The Doctrine of Sin - The..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So, as I said, brothers and sisters, the scene that we are addressing tonight is found in verse 18, and it says, "...a heart that devises wicked plans."

A heart that devises wicked plans. And as we always do, we're going to be reading together those verses. Brother Bernie, I'm going to ask you, please, if you can read for us verses 16 through 19, and then we will address by the Spirit that verse 18 there. There are six things that the Lord hates and seven that are an abomination to him. Forty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Amen, that is the Word of God. Brothers and sisters, by God's providence and by His decree, of course, and what He has appointed for His church, we have had the opportunity in the last couple of weeks to address the topic of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. as a vital element for a genuine salvation from different angles, from different even points of Scripture. We have addressed the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ or the knowledge of God as a genuine aspect, a necessity, an essential perhaps, of genuine salvation. We have spoken primarily, said that it is the knowledge of God on us, or better, not that we know Him, but that He has known us first, that which gives us the guarantee and gives us the confidence that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, that we have been known by God in His mercy and in His love.

And the knowledge that God has of us, a saving knowledge, is a saving knowledge that did not start when we first believed, but rather the knowledge of God of us, in saving us, is a knowledge that started before, if that word can be used, started, that is before the foundation of the world. Those whom He foreknew, the Bible says, or the Apostle Paul says, that those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son, Jesus Christ, who is the firstborn among many brothers. That verse there in Romans chapter 8 connects two very important things. The knowledge of God, this saving knowledge of God for His church that He has foreknown us before the foundation of the world, and attached to that knowledge of God, of His people, is the predestination to the conformity of the Lord Jesus Christ. those whom he foreknew in eternity past, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, the firstborn among many brothers.

This is this glorious divine connection between his knowledge for or unto the church and his desire that everyone within the context of the genuine church will be made like the Lord Jesus Christ. Conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ is just a way to say sanctified, sanctification, that we will die to self and that Christ Jesus will live in us. And that is what we are addressing here. We are addressing the topic, not so much of sin, but sin positively, we are addressing the topic of sanctification, or in other words, of conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's very important that we see that and we have the heart indeed to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ or to be sanctified, beloved of Christ, brothers and sisters and friends.

That concept of sanctification is like a coin with two sides. That process of conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ is like a coin that has two very important sides. One of the sides of that coin of sanctification or conformity to Christ is the side that tells us that we need to look to Christ. that we need to place our eyes in the person of Jesus Christ, because if we are going to be conformed to Christ, then we need to know who He is, what He has done, everything that He is, so that we will grow in knowledge of Him, not only knowledge in the mind, but in the heart, spiritual knowledge. That is a very important aspect of sanctification, that He is the one that sanctifies us, that He is the one that makes us more like Him, that there's nothing in us that we can do to become like the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is a very important aspect of this coin, if you want, of sanctification. But now there's another aspect of this coin of sanctification, and that is the part in which we have to deal with sin because glory has not arrived. Once we are resurrected in newness of life or better in completeness of glory of newness of life completely, not only spiritually, but new bodies that we are given glory from the Lord, then sin is going to be removed. But until that point of glory arrives, until the consummation, if you want, of conformity to Christ arrives, that we see Him as He is. The faith has come to its consummation, but now it's not by faith, but rather that we see Him as He is.

And joy is unspeakable, not because it's rooted in faith, but because we behold the Lord Jesus Christ who is coming in the clouds. Until that point arrives, we have to deal with sin. And the Spirit of Christ is so good to us that He works in us by convicting us of that sin and by pointing us to that which is unrighteous in us, so that our eyes might not be established in the law or in the sin, but rather turn to Christ. So that always by looking and beholding the Savior, Jesus Christ, we will be conformed to His image. It's very important, beloved of Christ, that we not only behold the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts and sit there, but also that we understand the words of the Lord Jesus Christ when they teach us and instruct us about sin.

We ought to know not only what sin is in a general sense, in a shallow sense, but we ought to know how sin is manifested in the flesh, how sin is to be fought, how sin is to be battled, how we are to kill the flesh that is still in us. And we always do that by pointing our eyes and setting our minds and things that are above and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. that comes the time in which the temptations of the flesh will take us to fall in sin and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ will convict us of that sin and we point to the Lord Jesus Christ. So now, brothers and sisters, for that reason, it's very important that as students of Scripture, we will know what Scripture says about our nature, our fallen nature, not only as redeemed people, but also the sin that remains in us. We should not have a shallow understanding of these matters because sin kills and sin destroys.

And sin is a great obstacle in conformity to Christ. Sin can come and capture us and take us for prolonged periods or long periods of time, removing our eyes from the Savior and just focusing on self and on the law and on things of this world. Sin is powerful and the way that is defeated is by keeping our eyes in the Lord Jesus Christ, but also knowing and having an understanding of what the Lord has said unto us, given us in Scripture, so that we may have the sword of Scripture that discerns everything. And we might be able to be trained, exercised in good and evil, that we may not be just immature, just needing milk, but that we might be prepared to eat solid food, spiritual solid food. And that is what Scripture does for the church.

So that's why it's very important that we understand sin and the different manifestations. And that's primarily our goal. that when we understand these sins, the Lord may give us a deeper understanding, not only in the mind, but when these sins are manifested in our souls, that we may know the danger of the sins and run to Christ, that is the one that purifies us, that we may have discernment, that our senses may not be numb or just hardened, our conscience is seared to the manifestations of evil in us, and that we may be unaware that any of these sins is starting to grow in our hearts, in our minds, in our souls. but rather that we may be sensitive to the Spirit, that we may hear the voice of the Spirit through His Word, that we may always come to the Lord Jesus Christ. So tonight we're going to be addressing one of those scenes and a very important scene, a scene that is going to speak of a heart that devises wicked plans.

And the only thing that I want to do, beloved of Christ, the only two things that I want us to do with this scene that we have there in verse 18, is that initially we define and understand what this scene is. Just simply in a general sense that we understand what this scene is. not only with the words that are given there in the verse, in verse 18, but rather that with the assistance of the Spirit and of Scripture, that we may have a deeper understanding of what those words that are there in verse 18 are and the meaning of those, biblically speaking. So once we understand what the sin is, we can move into understanding how we have to fight the sin. I suppose that that's very important, right?

We want to know what it is and by knowing what it is, it's just not having just in our mind, but understand how we fight this sin as a Canaanite. You know, as Joshua was just going through the land and just utterly destroying the Canaanites. So we are to be having the sword of the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in us, so that we will eliminate the enemies of our hearts, remove that from our hearts, utterly destroy them, so that our eyes are set always in the person of Jesus Christ, going through the Jordan River, going towards the promised land. Now, beloved of Christ, what is this sin? Here we have and we are told that this scene is a scene of the heart, a heart that devises wicked plans.

So we are dealing now with the heart. And in the Bible, the heart speaks of that what you are or who you are. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the heart speaks or means that very core aspect of you, very internal, very unique to you. Who you are is identified in your heart. And that which is the heart in the Old Testament, sometimes in the New Testament will be equivalent to the mind.

Very unique, very internal, if you want, your substance, who you are. It does not happen outside of you. It's not your words, it's not the things that you do, but rather is the substance, your identity, who you are. And that is a very important characteristic of the heart, of your heart, beloved of Christ, that in a sense, in a very clear sense, is secret to the outsider. Your heart, in a sense, is secret to the outsider.

You can see things through the external manifestations of a person and what they may have inside, but your heart, who you are, your thoughts, your mind, your heart, that is, in a sense, secret to the outsider. You see my words, you see the things that I do, you see my countenance, how I move my hands, how I go and the things that I do, and you know something about me, but you don't know the fullness of my heart. You don't know the fullness of my thoughts, just as I do not know the fullness of your heart, as I do not know the fullness and that which is in your heart and in your soul and in your mind. Now, there are two people or two beings that know something of your heart and the other one that knows everything about your heart. Paul says in first Corinthians chapter one, I think it's first Corinthians chapter two better.

It says that the secret thoughts of men are known to the spirit of men, that it is that the secret things of your heart are known to an extent to you. You know more about your heart, know about your mind, know about who you are, of course, more than the others. But you don't know the fullness of it, because God knows every aspect of your heart, every single aspect of your mind. Every thought, every single idea that you've had in your life, every single intention that you've had in your entire life, even the ones that you've forgotten that you had at any point, He knows every one of them. And we're dealing with that level of your being.

We're dealing with the heart. We're dealing with the mind. And it's not only that God sees every single aspect of your heart and of your soul and of your mind. The most important thing is that God cares more about your heart than the things that you do. That God sees more your heart than the things that you do.

Preaching, teaching, going, pushing, moving, saying. All of those things have value, biblical value. But God cares more about the things and the substance and the reality, the nakedness of your heart. You know, when Samuel was going to choose the king for Israel or the king that was going to replace Saul, how he came to Jesse to choose David as the king of Israel that was going to replace Saul and how all of the brothers of David came and then Samuel thought that all of these big men and these strong men, that they were going to be the ones that are going to be or someone from them was going to be appointed to be the king of Israel. The Lord said, I don't see the external things, I see the heart, I see the heart.

And David, the one that seemed to be weak, the one that seemed to be feeble, that is the one that the Lord chose. Beloved of Christ, we are dealing with that aspect, the one that you cannot hide. You know, when you go to bed and you turn the lights off and everything is just the end of the day, and then even though you have your eyes open, everything is dark. And that place where there is absolutely no room, no place to pretend. Your mind is witness of who you are and everything that you have.

There's no room to pretend to be or to say something. It is just who you are in your mind. That secret aspect, very central to you, is what we are addressing tonight. Your heart, your mind. And the verse gives us a quality or an ability better of the heart.

It says a heart that devises. A heart that devises. In this case, it's something simple, but it speaks of an ability of the heart. And that ability is the ability to devise, or the ability to plot, or the ability to plan, or the ability to think for an extended period of time. Not just simply the thought that comes to your mind and then just simply disappears and goes.

But this word devises speaks of the ability of the heart to ponder for elongated periods of time. This word devices speaks of even building something or laboring or working the land, something that requires effort, a structure, a system. Your heart or your mind has the ability to ponder, to think over elongated periods of time. Plans, that's why you have in the ESV the word plan. A plan is not something that comes into your mind and you have it, but rather you have the ability in your heart internally to contemplate over a period of time.

And the scary thing about it is not so much the ability of the heart to devise or to plan or to ponder, but the scary thing about this text is that this pondering or this meditation, if you want, or this thinking over a particular period of time has a legal status, or it can have a legal status. It says here, a heart that devises wicked plans. So the heart has the ability or the mind has the ability to ponder, to think over extended periods of times. And those thoughts can be full or can fall into the category of wickedness. And that is what is an abomination to the Lord.

Think about it. There's no action done. There's no word uttered. There is no person that has been killed. There is nothing that has been stolen.

All of that happens in the heart, in the mind, and it can fall into the category of wicked and in the greater category of the text of an abomination to the Lord. The heart has the ability to engage in planning, devising, thinking, pondering things that are not only wicked, but that are an abomination to the Lord. Everything happens in the mind. Even that person could be doing good things. That person could be doing good things with his mouth, with his hands.

He could be building, doing righteous things. He can be observed by the outsider as a good saint, as a good Christian. Yet the heart of that person has the ability to ponder, to think, to contemplate over periods of time. Wicked plans are an abomination to the Lord. But you may say, wow, that is not the heart of a Christian.

That is not the heart of the person that by grace through faith has been redeemed. That is not the heart of the one who has been joined to Christ. That certainly is the heart of the person that is fallen, the person that is in Adam. That could not be the heart of a believer. Brothers and sisters, if that is what you have just thought, best case scenario, you don't know the Scriptures.

of worst cases scenario, you use that as an excuse to ponder, to devise wicked plans. Because the Bible is very clear that the heart is deceitful. That is wicked above all things. Who can know it, right? Who can understand the heart?

But you say, well, that is in the Old Testament. That is the heart of the unregenerate, and that is the heart of the one that is in the old covenant. That is the one that is outside Jesus Christ, whose heart is deceitful, wicked. Who can understand it? Who can know that heart?

But brothers and sisters, just read Hebrews. Take heed, lest there be in any of you Christians an evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God. The author of Hebrews is speaking to the church, take heed, lest there be in any of you an evil heart and unbelief. Hebrews 3, verse 12, that you may have an evil heart. An evil heart is an evil heart that devises wicked plans and those wicked plans move the person away, to fall away from the living God.

That is the heart issue that we are dealing with. This is the sin that we are dealing with. And also it says here in Hebrews 4, verse 23, that above all things, with much diligence, right? With much diligence, with much effort, you are to keep one thing. What is that thing?

Your heart, that you are to keep with much diligence, with much effort, your heart, because from your heart, Life springs. The things of life, the affairs of life come from your heart because your heart is who you are. Your heart is your life. Your heart is who you are uniquely. Nobody has your heart.

Nobody has your mind. Unique. Exposed completely, not in a portion of the time, but 100% of the time exposed to the one who knows all things. Exposed to the one who decides that which is righteous and that which is unrighteous. Exposed completely, beloved of Christ, to the one that is going to require of us, that is going to ask us for every word that has come out of our mouth.

Because the heart rules everything that we say, we do, we think, and we say. The mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The heart rules the affairs of life, the springs of your life coming from your heart. Now those waters can be moved and can be, I don't know, changed so that they will look fresh and they will look nice and drinkable and life-given, yet rooted in the secret place of the heart.

There can be a fountain of mud or dung or rubbish, This is what we're dealing with above all things. Protect and keep your heart. That is the sin, a sin of the heart, that the heart has the ability to engage in prolonged, extended periods of pondering and thinking and contemplating things in the mind and the heart, things that are wicked. Building empires, becoming rich and successful, reputation, Building this and that, having money or hating another person or disliking another person or plans of resentment and bitterness against someone else. That's why when the Lord comes to expound the law, He says, you've heard, you've heard that it's been said of all, that if you commit adultery, that you're worthy of death.

But I said to you that if any person looks at another person, a man looks at a woman with lust, He has already committed lust. He has already committed adultery within his heart. The seriousness of where actually sin is conceived, that is what James says, right? That when we are lured, we're moved, we're taken by the desires of our heart and sin conceives and sin produces death. Because unrighteousness starts in that secret aspect of you, your heart.

You've heard the Lord Jesus Christ says that if you murder that you're worthy of hell, right? But if you hate a brother within your heart, you have already committed murder in the eyes of the Lord. All of that takes place in the secret, in the silence, in the darkness, in the unique place of your soul that is your heart above all things. Diligence, all diligence, not to build empires, not to have a reputation, not to be rich and to do this or to know or to have a ministry or whatever. Above all things, keep your heart because out of it, life comes.

And what it is more important for the Lord is not the things that we do say, but actually the things and the substance and the reality of our hearts. That is what the sin is. That is the first thing that I wanted to do, right? I wanted just simply to define what the sin is and then just give that a little bit more depth based on some other verses of Scripture. But what I want us to do is not only to understand what that sin is, it's important for us also to know how we're going to fight against that sin.

How we're going to fight against the sin of the heart, those sins that can take place in the heart, a heart that is given to elongated periods of time to meditate and to plan things that are wicked. How are we going to give diligence, all diligence to protect and to keep our hearts? How are we going to do it? Well, beloved of Christ, we ought to know what Scripture says about the heart. And the way that I want to simply present this to you that how we're going to practically fight against the sin is just by doing two things.

The first thing is that I wanted just to see some characteristics of your heart so that you will understand and know your heart from Scripture better. Not only a simple definition of your heart, that your heart is just this core internal aspect of you, who you are, but rather that we give a little bit of depth to that and we know some characteristics of the heart. And once we have done some characteristics of the heart, I just simply want to give you perhaps a couple of things of what we ought to do to prevent that our hearts may fall into that well of darkness in which we plan and give ourselves to wickedness when no one knows, but the Lord does. So for us to know some characteristics, if you want, of the heart, and then some things that will help us fight against that sin. So let me just give you perhaps three characteristics of your heart, three biblical characteristics of your heart.

It will help us to understand our hearts better or better what the heart is with a little bit more depth from the Bible. Three characteristics of your heart. Let's just go with the first one. The heart of a person defines the spiritual condition of that person. The spiritual condition of your soul is defined by your heart.

The spiritual condition of a person is not defined by works, while external works and external deeds are fruits of a condition. The heart is the one that defines the spiritual condition of your soul. The place, that soul, that very internal aspect of you that is known to you, that is fully known to God is that which defines the spiritual condition, your spiritual state. And as you know, there are only two options. There are only two options.

You are either in the person of Jesus Christ or you are not in the person of Jesus Christ. And that's why salvation is many times in a scripture equated to the condition of the heart, right? We've said many things from the pulpit that just as it says in Ezekiel or even in John chapter 3, that having a heart of flesh is to be in the Lord, that we had a heart of stone, that we had a heart of stone that has been converted into a heart of flesh, that the waters of the Lord has been sprinkled, that the waters of purification of Jesus Christ, with his atonement, his vindication, his resurrection has been a sprinkle, we have been immersed in Christ. And the heart of stone that gave us the status of death has been transformed to a heart of flesh. that now has given us eyes to see and to submit to the law of the Lord, because the heart of a stone is unable to submit to the things of the Lord.

Indeed, he cannot. But the heart that has been regenerated, even we see it in our theological words, right? A heart that has been given life is the heart that belongs to Christ and determines the spiritual condition, the heart of a person, beloved. The heart of a person defines the spiritual condition. We can lie to others and we can lie even sometimes to ourselves.

But the heart, that which is very inside of us, is a witness of the Lord to who we really are spiritually. That is the first thing that I wanted you to know as a characteristic of the heart. Very important characteristic. And perhaps this is something that you knew. All of those verses have verses perhaps that we've preached many times.

Now, let me just point you to a couple of things that I suppose and I hope that this will give us a deeper understanding of the heart. Now, the first thing, or the second better thing, not only what I have just said that the heart speaks of the spiritual condition, but let me move on to the second one. In your heart. Your conscience abides. I don't have any better words, but better.

Your conscience is in your heart. Your conscience, your ability to discern between that which is right and that which is evil, is in your heart. Not so much abides, but abides is you can be in a house and then go outside of the house. But rather, your conscience is in your heart. The conscience of every single human being is in their heart.

And perhaps you're thinking about the passage of Scripture that speaks and that connects the conscience of a person to the heart of that person. And if you're thinking about Romans 2, so that is indeed the person of Scripture that speaks to that reality. Go there to Romans chapter 2, please. And you will see the relationship between the conscience and the heart of a person. Romans chapter 2.

The second thing that I'm just trying to say to you, brothers and sisters, is that your heart or in your heart is your conscience or your conscience is in your heart. Romans chapter 2, verse 13. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. The apostle is speaking about salvation. He's going to introduce salvation in chapter three.

So he's speaking about the role of the law in condemning a person. Now it says in verse 14, for when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a lot to themselves, even though they do not have the law. So the apostle says the Jews implicitly there, the Jews, they have the law. and they can do what the law requires because they have received the law from God. But then he says something very important.

When the Gentiles do by nature, not by an oracle of God that has been explicitly given to them, but when the Gentiles who do what the law requires by nature or by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves. So that means that the nature of the Gentiles enables them to do that with the law of God, which the law of God requires. It says in verse 15, they show these are the Gentiles who by nature do what the law requires. The Gentiles, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience, also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts either accuse or excuse them. The apostle says that these men, by nature the Gentiles, they have the work of the law written on their hearts.

And what is the work of the law that is written on their hearts? The work of the law that is written on their heart is the ability to excuse them or accuse them, namely the conscience. Very important here that we're very clear with words, because many people say that people have the law of God written in their hearts. That is not biblical. People have the work of the law written in their hearts.

People do not have the law written in their hearts. They have the work of the law written on their hearts. And the work of the law that is written on their heart is the conscience that works either as an accuser or as an excuser. That the things that they are doing are either against or in alignment with what the law requires. So the Lord God of the world uses the conscience of every single person who by nature have a conscience to hold them accountable for the things that they know, because the work of the law is written on their hearts, namely their conscience, accusing them or excusing them.

And this is one of the conflicts that perhaps sometimes we may have. How is a person totally and radically depraved if they still have a certain knowledge of the things that they are supposed to do, if they have a certain knowledge that even accuse them? And the answer to that is just simply understanding what the Bible says. The Bible does not say that everyone has the law of God written on their hearts. It says that it has the work of the law written in their hearts.

It is just an accusing testimony within them that says, what you've done is against the law. What you've done is according to the law, but not even what they do according to the law is count as righteousness. Because Paul in Philippians chapter three, when he's speaking about his professing as a Jew, he's speaking that he was according to the righteousness of the law, blameless, he says. But it's not the righteousness of the law, the one that saves, but it's the righteousness of God, the apostle continues, that is by faith. Because the work of the law that is in the conscience of people only accuse them.

But the conscience has a greater level, beloved of Christ. The conscience that abides in your heart has a greater level, a greater spiritual level. And that greater spiritual level is when it's not anymore the work of the law written in the heart of a person, but when it becomes indeed the law of God written in the heart of a person. And that is what the author of Hebrews says if you go to Hebrews chapter 10. Because once the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ has been applied and made effective to a soul, to a lost sinner, then that person is not accused or excused by the work of the Lord that is in the heart of that person, a limited conscience, but rather the conscience of that person has been visited, sprinkled by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And now the Lord has, by His will, with His love and with His holy finger, written His law, not in tablets of stone, but in tablets of flesh. So when you go to Hebrews chapter 10, in this glorious chapter that is speaking about the new covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ, established about better promises, taking the argument from chapter 8, we have a glorious passage in chapter 10, in verse 12. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 12. It says that when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us for after saying, pay attention, verse 16, This is the covenant that I will make with them. Brothers and sisters, the covenant that was given to Israel, even through the oracles that were given to Israel, prophesying of a greater, better covenant that is to come, even through the prophets of the Old Testament. Verse 16, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds. Then he adds, glorious words, I will remember their sins and their lawlessness and their lawless deeds no more.

Where there is forgiveness of these sins, there is no longer any offering for sin. Now the conscience of the regenerated soul does not have only the accusing or excusing power of a limited conscience, but rather by the law of God being written upon the heart and the mind of that person, that person has received the righteousness of God, first Peter. And now this person has the ability to obey the law of God, not unto righteousness, but as a result that the righteousness of Christ has been given to that person. The Lord Jesus Christ came to fulfill the requirements of the law. And once that law was fulfilled in him, then he gave us his righteousness, not the righteousness of the law, but a greatest righteousness, the righteousness of God.

So when that righteousness was imputed, we were not only made forgiven, but we were utterly transformed. So our hearts are not only accused anymore, but now they are empowered by the righteousness of Christ, who is our life. to do the things, not of the law of Moses, the law of God, greater things than the law of Moses. Because the righteousness that you have is not Moses. It's not Moses.

It's not the old covenant. It's the righteousness of Jesus Christ, greater than Moses. the law of God written in the heart, established in the mind. And now the conscience of the believer is a conscience that is in alignment, in a living alignment with his or her Savior. So when we sin, it's not guilt that comes against us.

It is rather that we've grieved the Spirit, right? That's what the Bible says. When we have sinned, it's not that we're breaking a code. It's that we're offending our Savior. It's a person now, the one that is offended.

The lost does not have understanding of the depths of the offense. For them, this is just establishing a coach that they have broken. But for the Christian, now there is a grieving of the spirit. There is a departing from the ways of Christ, because the conscience of the believer that is in the heart has now a greater sensitivity because of what Christ has done in that person. defines the spiritual state of a person.

You have your conscience in your heart, either as a lost Gentile who only has the accusing or excusing power of the law that is used by the Lord so that his judgment will be with no question, or do you have the law of God that is written on your heart and on your mind? And now your conscience is the conscience that is living. that is not following a code, a written code, but a living code. And His name is Christ. Your conscience is sensitive to the presence of the Spirit and to what He wants for you in the person of Jesus Christ.

And now, there is a third aspect of the heart. And that third aspect of the heart, beloved of Christ, is that in your heart, you have your affections. In your heart, you have your affections. Not only the heart defines the spiritual condition of a person and the heart contains the conscience or has the conscience of a person, but in your heart, in the inner being, in that very secret place, you have your affections. You have your emotions.

Another word. You have that which you desire, that which moves you, abides in your heart. Let me take you to Deuteronomy chapter 6, because I will show you the relationship of affections and the heart. And there, in Deuteronomy chapter 6, we'll see the greatest of the affections. So if you go to Deuteronomy chapter 6, Deuteronomy chapter 6.

in verse four and six. Bear with me because there's something else that I want to share with you. Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four and five. Scripture says here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

How easily sometimes we just take this abstract language of things that we have not seen, we have not touched of the soul, of your mind, of the heart, are just simply concepts, yet it is in those seemingly abstract concepts where the love that a person ought to have for God abides and is. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ will say there in the New Testament, right? When He's summarizing the whole law, that we ought to love our God with all that we are, with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. That is when the law is just hanging because in your heart, beloved of Christ.

Your affections, that which you really love, that which you really care for, is in your heart. So the meditations that you have there in the secret place, even meditations that you have now, or tonight, or through your life, that which is inside of you that I cannot see, but He can, that is the result of the affections of your heart. Your thoughts, your mind, the time that you spend pondering, This thing that you have, that even you have present now as I speak, that is the secret of your heart and that manifests the emotions of the affections of your heart. The Bible calls us and Christ calls us that our heart should be filled with love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And love, beloved of Christ, is the greatest of the affections.

Love is the greatest of the affections. And let me just tell you this, Love is a permanent resident of every single heart. Love is a permanent resident of every single heart. There is no person that has been conceived and died. There is no person that is alive and there's no person in the future who will leave.

If there's a future who has not had love as the permanent resident of their heart, everyone loves. Everyone loves, and that is not a good thing, because that which makes love a good thing is not love in and of itself, but is the object of love. Love is pure, and love is gorgeous, and love is perfect, and is the best when the object of love is Jesus Christ. But everyone, every single person that you've met in your life, has love as the permanent resident of their hearts. Many people and most people naturally love themselves.

And because they love or we love ourselves, then we love anything that brings pleasure and satisfaction to self. Naturally speaking, the resident of the heart is love and love to self. That love then manifests in love for money, love for work, love for reputation, love for education, love for intelligence, love for whatever you want that is not God. Everyone has in their hearts the permanent eternal abider, the permanent eternal resider, love. And that is in the heart, in the heart.

And the Bible calls us to love, not to love Anyone just to love the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved of Christ, your heart, that which is only yours. Not even my wife knows my heart. Not even I know my heart as I should know my heart. The Lord knows my heart and your heart.

And that is a scary thing, right? If it's not because of Jesus Christ and the certainty of the forgiveness that we have in him, I don't know what emotion my person would feel if it's not because of Jesus Christ, right? if it's not because of his blood, of his righteousness, and his love, and his tender kindness, and what he has done for us. Apart from that, I think there is, I don't know what the word is in English, but just despair, perhaps. Spiritual despair, that he will see our hearts and read our hearts.

Even just the things that I have forgotten about my heart are enough. Actually, the things that you forget is because you just simply want to forget them sometimes. But that is where emotions or affections abide. So look how important your heart is. How important.

It defines your spiritual condition. And your spiritual condition is manifested on your conscience. And it's manifested also in the affections of your heart. Because the one that loves the things of the world, the love of the Father, is in him? No, it's not in him.

The one that loves the things that are passing away, secretly, I can be a lover of money and you would not know. It could be a lover of reputation that you would not know. It could be a lover of anything you put there in the blank and you would not know. But the Lord knows. And the one that is lover of the things that are passing away will pass away with those things when fire comes and judgment comes.

Because the one that has the love of the world in his heart does not have the love of the Father because the heart of the Christian is to be taken captive by Jesus Christ and his love. His love for us and our love for him. Those three things. And now, beloved of Christ, there's a story in the Old Testament where you can clearly see the role of the heart being purely manifested in these things, in the things of, you know, like the conscience or the spiritual situation of a person or the spiritual condition of a person or the conscience that is against the things of the Lord and the affections of the heart. And that story is in Genesis 6.

So if you go to Genesis 6, We can read together there. We can see the role of the heart exemplified. But what I love about this story is that it's not only the heart of man that is clearly exposed and explained by scripture. It's also the heart of God. If you go to Genesis chapter 6.

Genesis 6, verse 5, it says, "...the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." This is a heart that devises wicked plans. You see there the thoughts, the intentions and those intentions manifested in actions. The Bible says that there were much violence and there was much wickedness during that time.

But then it comes the heart of the Lord, verse 6, and the Lord regretted. So that is a disposition now of the heart of God towards His people and the Lord regretted. that he had made men on the earth, and he grieved him to his heart. He grieved him to his heart, O brothers and sisters, that we may have by the Spirit an inseparable alignment with the heart of God. You know, when people would say or do, when I was a kid, things to my mom or to my brother, I will be so filled with anger and displeasure just because they said something about my mom or my brother.

Oh, that my heart will have the same when someone does something against the Lord. His heart grieved. His heart grieved. When we see our mom or our wives crying for something or grieving for something, then our hearts are broken. He regretted that he had made men on the earth, and it gripped him to his heart.

Take that, theologians. Verse seven. So the Lord said, I will blot out men whom I have created from the face of the land, men and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. The Lord regretted, or in other translations repented, that He had made men. And the response of His heart was judgment.

Judgment will come and judgment came. But there is a very important lesson that we learn from Genesis 6, 7 and 8, beloved of Christ. And that is that not even the judgment of God Not even the judgment of God can change the condition of the heart of men. It's not that God sent a judgment, a universal flood to destroy all flesh and to rescue Noah and his family. And that with that, the problem will be solved.

Not even the judgment of God can transform the heart. It's not that just with discipline and punishment, you're going to become a better person. that you're going to become in your heart a righteous person. Not even the judgment of God can transform the heart of a person. Because when you go to Genesis chapter 8, and the Lord is speaking about the humanity that is left in the world, namely Noah and his family, eight souls.

When you go to Genesis chapter 8, in verse 20, it says, Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. This is after the flood, right? Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of men. Now he says, speaking of the only man available now, right?

Because every flesh, bye bye. He says now, For the intention of men's heart. Now he's speaking of righteous Noah. Noah who found favor and grace in his eyes. For the intention of men's heart is evil from his youth.

Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the year remains, seed time, a harvest cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. Not speaking of the generation that is to come. Speaking of Noah, who is going to sin just not long after this. Noah, who found righteousness or favor, not his, but Christ's.

Not even the judgment of God can transform the nature of our heart. Not even the floods, the waters of the flood can transform a heart. Not even the greatest of the punishments can transform our heart. If that was the case, then hell will just simply transform people. That's why, what is the name of the Catholic doctrine that you would?

Purgatory. Purgatory. That's why it's wickedness. Because nothing can transform the heart of a person apart from saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, beloved of Christ, let me just take these last minutes just to point you to things that then we ought to do to fight against this sin or better things that we need to understand or duties that we need to understand about our heart.

Very important things that we need to do so that our heart will not be given to these plans, wicked plans to prolong times or elongated times of devising wicked things, which is an abomination to the Lord. The first thing which is mandatory and is a requirement, if your heart or if the heart of every single person gives a testimony and gives the verdict of what is the spiritual reality of that person, then the first necessity is that the heart will be transformed. You cannot do anything for your heart if you're not in Christ. Impossible. Not even the judgment of God can transform by person.

So it's not about thinking, what am I going to do so my heart is preserved or that my heart is good or that I don't have these thoughts and I don't think about this and that, these wicked plans. First necessity of the soul of every single person is that that heart has been transformed indeed. That is not a heart of stone. That is a heart of flesh. That is a heart in which the Lord Jesus Christ arrives and has taken.

First necessity of every single soul is that he will be or she will be in union with Christ. Genuine, open. Union with Christ by grace through faith. He says, come to me, come to me, come to me. Take and drink without price, come to me.

And if you come to Him, there's a new heart. Not that you're coming after the new heart, you're coming after Christ. But when you come to Christ, there's a new heart. necessity of every single person. How am I going to deal with my thoughts?

How am I going to deal with elongated periods of time just meditating upon wicked things and be a slave of this and that, being a slave to resentment and bitterness and wanting to have and wanting not to have or this or that? There's nothing that you can do. Not even hell will change the heart of a person. Not even the fullness of the wrath of God given to a person in hell for eternity can transform that person. Because if judgment was enough, then there will be a point in eternity in which they could come out of hell and then just be accepted in heaven.

Not even that, only the person of Jesus Christ. The second thing that I want to point you to is about your conscience, about your conscience. And this is something that by grace through faith, you indeed, as you're my brothers and sisters, you're in Christ. This is something that you want to give much diligence to, and something that you want to take seriously. You will never walk in the Spirit, beloved of Christ, if you do not have a good and clean conscience.

You will never walk in the Spirit. You will never be victorious over sin if you do not have a clean, a good conscience. Those are not my words. Those are the words of Paul, 1 Timothy 1, saying to Timothy that that is the purpose of the commandment, to have a pure heart and sincere faith and a good conscience. 1 Timothy 1, verse 6.

This is the same thing that the apostle says implicitly of himself and Apollos there in 1 Corinthians 4. that he has a clean conscience implicitly, and it's not the clean conscience that justifies him, but the Lord. But still, he has a clean conscience. There's nothing that he knows about himself that accuses him. His conscience is clean.

He's not deriving peace and satisfaction from the fact that he has a clean conscience, but he has a clean conscience. He's the Lord, the one that satisfies him, justifies him. that he has a clean conscience. How can the Christian live his life with a conscience that is dirty? With a conscience that you know that there is something wrong that you have not dealt with?

A conscience that is dirty and is not good is a conscience that slowly will turn into a zeal and hardened conscience. It's a conscience that is just a matter of time in which you're going to be comfortable with the sin that the Lord by His grace and His Spirit is convicting you of a sin or whatever. I good clean conscience before the Lord. There's no power. I'm telling you, there's absolutely no power when your conscience is not clean.

I've been before you speaking not with a clean conscience and bricks come out of my mouth. There's no power. when you don't have a clean conscience. There is no power in the spirit when you come to do religious things and you are doing them with a muddy, dirty conscience. Before doing your religious thing, go and deal with your conscience before the Lord.

And the process is not very difficult because he offers forgiveness. But go and deal with your conscience. And then if we go and read 1 Corinthians chapter 8, in which we are taught about those who have a weak conscience, brothers who have a weak conscience. We are told by the Bible that we are not to go against the weak conscience of our brothers. You remember the passage that speaks about those who eat food that have been sacrificed to idols.

How are you going to go and do something against the conscience of a brother? The whole chapter 8 in 1 Corinthians says. And that passage shows us something very important. First is that knowledge paths up, but knowledge is important to have a strong conscience. Not knowledge, intellectual knowledge, but knowledge of the spiritual things.

Because the one that implicitly has a strong conscience in that chapter is the one that knows that there is only one God, that there is no gods. And therefore, the foods that are sacrificed to these gods are not thing. He knows that and therefore He has a strong conscience. The strong conscience is a conscience that knows the things of the Lord. So that means that giving diligence to keep your heart when it comes to your conscience requires that you know this book, that you know this book, that you're trained, exercised in understanding the words of the Savior to discern good from evil.

That is the Word of God, is the two-edged sword, right? That it pierces the soul, separates. You have to be able to take the sword of the Spirit and do this to your heart. So that you're able to discern your ways. You're able to discern that which is in you.

You're trained, you're sensitive, you're fearful. You don't want to go into that because that is unrighteousness. You want to walk in the ways of the Lord. Your conscience clean. It's a conscience that has to have an attitude, a teachable attitude.

that it is that you want to learn the things of the Lord, that you want to be instructed in the things of the Lord, that you want to grow in understanding of the things of the Lord, that is eagerly wanting and desire to understand the ways of the Lord more and more through your brothers and sisters, through the church, yourself, laboring in the Word. Not by bread alone, right? But by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And just as we labor for the bread that nourishes our bodies, we are to labor in a spiritual sense for the words that come from the mouth of God. What we need, you're not going to learn the ways of the Lord by osmosis.

Is the word in Spanish? I assume that is the same in English. It requires labor, not that by that you're going to become righteous before the Lord, but because you love Him and because you want to be like Him and please Him. So your conscience is strengthened by the word of the Lord. And a conscience that is strong is a conscience that can bear with the weak consciences of the brothers and sisters.

Not just to simply go in their sins, but actually to instruct them and take them in love. A conscience that is teachable. A conscience that is not teachable is a prideful person, just simply a prideful person that knows everything. Teachable conscience. But your conscience, beloved of Christ, is also a conscience that has to be or you have to allow your conscience to heal.

The word that I have is healable or curable conscience. That is that when you sin by faith, and just listen to this, please. Your conscience has to allow the healing process of the Word. And that is that when your conscience has been broken, or affected, or attacked, or fought against, and then you've fallen in sin, by faith you have to know that there is no other way to fix your conscience than by just coming to Jesus Christ. and that coming to Jesus Christ is not a difficult process in which you have to push a mountain or climb Mount Everest, and then when you reach Mount Everest, then you obtain forgiveness.

When you come with genuine repentance, every time that you come with genuine repentance, by faith, cleansed, forgiven, every time. Very simple, yet very complex, because you want to heal, cure your conscience and your heart. You've done this, you want to go and fix it on your own. And when you fix it on your own, you think that things are solved. But no, because you have now a dirty conscience and you cannot heal that.

Simple forgiveness from the Lord that cleanses us from all of our unrighteousness. And we ought to have faith because when we come with genuine repentance, I would say, Lord, forgive me. He does forgive us. And the matter is solved, forgiven. The matter is solved and a manifestation of that is that the burden is taken.

If the burden is not taken, that means that you're not coming with genuine faith and know that the Lord forgives you. So your conscience remains dirty and not good conscience because you don't believe that He forgives you because you believe like an Armenian or like just a lost person that you have to do and battle and do these things and that in order to obtain the things of the Lord. Simple faith, it will heal your conscience. Simple faith in believing the Word of the Lord. Believing, brothers and sisters, the Word of the Lord, that He indeed cleanses us from all unrighteousness, that He is just and faithful.

And then the third one, just for us to finish, for us to finish, go to Colossians 3. Colossians chapter 3. So I said to you three things, remember? Your heart defines the condition, your spiritual condition. You have your conscience in your heart.

And the third thing that I said to you was about what? Conscience and the affections, right? Affections. I will perhaps just simply read this and just very briefly speak about this. Colossians chapter 3, verse 1 through 4.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds, other translation will say, set your affections, set your minds on things that are above, not on things or the earth. Why? For you have died. And now this has to be a glorious thought for you.

Your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. People invest lots of money to have the security box, what do you call them? The boxes, safe boxes. Your life is hidden with Christ and that in God.

Brothers and sisters, I don't know if there is any other reason why we should have our affections and things that are above. And then he continues and says, when Christ, who is your life, not only that you are in Christ and in God and that you are hidden, not only next to them, but hidden in Christ, in God, Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also appear with him in glory. Set your mind, beloved of Christ, set your mind on things that are above and not on things of the earth. Set your affections on the things that are above, your heart taken, captured by Christ. That will give you a strong conscience, a good conscience.

That will make you enjoy and partake of the glories of forgiveness and the glories of the gospel, not only in saving us, but in making us more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And that will keep our hearts from being hearts that move slowly into devising plans and plans that are wicked. But rather our thoughts are taken captive by the beatings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are thoughts, our thoughts of Christ. Our heart is the heart of Christ.

humble, meek. And then faith is strengthened, empowered. Your eyes are open even more and more to the glory of Jesus Christ. And then his church strengthened, empowered, and his kingdom victorious in this world. Amen.