Your Deceitful Heart

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

This is a verse that reveals man's true condition. Christians, who often quote this verse, have hearts that are just as deceitful and just as wicked as the worst of sinners. Getting them to admit that in a personal application is nigh unto impossible.

The immediate context of this verse starts at verse 5 and ends at verse 13. Look at what it says:

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed be the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like the heat in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. (Jeremiah 17:5-13)

The historical context was the impending collapse of the Northern Kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah and others had prophesied of this imminent event but there were few in those days who believed this man of God. “We have the temple. God won't destroy us because we have the temple.” That's much like those who think God will not destroy the United States of America because we are a “Christian” nation.

I have talked with many people who claim to have been born again and who think they are on the path to heaven who exemplify what this verse is saying. My mind goes back to more than one who told me that even though they knew that it was contrary to God's will for them to divorce they were going to do it anyway and God would still bless them. One young women in particular comes to mind. She sued for divorce, it was granted, and within a year she was far, far from God. The last time I saw her, which was several years later, she was a chronic drunk and was sleeping with anyone who would have her. She had not been to church at all since she turned her back on God. Oh yes, God was blessing her, wasn't he?

Many boast that when persecution comes they will stand strong and firm and not deny their Lord. Years later you see them again and they have compromised their faith and their testimony not to escape persecution but to escape the inconvenience and discomfort of owning their Lord in front of their friends and family.

I know a man since the early 1970's who has been a missionary, a college professor, a seminary instructor, on the Bible translation committees of over 20 translation efforts, is a Greek textual scholar and who is now sitting in jail because he got caught with his hands doing things to little children that are unseemly and unacceptable. Well-meaning mature Christian leaders had talked to him in his youth about his attitudes and behaviors. Then, as in this case, his answer was, “I didn't do anything wrong.”

No one sets out to make a disaster of their life. It happens because of the deceitfulness of our hearts uniting with the deceitfulness of sin. The Apostle Paul gives a New Testament version of Jeremiah 17:9 when he says:

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)

There it is again: “Be not deceived.” The worst deception is self-deception. Many who claim to be saved are not. They are deceived. Too often, they are self-deceived.

I once had the occasion to talk with a woman who was suicidal and committed to a mental hospital under constant guard. She told me that she had unsuccessfully tried to kill herself. In fact, the last time had been just a few days previous. As we talked she said, “The wrath of God is on me.” With that I would agree. Then she told me she was being punished because she had murdered her unborn child by having an abortion. I then tried to point her to Jesus Christ who forgives all that will come to him. “Oh,” she said, “I'm a Christian. I made a decision for Christ when I was twelve years old.”

That woman was deceived. If she was a Christian she was not under the wrath of God. If she was under the wrath of God she was not a Christian. But her deceitful heart had told her that because she had made a decision (a term and idea found nowhere in the Bible) she was saved. Decisions do not save you. She was trusting in a decision, a bruised reed, a false hope: she should have been trusting in Christ, the Solid Rock.

Do not be deceived. This is a biblical exhortation repeated and addressed to Christians. Paul, after telling us to not be deceived, goes on to say:

For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:8)

There are no weasel-words there. If you live like the devil you will find your lot with the devil. If you live like God you will find your lot with God.

Do not be deceived: you, too, have a deceitful heart. Don't let it fool you.

Spiritual Gifts No Assurance of Salvation

He was a man’s man. Head and shoulders he stood above his countrymen. No self-seeking politician or glory-seeking entertainer was he. With his good looks and manly stature he could have, in today’s world, been either one.

This young man was, as one writer put it, “one in a thousand.” By outward appearance he was “the man.”

One day God sent an emissary to him in the person of the prophet Samuel. From this day forward his life would be changed. The farm boy was to be the inaugural king of his nation, the nation of Israel.

It came about that his dad sent the young man and a servant off to look for some missing donkeys. They searched high and low for the donkeys and were gone so long that Saul, for that was his name, began to worry that his father would worry about his welfare. Just before they headed back the servant told Saul that there was a seer in the city where they were. It was not long before Saul stood before Samuel and enquired of the lost donkeys. Samuel invited Saul to be the guest of honor at a feast and then put him up for the night.

The next morning as Saul was leaving the city accompanied by Samuel, Samuel revealed to him that God had anointed him to be king over Israel. This incident is related in 1 Samuel 9 and 10.

On his way home, in accord with Samuel’s prophecy three things happened: the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, God gave him another heart, and he prophesied.

On another occasion (1 Samuel 19) Saul prophesied again after the Spirit came upon him.

On the first occasion, Saul was an unknown. He was not a leader, not famous, and not tried. On the latter occasion he was king, had turned against God and was in pursuit of David.

There is a tendency to characterize gifted people as spiritual. Some may be. All are not. In both cases Saul’s behavior as a prophet was out of character and so amazed those that knew him that they questioned, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (1 Samuel 10:12)

In the New Testament Jesus calls twelve men to be his apostles. “Jesus answered them, ‘Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?’” (John 6:70). That devil apparently was as gifted as the other eleven apostles. Matthew relates in his Gospel (chapter 10, verses 1-8) how Jesus chose them and commissioned, or ordained, them to not only go and preach but to heal, raise the dead, and cast out demons.

Some look to their gifts, talents, and exploits as confirming proof that they are Christians. This is most dangerous. How terrible are those words which our Savior shall speak to some who will cry out to him, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works?” And what was that response from the Master? “I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work iniquity,” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Workers of iniquity? Jesus called these miracle workers, these spiritually gifted individuals workers of iniquity.

The problem here is that all of the outward manifestations of Christianity can be and are duplicated by peoples of other religions. And, as we have seen, it is possible for an unbeliever to have been gifted by God himself.

Saul was gifted, but was no friend of God. Judas Iscariot was gifted, but was no friend of God. They sometimes looked good on the outside, but there was no heart change. How sad.

A fuller treatment of this subject may be found in Charity and Its Fruits by Jonathan Edwards.