02 The State of the Heart

The State of the Heart

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked! Who really knows how bad it is?" Jeremiah 17:9

Reader, the Lord is speaking of your heart. Perhaps you have been thinking that you have a good heart. That though it may not be perfect — yet it is not wicked. You imagine that you have many good thoughts, and that you are better within, than without. This is common thinking. But it is a fearful mistake. The Lord searches your heart. He knows . . .
every principle that prompts it,
every motive that rules it,
every thought that springs up in it,
very word and every action that flows from it!

He says, "I the Lord search the heart!" He is searching your heart at this moment. His eye penetrates beneath every secret fold. He is, he always has been — perfectly acquainted with your heart. He cannot be deceived. He will not speak falsely about it. It is very important that you should know the true state of your heart — especially now while you are afflicted. Let us therefore attend for a few minutes to what God says of your heart.

"The heart is wicked!" God is not talking about the heart of some notorious criminal — but about every heart. Your heart. My heart. The hearts of the rich, of the poor, of the learned, of the illiterate, of the moral, of the immoral. Every heart by nature is wicked. Hear the inspired Psalmist, "Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

"The heart is desperately wicked!" Not merely a little wicked — but desperately wicked. Your heart is desperately wicked. Solemn thought! Awful fact! But it is no exaggeration. It is only sober truth. Hear God’s description of men in old times, "The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth." "Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually." This is the case with your heart. Do you believe it? Do you realize it? Or, are you still imagining that your heart is not so depraved as this? Hear the Savior, "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 7:21-22.

Every one of these things may not have been felt by you; many of them may not have appeared in your conduct — but the reason is, you have not been exposed to those powerful temptations which draw them out! Others have felt these evils working, and many have committed the crimes enumerated. Now our hearts by nature are all alike. They are all wicked, desperately wicked. Therefore the word of God says, "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good — no not one! For there is no difference." This is God’s testimony, do you believe it? God says that your heart is wicked, desperately wicked; this you must admit, or you call God a liar. "He who believes not God, has made him a liar." But you object, "I have heard many say the same as I do, and I know many respectable people who think as I do upon the subject." That is probable. Very few think as God thinks, see as God sees, or speak as God speaks — but let God be true. But the passage says, your heart "deceitful." It has deceived you. It has perhaps deceived others. But it cannot deceive God. Its deceitfulness is unparalleled, for it is "deceitful above all things." Nothing is as deceitful as the human heart. It conceals us from ourselves. We have never seen ourselves in our true colors yet. We have been deceived by our hearts, times without number. You have been deceived by it up to the present moment, and unless you receive God’s testimony upon the subject — you will be deceived to your everlasting destruction!

Many are deceived all their days. They die under a deception. They never discover their deception — until they open their eyes in Hell. This is a fearful fact — but it is a fact. A fact which you should very seriously consider, for Satan will try every means in his power to lull you to sleep, to keep you under a deception, with a view to ruin you forever.

Look very carefully at the state of your heart. Compare what flows from your heart, with God’s holy word — as to your thoughts, purposes, and desires — and you will soon discover that you have been deceived. Follow up the work of self-examination, and you will at length have to say with the Apostle Paul, "In me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing!" Beware of unbelief on this point; go to the Lord and pray, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life."

Very, very few know the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of their own hearts: therefore it is added, "Who really knows how bad it is?" That is, who can know it fully, perfectly. No one can. The depth is unfathomable. The naked sight of your heart would be unbearable. The Lord lets his people see enough of it . . .
to make them despair of all help from themselves,
to loathe themselves, to lay low at his footstool, and
to fly to the Lord Jesus Christ for a complete salvation. The state of your heart has been pointed out from God’s word, his testimony has been set before you; you must now receive — or reject it. You must admit its truth and fly as a poor, lost, ruined sinner, to the Lord Jesus Christ for life and salvation — or go on under the influence of a deception, against which you have been warned, and perish in your own deceivings! "Take heed that you be not deceived," or an eternity of woe, of unavailing regrets awaits you! Many regret in sickness — that they neglected these things in health; and more regret in eternity — that they neglected these things through time. May the Holy Spirit lead you to see, feel, and say —

Astonished and distressed
I turn mine eyes within;
My heart with loads of guilt oppressed
The seat of every sin!

What crowds of evil thoughts,
What vile affections there!
Distrust, presumption, artful guile,
Pride, envy, slavish fear!

Almighty King of saints,
These tyrant lusts subdue;
Expel the darkness from my mind,
And all my powers renew. This done, my cheerful voice
Shall loud hosannas raise;
My soul shall flow with gratitude,
My lips proclaim your praise!