Christian Living

Fractured Hearts of Sin

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
06/25/21
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“It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” (Matthew 15:11)

We’re in a world fractured by sin as man fell to the temptation of Satan in the Garden of Eden. As a result, both man and nature were cursed by God as a result of man’s fall. (Genesis 3) Since then, the loom of death rests upon man for all of his days. With only a few exceptions, all humanity passes from this world to the next through the door of death. It is a great fear for most people as they have not taken the time to learn the truth of God’s salvation plan, which is available to them as a free gift by His grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The heart of man is fractured from its original purity by the Knowledge of Good and Evil from the forbidden fruit. God’s Word was rejected in the Garden through disobedience, so it is today, and all in the world suffer from its effect. Solomon noted this in the book of Ecclesiastes. “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.” (Ecclesiastes 9:3)

The problem for most is their ignorance of God’s Word and its truth. Man is a physical being, and he fears the inevitable death of his physical body. They fail to recognize the truth that the Spirit of God breathed life into man’s physical body, and life is not in the flesh but in the spirit, which is eternal. (Genesis 2:7) The flesh loves and seeks the pleasures of this world and takes dominance over the spirit. The spirit desires the knowledge of truth, the spirit desires the love of God its Creator, but the flesh is weak and falls easily to its desires for this world. “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

Humanity invests most of its life in the wants and needs of the flesh, knowing that it will fail him and die. An economist would understand the greater investment is the eternal spirit than in dying flesh. For most, that is not the thought until it is too late. God sees the deeds of man and knows that evil rules his heart. “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

Jesus responded to some Pharisees complaining that His disciples did not wash their hands in accordance with tradition, said the words of our text. They missed the point of what Jesus was saying as they usually did as Jesus was not talking about food as much as He was talking about the heart of men. He later pointed this out to His disciples. “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.” (Matthew 15:18-20)

Man cannot understand the motives of his heart unless he has a standard to judge it by. Humanity without a true standard is easily deceived. “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

It is a problem with society today in that we have no standard to judge our motives. I have heard it said that truth is what life has revealed to you as you stumble through. Life does not have to be an experience of trial and error. Not all of us have to graduate from the school of hard knocks. We can know the truth, and we can know the standard that creation was built upon, God’s Word. God’s Word was there before the beginning (John 1:1), and it endures to this day and will for all eternity. Humanity has created a false standard by popular opinion. If enough people can agree upon a twisted truth, then it becomes a standard that they live by. Humanity is slow to learn the lessons of their own false truth, as we have been down that road time and time again. “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

Because of our ignorance of the truth, we trust our ignorance and call it innocence. Then we place our trust in our innocence and call it purity. The deception is unending as we must reach a crisis point before admitting that our purity is not innocent and our innocence is born out of ignorance only to seek out the next popular plan. The traditions of the Pharisees failed them because it was never about building themselves up by submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ and accepting His grace to receive salvation. It is He the Lord that understands the heart of man. “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10)

If you ask people the question, “if there is a heaven and there is a hell, then where would you like to end up?” Some will say I am going to heaven because I obey the laws of the land, I treat people as I would like to be treated, and I believe in God. If they believe in God, that is good, but they do not know God. If they knew God, they would know that the standard for entry into heaven is perfect, as God is perfect. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

It is the standard that all humanity is to live by to be perfect as God is perfect. “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) It is not to live better than your neighbor, your pastor, the President of the nation and not to obey the laws of the land. On Judgment Day, it is not the Constitution that God will judge us by. God’s judgment is on the Word of God. I would say that unless I live well over a hundred years, I have spent most of my life believing I could never meet that measure and therefore did not even try. The truth is we can, I can, by confession, repentance, and accepting the atoning blood sacrifice of Jesus as payment for our sins. Then He will impute His righteousness to us. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Others may say there is no heaven or hell, and life is here. They walk away and continue to live in fear of death. They will die with fractured hearts of sin.

The only protection we have from spiritual death is the redemption of Jesus Christ. The only purity the world has seen is in the life of Jesus Christ. The only way to have life in the spiritual realm is to have the righteousness of Jesus Christ given to us when we depart this world. The only way to have perfection, the standard of God for entrance into His Kingdom, is to live in faith in God’s Word, Jesus Christ. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit, His Spirit leading us on the narrow path to spiritual freedom in the Kingdom of God. It is not our work but His through us for His glory. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, and we all will be there together in the mourning. “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, July 26, 2017