“Therefore, if any man be in Christ — he is a new creature — old things pass away; behold — all things become new.” “Create in me a clean heart, O, God, and renew a right spirit within me.” “A new heart also will I give you — and a new Spirit will I put within you…And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.” “For it is God that worketh in you — both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
[2Co.5:17;Ps.51:10;Ez.36:25-27;Phil.2:13]
These descriptive texts tell of the work of God’s great grace in the personal life and experience of each of His eternally loved and chosen and placed in Christ saved ones — from before the foundation of the world — according to the everlasting gospel of the Everlasting Covenant. [Jer.31:3; 2Ti.2:19; Eph.1:3-4; Rev.14:6; He.13:20-21]
That it is the heart and spirit of the sinner that is totally transformed by being born from above by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God is obvious by virtue of all the scriptural references cited above that specifically mention them. Besides — it is the heart that is Biblically stated to be the most deceitful thing about any fallen sinner. Jer.17:9 plainly syas this about the heart of any fallen sinner: “The heart is deceitful — above all things — and desperately wicked — Who can know it?”
And just who is a fallen sinner? The Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, answers this question from Jn.8:34> “Verily, verily, I say unto you — Whosoever committeth sin is the servant (lit., the bond-slave) of sin.” If we’ve ever sinned, then we’re its slaves.
The only hope of any sinner being made free from sin and all of its consequences is through their receiving the grace of repentance and the grace of faith in accordance with the pure gospel truth of the God’s Word — and the genuine regeneration of the Holy Spirit of Christ! “Of His own will — begat He us with the Word of truth!” [Jas.1:18] The Lord Jesus also rightly said: “…If ye continue in my Word — then are ye my disciples indeed — and ye shall know the truth — and the truth shall make you free.” “If the Son, therefore, make you free — ye shall be free, indeed!” [Jn.8:31-32,36]
A new heart along with the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit is the only remedy for the fallen sinner’s natural innate obstinate obdurateness to spiritual things. And, this can only be provided by our saving Lord! He must seek us out and save us — or else we be lost! If we believe that anything is left up to us in Christ’s eternal purpose and plan for the salvation of our souls — we come dangerously close to what the Word describes of our being “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin”. May God have mercy and deliver us from this! But, that’s just it! This is the wonderful truth about the eternally saving person and work of Christ Jesus the Lord…He, Himself, declared from Lk.19:10 “For the Son of man is come — to seek and to save that which was lost.” Praise His loving and gracious Name — along with His great and mighty power — to save us forevermore!
For Christ’s Glory Only!
-John Carpenter
