in the second place, the heart that is WRONG in the sight of God.
There are only two sorts of hearts, a right one and a wrong one. What is a wrong heart like?
The wrong heart is the natural heart with which we are all born. There are no hearts which are right by nature. There are no such things as naturally "good hearts," whatever some ignorant people may please to say about "having a good heart at the bottom." Ever since Adam and Eve fell, and sin entered into the world, men and women are born with an inclination to evil. Every natural heart is wrong. If your heart has never been changed by the Holy Spirit since you were born, know this day, that your heart is wrong.
What does the Scripture say about the natural heart? It says many things which are deeply solemn, and painfully true. It says that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." (Jer. 17:9.) It says that "every imagination of the thoughts of the heart is only evil continually." (Gen. 6:5.) It says that "the heart of the sons of men is full of evil." (Eccles. 9:3.) It says that "From within, out of the heart of man," as out of a fountain, "proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within." (Mark 7:21.) Truly this is a humbling picture! The seeds of these things are in the heart of everyone born into the world. Surely I may well tell you that the natural heart is wrong.
But is there no one common mark of the wrong heart, which is to be seen in all whom God has not changed? Yes! there is; and to that common mark of the wrong heart I now request your attention. There is a most striking and instructive figure of speech, which the Holy Spirit has thought fit to use, in describing the natural heart. He calls it a "stony heart." (Ezek. 11:19.) I know no emblem in the Bible so full of instruction, and so apt and fitting as this one. A truer word was never written than that which calls the natural heart a heart of stone. Mark well what I am going to say; and may the Lord give you understanding!
(a) A stone is HARD. All people know that. It is unyielding, unbending, unimpressible. It may be broken—but it will never bend. The proverb is world-wide, "as hard as a stone." Look at the granite rocks which line the coast of Cornwall. For four thousand years the waves of the Atlantic Ocean have dashed against them in vain. There they stand in their old hardness, unbroken and unmoved. It is just the same with the natural heart. Afflictions, mercies, losses, crosses, sermons, counsels, books, tracts, speaking, writing—all, all are unable to soften it. Until the day that God comes down to change it, it remains unmoved. Well may the natural heart be called a heart of stone!
(b) A stone is COLD. There is a chilly, icy feeling about it, which you know the moment you touch it. It is utterly unlike the feeling of flesh, or wood, or even earth. The proverb is in everyone's mouth, "As cold as a stone." The old marble statues in many a cathedral church have heard the substance of thousands of sermons. Yet they never show any feeling. Not a muscle of their marble faces ever shrinks or moves. It is just the same with the natural heart. It is utterly destitute of spiritual feeling. It cares less for the story of Christ's death on the cross, than it does for the last new novel, or the last debate in Parliament, or the account of a railway accident, or a shipwreck, or an execution. Until God sends fire from heaven to warm it, the natural heart of man has no feeling about religion. Well may it be called a heart of stone!
(c) A stone is BARREN. You will reap no harvest off rocks of any description. You will never fill your barns with grain from the top of Snowdon or Ben Nevis. You will never reap wheat on granite, or slate, or on flint. You may get good crops on Norfolk sands, or Cambridgeshire fens, or Suffolk clay, by patience, labor, money, and good farming. But you will never get a crop worth a farthing off a stone. It is just the same with the natural heart. It is utterly barren of penitence, or faith, or love, or fear, or holiness, or humility. Until God breaks it up, and puts a new principle in it, it bears no fruit to God's praise. Well may the natural heart be called a heart of stone!
(d) A stone is DEAD. It neither sees, nor hears, nor moves, nor grows. Show it the glories of heaven, and it would not be pleased. Tell it of the fires of hell, and it would not be alarmed. Bid it flee from a roaring lion, or an earthquake, and it would not stir. The Bass Rock and Mount Blanc are just what they were 4000 years ago. They have seen kingdoms rise and fall, and they remain utterly unchanged. They are neither higher, nor broader, nor larger than they were when Noah left the ark. It is just the same with the natural heart. It has not a spark of spiritual life about it. Until God plants the Holy Spirit in it, it is dead and motionless about real religion. Well may the natural heart be called a heart of stone!
The wrong heart is now set before you. Look at it. Think about it. Examine yourself by the light of the picture I have drawn. Perhaps your heart has never yet been changed. Perhaps your heart is still just as it was when you were born. If so, remember this day what I tell you. Your heart is wrong in the sight of God!
Would you know the reason why it is so difficult to do good in the world? Would you know why so few believe the Gospel, and live like true Christians? The reason is, the hardness of man's natural heart. He neither sees nor knows what is for his good. The wonder, to my mind, is not so much that few are converted, as the miraculous fact that any are converted at all. I am not greatly surprised when I see or hear of unbelief. I remember the natural heart is wrong.
Would you know the reason why the state of people is so desperately helpless, if they die in their sins? Would you know why ministers feel so fearful about everyone who is cut off unprepared to meet God? The reason is, the hardness of man's natural heart. What would a man do in heaven, if he got there, with his heart unchanged? By which of the saints would he sit down? What pleasure could he take in God's presence and company? Oh no! it is vain to conceal it. There can be no real hope about a man's condition, if he dies with his heart wrong.
I leave this point here. Once more I press the whole subject of my paper upon your conscience. Surely you must allow it is a very serious one. Is your heart right? Is it right in the sight of God?
III. I will now show you, in the last place, the right heart. It is a heart of which the Bible contains many pictures. I am going to try to place some of those pictures before you. On a question like this, I want you to observe what God says, rather than what is said by man. Come, now, and see the marks and signs of a right heart.
(a) The right heart is a "NEW heart." (Ezek. 36:26.) It is not the heart with which a man is born—but another heart put in him by the Holy Spirit. It is a heart which has new tastes, new joys, new sorrows, new desires, new hopes, new fears, new likes, new dislikes. It has new views about the soul, and sin, and God, and Christ, and salvation, and the Bible, and prayer, and heaven, and hell, and the world, and holiness. It is like a farm with a new and good tenant. "Old things are passed away. Behold all things are become new." (2 Cor. 5:17.)
(b) The right heart is a "BROKEN and CONTRITE heart." (Psalm 51:17.) It is broken off from pride, self-conceit, and self-righteousness. Its former high thoughts of self are cracked, shattered, and shivered to atoms. It thinks itself guilty, unworthy, and corrupt. Its former stubbornness, heaviness, and insensibility have thawed, disappeared, and passed away. It no longer thinks lightly of offending God. It is tender, sensitive, and jealously fearful of running into sin. (2 Kings 22:19.) It is humble, lowly, and self-abased, and sees in itself no good thing.
(c) A right heart is a heart which BELIEVES on Christ alone for salvation, and in which Christ dwells by faith. (Rom. 10:10; Eph. 3:17.) It rests all its hopes of pardon and eternal life on Christ's atonement, Christ's mediation, and Christ's intercession. It is sprinkled in Christ's blood from an evil conscience. (Heb. 10:22.) It turns to Christ as the compass-needle turns to the north. It looks to Christ for daily peace, mercy, and grace—as the sun-flower looks to the sun. It feeds on Christ for its daily sustenance, as Israel fed on the manna in the wilderness. It sees in Christ a special fitness to supply all its needs and requirements. It leans on Him, hangs on Him, builds on Him, cleaves to Him, as its physician, guardian, husband, and friend.
(d) A right heart is a PURIFIED heart. (Acts 15:9; Matt. 5:8) It loves holiness, and hates sin. It strives daily to cleanse itself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. (2 Cor. 7:1.) It abhors that which is evil, and cleaves to that which is good. It delights in the law of God, and has that law engraved on it, that it may not forget it. (Psalm 119:11.) It longs to keep the law more perfectly, and takes pleasure in those who love the law. It loves God and man. Its affections are set on things above. It never feels so light and happy as when it is most holy; and it looks forward to heaven with joy, as the place where perfect holiness will at length be attained.
(e) A right heart is a PRAYING heart. It has within it "the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father." (Rom. 8:15.) Its daily feeling is, "Your face, Lord, will I seek." (Psalm 27:8.) It is drawn by an habitual inclination to speak to God about spiritual things—weakly, feebly, and imperfectly perhaps—but speak it must. It finds it necessary to pour out itself before God, as before a friend, and to spread before Him all its needs and desires. It tells Him all its secrets. It keeps back nothing from Him. You might as well try to persuade a man to live without breathing, as to persuade the possessor of a right heart to live without praying.
(f) A right heart is a heart that feels within a CONFLICT. (Gal. 5:17.) It finds within itself two opposing principles contending for the mastery—the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. It knows by experience what Paul means when he says, "I see a law in my members warring against the law of my mind." (Rom. 7:23.) The wrong heart knows nothing of this strife. The strong man armed keeps the wrong heart as his palace, and his goods are at peace. (Luke 11:21.) But when the rightful King takes possession of the heart, a struggle begins which never ends until death. The right heart may be known by its warfare, quite as much as by its peace.
(g) Last—but not least, the right heart is HONEST, and SINGLE, and TRUE. (Luke 8:15;1 Chron. 12:33; Heb. 10:22.) There is nothing about it of falsehood, hypocrisy, or image-acting. It is not double or divided. It really is what it professes to be, feels what it professes to feel, and believes what it professes to believe. Its faith may be feeble. Its obedience may be very imperfect. But one thing will always distinguish the right heart. Its religion will be real, genuine, thorough, and sincere.
A heart such as that which I have now described, has always been the possession of all true Christians of every name, and nation, and people and tongue. They have differed from one another on many subjects—but they have all been of a "right heart." They have some of them fallen, for a season, like David and Peter—but their hearts have never entirely departed from the Lord. They have often proved themselves to be men and women laden with infirmities—but their hearts have been right in the sight of God. They have understood one another on earth. They have found that their experience was everywhere one and the same. They will understand each other even better in the world to come. All that have had "right hearts" upon earth, will find that they have one heart when they enter heaven. (To read the full article CLICK HERE)
"Give me your heart." Proverbs 23:26
"Your heart is not right in the sight of God." Acts 8:21
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A BAD HEART
Albert N. Martin
In the Scriptures God plainly declares that the hearts of all men are bad. Jeremiah 17:9 states, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is desperately wicked." In another place we read that "the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart" (Ecclesiastes 9:3). Furthermore, Jesus plainly taught that the source of evil is rooted in the hearts of men. He said, "For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness: all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man" (Mark 7:21-23). Sin is not created by the environment. Sin comes from out of the bad heart of man! This is the other aspect of your greatest problem, an incorrigible, sin-loving, God-hating heart, which is at enmity with God and is not subject to the law of God and cannot be (Romans 8:7).
You probably do not consider yourself to be as bad as the Bible says you are because your heart is deceitful. It is masterful not only at deceiving others but at deceiving you. With complete disregard of God’s description of your terrible condition, your heart will deceive you into thinking that you are not really that bad. It will tell you that deep down you are "OK", not perfect, but "OK." But do you not see that this very response is evidence of a wicked heart? Your conscience should affirm the very truths revealed by God; but instead it denies, distorts, and covers them over with lies. Furthermore, is it not true that the things that God forbids you to do are the very things that you love and do? And are not the things that God commands you to do the very things that you hate and will not do?
This indeed is a problem, for how can you live in Heaven with a bad heart? Heaven would be like Hell for you, for there you will not find anything that will feed your sinful cravings. Worshiping God and living for him is heaven’s lifestyle. Would this not bore you (even frustrate and infuriate you) if you remain with a heart set against God and his will? Furthermore, God will never allow you to enter his kingdom as a rebel sinner. God brings into his kingdom forgiven sinners with purified hearts, but never rebel sinners with corrupt hearts.
Now what makes this part of your problem so great is that you cannot change your heart. God’s Word says, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, that are accustomed to do evil"(Jeremiah 13:23). The obvious answer to this rhetorical question is "No." A man or an animal cannot change his coloring; it is part of his nature. Similarly, men with bad hearts cannot do good because it is contrary to their nature. Yes, it is true that you may be able to change some of your external conduct, but you cannot change the disposition of your heart. A man may be able to keep from having gender outside of marriage, but in his heart he still will lust. A man may resolve to go to church and tithe, but in his heart he still will be far from God. A woman may restrain her lips from speaking slander and lies, yet she will not be able to keep from hating in her heart.
This is the second aspect of your greatest problem, you not only have a bad record in Heaven which you cannot change, but you also have a bad heart on earth which you cannot change. Unless you face this bad news, you will never understand the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is good news only to those who have come to realize that they are utterly helpless in their wretched condition as sinners.
A Cleared Record and A Changed Heart
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news about what God in sovereign grace has done through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to clear the bad records and to change the bad hearts of a multitude of sinners.
Consider what Jesus said at the last supper with his disciples just before he was about to die. He said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you" (Luke 22:20). Jesus summed up the purpose of his mission in these three words, "the new covenant." All that the Lord Jesus did in emptying himself of his glory and coming to earth as a true man, all that he did in his sinless life, all that he was about to do by his death as a sin-bearing substitute for his people and by his glorious resurrection, led to and culminated in his establishing the new covenant. But what did God promise in the new covenant?
The Scripture records the substance of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34. "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, and upon their mind also will I write them; and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
The new covenant primarily consists in the conferral of two blessings:
(1) God promises that he will remember the sins and iniquities of his people no more. In other words, God says he will blot out their bad records forever; he will not hold their sins against them anymore. In the court of Heaven his people are cleared of their guilt.
(2) God promises to put his laws upon his people’s hearts and to write his laws upon their minds. In the new covenant God changes the hearts of his people in such a way that his laws, once rejected and hated, are laid upon the hearts of his people so that they desire and delight to obey them. What God delights in, they now delight in. What grieves God, now brings them grief also. Furthermore, God’s law is not only written on their hearts in such a way that they desire to keep it, but God enables them by his power to keep it more and more during this earthly life, and perfectly upon their entrance into Heaven.
Thus, in the new covenant God as the Judge and Justifier of his people blots out their bad record. As Physician of the soul he changes and cures their sin-sick hearts. This is the good news: by God’s grace full provision has been made for the clearing of the records and the changing of the hearts of any and all who come unto God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the only solution to your greatest problem.
Solving the Problem
Now, what does all this mean for you? Note first that it does not mean that you should resolve to change your life so that your record will not get worse. No! That is not the gospel message. Even if you could straighten out your life and never get another blot on your record in Heaven, like a mountain towering over you, your bad record would still cast its ominous shadow over you because of your past years of sin. Not adding more sin to the mountain of sin which you have already piled up would not keep you from sinking into Hell. "Straighten up and live right" is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Moreover, the gospel message is not, "Decide you are going to live for Jesus and begin to follow him." With a bad heart you will never want to or be able to. That is the problem. Your bad heart is set on pleasing yourself and not Jesus. You cannot follow Jesus like you are. You must be converted. You must be changed within. You must have a new heart!
Furthermore, the message of the gospel is not, "Just believe some facts about Jesus (that Jesus died on the cross for sinners, etc.) and then say a prayer and believe that all is well." No! That is not the summons of the gospel either.
The gospel message is, "Come to Jesus." He is the mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 12:2-4). It is in coming to him that the blessings of the new covenant are received. Call upon Christ to save you. Acknowledge that you have rebelled against him, that you have broken God’s law countless times, and that you are as bad as the Scripture says you are, a hell-deserving sinner. Cast yourself upon Jesus Christ and his mercy. Plead the benefits of the new covenant promised to all that call upon him in truth. Ask him to clear your record and change your heart.
Christ said, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). If you are laboring under the load of your bad record and laden with the hopelessness of your bad heart, go to Christ to solve your problem and give you rest. Christ alone can apply the benefits of the new covenant. He is its mediator. The gospel message is not, "Come to an altar." It is not, "Come to an inquiry room." It is not, "Come to a minister." These are physical acts. The gospel message is, "Come to Christ alone through faith." This is a spiritual act. Call upon Christ to forgive your sins and grant you a new heart.
It is important to remember that when God saves a sinner, God confers both of the primary blessings of the new covenant. Beware of thinking that your record has been blotted out, if you do not delight in God’s law and endeavor to keep it. This cannot be! God never confers one blessing without the other. He never blots out a sinner’s bad record without also changing the sinner’s heart. It is a soul-damning heresy to believe that you are saved from a bad record and are going to Heaven, while you continue to live with an unchanged heart and in disobedience to and disregard for God’s will in your life. If God has not given you a hatred for sin (all sin, not just some sins) and a determination to forsake all your sin, you are deceived and still have a bad heart. Call upon the Lord to forgive your foolish presumption and to change your heart.
Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, is the only solution to your greatest problem. Has God dealt with this problem in your life? Has God assured you that your sins are blotted out and that your bad record has been cleared by the substitutionary atoning sacrifice of Christ? Does your life demonstrate that God has given you a new heart? If not, seek Christ today. Cry unto Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. Plead for his mercy. No one ever perished for lack of mercy at the feet of Jesus. There is mercy there as broad as your sin, but remember it is only at his feet and nowhere else.
