Heart Work. 8

Fourth, in times of Zion's trouble it behooves public and tender hearts to be delivered from sinking into despondency and despair. When we see the once fair gardens of the Church, with their hedges broken down, the boar running wild therein, the flowers replaced by weeds, it makes a godly soul cry, "Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears" (Jer. 9:1). Yes, but remember, no trouble befalls Zion, but by the permission of Zion's God, and He permits nothing out of which He will not bring much good at last. Moreover, "there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest" (1 Cor. 11:19). Again, lay hold of and persistently plead before God His promise: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19). However low the Church may be plunged under the waters of adversity, it shall assuredly rise again.

Fifth, how may a Christian keep his heart from revengeful motives under the greatest injuries and abuses of men?

First, urge upon your soul the express commands of God: remember that this is forbidden fruit, no matter how pleasant to our vitiated appetites. 'Revenge is sweet,' says nature. 'The effects thereof shall be bitter,' says God. How plainly has God prohibited this flesh-pleasing sin: "Say not, I will do so to him as he has done to me: I will render to the man according to his work" (Proverbs 24:29); "Avenge not yourselves" (Romans 12:19). But that is not all: "If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink" (Proverbs 25:21). One of the many proofs of the supernatural origin of the Scriptures is that they forbid revenge, which is so sweet to nature. Then awe your heart by the authority of God in those Scriptures.

Second, set before your soul the blessed and binding example of Christ: never did any suffer more and greater abuses from men than did the Savior, and never was any one so peaceful and forgiving: "When He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:23). To be of a meek and gracious spirit is to be Christ-like.

Third, calm your heart by the realization that by revenge you do but satisfy a lust; but by forgiving you shall conquer a lust.

Again; consider more frequently how often you wrong God, and then you will not be so easily inflamed against those who wrong you. Do you still reply, But such insults and injustices are more than flesh and blood can stand? then earnestly seek supernatural grace.

Sixth, how may a Christian preserve his heart from utterly sinking in seasons of spiritual gloom and the hidings of God's face? Turn unto the cheering promises which God has left on record for His backslidden people: Jeremiah 3:22, Hosea 14:4, etc. No matter what your sin or trouble is, let it drive you to God, and not from Him: cry with David, "Pardon my iniquity; for it is great" (Psalm 25:11). But suppose I can obtain no access to God, no conscious help from His Spirit, and find no ray of hope for my poor heart? Then heed this word, "Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys the voice of His servant, that walks in darkness, and has no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God" (Isaiah 50:10).

Seventh, how may the Christian, in a time of critical illness, get his heart loose from all earthly engagements and persuade it unto a willingness to die?

First, by reminding himself that death has lost its sting (1 Cor. 15:55) and cannot harm him.

Second, by considering what heavy burdens he will then be rid of. The soul pays a dear rent for the house it now lives in! But death frees the saint not only from all the troubles and trials of this life, not only from all the sufferings and pains of the body, but it delivers from all spiritual diseases—"he who is dead is freed from sin" (Romans 6:7). Justification destroys its damning power, sanctification its reigning power, but glorification its very being and existence. At death the Christian is done forever with Satan and his temptations: then how heartily should he welcome it!

"God is not the author of confusion" (1 Cor 14:33); no, the Devil causes that, and he has succeeded in creating much in the thinking of many, by confounding the "heart" with the "nature." People say, "I was born with an evil heart, and I cannot help it." It would be more correct to say, "I was born with an evil nature, which I am responsible to subdue." The Christian needs to clearly recognize that in addition to his two "natures"—the flesh and the spirit—he has a heart which God requires him to "keep." We have already touched upon this point, but deem it advisable to add a further word thereon.

I cannot change or better my "nature," but I may and must my "heart." For example, "nature" is slothful and loves ease, but the Christian is to redeem the time and be zealous of good works. Nature hates the thought of death, but the Christian should bring his heart to desire to depart and be with Christ. The popular religion of the day is either a head or a hand one: that is to say, the laboring to acquire a larger and fuller intellectual grasp of the things of God, or a constant round of activities called "service for the Lord." But the heart is neglected! Thousands are reading, studying, taking "Bible-courses," but for all the spiritual benefits their souls derive, they might as well be engaged in breaking stones! Lest it be thought that such a stricture is too severe, we quote a sentence from a letter recently received from one who has completed no less than eight of these "Bible-study courses": "There was nothing in that 'hard work' which ever called for self-examination, which led me to really know God, and appropriate the Scriptures to my deep need." No, of course there was not: their compilers—like nearly all the speakers at the big "Bible conferences"—studiously avoid all that is unpalatable to the flesh, all that condemns the natural man, all that pierces and searches the conscience. O the tragedy of this "head Christianity"!

Equally pitiable is the hand religion of the day, when young "converts" are put to teaching a Sunday school class, urged to "speak" in the open air, or take up "personal work." How many thousands of beardless youths and young girls are now engaged in what is called "winning souls for Christ," when their own souls are spiritually starved! They may "memorize" two or three verses of Scripture a day, but that does not mean their souls are being fed. How many are giving their evenings to helping in some "mission," who need to be spending time in "the secret place of the Most High"! And how many bewildered souls are using the major part of the Lord's day in rushing from one meeting to another, instead of seeking from God that which will fortify them against temptations of the week. O the tragedy of this "hand Christianity"!

How subtle the Devil is! Under the guise of promoting growth in "the knowledge of the Lord," he gets people to attend a ceaseless round of meetings, reading an almost endless number of religious periodicals and books, or under the pretense of "honoring the Lord" by all this so-called "service." He induces the one or the other—to neglect the great task which GOD has set before us: "Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). Ah, it is far easier to speak to others, than it is to constantly use and improve all holy means and duties to preserve the soul from sin, and maintain it in sweet and free communion with God. It is far easier to spend an hour reading a sensational article upon "the signs of the time," than it is to spend an hour in agonizing before God for purifying and rectifying grace!

This work of keeping the heart is of supreme importance. The total disregard of it means that we are mere formalists. "My son, give me your heart" (Proverbs 23:26): until that is done, God will accept nothing from us. The prayers and praises of our lips, the labor of our hands, yes, and a correct outward walk, are things of no value in His sight—while the heart be estranged from Him. As the inspired Apostle declared, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

If the heart be not right with God, we cannot worship Him, though we may go through the form of it. Watch diligently, then, your love for Him. God cannot be imposed upon, and he who takes no care to order his heart aright before Him is a hypocrite. "My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice" (Ezek. 33:31, 32). Here are a company of formal hypocrites, as is evident from the words "My people": like them, but not of them! And what constituted them impostors? Their outside was very fair—high professions, reverent postures, much seeming delight in the means of grace. Ah, but their hearts were not set on God, but were commanded by their lusts, and went after covetousness.

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