The Fruit of a Changed Heart

THE FRUIT

of a

CHANGED HEART

Jer.17: ⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Every person born after Adam is born with a fallen nature, or in other words a fallen and sinful heart. That little baby, although innocent compared with adults, has a fallen nature which will be revealed and honed after some months and years of growth. Every child comes with a capacity to sin and every child exercises that capacity with great energy. The deception that is inherent within a human heart is so deep and so clever, that it even deceives the person it inhabits. It is an evil miracle so to speak.

The evil heart of man knows no limits and can even invent evil things. It will sin not only with impunity, but it will sin cloaked as a good deed. This kind of diabolical energy comes from the evil one and from the profound strength of sin itself. Sin builds upon sin and produces an earthly strength which imprisons the souls and reaches out to imprison others. This kind of evil can even appear as messengers of righteousness and as prophets of the Most High God when in reality they are agents of Satan himself. And all this and more emanates from within the hidden places of the human heart. The prophet rightly asks the question, “Who can know it?”

But within that fallen heart there is a knowledge of the existence of a god on some level. And all men are held accountable before God. No man can find God and the Lord Jesus without the Holy Spirit draws him. And the Spirit seeks to draw all men unto Christ, and so even a sinful man must surrender to that drawing. I do believe a sinner can seek God, but I also believe the spirits of antichrist roam the earth and deceive even some searching hearts. Yes, it is a mystery. But I unequivocally believe that Christ died for every sinner and desires that all sinners be saved. I will address that in another post, however how does God get more glory by dying for a miniscule few rather than dying for the entire race when it was in His capacity to do it? And without a free will given to man the entire redemptive narrative is a colossal game of divine solitaire with man being little more than unwilling pawns in a chess game already played.

But the problem man faces is not what religion to espouse or even how to adjust his morals to align with the will of God. In fact, man has the capacity to adjust those morals without knowing God and without being born again of the Spirit of God. That kind of metamorphosis is a strong delusion and is humanism in its most obvious form. Many people join religions and cults and have a remarkable change in their behavior which includes giving up addictions, rejecting previous immoral behaviors, and even a new sense of hope and love for people. But they have just made alterations through the power of the human will. Yes, it happens.

But only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can a sinner receive a brand new heart, which is another way of saying a new nature. Without a new heart everything is just religion and morality without redemption.

Matt.12: ³⁵ A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Rom.10: ⁸ But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

⁹ That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

When a person is born again he receives a new nature, a new heart, created in the essence and likeness of Christ Jesus. Everything changes. People look different; family looks different; your job is different; the temporal things give way to the eternal. You are not perfect and many things will continue to change, but from that moment when the Spirit of God comes into your being you will never be the same. Before you were changed when people talked about Jesus you could not really understand, but now you do. Now when a person gives a testimony about how they were saved you can identify. You have been given a brand new heart and you now belong completely to God.

You hear all the arguing about politics and it seems so meaningless. You still root for sports teams, but now you realize it has only a place. You love your family but all things must bow to your love for Jesus.

II Cor.1: ²¹ Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;

²² Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

II Cor.3: ³ Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

The Person of the Holy Spirit has done His work of regeneration and has implanted a new heart within your being. Oh yes there are still the ever present residual effects and temptations of the old nature, but now you are free and you are a brand new creation. This is not religion. This is a divine miracle which translates a living being from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Dear Son. It cannot be copied; it cannot be duplicated. Many have tried to simulate it by conforming their outward man to rules and regulations, and many have suggested they have pleased God because of their outward transformation.

However without faith it is impossible to please God. And unless the outward changes are the visible effects of an inward change because of a faith in Jesus Christ then the outward changes are useless and filthy rags. Attempting to regulate behavior from the outside is self righteousness and is an affront to God. Without holiness no man shall see God, and that holiness can only come through faith in Jesus Christ. The sinners around us do not need a lesson on marriage or stealing or abortion or sexual purity. What they need is a new heart.

II Cor.4: ⁵ For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

⁶ For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

People around us notice a change in our speech and our behavior. But we must let them know it is because we have a new heart. Not earned and not deserved, but given by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. We are still not yet perfect, but we can never be the same. Our being pulsates with the power and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes all things new.