Thinking in the Heart

Thinking in the Heart

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...." (Pr 23:7)

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable 
works, there is none that doeth good." (Ps 14:1)

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God looks on the heart of man, on the reality. Man only looks on the outward appearance and can only
evaluate the actions, not the man. But God sees the thoughts of the heart that define the man.

God is far more interested in the thoughts of the heart than He is in this or that detail of a man's life. David
was a man after God's own heart, which means that he had the Spirit of God moving and directing his
thoughts to faith, hope, and love. David was also a child of Adam and had sinful tendencies as we all do.
These sinful tendencies caused him to stumble and even commit terrible sins, but his sins did not define him.

No one in the Old Testament rose to greater heights of spiritual knowledge than did David: "The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want...." "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin...." and many other
like expressions.

In Christ's day, He encountered men who were the spiritual opposite of David. They put on a great show,
but were rotten in the heart. They were like whitewashed sepulchers that seemed outwardly attractive,but
were filled with dead men's bones, for their thoughts were corrupted with hatred and lies. Jesus knew that if
they did not repent they would face the damnation of hell, for their sins would not be put away.

There is only One Church and Eternal Covenant!

"And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Hebrews 11:39,40

Chapter eleven of Hebrews lists the prominent saints of the Old Testament. It begins by defining faith as the "substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Then, starting with Abel, who offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, and ending with the martyrs of the Old Testament, the chapter includes brief bios of the heroes of faith in the Old Testament. People like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jephthah, Rahab, Samuel, Gideon and others are mentioned by name, but other very great saints like Job, Ruth, Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah and Daniel are not mentioned except indirectly.

But all of these gain a "good report" through faith: They were accepted of God on account of their faith and were perfected, obtained eternal life and enjoy eternal bliss in the presence of God forever, for He is not God of the dead but of the living, as Jesus said [Matt. 22:32]. There has never been any other way to please God than by faith, for "without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

But none of these glorious saints, now in heaven, received the promise. What is the "promise" that they did not receive, that better thing that "we" have that these Old Testament saints did not have? Many of them had the joy of salvation [Ps. 51:8-12], the promise of the world to come, great earthly blessings [Abraham and Job, for instance], and all of them had trials and testings. They suffered the reproach of Christ and drank of living water and living bread [1Cor 10]. They even had the blessings of the Holy Spirit in a measure [Is. 63:10,11; Neh. 9:10].

The difference is Jesus Christ. They did not have the full knowledge of the Lord Jesus, but only saw Him "afar off" by faith as Abraham did [John 8:56]. Their lack of knowledge and hearing and seeing the ministry of the Lord Jesus did not mean they were not perfected, for it is by faith in Christ that we find the perfection and all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. They had the gospel preached to them [Gal. 3:8, ], but it only profited those who believed [Heb. 4:2; Rom. 9:31,32]. Isaiah prophesied that the Spirit of God would be on Messiah to preach the gospel [Is. 61:1,2 with Luke 4:18]; Daniel also knew that Messiah would make an end of sins, reconcile for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, and fulfill the prophecies [Daniel 9:24]. In fact, the first promise of the Bible concerning the Lord Jesus is in Genesis 3:15, when God told Eve that her seed would bruise the head of the serpent [mortally wound his power and authority over man because of sin and guilt [Heb. 2:14,15], and would himself be bruised in his heel by the serpent [Christ's kingdom, suffered a small set back, but triumphed over the devil by Christ's resurrection].

Moses saw only the hinder parts of God and could only reveal the backside of the Gospel, if you will. [Exodus 33:20-23]. Jesus, as the S0n of God, could see God face to face [2Cor 4:6] and we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This was withheld from the saints in the Old Testament, reserved until the coming of Christ and His manifestation to the world. But this did not prevent the believer in the Old Testament from having genuine faith and obtaining the perfection of faith that is found in Christ alone. Their faith was not inferior to ours, but their knowledge was.

The Church stands by faith, and falls by unbelief, just as Israel [Romans 11L20-18-23]. In fact, the church has a greater responsibility because she has been given greater knowledge. "If the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.... [Heb. 2:2,3]" To whom much is given, much is required. those in Israel, because of her blessings, will receive greater judgment than Sodom, or Tyre, or Sidon who did not have such mighty works done of God.

Even more so, those of the Church who reject faith and repentance can expect greater wrath than Israel: "26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace [Heb. 10:26-29]?"

But those who do believe are one people in the Lord, perfected in Jesus Christ. It was God's plan, though hidden in mystery before the coming of the Lord Jesus to join those who believe in Christ, both Jew and Gentile to the perfected ones of the Old Testament, a holy people unto the Lord forever. Hence, the cross broke down the middle wall of partition between us, making us one in Christ. [Eph. 1:12ff] Those without hope, strangers from the promises, and "far off" from the covenants, are made nigh by the blood of Jesus, becoming one people and one family of God. [Eph. 1:19]. There is one redeemed people in the book of Revelation, redeemed from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, by the "everlasting gospel." [Rev. 5:9]

It was revealed by the preaching of the Gospel in the book of Acts and in the Epistles, that what had been only known very dimly in the Old Testament was now being made clear: "Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.... [Ephesians 3:5,6].

There is, therefore, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ [Eph 4:4-7]. Christ is all, in the Old Testament and in the New. In Christ we have "put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all [Col. 3:10, 11]."

Amen and Amen. [Note: Scripture references are not designed to be "proof texts" but are pointers to passages and epistles that must be studied in their own context and the context of all of Scripture.]

The Chaff to the Wheat

"The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" --Jeremiah 23:28,29
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The prevailing dream of the ancient pagan cultures was that the world developed by itself out of original chaos. Even the gods shared in this evolution. The highest order was created by man, in connection with the gods, organizing themselves into the state. In Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome the supreme rulers were semi-divinized charismatic figures. Great monuments were built to them after their deaths and they were counted among the gods.

By the power of the state, all evils would be solved eventually, and the curse upon the nations that God spoke to those at Babel would b enullified. [Genesis 11]. In fact, the book of Genesis is myth, there is no curse, just original, impersonal chaos. The evils of famine, disease, war, revolution, death, etc., have nothing to do with God The only real enemies of mankind are those who resist the power of the state to cure everything. Thus those who resist, for instance, stem cell research because of a higher principle of the image of God are the enemies of the collective scientific research that will cure the world of birth defects, crippling accidents, etc. Nothing can be permitted to resist the power of the savior state. Those who do so are traitors and sacreligious.

This empty and vain dream received a critical blow at the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His ascension into heaven. His kingdom is not of this world, nor does His kingdom have a single ruler upon the earth or in any nation. The churches are ruled by Christ Himself through by his word taught by Spirit-filled ministers, elders, and deacons. These officers are equal to each other and lordship is forbidden to them by the Lord Jesus, whose rule by His Word and Spirit cannot be successful challenged. The energy that rules the church is not of the world and certainly not immanent in the forces of the world which the dreamers think run the evolutionary processes.

Sadly, for many years the true government of the church was subverted by pagan ideas of evolution and was only recovered in the revival known as the Protestant Reformation. Luther's proclamation of justification by faith freed the church from the bondage of the idea that the Holy Spirit could be equated with power immanent in the universe and restored the biblical doctrine of the transcendence of God over the affairs of men.

The same thing had happened to Israel. Under the influence of Babylonian and pagan philosophies and idolatry Israel had tried to find the power of God immanent in the world. Jeremiah spoke against this idolatry that always leads to the growth of state power and the destruction of the liberty of the church and the people of God. Jeremiah cried in the word of the Lord: "Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD." Jer. 23:23-24

Without the doctrine of God's transcendence, there can be no true doctrine of God's immanence that does not reduce His immanence to pantheism and materialism, and the resultant growth of totalitarianism in both state and church--in fact, the nanny state and the nanny church will aid and abet each other in the paternalism that downgrades humanity and exalts the elite that subjects that people. But because there is no peace to the wicked, the elite will continue to war with each other, breaking into innumerable factions to contend with each other as to who is privileged to wield the power of God.

Because the fundamental belief is that order came out of original chaos, which had no beginning in any order, and certainly not in the order of the Word of the Creator described in Genesis 1 and John 1, chaos lies at the center of any theory of government.

Continual change and disruption are necessary for the better order to arise, according to this thought. Because the original force of the world is chaos, chaos must reign. The old must always be replaced. The true designers of the future are those who run through the streets crying "Burn, baby, burn," until the messiantic figure arises who will bring the new order which will grind the faces of the people of God until the drill repeats itself again.

But this is the lot of those who reject the Word of the Lord and deny that Jesus Christ rules by His word and Spirit from heaven. Almost any tyranny will be accepted rather than the rule that He has established.

But His rule is the only reality. This reality was to be affirmed over and over by the people of God, according to the words of Jeremiah.

"The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" --Jeremiah 23:28,29

Jesus and His apostles put the same message another way:

Lu 21:33 "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away."

2Thess 1:7-10 "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day."

Preach the word, is the instruction to the true prophets of God. This is the wave of the future, the only reality that is. All else are dreams and fantasies, worse than those which come from an opium pipe, because the dope-head knows where his dreams come from. The modern dreamer does not know where his dreams originate, nor does he care.

The combined power of the hordes, thousands upon thousands, of those who preached the vain dreams of idolatry cannot stand before the simplicity and power of the word of God, if preached only by one or two. The chaff cannot stand before the fire. The rock cannot withstand the blows of the hammer.

"One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God." Joshua 23: 9, 10.

You must believe Moses.

Jesus said it plainly, "For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?" John 5:46, 47

God created the reality, the "isness" of the world, so that there would be something into which His appointed Redeemer would come. You don't get to watch the play if you don't go to the theater.

Creation and history are the stage upon which the drama of redemption in Jesus Christ is performed. But this is where man's problem emerges.

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." He refuses to acknowledge or submit to the God who created the world and all that is in it. He imagines the world as something very different than it is: a world that just "is," that has no purpose, no end, and no Owner. Because of this man dreams that he can impose his own reality on the world, and mold it into an instrument for his wickedness and wicked desires. Paul puts it this way,

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." --Ephesians 4:17-19

Sinful man is blind to the reality of the world. He denies that man as a part of Creation exists and moves by the decree of God like all the rest, so sinful man tries to turn the world into an instrument of sinful desires, doing his business with all uncleanness with greediness. He comes short of the glory of God by refusing to live and use God's world for God's glory.

This is the reason for the Ten Commandments, the Law of God. They define man's sinful rebellion, and show that the world is under the rule of God.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods. If we do not start with the God of Moses, we are blind to reality and living in a dream world.
2. Thou shalt not make any graven image. Only a person who is religiously perverted would bow down or offer worship to a god he created himself. Strange!
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in Vain. If the world exists by the word of God and for the glory of God, He will certainly hold us accountable for everything we say.
4. Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy. If all things and people belong to God and live and move in Him, then man can find his peace only in God. All other searches for peace are futile and illusionary.
5. Honor thy Father and Thy Mother. God is the creator of all reality and used my mother and my father to create my reality. A person who does not honor and love his mother and father cannot love himself, his family, or the God who created him. This is the reason that under the law, cursing or striking mother or father was a crime punished by death.
6. Thou Shalt Not Kill. Man is the image of god, and the unlawful violence against man is blasphemy against God.
7. Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery. Adultery, Fornication, Fornication, and other sexual sins cheapens the life that has been given us by God. Human life and its generation is not a plaything or a toy to satisfy the wicked lusts of men.
8. Thou Shalt Not Steal. Every man has a fiduciary responsibility for everything that he possesses, even his own life and body. All is to be used for the glory of God. Theft usurps that responsibility, for anyone who steals deprives his victim of the right and privilege to use God's gifts for the glory of God.
9. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness. Our words and the testimony of our lives are to be in tune with reality, not some dream. Liars of all sorts attempt to impose some strange imagination on reality and do great harm. God hates liars, for every lie is an assault upon Him and His creation.
10. Thou shalt not covet. We are to be at peace with God's creation and His providence for us. This is the only true Sabbath of rest for man, and can be achieved only through Christ: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," are the words of Christ.