THE HEART OF THE BELIEVER
Alistair M Brown
Proverbs 4: 23
2 Corinthians 3: 2-3
Ephesians 3: 14-19
These scriptures speak of the heart of the believer, and I would seek the Lord’s help to say something about that to help us and lead us on. When the Scripture speaks of our hearts, it is not referring to the internal organ that pumps blood around our bodies, although there are some parallels. The Scripture is really referring to the seat of our feelings, and particularly the affections. A lot of things are said about the heart in Scripture. Some of them are very sobering, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable” (Jer 17: 9), for example. We have to accept the truth of that, that as away from God, man’s feelings, affections and motives have been corrupted. The heart speaks of what is inward and related to motive too, I believe. Man, as away from God, has corrupted affections and a heart that is wicked. I do not want to occupy the brethren with that, but it is nevertheless true.
The heart speaks of what is inward and feeling, and God is interested in our hearts. He is interested in your feelings and affections, dear brother and sister. You might think if you are very young that God is not much interested in you. I can tell you that He is; He is even more interested in your young heart and in your affections. He wants to secure your heart for Himself, and He has given the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, so that we might believe on Him. We are told that “with the heart is believed to righteousness”, Rom 10: 10. God would appeal to our hearts in having given Christ for us. It is right that we should speak about what God has done to secure our hearts for Himself through the giving of Christ. Then we become responsible to answer to His word, to what He tells us about Jesus. We are responsible to take in what God says, and we are responsible to believe, to take God at His word: “with the heart is believed”. It involves the feelings of a person responding to what God presents, and God loves to see that. God loves to see a heart affected by Jesus and His love, by what He has done for us, and what and who He is as a blessed living Man. The gospel is presented to our hearts for the acceptance of faith and God loves to see a response in these hearts. He loves to take account of a response in all of our hearts, and particularly in those that are young.
God sees into our hearts; He is “the heart-knowing God”, Acts 15: 8. Peter speaks of Him in that way. We cannot hide things in our hearts from God. We might hide things from our parents, or our friends or the brethren, but we cannot hide anything from God. He has access to our hearts, He sees what is in there, our feelings, our motives, and our affections, but He does not look into our hearts to condemn us. He would reveal to us “the thoughts and intents” (Heb 4: 12) of our hearts. The Scriptures discern and penetrate into the heart and make known the “thoughts and intents of the heart”. God, in searching our hearts, makes known to us the reality of what is in them. How do I feel about God searching my heart? We are responsible, as the scripture that we have read in Proverbs says, to keep our hearts. So, as believers in Jesus, we are to keep our hearts for Him; our affections are to be directed to Him. God would search our hearts. David says,
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
prove me, and know my thoughts;
And see if there be any grievous way
in me; and lead me in the way everlasting,
Ps 139: 23-24.
David was one who went in and sat before God, 2 Sam 7: 18. He understood that God knew what was in his heart. David knew about confessing his sins; that was a heart matter. He knew about God searching. How do you feel, how do I feel, about God searching my heart? Is your heart true? Is my heart true? We read earlier about approaching in full assurance of faith and with a true heart (Heb 10: 22), having come under the shelter of the blood, cleansing us. Well, it is an exercise to be maintained in that, to keep our hearts true; that involves guarding our hearts.
How important it is to guard our hearts. We only have one heart; that is physically true, and it is true in a moral sense as well. And our hearts are sensitive; our feelings and affections are sensitive; they can be led one way or another; it is part of the human condition. God desires to secure our hearts, to secure our affections for Him, through Christ. The question for us, for me, is whether I keep my heart for Him. Again I would say to my dear younger brethren, when we are young our hearts are particularly impressionable and they can be led. Of course they can be led when we are older as well, but to beloved younger people in particular I say, how blessed it is to keep and guard our hearts. Who is going to have the first place in your heart? Is it the Lord Jesus? The One who has given Himself for us, suffered and died to secure your heart in faith for God forever? Or are you going to allow something or someone else to have that first place? Responsibility for guarding our hearts means excluding what is not according to God, what is out of keeping with affection for Christ, and receiving and protecting and guarding what is of God so that our affections are rightly focused on the Lord Jesus.
People guard what is precious. Wealthy people will spend a lot of money on installing systems to guard what they have invested their money in, and then it is all going to turn to dust anyway, but people guard what is precious to them. And your heart is precious. My appeal is to myself and to all of us, to guard our hearts, not to let in what is opposed to God or does not honour Christ. There are so many influences and ways of thinking and speaking that mark the world, that would damage our hearts, young hearts especially. I appeal to all of us to keep our hearts pure and keep them true for the Lord Jesus, for His interests, and to preserve our affections for that blessed One. How worthy He is of our affections. Jesus is well worth knowing; He is well worth loving. He loved us first, “We love because he has first loved us”, 1 John 4: 19. It is a personal thing: I am loved by Jesus, He loved me and gave Himself for me, and He loved you and gave Himself for you. He attaches great importance to the affections of our hearts; He wants them for Himself. In order for that to be so, we have to take responsibility for guarding our hearts against what is around us, and from what is within us too, keeping ourselves in self-judgment, refusing and denying the flesh in us. We must deny any place to what would lead our hearts away from this blessed One.
If this sounds too difficult, remember that as believers “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”, Rom 5: 5. The love of God in our hearts in warmth and light has power to exclude what would interfere. The help of the Spirit is available to us. Dear young believer, make sure you have received the Spirit - He is available to all those who obey God and have the desire to know His power. If you feel your affections are being diverted from Christ, ask the Spirit for His help to guard your heart. Go through this world as a light “in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation” (Phil 2: 15), and hold your heart for Christ: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be”, Luke 12: 34. May our treasure be in Christ; may our hearts be focused on Him.
The heart, as we have said, involves inward feelings, and if we keep our hearts more than anything else, the issues of my life will make that manifest. What I am in my heart will come out in testimony and in response to God too. What is inward has to be right and has to be held for Christ. The heart is the source of things; then there is what flows out of the heart, these issues of life. Young persons looking ahead to the rest of their lives may see opportunities and potential. But put Christ first, have Him at the source of these issues of life. Is He going to be the source for you, your object, and strength, and satisfaction, and joy? Then guard your heart more than anything else and give Him the first place in it. What we do when we are young is very, very important to the rest of our lives. In a natural way that is true, but in a moral and spiritual way even more so. We would not want anything to enter into the heart of any of us, and our young brethren particularly, that would impair or harm us morally, for we may find that it stays with us. Thus our hearts are to be protected as the sensitive seat of the affections. We must guard them.
A heart in which Jesus has the first place is a softened heart. We read about that in 2 Corinthians. Paul had a great yearning for these dear brethren in Corinth; he had powerful feelings as to them; his heart was towards them. Paul’s heart was like God’s heart; our hearts are to become, in their measure, like God’s heart. We seek the blessing of those that we come into contact with, seek the blessing of our brethren, seek the blessing of men. That is what God’s heart is like. Our hearts are to be like that too. Paul speaks about these Corinthian brethren as being his epistle, that is, the result of his ministry. The Corinthians, as secured through his ministry were “written in our hearts”, he says; that is, they were in Paul’s heart. What God had wrought in his heart! The truth that had been given to Paul, was immense; it was light from heaven, from Christ risen and glorified in heaven. That is what was in Paul’s heart, and he had seen the effect of his ministry in the Corinthians. Here he speaks of that effect figuratively, as what was written on their hearts; “Ye are our letter, written in our hearts”, that is, the ministry had come from Christ through the heart of Paul and those with him, “known and read of all men, being manifested to be Christ’s epistle ministered by us, written not with ink, but the Spirit of the living God; not on stone tables, but on fleshy tables of the heart”. So here is a great feature of a believer’s heart, that it is impressionable, and it takes in the truth given by Christ. What Paul is writing about here is what he had ministered verbally to the brethren in Corinth, and no doubt also what he had already written to them in his first epistle. He is speaking about the result, the result impressed upon the Corinthians, upon their affections. I think Paul was crediting everything he could to the Corinthian brethren. There were still things that needed to be set right, but he credited to them everything that he could. The point I seek to make is that we are responsible to receive the truth as it is set out in Scripture and as it is ministered too, all based on Scripture, so that it is impressed on our hearts and something is written there. We sang about that; things have to be engraved on our hearts permanently, and thus to govern our affections (Hymn 172). The truth is to be taken into our affections and is to govern them, so that we obey. It says in Romans, “thanks be to God, that ye were bondmen of sin, but have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which ye were instructed”, chap 6: 17. The truth of God set out in the Scriptures and made living to us in the power of the Spirit is to govern us; so we obey “from the heart the form of teaching into which ye were instructed”.
Truth governs the feelings and the mind of the believer, and they go together; you cannot separate them. How important our feelings and affections are; they are to be formed by the truth. That is the way to growth and formation, so that God’s end - that He should have many before Him who are like Christ - might be furthered. God’s objective in us is furthered by the truth having its way in our hearts, and that requires our hearts to be soft and to take on the truth, take on impressions. We often speak about receiving impressions of Christ. When impressions of that One are imparted to our hearts, they are to have a permanent effect there. God will have more from us as impressions of Christ are formed in our hearts, as our affections are drawn out towards Him, and we see fresh glories and attractiveness in Christ that we did not see before: hat permanent, living impression of Christ is one that I did not have before. That leads to growth and to greater likeness to Him.
Such impressions must also have an external effect: it says, “known and read of all men”. So as the heart is formed by the truth, as it had been in its measure among these Corinthians, this is seen publicly, in testimony – “of all men”. People could see that in the city of Corinth, which was a wicked city. In that city there were those whose hearts were for Christ. Paul’s ministry had had its effect, had impressed itself on the hearts of these early Christians, and people around took account of that and saw that they were different. That immediately raises the question with me, whether people can take account of the way I live my life, whether it is consistent with the truth and whether in its measure it is according to Christ. Can people see that, can people read that in me? Can they take account of it? That is a positive exercise. And we are not left to our own devices – by relying on the Holy Spirit’s power, the believer is given strength to show outwardly what has been formed in us inwardly. God has His return from that. God has His satisfaction and pleasure in seeing hearts that are faithful to Christ here. How important that is.
Furthermore we can encourage one another in taking on these impressions. We can remind one another of the attractiveness and glories of Christ in our conversations. We do that in our reading meetings. It is a very healthy thing if we listen and take care to receive and seek to understand what is said. In that way, Christ is impressed on our hearts, we take in impressions of that blessed One. It is a wonderful thing to be in the company of believers, whose hearts are engaged with Christ and who love Him and want to speak about Him. There is no better company in the world, absolutely none. And it is a safe place. A company of believers, those whose hearts have been taken over by Christ, who belong to Him and who love Him, is a safe place to be. It is the place where I want to be, and I trust it is the place where all of us want to be, and to be preserved there in living commitment to the Lord Jesus. We should also have the desire, especially those of us who are a little bit older, to help one another to grow in the things of Christ and to encourage and strengthen each one.
A dear brother years ago said that the real way of coming into fellowship is that you want to be with people who appreciate Christ, and that Christian fellowship derives character from appreciation of Him, CAC vol 3 p253; vol 30 p538. How wonderfully attractive to appreciate that blessed One. A preacher at home recently said, ‘Have you ever been detained in the presence of Christ, having come to Him in awe and in affection?’. Well, have you been detained in the presence of the Lord Jesus and looked on Him with awe, One that is superior to any other, God manifest in flesh, and a real Man with real affections? How great Christ’s heart is. Do you know that you have a place in Christ’s heart? His heart is big enough to have a place for everyone, and He loves you. What it is to come into His presence and get some impression of His greatness and of His love for you. How marvellously attractive that is. How wonderful a Person Christ is! Does He have the first place in my heart and in yours? Has He been written on that heart by the Holy Spirit, an impression written not with ink but the Spirit of the living God, an indelible impression of Christ left there? How safe and blessed it is to be in the company of those whose hearts are impressed with Christ, and want to become more like Him and to be more devoted to Him. I commend Christ to every one of us; I commend Him to our affections, that we should give Him the first place. How impressionable is my heart? Flesh is sometimes spoken of in Scripture in a negative way, but “fleshy” here simply means impressionable, that which takes on what the Spirit would write. Do not have a hard heart, friend; have a heart that is soft and impressionable to take on the writing of the Holy Spirit. He writes Christ; that is what the Spirit does, He writes Christ in our hearts as being lovers of Him.
Something more is said about the hearts of believers in Ephesians 3. You might think that Ephesians is difficult to understand. Christianity involves our stretching out into spiritual things, exercising ourselves to seek to understand what God is saying to us in His word. We have the Holy Spirit to help us. Paul writing to the Corinthians speaks about the things “which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him”, 1 Cor 2: 9. Ephesians speaks of the most wonderful things that God has prepared for those that love Him, and they certainly have not entered into man’s heart naturally. But friend, if you are a believer in Jesus these things have begun to come into your heart, and if you have the Holy Spirit, ask Him for help to understand what God says about His greatest thoughts - for example, that the saints are God’s portion, or inheritance, and what that entails, Eph 1: 18.
I cannot give a discourse on chapter 3 of Ephesians, but I would like to point out some things that are written here. Paul bows his knees to the Father; that is, he is praying; and he prays for the brethren in Ephesus, that God might give them “according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts”. There is a close connection between “the inner man” and “the heart”. Paul was praying that the Spirit’s power would be known and experienced by these brethren in Ephesus. It has been said that Paul’s ministry took the Ephesians so far, and after that it was not ministry that Paul engaged in, but prayer, so that the Spirit’s power would be known inwardly in the hearts of these Ephesian brethren and that heavenly things might be opened up to them further. Paul wanted them to be in the good of the truth that he had ministered, so that they might together know what it was to have Christ dwelling, through faith, in their hearts, “rooted and founded in love, in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height”. You might say, ‘the breadth and length and depth and height of what?’. Paul does not need to say, ‘of what’ because it is all the mind and purpose of God for us, in all its blessedness and glory and joy; that we should take character from Christ and experience the blessings that God has prepared in His heart for those that love Him, and that we should be before Him in love, blameless, ministering to Him. We should extend the apostle’s prayer for the Ephesians to ourselves; it is for believers who desire to grow in the truth and come to full knowledge. What he prays for is that we should be “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love”.
It is a wonderful matter to go over these scriptures prayerfully. Paul’s desire was that Christ should dwell in our hearts. How does Christ dwell in the heart of the believer? It must be by the Spirit, because the Spirit indwells, and if the Spirit indwells then Christ is dwelling there. It also carries the thought that He presides there: He presides in my heart. The sway of Christ’s love is known. He is to dwell, through faith, in our hearts, being rooted and founded in love. That is, the knowledge of Christ and His love is rooted and founded in the soul. We were speaking about full assurance: “rooted and founded” is unshakeable assurance. It cannot be disturbed. It is living and it is strong. You get the thought of plant life, and what is rooted, what is living. Then ‘founded’ means that Christ’s dwelling in our hearts is on an unassailable and strong foundation of love; His love. That is the ground, you might say, in the believer’s heart for Christ in His love to take possession of, and to be rooted and founded there. Nothing can shake that. This is the result of the heart of the believer coming under the power of the Holy Spirit and giving Christ the first place there. Then there are results of that, “in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints” - here we were speaking about the blessing of sharing Christian fellowship with those that love Christ - “what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ”.
We cannot overstate the importance of what is individual, our communion individually with Christ, and with the Spirit, and with the Father. Then there is something even more blessed in what we enjoy with “all the saints”. Our apprehension is increased as we enter into true Christian fellowship and enjoy the blessings that flow from it. That is God’s thought, that He should be enjoyed in the saints; and His portion is in the saints. He has His portion in measure in each of us individually, but there is what is very great indeed and according to God’s heart in the thought of the saints together, what is collective, of assembly character. In the present day of breakdown we can claim nothing, but we can enjoy the spirit of it, as having fellowship with those who are available to us and who love Christ and desire to be governed by the truth. “With all the saints”, and in the power of the Spirit, opens up to us a realm where we appreciate the extent of God’s purpose and His thoughts for us and experience “the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge”.
The heart being filled with the love of the Christ is a wonderful thing. We can say from experience, that our hearts are filled with the love of Christ on a Lord’s day morning particularly, as we remember Him, and as He comes into the occasion, telling us of His love, and of His own glories and the Father’s glories. We experience what it is to have our hearts filled with the love of the Christ. We should desire to know it more and to be maintained in it. It is not that things stop when the service finishes on a Lord’s day morning. Very often the brethren sit in silence, reluctant to move away from what they are enjoying. What a blessed thing it is to experience the love of the Christ filling our hearts: it is a wonderful and blessed matter that surpasses knowledge. And then it says, “that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”. What can we say about that? Our hearts are full and overflowing. The fulness of God speaks of completeness in the saints, a full answer to the revelation of Himself.
We need to be preserved in reality, so that we do not claim things that are not true in us, but at the same time the Scripture encourages us to stretch out to the full thoughts of God. Well, our hearts are vital to that. God wants to fill our hearts with Christ, and as He does, there is a flow: the psalmist says, “My heart is welling forth with a good matter: I say what I have composed touching the king”, Ps 45: 1. A heart full of Christ rejoices in responding to Him and in responding to God. That is how we will spend eternity, and we will be absolutely rejoicing in it. It is wonderful and it will be wonderful. We can have some foretaste of it now, as having hearts softened to take on impressions of Him, held by Him and for Him, and full of Him. Hearts like that need to be guarded. If we want a heart like that, and each one of us does, we have to guard it. We have a responsibility to guard and keep our hearts, for out of it are the issues of life. These things that we have been speaking about are the issues of life, life according to God. I trust that these few thoughts may be for our encouragement and help.
For His Name’s sake.
Norwood
19th March 2022