The Heart # 2

The Heart # 2

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 need a new heart. Their picture is drawn faithfully by Ezekiel, "They sit before you as my people, and they hear your words - but they will not do them - for with their mouth they show much love - but their heart goes after their covetousness" (Ezek. 33:31).

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 did not offer salvation to them. They will not be able to plead 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. Their own hearts will prove to have been the cause of their ruin! The life boat was alongside the wreck - but they would not enter it. Christ "would" have gathered them - but they "would not" be gathered. (Matt. 23:37). 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 3:19; 5:40).

I leave this part of my subject. I trust I have said enough to show you the immense importance of the heart in religion. Surely I have good reason for pressing the subject of this paper on your notice. Is your heart right? Is it right in the sight of God?

2. I will show you, 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 thing as naturally good hearts, whatever some ignorant people may please to say about "having a good heart at the bottom." 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 Spirit 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. 17:9). It says that "every imagination of the thoughts of the heart is only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5). It says that "the heart of the sons of men is full of evil" (Eccies. 9:3). It says that "From within, out of the heart of man" 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 7:21). Truly this is a humbling picture! The seeds of these things are in the heart of everyone born into the world. 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 Spirit has thought fit to use, in describing the natural heart. He calls it a "stony heart" (Ezek. 11:19). 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 than 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 stone". 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, the heart 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 moment you touch it. The old marble statues in many a cathedral church have heard thousands of sermons. Yet they never show any feeling. Not a muscle of their marble faces ever moves. 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. Until God sends fire from heaven to warm it, the natural heart of man has no feeling about religion. Well may it be called a heart of stone!

(c) A stone is BARREN. You will reap no harvest off rocks of any description. And you will never get a crop worth a dollar 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. Bit it flee from a roaring lion, or an earthquake, and it would not stir. It is just the same with the natural heart. It has not a spark of spiritual life about it. Until God plants the Holy Spirit 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 you. 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 nether 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 am not greatly surprised when I see or hear of unbelief. I remember the natural heart is wrong.

Would you know the reason why the state of people 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? By which of the saints would he sit down? What pleasure could he take in God's presence and company? 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 point here. Once more I press the whole subject of my paper upon your conscience. Surely you must allow it is a very serious one. Is your heart right? Is it right in the sight of God?

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 3)