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J. C. Ryle wrote well over two hundred evangelical tracts, of which more than two million were circulated, and many were translated into foreign languages. Throughout his ministry he remained one of the strongest defenders of the evangelical reformed faith within the Church of England. His faithful witness to the Gospel of Christ needs to be heard more than ever today. The following tract is a classic of Gospel Truth that readers came to expect from all his writings. All his tracts are pure gold. Some of them, not published since the 19th century, have come into my possession, and I offer you these inspiring works exactly word for word as they were published by Drummonds Tract Depot, Stirling, Scotland. |
IS
THY HEART RIGHT? “A good heart at the
bottom!” Such is the whole Christianity of thousands in the present day. On
the top of their character there is nothing to be seen but constant
attention to the trifling things of time, and utter neglect of the things of
eternity—entire devotion to the life that now is, and a complete
forgetfulness of the life to come. But you must not
find fault! You must not mind what you see
at the top! You must believe they are all right at the bottom! Now, is this common talk
about “Good hearts at
the bottom” satisfactory? Will the idea bear
examination by the light of the Bible? I answer that it will not! It is a
great delusion, and a huge fraud, and is ruining many souls. No heart is
really good at the bottom when its goodness cannot be seen
at the top. No
heart deserves to be called good which is not right in the sight of God! Come now, and let us see what account the Bible
gives of a really “good heart.” Let us “search the Scriptures,” and see if
we can find the picture drawn by the unerring hand of the Holy Spirit. I
invite every reader of this paper to sit down quietly with me for a few
minutes, and hear what God says in “the Word” about the whole question of
the heart. There are three things which I propose to do in
order to impress the subject of this paper on the mind of every one who
reads it. I. First, I will show THE IMMENSE IMPORTANCE OF THE
HEART IN RELIGION. II. Secondly, I will show THE HEART THAT IS WRONG IN
THE SIGHT OF GOD. III. Lastly, I will show THE HEART THAT IS RIGHT. May God bless the whole subject to the soul of every
one into whose hands this paper may fall! May the Holy Ghost, without whom
preaching and writing can do nothing, apply this paper to many consciences,
and make it an arrow to pierce many hearts! I. In the first place, I
will show the immense importance of the
heart in religion. How shall I prove this point? From whence shall I
fetch my arguments? I must turn to the Word of God. In questions of this
kind it matters nothing what the world thinks right or wrong. There is only
one sure test of truth! What saith the Scripture? What is written in the
Bible? What is the mind of the Holy Ghost? If we cannot submit our judgments
to this infallible umpire, it is useless to pretend that we have any
religion at all. (a)
For one thing, the Bible teaches that the heart is that part of us on which
the state of our souls depends. “Out of it are the issues of life.” (Prov.
iv. 23). The reason, the understanding, the conscience, the affections, are
all second in importance to the heart. The
heart is the man. It is the seat of all
spiritual life, and health, and strength, and growth. It is the hinge and
turning-point in the condition of man’s soul. If the heart is alive to God
and quickened by the Spirit, the man is a living Christian. If the heart is
dead, and has not the Spirit, the man is dead before God. The heart is the
man! Tell me not merely what a man says and professes, and where a man goes
on Sunday, and what money he puts in the collecting plate. Tell me, rather,
what his heart is, and I will tell you what he is. “As a man thinketh in his
heart, so is he.” (Prov. xxiii. 7). (b)
For another thing, the Bible
teaches that the heart is that part of us at which God especially looks.
“Man looketh at the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”
(1 Sam. xvi. 7.) “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes; but the Lord
pondereth the hearts.” (Prov. xxi. 2.) Man is naturally content with the
outward part of religion, with outward morality, outward correctness,
outward regular use of means of grace, outward attendance at the Lord’s
Table. But the eyes of the Lord God look much further. He regards our
motives. He “weigheth the spirits.” (Prov. xvi. 2.) “By Him actions are
weighed.” (1 Sam. ii. 3.) He says Himself, “I the Lord search the heart, I
try the reins.” (Jer. xvii. 10.) (c)
For another thing the Bible teaches
that the heart is the first and foremost thing which God asks man to give
Him. “My son,” He says, “give me thine heart.” (Prov. xxiii. 26.) We may
give God a bowed head and a serious face, our bodily presence in His house,
and a loud Amen. But until we give God our heart, we give Him nothing at
all. The sacrifices of the Jews in Isaiah’s time were many and costly. They
drew nigh to God with their mouth, and honoured Him with their lips. But
their religion was wholly useless, because the heart of the worshippers was
wrong. “In vain do they worship Me—their heart is far from Me.” (Matt. xv.
8, 9.) The zeal of Jehu against idolatry was very great, and his services in
pulling down idols brought him many temporal rewards. But there was one
great blot on his character which spoiled all. He did not walk in the law of
God “with all his heart.” (2 Kings x. 31.) The heart is what the husband
desires to have in his wife, the parent in his child, and the master in his
servant. And the heart is what God desires to have in professing Christians. What is the heart in
man’s body?
It is the principal and most important organ in
the whole frame. A man may live many years in spite of fevers, wounds, and
loss of limbs. But a man cannot live if you injure his heart. Just so it is
with the heart in religion. It is the fountain of life to the soul. What is the root to the
tree? It
is the source of all life, and growth, and fruitfulness. You may cut off the
branches, and wound the trunk, and the tree may yet survive. But if you hurt
the root, the tree will die. Just so it is with the heart in religion. It is
the root of life to the soul. What is the mainspring to
the watch?
It is the cause of all its movements, and the
secret of all its usefulness. The case may be costly and beautiful. The face
and figures may be skilfully made. But if there is anything wrong with the
mainspring the works will not go. Just so it is with the heart in religion.
It is the mainspring of life to the soul. What is the fire to the
steam engine?
It is the cause of all its motion and power. The
machinery may be properly made. Every joint, and crank, and valve, and rod,
and pipe, and bolt, and screw, may be well made, and in its right place. But
if the furnace is cold, and the water in the boiler is not turned into
steam, the engine will do nothing. Just so is it with the heart in religion.
Unless the heart is lighted with fire from on high, the soul will not move. Would you know the reason
why such multitudes around you take no interest in religion? Many, alas!
have no real concern about God, or Christ, or the Bible, or heaven, or hell,
or judgment, or eternity. They care for nothing but what they shall eat, or
what they shall drink, or what they shall put on, or what money they can
get, or what pleasure they can have. It is
their hearts which are in fault! They have
not the least appetite for the things of God. They are destitute of any
taste or inclination for spiritual things. They need a new mainspring. They
want a new heart. “Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get
wisdom, seeing he hath no heart unto it.” (Prov. xvii. 16). Would you know the reason
why so many hear the Gospel year after year, and yet remain unmoved by it?
Their minds seem like Bunyan’s “Slough of despond.” Cartloads of good
instruction are poured into them without producing any good effect. Their
reason is convinced. Their head assents to the truth. Their conscience is
sometimes pricked. Their feelings are sometimes roused. Why then do they
stick fast? Why do they tarry? It is their
hearts which are in fault! Some secret
idol chains them down to the earth, and keeps them tied hand and foot, so
that they cannot move. They want a new heart. Their picture is drawn
faithfully by Ezekiel, “They sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy
words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love,
but their heart goeth after covetousness.” (Ezek. xxxiii. 31). Would you know the reason why thousands of so-called
Christians will be lost at last, and perish miserably in hell? They will not
be able to say that God did not offer salvation to them. They will not be
able to plead that there was no forgiveness of sins provided, and that
Christ did not send them invitations. Oh no! They will be obliged to confess
that “all things were ready” for them except their own hearts (Luke xiv.
17). Their own hearts will prove to have been the cause of their ruin! The
lifeboat was alongside the wreck, but they would not enter it. Christ
“would” have gathered them, but they “would not” be gathered (Matt. xxiii.
37). Christ would have saved them, but they would not be saved. They loved
darkness more than light. Their hearts were in fault. They would not come to
Christ, that they might have life (John v. 40). I leave this branch of my subject. I trust I have
enough to show every reader of this paper the said immense importance of the
heart in religion. Surely I have good reason for pressing a plain question
on every one into whose hands this paper may come:—Is thy heart right? Is it
right in the sight of God? Is it a good heart? II. I will show, in the
second place, the heart that is wrong in
the sight of God. There are only two sorts
of hearts; a right one and a wrong one. What is a wrong heart like? The wrong heart is the natural heart with which we
are all born. There are no hearts which are right by nature. There are no
such things as naturally “good hearts.” Ever since Adam and Eve fell, and
sin entered into the world, men and women are born with an inclination to
evil. Every natural heart is wrong. If your heart has never been changed by
the Holy Ghost since you were born, know this day, that your heart is wrong. What does the Scripture say about the natural heart?
It says many things which are deeply solemn, and painfully true. It says
that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”
(Jer. xvii. 9.) It says that “every imagination of the thoughts of the heart
is only evil continually.” (Gen. vi. 5.) It says that “the heart of the sons
of men is full of evil.” (Eccles. ix. 3.) It says that “From within, out of
the heart of men” (as out of a fountain), “proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit,
lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil
things come from within.” (Mark vii. 21.) Truly this is a humbling picture!
The seeds of these things are in the heart of every little baby, when it is
born into the world. Babies are not “angels,” as some people foolishly call
them. Surely I may well tell you that the natural heart is wrong. But is there no one common mark of the wrong heart,
which is to be seen in all whom God has not changed? Yes! there is; and to
that common mark of the wrong heart I now request your attention. There is a
most striking and instructive figure of speech, which the Holy Ghost has
thought fit to use; in describing the natural heart He calls it a “stony
heart.” (Ezek. xi. 19.) I know no emblem in the Bible so full of
instruction, and so apt and fitting as this one. A truer word was never
written than that which calls the natural heart a “heart of stone.” Mark
well what I am going to say; and may the Lord give you understanding! (a)
A stone is
hard. All
people know that. It is unyielding, unbending, unimpressible. It may be
broken, but it will never bend. The proverb is world-wide, “as hard as a
stone.” Look at the granite rocks which line the Land’s End, on the coast of
Cornwall. For four thousand years the waves of the Atlantic ocean have
dashed against them in vain. There they stand in their old hardness,
unbroken and unmoved. It is just the same with the natural heart.
Afflictions, mercies, losses, crosses, sermons, counsels, books, tracts,
speaking, writing,—all, all are unable to soften it. Until the day that God
comes down to change it, it remains unmoved. Well may the natural heart be
called a heart of stone! (b)
A stone is
cold. There is
a chilly, icy feeling about it, which you know the very moment you touch it.
It is utterly unlike the feeling of flesh, or wood, or even earth. The
proverb is in every one’s mouth, “As cold as a stone.” The old busts and
statues in Helmingham Church have heard the substance of many tracts I have
written in days gone by. Yet they never showed any feeling! Not a muscle of
their marble faces ever shrank or moved. It is just the same with the
natural heart. It is utterly destitute of spiritual feeling. It cares less
for the story of Christ’s death on the cross, than it does for the last new
novel, or the last debate in Parliament, or the account of a railway
accident, or a shipwreck, or a murder, or a divorce. Until God sends fire
from heaven to warm it, the natural heart of man has no feeling about
religion. Well may it be called the heart of stone! (c)
A stone is
barren. You
will reap no harvest off rocks of any description. You will never fill your
barns with corn from the top of Snowdon, or Skiddaw, or Ben Nevis. You will
never reap wheat on granite or slate,—on limestone or trap-stone,—on oolite
or sandstone,—on flint or on chalk. You may get good crops on Norfolk sands,
or Cambridgeshire fens, or Suffolk clay, by patience, labour, money, and
good farming. But you will never get a crop worth a farthing off a stone. It
is just the same with the natural heart. It is utterly barren of penitence,
or faith, or love, or fear, or holiness, or humility. Until God breaks it
up, and puts a new principle in it, it bears no fruit to God’s praise. Well
may the natural heart be called a heart of stone! (d)
A stone is
dead. It
neither sees, nor hears, nor moves, nor grows. Show it the glories of
heaven, and it would not be pleased. Tell it of the fires of hell, and it
would not be alarmed. Bid it flee from a roaring lion, or an earthquake, and
it would not stir. The Bass Rock and Mount Blanc are just what they were
4000 years ago. They have seen kingdoms rise and fall, and they remain
utterly unchanged. They are neither higher, nor broader, nor larger than
they were when Noah left the ark. It is just the same with the natural
heart. It has not a spark of spiritual life about it. Until God plants the
grace of the Holy Ghost in it, it is dead and motionless about real
religion. Well may the natural heart be called a heart of stone! The wrong heart is now set before every reader of
this paper. Look at it. Think about it. Examine yourself by the light of the
picture I have drawn. Perhaps your heart has never yet been changed. Perhaps
your heart is still just as it was when you were born. If so; remember this
day what I tell you. YOUR HEART IS WRONG IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. Would you know the reason why it is so difficult to
do good in the world? Would you know why so few believe the Gospel, and live
like true Christians? The reason is, the hardness of man’s natural heart. He
neither sees nor knows what is for his good. The wonder, to my mind, is not
so much that few are converted, as the miraculous fact that any are
converted at all. I do not marvel when I see, or hear of, unbelief. I
remember the natural heart is wrong. Would you know the reason why the state of men is so
desperately helpless, if they die in their sins? Would you know why
ministers feel so fearful about everyone who is cut off unprepared to meet
God? The reason is, the hardness of man’s natural heart. What would a man do
in heaven, if he got there, with his heart unchanged and like a stone? By
which of the saints would he sit down? What pleasure could he take in God’s
presence and company? Would he enjoy an eternal Sabbath, and endless
Hallelujahs? Oh! no! it is vain to conceal it. There can be no real hope
about a man’s condition, if he dies with his heart wrong. I leave this branch of my subject here. Once more I
press a plain, searching question upon the conscience of every one who reads
this paper. Surely you must allow it is a very serious one. Is thy heart
right? Is it right in the sight of God? Is it a good heart? III. I will now show, in
the last place, the right heart.
It is a heart of which the Bible contains many
pictures. I am going to try to place some of those pictures before you. On a
question like this, I want you to observe what God says, rather than what is
said by man. Come now, and see the marks and signs of a right heart. (a)
The right and good heart is a
“new
heart.”
(Ezek. xxxvi. 26.) It is not the heart with which
a man is born, but another heart put in him by the Holy Ghost. It is a heart
which has new tastes, new joys, new sorrows, new desires, new hopes, new
fears, new likes, new dislikes. It has new views about the soul, and sin,
and God, and Christ, and salvation, and the Bible, and prayer, and Sunday,
and heaven, and hell, and the world, and holiness. It is like a farm with a
new and good tenant. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new.” (2 Cor. v. 17.) Is this heart your own? (b)
The right and good heart is a
“broken
and a contrite heart.”
(Psalm li. 17.) It is broken off from pride,
self-conceit, and self-righteousness. Its former high thoughts of self are
cracked, shattered, and shivered to atoms. It thinks itself guilty,
unworthy, and corrupt. Its former stubbornness, heaviness, and insensibility
have thawed, disappeared, and passed away. It no longer thinks lightly of
offending God. It is tender, sensitive, and jealously fearful of running
into sin. (2 Kings xxii. 19.) It is humble and lowly, and sees in itself no
good thing. Is this heart your own? (c)
A right and good heart is a heart
that believes on Christ alone for
salvation, and in which Christ dwells by
faith. (Rom. x. 10; Ephes. iii. 17.) It rests all its hopes of pardon and
eternal life on Christ’s atonement, Christ’s mediation, and Christ’s
intercession. It is sprinkled in Christ’s blood from an evil conscience.
(Heb. x. 22.) It turns to Christ as the compass needle turns to the north.
It looks to Christ for daily peace, mercy, and grace, as the sunflower looks
to the sun. It feeds on Christ for its daily sustenance, as Israel fed on
the manna in the desert. It sees in Christ a special fitness to supply all
its wants and requirements. It leans on Him, hangs on Him, builds on Him,
cleaves to Him, as its physician, guardian, husband, and friend. Is this
heart your own? (d)
A right and good heart is a
purified heart.
(Acts xv. 9; Matt. v.8.) It loves holiness and
hates sin. It strives daily to cleanse itself from all filthiness of flesh
and spirit. (2 Cor. vii. 1.) It abhors that which is evil, and cleaves to
that which is good. (Rom. xii. 9.) It delights in the law of God, and has
that law engraven on it, that it may not forget it. (Psalm cxix. 11.) It
longs to keep the law more perfectly, and takes pleasure in those who love
the law. It loves God and man. Its affections are set on things above. It
never feels so light and happy as when it is most holy; and it looks forward
to heaven with joy, as the place where perfect holiness will at length be
attained. Is this heart your own? (e)
A right and good heart is a
praying heart.
It has within it “the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
(Rom. viii. 15.) Its daily feeling is, “Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” (Psalm
xxvii. 8.) It is drawn by an habitual inclination to speak to God about
spiritual things,—weakly, feebly, and imperfectly perhaps, but speak it
must. It finds it necessary to pour out itself before God, as before a
friend, and to spread before Him all its wants and desires. It tells Him all
its secrets. It keeps back nothing from Him. You might as well try to
persuade a man to live without breathing, as to persuade the possessor of a
right heart to live without praying. Is this heart your own? (f)
A right and good heart is a heart
that feels within a conflict.
(Gal. v.17.) It finds within itself two opposing
principles contending one with another for the mastery,—the flesh lusting
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. It knows by experience
what St. Paul means when he says, “I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind.” (Rom. vii. 23.)
The wrong heart knows nothing of this
strife. The strong man armed keeps the wrong heart as his palace, and his
goods are at peace. (Luke xi. 21.) But when the rightful King takes
possession of the heart, a struggle begins which never ends till death. The
right heart may be known by its warfare, quite as much as by its peace. Is
this heart your own? (g)
Last, but not least, the right and
good heart is honest,
and single,
and
true. (Luke viii. 15; 1 Chron. xii. 33;
Heb. x. 22.) There is nothing about it of falsehood, hypocrisy, or
part-acting. It is not double or divided. It really is what it professes to
be, feels what it professes to feel, and believes what it professes to
believe. Its faith may be feeble. Its obedience may be very imperfect. But
one thing will always distinguish the right heart. Its religion will be
real, genuine, thorough, and sincere. Is this heart your own? A heart such as that which I have now described, has
always been the possession of all true Christians of every name, and nation,
and people, and tongue. They have differed from one another on many
subjects, but they have all been of a “right heart.” They have some of them
fallen for a season, like David and Peter, but their hearts have never
entirely departed from the Lord. They have often proved themselves to be men
and women laden with infirmities, but their hearts have been right in the
sight of God. They have understood one another on earth. They have found
that their experience was everywhere one and the same. They will understand
each other even better in the world to come. All that have had “right
hearts” upon earth, will find that they have “one heart” when they enter
heaven. The “right heart” is now before every one who reads
this paper. Once more I press my question on your conscience. Is thy heart
right? Is it right in the sight of God? I shall now wind up the whole subject with a few
words of practical application. I want to bring home the points I have set
forth in this paper to every one into whose hands it may fall. I want every
reader to lay it down with a thorough understanding of his own immediate
duty. I want every reader to say, “How does this touch me? How does this
apply to the state of my own soul?” May God the Holy Ghost make the words I
am going to write, words in season to all who read them! 1. My first duty is to
offer to every reader of this paper, a
question to promote self-enquiry. I ask
you plainly this day, “What is your heart? Is your heart right or wrong? Is
it a really good heart?” I know not who you are whose eyes are reading these
pages. But I do know that self-examination cannot do you any harm. If your
heart is right, it will be a comfort to know it. “If our heart condemn us
not, then have we confidence toward God.” (1 John iii. 21.) But if your
heart is wrong, it is high time to find it out, and seek a change. The time
is short. The night cometh when no man can work. Say to yourself this very
day, “Is my heart right or wrong?” Think not to say within yourself,—”There is no need
for such questions as these. There is no need to make such ado about the
heart. I go to church or chapel regularly. I live a respectable life. I hope
I shall prove right at last.”—Beware of such thoughts, I beseech you,—beware
of them, if you would ever be saved. You may go to the best church on earth,
and hear the best preachers. You may be the best of churchmen, or the
soundest member of a chapel. But all this time if your heart is not “right
in the sight of God,” you are on the high road to destruction. Settle down
to quiet consideration of the question before you. Look it manfully in the
face, and do not turn aside. Is your heart right or wrong? Think not to say within yourself,—”No one can know
what his heart is. We must hope the best. No one can find out with any
certainty the state of his own soul.” Beware, I say again,—beware of such
thoughts. The thing can be known. The thing can be found out. Deal honestly
and fairly with yourself. Set up an assize on the state of your inward man.
Summon a jury. Let the Bible preside as judge. Bring up the witnesses.
Inquire what your tastes are,—where your affections are placed,—where your
treasure is,—what you hate most,—what you love most,—what pleases you
most,—what grieves you most. Inquire into all those points impartially, and
mark what the answers are. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also.” (Matt. vi. 21.) A tree may always be known by its fruit, and a true
Christian may always be discovered by his habits, tastes, and affections.
Yes! you may soon find out what your heart is, if you are honest, sincere,
and impartial. Is it right or wrong?. Think not to say within yourself, “I quite approve
of all you say, and hope to examine the state of my heart some day. But I
have no time just at present. I cannot find leisure. I wait for a convenient
season.” Oh! beware of such thoughts,—again I say, beware. Life is
uncertain, and yet you talk of a convenient season. Eternity is close at
hand, and yet you talk of putting off preparation to meet God. Alas! that
habit of “putting off” is the everlasting ruin of millions of souls.
Wretched man that you are! who shall deliver you from this devil of “putting
off?” Awake to a sense of duty. Throw off the chains that pride, and
laziness, and love of the world are weaving round you. Arise and stand upon
your feet, and look steadily at the question before you. Churchman or
dissenter, I ask you this day,—Is your heart right or wrong? I leave my question with you, and entreat you to
consider it well. I pray that the Holy Ghost may apply it with Almighty
power to your conscience. The first step in religion is to know yourself. 2. My next duty is to
offer a solemn warning
to all who know their hearts are wrong, but have
no desire to change. I do it with every feeling of kindness and affection. I
have no wish to excite needless fears. But I know not how to exaggerate the
danger of your condition. I warn you that if your heart is wrong in the
sight of God you are hanging over the brink of hell. There is but a step
between you and everlasting death. Can you really suppose that any man or woman will
ever enter heaven without a right heart? Do you flatter yourself that any
unconverted person will ever be saved? Away with such a miserable delusion!
Cast it from you at once and forever. What saith the Scripture? “Except a
man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of
heaven.” “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” (John iii. 3; Matt.
xviii. 3; Heb. xii. 14.) It is not enough to have our sins pardoned, as many
seem to suppose. There is another thing wanted as well as a pardon, and that
thing is a new heart. We must have the Holy Spirit to renew us, as well as
Christ’s blood to wash us. Both renewing and washing are needful before
anyone can be saved. Can you suppose for a moment that you would be happy
in heaven, if you entered without a right heart? Away with the miserable
delusion! Cast it from you at once and for ever! You must have a “meetness
for the inheritance of the saints,” before you can enjoy it. (Col. i. 12.)
Your tastes must be tuned and brought into harmony with those of saints and
angels, before you can delight in their company. A sheep is not happy when
it is thrown into the water. A fish is not happy when it is cast on dry
land. And men and women would not be happy in heaven if they entered heaven
without “right hearts.” My warning is before you. Harden not your heart
against it. Believe it. Act upon it. Turn it to account. Awake and arise to
newness of life without delay. One thing is very certain. Whether you hear
the warning or not, God will not go back from what He has said. “If we
believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Tim. ii.
13.) 3. My next duty is to
offer advice
to all who know their hearts are wrong, but
desire to have them made right. That advice is short and simple. I advise
you to apply at once to the Lord Jesus Christ, and ask for the gift of the
Holy Ghost. Entreat Him, as a lost and ruined sinner, to receive you, and
supply the wants of your soul. I know well that you cannot make your own
heart right. But I know that the Lord Jesus Christ can. And to the Lord
Jesus Christ I entreat you to apply without delay. If any reader of this paper wants a really good and
right heart, I thank God that I can give him good encouragement. I thank God
that I can lift up Christ before you, and say boldly, Look at Christ,—Seek
Christ,—Go to Christ. For what did that blessed Lord Jesus come into the
world? For what did He give His precious body to be crucified? For what did
He die and rise again? For what did He ascend up into heaven and sit down at
the right hand of God? For what did Christ do all this but to provide
complete salvation for poor sinners like you and me,—salvation from the
guilt of sin, and salvation from the power of sin, for all who believe? Oh!
yes, Christ is no half Saviour. He “has received gifts for men, even for the
rebellious.” (Psalm lxviii. 18.) He waits to pour out the Spirit on all who
will come to Him. (Prov. i. 23.) Mercy and grace—pardon and a new heart,—all
this the Lord Jesus is ready to apply to you by His Spirit if you will only
come to Him. Then come, come without delay to Christ. What is there that Christ
cannot do? He can create.
By Him were all things made at the beginning. He
called the whole world into being by His command.—He can
quicken. He
raised the dead when He was on earth, and gave back life by a word.—He can
change.
He has turned sickness into health and weakness into strength,—famine into
plenty, storm into calm, and sorrow into joy.—He has wrought thousands of
miracles on hearts already. He turned Peter the unlearned fisherman into
Peter the Apostle,—Matthew the covetous publican into Matthew the Gospel
writer,—Saul the self-righteous Pharisee into Paul the Evangelist of the
world. And Christ is not changed. What Christ has done once Christ can do
again. Christ and the Holy Ghost are always the same. There is
nothing in your heart that the Lord Jesus
cannot make right. Only come to Christ. If you had lived in Palestine, in the days when
Jesus was upon earth, you would have sought His help if you had been sick.
If you had been crushed down by some sore bodily disease in some back lane
of Capernaum, or in some cottage by the blue waters of the sea of Galilee,
you would surely have gone to Jesus for a cure. You would have sat by the
way-side day after day waiting for His appearance. You would have sought
Him, if He did not happen to come near your dwelling, and never rested till
you found Him. Oh! why not do the same this very day for the sickness of
your soul? Why not apply at once to the Great Physician in heaven, and ask
Him to “take away the stony heart, and give you a heart of flesh?” (Ezek.
xi. 19.) Once more invite every reader, high or low, rich or poor, old or
young. If you want “a right and good heart,” do not waste time in trying to
make it right by your own strength. It is far beyond your power to do it.
Come to the Great Physician of souls. Come at once to Jesus Christ. 4.
My last duty is to offer an
exhortation to
all whose hearts have been made right in the sight of God. I offer it as a
word in season to all true Christians. Hear me, believing brother or sister.
I speak especially to you. (a)
Is your heart right? then be
thankful.
Praise the Lord for His distinguishing mercy, in “calling you out of
darkness into His marvellous light.” (1 Peter ii. 9.) Think what you were by
nature. Think what has been done for you by free undeserved grace. Your
heart may not be all that it ought to be, nor yet all that you hope it will
be. But at any rate your heart is not the old hard heart with which you were
born. Surely the man whose heart is changed ought to be full of praise. (b)
Is your heart right? then be
humble and watchful.
You are not yet in heaven, but in the world. You
are in the body. The devil is near you, and never sleeps. Oh! keep your
heart with all diligence. Watch and pray lest you fall into temptation. Ask
Christ Himself to keep your heart for you. Ask Him to dwell in it, and reign
in it, and garrison it, and to put down every enemy under His feet. Give the
keys of the citadel into the King’s own hands, and leave them there. It is a
weighty saying of Solomon, “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.”
(Prov. xxviii. 26.) (c)
Is your heart right? then
be hopeful
about the hearts of other people. Who has made you to differ? Why should not
anyone in the world be changed, when such an one as you has been made a new
creature? Work on. Pray on. Speak on. Write on. Labour to do all the good
you can to souls. Never despair of any one being saved so long as he is
alive. Surely the man who has been changed by grace ought to feel that there
are no desperate cases. There are no hearts which it is impossible for
Christ to cure. (d)
Is your heart right? Then
do not expect too much
from it. Do not be surprised to find it weak and
wayward, faint and unstable, often ready to doubt and fear. Your redemption
is not complete until your Lord and Saviour comes again. Your full salvation
remains yet to be revealed. (Luke xxi. 28; 1 Peter i. 5.) You cannot have
two heavens, a heaven here and a heaven hereafter, changed, renewed,
converted, sanctified, as your heart is, you must never forget that it is a
man’s heart after all, and that of a man living in the midst of a wicked
world. After all our best things are yet to come in the day
when Christ “shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Heb.
ix. 28.) One of our best things in that day will be a really perfect and
good heart. In the life that now is we often “groan being burdened.” (2 Cor.
v.4.) In the life to come we shall at last serve God without weakness and
defect. Surely every believing reader who feels “the plague of his own
heart” should often look onward and forward to the day of Christ’s second
coming. A time draws near when Satan shall be bound, and Christ’s saints
shall be changed,—when sin shall no more vex us, and the sight of sinners
shall no more sadden our minds,—when believers shall at length attend on God
without distraction, and love Him with a perfect heart. For that day let us
wait, and watch, and pray. It cannot be very far off. The night is far
spent. The day is at hand. Surely if our hearts are right, we ought often to
cry, “Come quickly, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev. xxii. 20.) ____________________ |