A Theology of the Heart

The Word of God is truly amazing! To think that God used sinful men to write His completely inerrant and infallible Word is remarkable. God breathed out His Word through a few people so that all of His people would be blessed with the beautiful, heart transforming, true story of redemption that is the Bible. As Paul says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

            We desperately need the Word of God for every situation and every second of our lives. We are creatures of instinct and habit. This wouldn't be a problem if our instincts and habits were always right and God glorifying; however, if we're honest typically our instincts and habits are prideful, idolatrous, and all out sinful. Ever since the fall of man (Genesis 3) this has been the case. All of mankind are now sinners by nature; meaning that we are sinners at the very core of our being.

            Author Jerry Bridges says, “what the Bible calls the heart...[is] the very core of our being...the center of our intellect, affections, and will.”¹ If the core of our being is the heart, ever since the fall, the hearts of mankind have been truly sinful. Jesus said, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander" (Matthew 15:19).

            The Bible tells us, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it" (Jeremiah 17:9)? Naturally the hearts of man are in a state of rebellion against the God and King of the universe, but in His great mercy, through the gospel, by the power of the Spirit He redeems and restores His people.

            God says in Ezekiel 11:19-20, "And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

            When we heard the gospel and repented and believed we were saved and God transformed our heart. By God's grace we are no longer enslaved to our sin, now by the power of the Holy Spirit we can live to the glory of God.... If you're like me at this point you're probably saying to yourself, "I'm a Christian, and yet my heart is still wicked. More often than not my heart leads me astray." This is because of the already-not yet factor of the Kingdom of God and the Christian life. For example, Jesus is already King of kings and Lord of lords but the world does not yet realize this; but there is coming a day when, "at the name of Jesus every knee [will] bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11). 

            For us in our walk this has massive implications, but perhaps the one that we have to deal with most is what Paul calls the old man or old self. On one hand Paul says, "We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin" (Romans 6:6-7). And on the other he says, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death" (Romans 7:24)? So in one sense Paul has already been delivered from his sins, but in another sense not yet. This is where we as Christians find ourselves. We are already righteous in the eyes of God but not yet righteous here and now. We are already free from sin but that freedom has not yet fully been realized. 

            Because this is our current condition our hearts still cannot be trusted. Even as Christians our hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. So if we can't trust or understand our heart as the Bible says, what do we do? God says, "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds" (Jeremiah 17:10). In every situation we need to allow God to search our hearts and make sure our motives are pure and not sinful. This begs the question then, how do we allow God to search our hearts? The answer: the Bible... "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

            We must allow God's word to discern our hearts and then transform, lead, guide, and direct our hearts. When we do this, this gives us a gospel-centered approach to life. Along with this we need other Christians around us to evaluate our hearts and to help us understand and apply Scripture properly. I praise God that I have a wife and some godly best friends who are ready and willing to speak truth into my life and go after my heart with the gospel as often as I need it (which is constantly).

            It is our sinful instinct to allow pride to take over and get defensive when our motives are questioned, but we must battle this if we are going to fight the good fight and become more like Jesus. Our pride tells us we are the king and no one has any right to question us. But the gospel tells us that Jesus is King and we are wicked and sinful and desperately need our motives questioned and godly council. 

1. Jerry Bridges, The Transforming Power of the Gospel (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2012), Inside Cover.

Without Jesus You Can Do Nothing!

Today I taught a class on the gospel, the implications of the gospel, and how to share the gospel with others. In my talk on the implications of the gospel I talked about our work in sanctification. I explained that no one becomes Christ-like by accident; it takes effort and intentionality. But, in no way did I mean that sanctification (becoming Christ-like—holy) is something we do in our own strength. With that in mind I felt like I should point out a few passages that lay this out.

John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:8-11
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Philippians 2:12b-13
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Hebrews 13:20-21
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 


Christian: without Jesus you can do nothing. Sanctification, like justification is by grace alone. But, God's grace provides us with the will, strength, and ability to kill sin and pursue holiness. And God in His infinite goodness has set all this up in such a way that when we do this we will have true joy. The more we walk in glad submission to the Lord the more joyful we will be.

What About Those Who Have Not Heard?

Today I was confronted with the view that those who haven’t heard the gospel, at least those who are decent people are heaven bound. According to this view the worse thing we could ever do is share the gospel with those who have not already heard. If we tell them about Jesus and they reject Him then all we did is condemn them. This view might sound logical, and I certainly understand the appeal. I mean, isn’t it harsh for God to send people to hell who have never heard the gospel? It certainly seems so from a human stand point. But is this view Biblical?  Allow me to give a brief explanation of why this view isn’t Biblical, and explain why it is of upmost importance that we get the gospel to the unreached.

The belief that people who have never heard the gospel will be saved might be right if people were naturally good. However the Bible teaches and the behavior of man confirms that all men are naturally sinners and deserve eternal hell outside of Christ (see Romans 1-3, 6:23, and Ephesians 2:1-10). Without Christ everyone is heading towards hell, and no one can receive Christ without first hearing the gospel. This is why Paul says, "For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (Jesus) will be saved.” But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent" (Romans 10:13-15)? So the only hope for lost sinners is to repent and believe in the gospel and the only way they can do that is if they hear it.

Again, if man was inherently good I might agree that those who haven't heard could be saved without the gospel, but that simply isn't the case. Though most are not as bad as they could be we all are sinners in some way. And even the smallest sin is an infinite offense that deserves an eternity in hell because God is infinitely holy and good. Though the offense of sin is terrible, the offense is not what earns us eternal hell in and of itself. The truly terrible thing about our sin is Who we are sinning against. It's Who we are offending that makes the punishment just. If I get into a fight with some random guy on the street there will be consequences but they probably won't be that severe. If I get into a fight with a cop I may get shot and I'm definitely going to jail. If I get into a fight with the president I'll probably get killed but if not I'm definitely never getting out of prison. Why? The offense was the same in each case, but who I offended changed. It's the same with God.

Because God is infinitely holy and good He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. He cannot simply overlook sin because someone was unaware of the rules or the gospel. Would a judge be a good judge for overlooking a murder or a rape simply because the person who committed the crime didn't realize what he was doing was wrong or because they were sorry? Or perhaps they had done a lot of really good things that should compensate for the crime they committed. Should the judge turn them loose? Of course not. Justice must be served. And justice was served on the cross. God poured out His wrath upon Jesus for all those who will repent of their sins and believe in Jesus. For all those who don't trust in Jesus justice will be served in an eternal hell.

When someone repents and believes in the gospel God counts them as righteous because Jesus exchanged His righteousness for their sinfulness. "He (God) made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus took the punishment for every sinner who would trust in who He is and what He did and continues to do, by faith. But not only did Jesus take the punishment but He provides righteousness. Only those who have been covered in the righteousness of Christ can be saved; and again this happens by faith, faith in the gospel.

The gospel is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). There is no hope of being saved without it. Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love God and love people. Christians wouldn't be very loving if they sat idly by while billions perished without hearing the gospel, their only hope for salvation. That is why Christians must be committed to getting the gospel to everyone, especially those who have never heard.

"God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). That is good news! But it is only good news to the lost and unreached if they hear about it. I realize how crazy this might sound, but God did things in this way for a reason.

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God... For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:18, 21). Why would He do things this way? "[S]o that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord'" (1 Corinthians 1:29-31).

God is mighty to save! He saves us by grace through faith in Christ to His glory alone (Ephesians 2:8-10).And “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The word of Christ is the good news that Jesus, the Son of God lived a perfect-sinless life, died a wrath absorbing death, and conquered the grave through a death-defying resurrection so that everyone who will repent and believe in this good news will be saved from the wrath to come. But people must hear it before they can repent and believe it; so we must go and tell.

This post is not exhaustive. There is much more that could be and should be said about this, I simply wanted to provide a brief explanation of why the gospel is necessary.  

BE JOYFUL CHRISTIAN

To Glorify God is to Enjoy God

This past Wednesday I preached through Romans 15:8-11:

8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name." 10 And again it is said, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." 11 And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him."

My main point in the message was that God's glory and our joy are one. In verse 9 Paul speaks of the Gentiles glorifying God and then in verse 10 he explains that the Gentiles glorify God by rejoicing or taking joy in God. So C. S. Lewis was right on when he said, "Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy him." So we glorify God for his mercy that He has shown us and is showing us in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ by rejoicing or being joyful in Him and living in glad submission to His Word.

From here our text takes us a step further though. In verse 11 Paul says, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles." When we delight in or take joy in something or someone we can't help but praise the thing or person. Think about it, why do we tell our family that we love them? Is it because we think they forgot? No! It's because it brings us joy to tell them such things. Or why do we tell people about our spouse, or children, or grandchildren, or the latest book we read, or the latest movie we've seen, or the new restaurant we ate at? It's because we delight in talking about and telling others about the people and things we enjoy. C. S. Lewis said it this way, "I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment."

Gospel-Praise

With that in mind, God's command in verse 11 for the Gentiles to praise the Lord makes perfect sense. In verse 8 Paul refers to Christ being a servant, we know that Christ was in fact the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52-53), and Paul tells us that He suffered so that the Gentiles or nations (same word in the Greek) would glorify, enjoy, and praise Him, so that all the peoples would extol (praise and worship) Him.

Christ lived a perfect life, died a wrath absorbing death, and rose from the dead on the third day so that His people would glorify Him by enjoying Him, and He knew this enjoyment would lead to praise, and as His people praise Him to the nations people from every tribe, tongue, and nation will repent and believe and join in on glorifying God by enjoying Him forever. This is what I call gospel-praise. When God's people are amazed at and centered and saturated with His gospel we can't help but tell others (praise Him), because our joy in Him isn't complete until we do.

Free to Live for Glory and Joy

When we truly understand this it frees us up to live lives that are radically committed to the glory of God and the joy of His people. When we understand that our joy is in God who never changes we can truthfully say it is well with our souls no matter what suffering and loss we may endure here and now. We experience joy here and now in Christ but we have even greater joy still to come.

For now we live by faith and not by sight but there will come a day that our faith will be sight and we will see Christ and we will be made like Him. If we can enjoy and glorify God now in our sinful broken bodies, how much more so in sinless glorified bodies? The joy we have in store for us is greater than anything we can imagine. As Christians we are co-heirs with Christ; we will inherit the earth, we will live in paradise for eternity with God, and most importantly we will experience ever increasing eternal joy in God by glorifying God forever. Free from sin, free from pain, free from death. In perfect peace with our Lord and Savior. What an inheritance we have coming to us!

Remember Your Inheritance

If we live in light of all this it will change our outlook on everything. No doubt, we live in a Genesis 3, fallen, sinful world. We will experience pain, loss, and suffering; the Bible guarantees us that suffering is coming for everyone, especially Christians. But in light of our inheritance it is all light and momentary affliction. So in the here and now we are called to rely on God's grace to carry us through these times of suffering because His grace is sufficient, our lives are but a vapor (short in view of eternity), and our inheritance is great.

So whether we are dealing with loneliness, disease, famine, injustice, infertility, persecution, or even death we have cause to be joyful because our present problems do not compare with what is to come. Paul says, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). There are so many hardships and disappointments we will have to endure here but we must remember our inheritance of glory and eternal ever increasing joy.

English pastor John Newton (well known for writing the hymn amazing grace) once gave this illustration on the subject at hand.

"Suppose a man was going to New York to take possession of a large estate, and his [carriage] should break down a mile before he got to the city, which obliged him to walk the rest of the way; what a fool we should think him, if we saw him ringing his hands, and blubbering out all the remaining mile, "My [carriage] is broken! My [carriage] is broken!""

The man in Newton's story had a much greater inheritance than his problem of a broken carriage. He should have been caught up in the amazement of his inheritance, not the frustration of a broken carriage. He should have ran with joy to collect his inheritance instead of walked with grumbling. We too should fight to be caught up in the amazement and joy of our inheritance, not the frustrations of this broken world. This is why C. S. Lewis said, "It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can." Yes we have hurts and sorrows and reasons to grieve, but we have so much more to be joyful about.

So, let's be a people who live lives that are radically committed to God's glory and the joy of His people (that includes you!) so that the glory of God might be proclaimed, worshipped, and enjoyed among every tribe, tongue, and nation. Be joyful Christian!!! For in doing so you will glorify the Triune God of the universe.

The Pathway to Joy

A CALL TO WAR

The Christian life is often referred to as a war. We are constantly battling against the flesh, sin, and Satan. Scripture tells us things like, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:14-15). Commands such as this one can be overwhelming. One can really fill the weight of the call to holiness from Jesus’ words in his Sermon on the Mount. “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). How do we do this? Is this even possible?

To be a Christian is to repent of your sin and to trust fully in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus is the only person to ever live upon this earth and be perfect in every way; completely righteous. But He willingly exchanged His righteousness for our sin on the cross so that those who repent and believe would be saved from their sin and counted as righteous in the eyes of God. So in one sense the Christian is perfect because the perfection of Christ has been imputed to him at the moment of justification; however, in this life the Christian is in an ongoing process called sanctification.

Put simply, sanctification is the process of being made holy or as Paul tells us, “For those whom he (God) foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Jesus)” (Romans 8:29a). So being sanctified is becoming like Jesus. Again, the Christian is already seen as righteous in the eyes of God but that reality is not yet fully realized here. From the moment a person is saved until God calls them home he is becoming more and more like Jesus; or becoming more and more holy. There will come a day when the Christian is made completely holy for “we know that when [Christ] appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2b). For now though, the Christian is called by God’s grace to make war on sin and pursue holiness. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

LIVE TO GLORIFY GOD

“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20). “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). In my judgment, Paul’s command to glorify God is the same thing as the command to be like Jesus. In Romans 3:23 Paul says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That is, everyone except Jesus. Jesus is the only one who has not and will not ever fall short of the glory of God. In Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer He tells the Father, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). So to glorify God in our body or to do everything we do to the glory of God is to be like Jesus.

How do we do this? How do we live to the glory of God? Do we simply make ourselves do this because it is our duty as Christians? Jesus called us to be perfect; does that mean we just modify our behavior out of duty? C. S. Lewis once wrote, "A perfect man would never act from a sense of duty; he’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people) like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it is idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs (our own loves, tastes, habits etc.) can do the journey on their own."1

In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment in the Law? He responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). Notice how Jesus closes His reply; obedience to the commands of Scripture comes from love. Jesus tells us something similar in John’s Gospel when He says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me” (John 14:21a). True obedience flows from love, not from duty. So how do we love God enough to glorify Him?

TO LOVE GOD IS TO GLORIFY GOD

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18a). “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15a). So, as we “behold the glory of the Lord,” namely the glory of God seen in Christ we will be transformed into the same image; meaning we will become more and more holy, or more and more like Jesus. So to glorify God is to be like God and we become like God when we begin to see God for who He truly is and behold His glory.

In order to see God for who He truly is we must grow to know and understand Him more (as much as our finite minds can). We must get to know God better through the truth of Scripture and through the glory of His grace that’s contained in the gospel. As Pastor Ray Ortlund has said, “Stare at the glory of God until you see it.”2 As we behold His glory by seeing how glorious He is in His Word and in His creation, then we will fall more and more in love with Him because we will see that He is perfect in every way, so there is nothing not to love about Him. And as we fall deeper in love with Him we will want to obey the commands of Scripture, not because of a sense of duty but because we love Him.

My wife teaches third grade at the school my children attend. She typically leaves to go to work at 6:30am but I don’t have to leave to go to work until 7:30am. However, every morning I get up at about 5am and make my wife coffee, make my wife and kids lunch for school, and get my kids ready for school. Why do I do this? Is it my duty to do this? Certainly not; however, I love my wife dearly and if me getting up early and helping her and the kids get ready makes her day easier I want to do it. Doing these things brings me joy because I am, even in this small way, making my wife’s day better. So I do these things simply because I love my wife. Similarly, the more we love God, the more we will want to serve Him and follow His commands, and this will in turn bring us great joy.

C. S. Lewis once wrote, “The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever’. But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy him.”3 So as we come to know God more we will come to love God more, and as we know and love God more we will see His glory more and become more and more like Him, and the more like Him we become the more obedient we will become, and the more obedient we become the more we will glorify God, and the more we glorify God the more joyful we will be. This all stems from love. To love God is to glorify God, and to glorify God is to enjoy God. To put it another way, to be like Jesus is to experience true genuine joy.

Conclusion

I began by saying that the Christian life is war. This is certainly true, but this call to make war is a call to experience true joy. No doubt, as Christians we are called to repent of the temporal sinful pleasures of this world but we are given a much greater pleasure in God. As Peter says, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining, the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). God is infinitely glorious, and as we begin to see this glory we will love God more and more. The more we love God the more we will want to glorify God, and the more we glorify God the more we will experience true joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.

In this life we struggle with countless different things. Becoming a Christian certainly doesn’t rid our lives of all these struggles, but in the midst of them we can experience true joy; but we must love God. Our hope as Christians should be to fall more and more in love with Jesus and to encourage others to do the same. I am a father of two children, whom I love very much. I want them to live a fulfilling, joyful life. As a Christian I know that the only way this is possible is for them to live their lives for the glory of God. So my aim and hope is that in everything I say and do I might help them fall in love with God so that they will glorify God and experience true joy.

If you are a parent, this certainly should be your hope for your children, but parent or not, as a Christian you are called to help others love God. As we preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations, we are teaching others about the nature and character of God, about who He is, what He has done, and what He promises to do. And as we do this we are helping others fall in love with the infinitely glorious Triune God of the universe. So dig deep into the riches of Scripture and into the beauty of theology. Stare at the glory of God and fall in love with Him over and over again, and help others do the same; for this in the pathway to true eternal joy.        

1.      C. S.  Lewis, Letters of C. S. Lewis, ed. W. H. Lewis and Walter Hooper (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1966), pp. 277.

2.      Taken from Jared Wilson’s Blog,http://gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com/2011/03/gospel-is-only-means-of-gospel.html?m=1 Accessed on 5/10/13.

3.      C. S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1958), p. 97.