Tag Archives: heart

Richard Sibbes, Sermon on Canticles 5.2 (a)

11 Wednesday Sep 2019

Posted by in Richard Sibbes, Song of Solomon, Uncategorized

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The fourth considers the paradoxical state of Canticles 5:2, “I sleep, but my heart wakes.”

First, Sibbes notes the concept of the heart as used in the Scripture:

The word heart, you know, includes the whole soul, for the understanding is the heart, ‘an understanding heart,’ Job 38:36. To ‘lay things up in our hearts,’ Luke 2:51, there it is memory; and to cleave in heart is to cleave in will, Acts 11:23. To ‘rejoice in heart,’ Isa. 30:29, that is in the affection. So that all the powers of the soul, the inward man, as Paul calleth it, 2 Cor. 4:16, is the heart.

By the terms “waking” and “sleeping”, Sibbes takes it for the state of the heart in a Christian, which is both redeemed and yet corruption remains. This makes for Sibbes’ first observation on the text:

Obs.1. You see here, then, first of all, in this correction, that a Christian hath two principles in him, that which is good, and that which is evil, whence issueth the weakness of his actions and affections. They are all mixed, as are the principles from which they come forth.

The second observation is by means of the Spirit the has knowledge of himself:

We may observe, further, that a Christian man may know how it is with himself. Though he be mixed of flesh and spirit, he hath a distinguishing knowledge and judgment whereby he knows both the good and evil in himself.

He compares the human heart in its nature as being like a lightless dungeon, but the Spirit is a light that searches the dark corners of the heart.He also notes that the in times of temptation, the work of the Spirit may be hindered in the human heart such a man not righty know himself:

In a dungeon where is nothing but darkness, both on the eye that should see and on that which should be seen, he can see nothing; but where there is a supernatural principle, where there is this mixture, there the light of the Spirit searcheth the dark corners of the heart. A man that hath the Spirit knoweth both; he knoweth himself and his own heart. The Spirit hath a light of its own, even as reason hath. How doth reason know what it doth? By a reflect act inbred in the soul. Shall a man that is natural reflect upon his state, and know what he knows, what he thinks, what he doth, and may not the soul that is raised to an higher estate know as much? Undoubtedly it may. Besides, we have the Spirit of God, which is light, and self-evidencing. It shews unto us where it is, and what it is. The work of the Spirit may sometimes be hindered, as in times of temptation. Then I confess a man may look wholly upon corruption, and so mistake himself in judging by that which he sees present in himself, and not by the other principle which is concealed for a time from him. But a Christian, when he is not in such a temptation, he knows his own estate, and can distinguish between the principles in him of the flesh and spirit, grace and nature.

Third, Sibbes notes that we should acknowledge both good work of the Spirit in our heart as well as our indwelling corruption. But,

Many help Satan, the accuser, and plead his cause against the Spirit, their comforter, in refusing to see what God seeth in them. We must make conscience of this, to know the good as well as the evil, though it be never so little.

Note that it is the job of Satan to accuse the believer. His goal is not to bring the conscience to a state of repentance, but to crush the heart in despair. There is a worldly sorrow and a sorrow of repentance.

This is a theme which Sibbes develops in other places. He works out the fact that a believer may be discouraged and overcome with sin and yet still not be destroyed as a believer. First, the Christian still has a principle of judgment. Even in the worst state, the Christian retains the capacity to know the moral truth of his actions.

Moreover, the will when focused can still choose the better part.

Take David in his sleepy time between his repentance and his foul sin. If one should have asked him what he thought of the ways of God and of the contrary, he would have given you an answer out of sound judgment thus and thus. If you should have asked him what course he would have followed in his choice, resolution, and purpose, he would have answered savourly.

Third, the affections of the believer will ultimately return to Christ:

Again, there remaineth affection answerable to their judgment, which, though they find, and feel it not for a time, it being perhaps scattered, yet there is a secret love to Christ, and to his cause and side, joined with joy in the welfare of the church and people of God; rejoicing in the prosperity of the righteous, with a secret grief for the contrary. The pulses will beat this way, and good affections will discover themselves. Take him in his sleepy estate, the judgment is sound in the main, the will, the affections, the joy, the delight, the sorrow. This is an evidence his heart is awake.

Fourth, the conscience, even when the believer has fallen into sin will respond. Sibbes gives of David when confronted by Nathan:

The conscience likewise is awake. The heart is taken ofttimes for the conscience in Scripture. A good conscience, called a merry heart, is ‘a continual feast,’ Prov. 15:15. Now, the conscience of God’s children is never so sleepy but it awaketh in some comfortable measure. Though perhaps it may be deaded*in a particular act, yet notwithstanding there is so much life in it, as upon speech or conference, &c., there will be an opening of it, and a yielding at the length to the strength of spiritual reason. His conscience is not seared. David was but a little roused by Nathan, yet you see how he presently confessed ingeniously†that he had sinned, 2 Sam. 12:13. So, when he had numbered the people, his conscience presently smote him, 2 Sam. 24:10; and when he resolved to kill Nabal and all his family, which was a wicked and carnal passion, in which there was nothing but flesh; yet when he was stopped by the advice and discreet counsel of Abigail, we see how presently he yielded, 1 Sam. 25:32, seq.There is a kind of perpetual tenderness of conscience in God’s people. All the difference is of more or less.

And finally, obedience to God will ultimately return; even when there has been a fall. Sibbes aptly distinguishes between “a state and a fit”. A state would be the general basic estate and a “fit” would be an illness:

And answerable to these inward powers is the outward obedience of God’s children. In their sleepy estate they go on in a course of obedience. Though deadly and coldly, and not with that glory that may give others good example or yield themselves comfort, yet there is a course of good duties. His ordinary way is good, howsoever he may step aside. His fits may be sleepy when his estate is waking. We must distinguish between a state and a fit. A man may have an aguish fit in a sound body. The state of a Christian is a waking state in the inward man. The bye-courses he falleth into are but fits, out of which he recovers himself.

 

 

Soren Kierkegaard, The Mirror of the Word, Part Two

24 Tuesday Apr 2018

Posted by in Exegeting the Heart, Kierkegaard, Kierkegaard, Uncategorized

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“What is Required in Order to Derive True Benediction From Beholding Oneself in the Mirror of the Word?

“First of all, what is required is that thou must not look at the mirror, not behold the mirror, but must see thyself in the mirror.”

At this point, Kierkegaard is getting to what the Word is supposed to do to one when it is read: specifically, what does this passage in James say the Word is supposed to do when it is read. He explains this by referring to “reading and reading”:

Thus the lover [who had received a letter] had made a distinction between reading and reading, between reading the dictionary and reading the letter from the lady love.

This means that when we read the Word, we must not treat the Word as the object and we the subject in control: rather, the Word is the subject and we are the object being examined. — This is not bare subjectivity of meaning — this does not mean that there are thousand “meanings” in the text and thus all ‘readings’ are equally valid. It would be easy to understand Kierkegaard as advocating some sort of hyper-reader-response theory:

So the lover made a distinction, as regards this letter from his beloved, between reading and reading; moreover, he understood how to read in such a way that, if there was a desire contained in the letter, one ought to begin at once to fulfill it, without wasting a second.

Think now of God’s Word. When thou readest God’s Word eruditely — we do not disparage erudition, far from it — but remember that when thou does read God’s Word eruditely, with a dictionary & c., thou are not reading God’s Word …

There are words on the page, that is true. But the reading does not stop at understanding the words: the words are there to do something to the reader. The one who reads the lover’s letter is not merely engaged in an intellectual exercise; the reading is undergone to change the reader.

There is a “point” to reading the Word:

And if there is a desire, a commandment, an order, then (remember the lover!), then be off at once to do accordingly.

To which one may object, but what of all the obscure and difficult passages. Kierkegaard answers brilliantly: well there are many things you do understand. Tell you what: do all the things which you in fact can understand, and after you have done all that let us consider the obscure passages.

This gets to a matter of Hebrews 5:14. There is a correlation between our ability to uderstand the Word and our obedience to the Word. Our correspondence in life to the Word, our correspondence in affection transforms our ability to understand:

14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Cognition

Behavior                       Affection

Each of these three affect the other. Kierkegaard is explaining that if we read merely for cognition, we have not read the Word. It is not inert knowledge which one seeks, but transformation. And James 1:22 explains that one transformation which must take place is that the Word must illuminate and expose the reader: the reader is being examined and seen when the Word is rightly read.

How then is this done? What does it look like in practice?

The Spirit Always Leads People to Think

31 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by in Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Uncategorized

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So the first effect of Christianity is to make people stop and think. They are not simply overawed by some great occasion. They say, “No, I must face this. I must think.” That is the work of the Spirit. The people in Acts thought again. They repented—the Greek word is metanoia—they changed their mind completely. The Spirit always leads people to think, and, as I have been showing you, the greatest trouble is that men and women go through life without thinking. Or they think for a moment but find it painful, so they stop and turn to a bottle of whiskey or television or something else—anything to forget.
Is it not obvious that the world, speaking spiritually and intellectually, is in a doped condition? In all sorts of ways men and women evade the facts. They can do this with great energy, they can be very intellectual, but ultimately they end up with nothing.
What does the Spirit make us think about? Well, not first and foremost about ourselves. I must emphasize that Christianity does not start with us. It does not say, “Do you want to get rid of that sin that is getting you down? Do you want happiness? Do you want peace? Do you want guidance?” That is not Christianity. That, again, is the approach of the cults. No, these people in Jerusalem were made to think about Jesus Christ! They were given the objective, historical facts about this person. Peter had just said to them, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
The next verse continues, “Now when they heard this”—they were not thinking about themselves but were beginning to think about Him. That is always the message of the Christian church. The true Christian message brings us face to face with the historical facts.

 

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Becoming a Christian,” in Authentic Christianity, 1st U.S. ed., vol. 1, Studies in the Book of Acts (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000), 53–54.

Counseling: The Heart

30 Saturday May 2015

Posted by in Biblical Counseling

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Biblical counseling entails “heart” work: “What would you say if you were asked to summarize what it meant to be a Christian? When pressed by the teachers of the Law, Jesus says that all true obedience grows out of a transformed heart.”[1] Numerous examples could be given to demonstrate this statement.

The language of “heart” work or change has become a cliché of sorts among Christians. Now it is right that we should think of change as taking place within the heart; yet what we mean by “heart work” at times falls short of the biblical concept.

[1] Timothy S. Lane, Paul David Tripp, How People Change, 195.

God Requires the Heart

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by in Ministry, Richard Sibbes

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God requires the heart; and religion is most in managing and tuning the affections, for they are the wind that carries the soul to every duty. A man is like the dead sea without affections. Religion is most in them. The devil hath brain enough, he knows enough, more than any of us all. But then he hates God. He hath no love to God, nor no fear of God, but only a slavish fear. He hath not this reverential fear, childlike fear. Therefore let us make it good that we are the servants of God, especially by our affections, and chiefly by this of fear, which is put for all the worship of God.

 

Richard Sibbes, “The Spiritual Favorite”  in The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 6 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; W. Robertson, 1863), 97.

The Call, A Poem by George Herbert

19 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Ephesians, George Herbert, John, Literature, Puritan

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Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:

Such a Way, as gives us breath:

Such a Truth, as ends all strife:

Such a Life, as killeth death.

 

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:

Such a Light, as shows a feast:

Such a Feast, as mends in length:

Such a Strength, as makes his guest.

 

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:

Such a Joy, as none can move:

Such a Love, as none can part:

Such a Heart, as joyes in love.

 

 

Notes:

 Meter & Structure: The poem primarily uses regularly iambic feet (unaccented syllable, accented syllable, “my WAY, my TURTH, my LIFE). However, the first foot of each stanza begins with a single syllable, the strongly accented “Come”. This gives the poem a quick movement and also emphasis the imperative, “Come”.

 

The first foot of lines 2-4 are stressed-unstressed-stressed; the amphibrach: “Such a Way”. The effect of the amphibrach is to set the first part off of the line off as the subject of the clause, “SUCH a WAY — as gives us life”. Also note that each noun in lines 2-4 has been introduced in line 1.

 Each stanza begins with an imperatival prayer, “Come” followed by three nouns. In the first two stanzas, the nouns describe Christ and found in John’s Gospel. The third stanza describes the subject results of the relationship to Christ, joy, love, heart.

 In all three stanza, lines 2-4 show the effect of each attribute, “Life which kills death”.

 In addition to the end rhyme ABAB, Herbert has also embedded an additional in lines 2-4 of each stanza: The last word of the second line rhymes with the third word of the third line. The last word of the third line rhymes with the third word of the fourth line:

 Breath-truth

Stife-life

Feast-Feast

Length-Strength

Move-Love

Part-Heart

 

Descriptions of Christ: The descriptions of Christ would have been readily known to any contemporary reader of Herbert’s poem.

 

First Stanza: Way, Truth & Life: This comes directly from John 14:6. The scene is during the “last supper” of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus is asked a question and answers. Here is the contex and the quotation (as found in John 14:1-6, ESV translation):

 

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

 

Second Stanza: Light, Feast, Strength: This triad does not appear in a single verse; however it is a common set of associations in the gospel of John.

Light: The prologue to John’s Gospel makes repeated references to Jesus (the Word) being the true light:

 

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:1-13

 

Jesus refers to himself as the “light” at a “feast”, which is recorded in John 7-8. In John 8:12, Jesus proclaims,

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

 The ESV Study Bible notes provides the background for this usage:

 

John 8:12 I am. See note on 6:35. Jesus is the light of the world (see note on 1:4–5; also 3:19–21; 12:35–36, 46). Jesus fulfills OT promises of the coming of the “light” of salvation and the “light” of God (e.g., Ex. 25:37; Lev. 24:2; Ps. 27:1; Isa. 9:2; 42:6; 49:6; John 9:5; Acts 13:47; 26:18, 23; Eph. 5:8–14; 1 John 1:5–7).

 

Feast: In addition to Jesus speaking at the feast, Jesus also said that he was the proper feast of humanity:

 

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:35-40.

 

Certainly this “feast” will be a demonstration of “strength”.

 

The ESV Study Bible notes here:

 

John 6:35 Jesus’ claim, “I am the bread of life,” constitutes the first of seven “I am” sayings recorded in this Gospel (see chart). Apart from these sayings there are also several absolute statements where Jesus refers to himself as “I am” (e.g., v. 20; 8:24, 28, 58; 18:5), in keeping with the reference to God as “I am” in Ex. 3:14 and the book of Isaiah (e.g., Isa. 41:4; 43:10, 25). Jesus is the “bread of life” in the sense that he nourishes people spiritually and satisfies the deep spiritual longings of their souls. In that sense, those who trust in him shall not hunger; that is, their spiritual longing to know God will be satisfied (cf. John 4:14 for a similar discussion of satisfying people’s spiritual thirst).

 Strength: While “strength” is not an appellation used by John of Jesus, it is a common enough description of God. John unquestionably takes over the understand of God in the Old Testament and applies it to Jesus. Herbert, an orthodox Christian, would likewise have no hesitation to make such a usage. Here is an example of the usage from Exodus 15:2:

 The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

 

Third Stanza, Joy, Love, Heart. This final triad differs from the first two in that these are not images derived from John’s description. Rather, these are responses of the worshipper to Jesus.

Joy: In John 15, Jesus says that he has come to produce love and joy in the hearts of his disciples:

 

10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

 Herbert has taken over the effect (love and joy) and attributed the effect to cause (Jesus). Thus, by producing love and joy Jesus is Herbert’s love and joy.

This matter of joy was a serious concern for the theologian and pastor of Herbert’s day. While the Puritans are caricatured as dour, sour people, their concerns where quite different: joy was a constant concern and desire. In particular, joy was seen as the result of knowing God and the gift of God:

 

As it is not the great cage that makes the bird sing, so it is not the great estate that makes the happy life, nor the great portion that makes the happy soul. There is no true comfort nor no true happiness to be drawn out of the standing pools of outward sufficiencies. All true comfort and happiness is only to be found in having of an all-sufficient God for your portion: Ps. 144:15, ‘Happy is that people that is in such a case, yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.’ And therefore, as ever you would be happy in both worlds, it very highly concerns you to get an interest in God, and to be restless in your own souls till you come to enjoy God for your portion.

 

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 2, “An Ark for All God’s Noahs” (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 7.

 Love

 

(3.) Our love to God shall never be abolished.—“Love never faileth;”* the same kind of love, the same numerical love that was in gracious persons on earth, shall be continued in heaven, and receive its perfection presently after its delivery from the body of death. There will be a greater change in all our graces than in our love. A great part of our life is taken up in the exercise of those graces, that, I may in some respect say, die with us. The one-half of our life is, or should be, spent in mortification. The whole of our time needs the exercise of our patience. Our life, at best, is but a life of faith. Much of our sweet communion with God is fetched-in by secret prayer. But now, in heaven, there shall be no sin to be mortified, nothing grievous to be endured. Faith shall be swallowed up in enjoyment, and your petitions shall be all answered. So that now, Christians, set yourselves to love God, and you shall no way lose your labour. Other graces are but as physic to the soul,—desirable for something else, which when obtained, they are useless; but love to God is the healthful constitution of the soul,—there is never any thing of it in any sense useless. Most of the graces of the Spirit do by our souls as our friends by our bodies, who accompany them to the grave, and there leave them; but now love to God is the alone grace, that is to our souls the same that a good conscience [is],—our best friend in both worlds.

 

James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 1, “How May We Attain to Love God With All Our Hearts, Souls, and Minds?”, Rev., Samuel Annesley, LL.D., (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 606.

 

Heart: The final image of Jesus being one’s “heart” is a traditional English usage for that which is most important to one. While Jesus is never said to be one’s heart in the Scripture, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians states that Jesus will dwell in a believer’s heart. In fact the entire complex of images used in Paul’s prayer may have an additional source of Herbert’s imagery for this poem:

 

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19.

Introduction to Biblical Counseling, Week Four: The Heart

31 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Keep the heart, Proverbs

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The previous post in this series can be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/introduction-to-biblical-counseling-week-three-worship/

 Introduction to Biblical Counseling, Week Four: The Heart

Biblical counseling entails “heart” work: “What would you say if you were asked to summarize what it meant to be a Christian? When pressed by the teachers of the Law, Jesus says that all true obedience grows out of a transformed heart.”[1] Numerous examples could be given to demonstrate this statement.

The language of “heart” work or change has become a cliché of sorts among Christians. Now it is right that we should think of change as taking place within the heart; yet what we mean by “heart work” at times falls short of the biblical concept.

I.       A General Description of the Heart

A.  It goes without saying that while the word “heart” can refer to the physical organ in one’s chest, the change which must take place within the “heart” does not mean surgery on arteries and tissue.

B.  General nature of the heart.

1.   The “heart is the locus and organ of thought and the faculty of understanding. . .  The intellectual exercise of the mind is not really detached from the emotional and the modern dichotomy is artificial.”[2]

2.   For “heart” signifies the total inner self, a person’s hidden core of being (1 Pt 3:4), with which one communes, which one “pours out” in prayer, words, and deeds (Gn 17:17; Ps 62:8; Mt 15:18, 19). It is the genuine self, distinguished from appearance, public position, and physical presence (1 Sm 16:7; 2 Cor 5:12; 1 Thes 2:17). And this “heart-self” has its own nature, character, disposition, “of man” or “of beast” (Dn 7:4 KJV; 4:16; cf. Mt 12:33–37).[3]

3.   “Moderns connect some of the heart’s emotional-intellectual-moral functions with the brain and glands, but its functions are not precisely equivalent for three reasons.

“First, moderns do not normally associate the brain/mind with both rational and non-rational activities, yet the ancients did not divorce them (Ps. 20:4).

“Second, the heart’s reasoning, as well as its feeling, depends on its moral condition. Jesus said that “from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts” (Mark 7:21). Because the human heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9) and folly is bound up in the heart of a child (Prov. 22:15), the Spirit of God must give humans a new heart (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:26) through faith that purifies it (Acts 15:9; cf. Eph. 3:17).

“Third, moderns distinguish between the brain’s thoughts and a person’s actions, but the distinction between thought and action is inappropriate for heart. “The word is very near you,” says Moses to a regenerated Israel, “in your mouth and in your heart” (Deut. 30:14).”[4]

4.   The heart is the space of one’s emotional life:

a.   And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. Genesis 45:26 (ESV)

b.   And Hannah prayed and said,

             “My heart exults in the LORD;

                        my horn is exalted in the LORD.

             My mouth derides my enemies,

                  because I rejoice in your salvation. 1 Samuel 2:1

 

c.   When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 1 Samuel 28:5 (ESV)

d.   “Emotionally, the heart experiences intoxicated merriment (1 Sm 25:36), gladness (Is 30:29), joy (Jn 16:22), sorrow (Neh 2:2), anguish (Rom 9:2), bitterness (Prv 14:10), anxiety (1 Sm 4:13), despair (Eccl 2:20), love (2 Sm 14:1), trust (Ps 112:7), affection (2 Cor 7:3), lust (Mt 5:28), callousness (Mk 3:5), hatred (Lv 19:17), fear (Gn 42:28), jealousy (Jas 3:14), desire (Rom 10:1), discouragement (Nm 32:9), sympathy (Ex 23:9), anger (Dt 19:6 KJV), irresolution (2 Chr 13:7 KJV), and much besides.”[5]

5.   The heart is the locus of one’s intellectual and intentional activity.

a.   The heart has “motives” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

b.   It has intentions: “And his armor-bearer said to him, ‘Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul’” 1 Samuel 14:7 (ESV).

c.   It moves one to conduct: “21 And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord” Exodus 35:21–22 (ESV).

d.   Contrives evil: “ While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” Acts 5:4 (ESV)

e.   The heart thinks: “4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” Matthew 9:4 (ESV).

f.    Meditates:

            5       I consider the days of old, the years long ago.

6       I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;

     let me meditate in my heart.”

                 Then my spirit made a diligent search: Psalm 77:5–6 (ESV)

 

6.   The information and affections within the heart give rise to outward manifestation.

a.   We see this frequently in Proverbs:

[A worthless person] with perverted heart devises evil

Continually sowing discord ….Proverbs 6:14 (ESV).[6]

 

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,

but those who plan peace have joy. Proverbs 12:20; (ESV)

 

A prudent man conceals knowledge,

but the heart of fools proclaims folly. Proverbs 12: 23 (ESV)

 

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down,

but a good word makes him glad. Proverbs 12:25 (ESV).

 

The lips of the wise spread knowledge;

not so the hearts of fools. Proverbs 15:7 (ESV)

 

A glad heart makes a cheerful face,

but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. Proverbs 15:13 (ESV)

 

The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious

and adds persuasiveness to his lips. Proverbs 16:23 (ESV)

 

As in water face reflects face,

so the heart of man reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 (ESV)

 

b.   Thus if the “heart” determines a matter, the entire self is said to be so determined, “Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways” (Proverbs 7:25a).

c.   The state of the heart can affect one’s physical state: “A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot” (Proverbs 14:30). “A joyful heart is good medicine but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22).

d.    SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Yet, care must always be taken when evaluating the content of the heart on the basis of conduct, because the heart is capable of overt deceit (6:10; 23:7; 26:23-24). Longman writes of 14:10, “[N]o one can really knows what is going on emotionally insider another person.”[7]  And, “the heart of the king is unsearchable” (25:3[8]; see also, 23:7). The problem with evaluation of the heart exists even with self-evaluation: “To trust in one’s own heart . . .is the epitome of folly”.[9]

7.    SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Being the locus of information and font of desire (which as Edwards notes leads to will) the heart has the ability to determine both conduct and emotion (7:25: 6:14; 14:30; 17:22; 23:19; 23:26).

8.    SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1It is a place of cognitive determination (2:2[10]) and the place of desire (6:25 & 7:25; 23:17).  It is the locus of information, whether good or evil (2:10[11]; 3:3[12]; 4:21; 7:30; 14:33; 22:15; 26:24; 26: 25). The son is commanded to store wisdom in the heart (7:3). The information in the heart is not solely cognitive or moral: it also holds the affections (14:10; 24:17).

9.   A wise heart is one that carefully determines its conduct:

a.   “A heart devises wicked plans” (Proverbs 6:18).

b.   “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.” Proverbs 15:28 (ESV)

c.  “The wise of heart is called discerning” (Proverbs 16:21).

10.  The foolish heart may be impulsive (“The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so the hearts of fools.” Proverbs 15:7 (ESV). In contrast, “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.” Proverbs 15:28 (ESV) ) There does also seem to be some deliberate deception possible for such a heart (Proverbs 7:10, “And behold the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart”).

11.  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1The heart exists in a recursive system: information flows outward from the heart into will and conduct; and, information flows inward from conduct and the environment: which information flow affects the state of the heart

a.   Proverbs 13:12 (ESV)

12  Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

 

b.   Proverbs 15:30 (ESV)

30  The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,

and good news refreshes the bones.

 

c.   Proverbs 27:9 (ESV)

9  Oil and perfume make the heart glad,

and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.

 

d.   Proverbs 27:11 (ESV)

11  Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,

that I may answer him who reproaches me.

 

e.   Proverbs 31:11 (ESV)

11  The heart of her husband trusts in her,

and he will have no lack of gain.

f.    The heart can be taught. Proverbs 2:2; 3:3, Deuteronomy 6:6.  The word of God stored in the heart transforms the life:

I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11 (ESV)[13]

 

II.      The Heart and God

A. The Heart is the Place of Moral Determination

1.   It can “think evil” (Matthew 9:4).

2.   It can be stubborn before God’s command (Jeremiah 18:12; 23:17).

3.   It can be haughty (Jeremiah 48:29).

4.   It can contain idols (Ezekiel 14:4 & 7).

5.   It can be faithfully set before the Lord (Psalm 112:7-8).

6.   It can be hardened. Exodus 4:21.

7.   It can be gentle and lowly. Matthew 11:29.

8.   It can be hard and impenitent. Romans 2:5.

9.   It can be blameless and holy. 1 Thessalonians 3:3.

10. It can be self-deceived. James 1:26.

11.  It can be deceitful. Jeremiah 17:9.[14]

12. The conscience can strike the heart. 1 Samuel 24:5. The men who heard Peter’s sermon were “cut to the heart”. Acts 2:37.

B.   The heart is the source of good. Luke 6:45; 8:15.

C.   The heart is also the source of evils:

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. Mark 7:14–22 (ESV)

D. The heart is the place of interaction with God.

1.   One believes “with the heart”. Romans 10:9.

2.   It is the record of evidence used for judgment:

15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. Romans 2:15–16 (ESV)

Francis Schaeffer illustrates it thus:

Let me use an illustration again that I have used in other places. If every little baby that was ever born anywhere in the world had a tape recorder hung about its neck, and if this tape recorder only recorded the moral judgments with which this child as he grew bound other men, the moral precepts might be much lower than the biblical law, but they would still be moral judgments. Eventually each person comes to that great moment when he stands before God as judge. Suppose, then, that God simply touched the tape recorder button and each man heard played out in his own words all those statements by which he had bound other men in moral judgment. He could hear it going on for years—thousands and thousands of moral judgments made against other men, not aesthetic judgments, but moral judgments. Then God would simply say to the man, though he had never heard the Bible, now where do you stand in the light of your own moral judgments. The Bible points out in the passage quoted above that every voice would be stilled. All men would have to acknowledge that they have deliberately done those things which they knew to be wrong. Nobody could deny it.[15]

 

3.  The heart does not exist in a hermetic naturalistic system. While the creature, in all manifestations, does interact with the heart, so does the Creator: The heart “lies open” before God (Proverbs 15:11).  God controls the heart, and thus controls behavior (Proverbs 16:1; 19:21; 21:1).  God responds to and judges the heart (Proverbs 17:3). As it reads in Proverbs 16:5: “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.” The heart itself can foolishly “rage against the Lord” (Proverbs 19:3).

4.   One fundamental assumption of Scripture is that the human heart is constantly open to influences from above and from below. God would “lay hold of [human] hearts” (Ez 14:5), “incline hearts” to his truth and ways (Ps 119:36), “put into … hearts to carry out his purposes,” both for judgment and for salvation (Rv 17:17). The alternative to divine “possession” is the demonic influence that can drag the heart down to utmost evil (Jn 13:2; Acts 5:3). The same heart that can be “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9) can also become the shrine of divine love and the Spirit (Rom 5:5).[16]

5.   “In more than three hundred cases where the word refers to the human heart it has a spiritual significance and refers to a person’s relationship with God. This does not mean that in its religious sense the heart has no relationship to a person’s thoughts, intentions, and feelings, but rather that these are motivated and driven by the heart, which is the religious point of departure for all of human life. The religious use of heart in the Old Testament, however, expresses not only directedness toward God, but often also appears in the context of turning away from him (e.g., Deut. 8:14, 17; 9:4; 2 Chr. 26:16, KJV; Isa. 9:9; 10:12, KJV; 47:8; Ezek. 31:10; Hos. 13:6; Obad. 3). As the source of virtually every manifestation of human religion and as that point in the person to which the revelation of God is ultimately directed, the human heart forms the focal point of God’s dealings with the person.

“This Old Testament meaning of heart is continued in the New Testament, particularly the Gospels (Matt. 6:21; 15:18–19; 22:37; Luke 6:45; John 14:1, 27) and the letters of Paul. As in the Old Testament, the New Testament word for heart (Gk. kardía) can indicate a person’s mind, will, and feelings, but Paul’s use of the term in reference to the spiritual or religious quality of human life expresses the idea that all of these facets of personhood are spiritually determined (cf. 2 Cor. 3:14ff., KJV; RSV “mind”; Phil. 4:7). Paul explicitly declares the connection between the heart and God, saying that God’s revelation bears witness to or within the human heart as the true center of human existence (cf. Rom. 2:14ff.). Just as the heart or core of a person’s being is the recipient of divine revelation, so it is the subject of the response, positive or negative, one makes to God. With the heart one believes (Rom. 10:10), desires (1:24), obeys (6:17), and performs the will of God (Eph. 6:6). The redeemed heart is the dwelling place of Christ (3:17) and of his peace (Col. 3:15) and love (Rom. 5:5).

“The use of the word heart in all of these contexts suggests that on the deepest level human beings are guided and determined from one central point which represents their true humanity, the heart. This is true both of their response to the revelation of God and of their responsibility for their own thinking, willing, and acting.”[17]

E.   The heart is the place of temptation:

Whilst it knocks at the door we are at liberty; but when any temptation comes in and parleys with the heart, reasons with the mind, entices and allures the affections, be it a long or a short time, do it thus insensibly and imperceptibly, or do the soul take notice of it, we “enter into temptation.”[18]

III.    Some Counseling Observations

A. The heart, in some manner, may be known.

1.   As shown above, the heart does exhibit itself in overt behavior and affections.

2.   The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. Proverbs 20:5 (ESV)

3.    SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Yet, care must always be taken when evaluating the content of the heart from objective conduct, because the heart is capable of overt deceit (6:10[19]; 23:7; 26:23-24).  Longman writes of 14:10, “[N]o one can really know what is going on emotionally insider another person.”[20]  And, “the heart of the king is unsearchable” (25:3; see also, 23:7).  The problem with evaluation of the heart exists even with self-evaluation: “To trust in one’s own heart . . .is the epitome of folly”.[21]

4.   When we are presented with sin in others, we are liable to distortion ourselves:

(1.)   For we have the ground of the matter in ourselves.—“Hearts deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know thy wickedness? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins,” &c. (Jer. 17:9, 10.) As if none beside the Lord knew the bottomless depths and deceits of the heart! In the heart are those lusts and affections, that feed and foment all the hypocrisy in the world,—pride, vain-glory, concupiscence, carnal wisdom: were it not for these, there would not be an hypocrite living.[22]

5.   Jeremiah 17:9-10 explains that the evil of the heart makes it truly unknowable to any but God:

These two verses, though expressing different ideas, belong together. Taken together they form the center of the entire unit from v 1 through v 13. The contrast these two verses speak are the very contrast of the entire unit: deceitful, sinful humanity in contrast to a holy and just God. Verse 9 is probably a proverbial saying or riddle that looks back to the previous unit, to v 5, the one cursed who turns his heart from Yahweh. It also looks further back to v 1, where Judah’s sin is inscribed on her heart. Indeed, the heart is deceitful and incurably sick. (On the sick heart, cf. Jer. 8:18, where the reference is to heartsickness from grief over Judah’s sin.) Because it is so deceitful, the poet wonders who may know it? From human perspective it may seem that no one can know the inscrutable heart of a person who is deliberately deceitful. Yet the answer is swift in coming. Yahweh knows! Yahweh is the one who searches the heart and tests the inward parts of humankind (cf. ובחנתלבי, Jer. 12:3). He knows the heart and gives to each according to the fruit of his/her deeds. This reference to fruit again links this passage with the preceding one (v 8). Another link with the first section of this unit may be seen in the repetition of the word “give.” Yahweh who had given the inheritance to his people (v 4) will now give to each according to his way, according to the fruit of his/her deeds (v 10). A link is also provided within this passage for the confession in vv 14–18. Although the heart is incurable (v 9), a source of healing is available, Yahweh himself (v 14). In one sense, the hope of healing in v 14 answers the incurable nature of the heart’s sickness precisely as Yahweh’s searching of the heart (v 10) answers the question of its unknowable qualities (v 9).[23]

B.   The content of the heart is determined by the relationship one has at the level of his heart toward God.

1.   By nature the heart is subject to corruption. Note that continuity of the corruption of the human heart before and after the flood: Genesis 6:5 & 8:21.

2.   The corruption is so great that only a new heart can transform the human being (Jeremiah 13:23). This is the great blessing promised in the New Covenant.

17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ 18 And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 11:17–21 (ESV)

3.   God must write the law upon the heart of those redeemed under the New Covenant.

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)

4.      God pours out his love into our hearts:

5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 (ESV)

5.      Christ will dwell in our hearts:

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14–19 (ESV)

6.      We are in the process of being renewed in that we have been rescued from our previous “hardness of heart” and “deceitful desires”:

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.[24] 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:17–24 (ESV)[25]

7.      The renovation of the heart/mind (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23) is the current process of transformation:

10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:10 (ESV)

This process of renewing our mind will be seen in future lessons.[26]

8. It is God who brings forth the transformation of the heart:

Psalm 51:7–10 (ESV)

7  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8  Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9  Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

10  Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

 

9. The human being brings to God a broken heart:

a. Psalm 51:16–17 (ESV)

16  For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

 

b. Calvin explains of this verse:

I might observe, that David is not speaking at this time of the meritorious condition by which pardon is procured, but, on the contrary, asserting our absolute destitution of merit by enjoining humiliation and contrition of spirit, in opposition to everything like an attempt to render a compensation to God. The man of broken spirit is one who has been emptied of all vain-glorious confidence, and brought to acknowledge that he is nothing. The contrite heart abjures the idea of merit, and has no dealings with God upon the principle of exchange. Is it objected, that faith is a more excellent sacrifice that that which is here commended by the Psalmist, and of greater efficacy in procuring the Divine favor, as it presents to the view of God that Savior who is the true and only propitiation? I would observe, that faith cannot be separated from the humility of which David speaks. This is such a humility as is altogether unknown to the wicked. They may tremble in the presence of God, and the obstinacy and rebellion of their hearts may be partially restrained, but they still retain some remainders of inward pride. Where the spirit has been broken, on the other hand, and the heart has become contrite, through a felt sense of the anger of the Lord, a man is brought to genuine fear and self-loathing, with a deep conviction that of himself he can do or deserve nothing, and must be indebted unconditionally for salvation to Divine mercy. That this should be represented by David as constituting all which God desires in the shape of sacrifice, need not excite our surprise. He does not exclude faith, he does not condescend upon any nice division of true penitence into its several parts, but asserts in general, that the only way of obtaining the favor of God is by prostrating ourselves with a wounded heart at the feet of his Divine mercy, and supplicating his grace with ingenuous confessions of our own helplessness.[27]

 

C.   Keeping the heart. Since the heart controls the life, one must take care to protect the heart.  Hence, the command in Proverb 3:25 (ESV), “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

 

O God, Who, the more we hide our sins, the more bringest them into open day; Who out of doubt dost bring certainty, out of error, truth; visit us with the dew of Thy mercy: so putting out all our misdeeds, as to make us a new heart by the infusion of Thy Holy Ghost, to the end that we, rejoicing in such an indweller, may have our mouth opened for the declaration of Thy praise. Amen. Through[28]

 

 

[1]Timothy S. Lane, Paul David Tripp, How People Change, 195.

 

[2]Michael Fox, Proverbs 1‑9 (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 109.

[3]Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 939.

[4]Walter A. Elwell and Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Baker Reference Library; Logos Library System (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996).

[5]Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 939.

[6] SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1  Respecting 6:14, Longman (Proverbs) writes, “The heart is the core of a person from which emanates all actions, motives, and speech.  The heart of an evil person is bent on evil” (Longman, 174). 

[7] Longman, 299.

[8] “It may also warn them about trying to psychoanalyze the monarch” (Longman, 451).

[9] SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Longman, 496-497.

[10] Patrick Simon paraphrases this command in part with, “[W]ith sincere affection applying thy mind to understanding they duty” (Patrik Simon, The Proverbs of Solomon Paraphrased with Arguments of Each Chapter (London: M. Flesher, 1683), 23).  Proverbs 2:2 presents an interesting exegetical problem: The heart is elsewhere credited with acting, desiring, planning et cetera (examples of such usage will be provided below).  In 2:2, the son is told to move his heart toward some end.  What then is to incline the heart if it is not the heart, itself?  Longman explains of this verse, “The heart represents what we would call the basic personality or character of a person.  Though ‘heart’ stands for the whole inner person, on occasions the cognitive. . . . More than the simple act of hearing is involved in the reception of the father’s teaching; one must be predisposed toward wisdom to benefit from it.”  Longman, 119-120.  It seems that the heart must incline itself to respond to this command.  Perhaps the best way to understand this command is to understand the desire, hence will is to cause the heart to incline its cognitive faculties.

[11] By incorporating information into the heart, it “will become an integral part of the son’s character” (Longman, 122; see, also, William Arnott, Laws From Heaven for Life on Earth (New York: T. Nelson and Sons, 1873), 67).

[12] Moses Stuart, A Commentary on the Book of Proverbs (Andover: Warren F. Draper, 1870), 167.  Here the “heart” “stand[s] for his core personality” (Longman, 131).

[13] See the sermon of Thomas Manton on Psalm 119:11, also available on the website.

[14] 17:9–10 Verse 9 is another wisdom saying. It contains an emphatic denial of a popular belief that people are basically good (cf. Isa 64:6; Rom 3:23). Judah’s problem of sin is a common one, extending to the whole fallen human race. The word ʿāqōb, “deceitful,” is elsewhere translated “stained” (Hos 6:8) and “rough ground” (Isa 40:4). A similar word ʿōqbāh, “deception,” describes Jehu’s tricks by which he slaughtered the servants of Baal (2 Kgs 10:19). The root occurs first in Gen 3:15 in the word for “heel” (ʿāqēb), where Satan would attack Eve’s messianic offspring (cf. Pss 41:9; 89:51). Deceitfulness is said to be characteristic of Satan and his followers (John 8:44). The same word, ʿăqēs, is translated “ambush” in Josh 8:13, describing Joshua’s strategy of deceit by which he conquered Ai (cf. Job 18:9). The name of Jacob, the great deceiver, is also from the same root (Gen 25:26; 27:36). The human heart has an unlimited capacity for wickedness and deceit so that human resources are incapable of dealing with it (Mark 7:21–23; Gal 5:19–21). The only remedy is a radical change, nothing less than rebirth (John 3:7; 2 Cor 5:17).

F. B. Huey, Jeremiah, Lamentations, vol. 16, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 174.

[15] Francis A. Schaeffer, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: a Christian Worldview, vol. 4 (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1982), 41–42.

God is fit to govern the world upon the account of his wisdom and knowledge.—His “eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” He observes all the motions and ways of men. He understands what hath been, is, and shall be. “Hell is naked before him;” (Job 26:6;) how much more, earth! His eye is upon the conclave of Rome, the cabals of princes, and the closets of particular persons. Excellently doth David set forth the divine omniscience: “Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before.” (Psalm 139:2–5.) He knows not only what is done by man, but also what is in man; all his goodness, and all his wickedness; all his contrivances, purposes, and designs. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9.) Do you ask, “Who?” The answer is ready,—“Jehovah.” He “searcheth the heart;” he “trieth and possesseth the reins.” Those are dark places, far removed from the eyes of all the world: but God’s “eyes are like a flame of fire;” they carry their own light with them, and discover those recesses, run through all the labyrinths of the heart; they look into each nook and corner of it, and see what lurks there, what is doing there. O, what manner of persons should we be! with what diligence should we keep our hearts, since God observes them with so much exactness! Men may take a view of the practices of others; but God sees their principles, and to what they do incline them. Yea, he knows how to order and command the heart; not only how to affright it with terrors, and to allure it with kindnesses, and persuade it with arguments, but likewise how to change and alter and mend it by his power. He can not only debilitate and enfeeble it, when set upon evil; but also confirm and fix and fortify it, when carried out to that which is good. “The hearts of kings are in the hands of the Lord, and he turneth them as the rivers of water.” (Prov. 21:1.)

James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 3 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 325.

[16] Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 939.

[17]Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 471.

[18] John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 6 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 97.

 

[19] “The reference to her ‘guarded heart’ is difficult.  It may point out that though her actions are outgoing, her motives are hidden.   She is loud, but one does not really know what is going on inside of her since she keeps it hidden.  It points out just how dangerous she is” (Longman, 189). 

 

[20] Longman, 299.

 

[21] Longman, 496-497.

[22] “How Shall Hypocrisy be Discoverable and Curable” by Rev. Andrew Bromhall, in James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 538.

 

[23]Peter C. Craigie, Jeremiah 1–25, vol. 26, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, TX: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 227–228.

[24]  Mind is an equivalent of “heart” in many instances:

 

The heart’s connection with thinking in Hebrew thought is so close that modern translations such as the RSV frequently translate lēḇ or lēḇāḇ by “mind” or “understanding” (Job 12:3; Prov. 16:9; Jer. 7:31).

 

Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 471.

 

It was essentially the whole man, with all his attributes, physical, intellectual and psychological, of which the Hebrew thought and spoke, and the heart was conceived of as the governing centre for all of these. It is the heart which makes a man, or a beast, what he is, and governs all his actions (Pr. 4:23). Character, personality, will, mind are modern terms which all reflect something of the meaning of ‘heart’ in its biblical usage.

 

B. O. Banwell, “Heart,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 456.

[25] Contrary to much biblical counseling literature, Paul is not commanding the Ephesians to “put off the old man” and “put on the new man”. As explained by Hoehner in his commentary on Ephesians, Paul is stating that the old man was put off at conversion (Colossians 3:10). Thus, in the present one is being renewed in the spirit of the mind; Romans 12:2. The heart is undergoing renovation:

 

 “that you have laid aside.” The verb apoqhmi means to “put away, to store” or in the middle

voice it can be rendered, “to put away from, to lay aside” or “to put off” a garment. . . . In the

present context it has the idea of putting off and laying aside with the contrast in verse 24 of

putting on the new person. The aorist middle infinitive has the idea of an inceptive act that may

have reference to conversion. Also, the lexical verbs of putting off and putting on of clothing

emphasizes accomplished events rather than the process of activities. The middle voice

emphasizes that the subject receives the benefits of his or her action. It is not reflexive idea, for

the person could not do it by his or her own strength. Hence, believers were taught that they

have put off or have laid aside the old person at conversion.

..

The old person, found in Rom 6:6 and Col 3:9, is the preconversion unregenerate person. Paul

then is teaching that, having been taught in him, believers should know that the old person

according to the former lifestyle was laid aside at the time of their faith in the one who taught

them, namely, Christ.

 

Harold E. Hoehner, Ephesians, An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007),

603 & 605.

[26]

Paul stresses the believer’s solidarity with Christ. Since a believer is “in Christ” and since Christ is in heaven, the believer is “in the heavenlies” (en tois epouraniois). Accordingly, God has blessed the believer “in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). This precise phrase occurs only five times in the New Testament, and only in Ephesians (1:3; 1:20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12). The believer’s heavenly blessings depend on Christ’s heavenly session (Eph. 1:20) and the spiritual union each believer shares “with Christ” (Eph. 2:6). God does not merely apply the ministry of Christ to believers. He sees believers with Christ wherever he is—and he is now in heaven. Believers are commanded to adopt an earthly lifestyle of dying to sin and living to righteousness (Rom. 6:4), and to set their minds on the heavenly reality that will soon be revealed in Christ (Col. 4:1–4). In other words, believers should live consistently with who, and where, they really are.

 

Walter A. Elwell and Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Baker Reference Library; Logos Library System (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996).

[27] John Calvin, Psalms, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), Ps 51:17.

* Mozarabic.

[28] J. M. Neale and R. F. Littledale, eds., A Commentary on the Psalms from Primitive and Mediæval Writers: Psalm 39 to Psalm 80, vol. 2 (London; New York: Joseph Masters; Pott and Amery, 1868), 180.

Introduction to Biblical Counseling: Overview

02 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Biblical Counseling

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This is the first week of an introduction to biblical counseling course I am teaching in my home church. The lecture which accompanies this lesson may be found here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.calvarybiblechurch.org/audio/class/biblical_counseling_2014/20140105.mp3

 INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL COUNSELING

I.          How Counseling Fits into the Mission of the Church

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

A.   There are three basic aspects of disciple making.

1.   Evangelize: Go therefore

2.   Baptize: Baptizing them

3.   Instruction: Teaching them to observe

B.   Instruction: Counseling Consists of Instruction

1.   Propositional

a.  Public: Preaching and teaching

b.  Private: Acts 20:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:14

2.   By example, e.g., 1 Corinthians 11:1a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7

C.  Practical Theology: Counseling is Practical Theology

1.   The purpose of instruction: “I might by many other arguments demonstrate this truth to you, but let these suffice; because I would not unwillingly keep you longer from the use and application of the point—application being the life of all teaching” (Thomas Brooks, “A Saints Last Day his Best Day”, in Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 6 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1867), 400.).

2.   “Application is the skill by which the doctrine which has been properly drawn from Scripture is handled in ways which are appropriate to the circumstances of the place and time and to the people in the congregation” (William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying (Carlisle: The Banner of Truth, n.d.), 54.)

3.  It is built into the nature and use of Scripture: “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV).”

a.   Teaching: This is the propositional content. It is the basis upon which all further instruction must rest. 

i.    Concern for the content of the doctrine is the primary responsibility of the elders of a congregation. We see this in the first charge Paul makes to Timothy, 1Timothy 1:3. It is the last charge Paul makes to Timothy in 1 Timothy (6:20-21; see also, 2 Timothy 4:1-5). It is a necessary attribute of an elder “9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9; 1 Timothy 3:2 (apt to teach)).

ii.    To teach is to incur stricter judgment. James 3:1.

iii.   Thus, teaching the propositional content of a passage is a matter of the gravest concern.

iv. Too often counselors have been so quick to give “good advice” that they have misused passages. Be careful.

b.   Reproof: It sets the stage for repentance and thus transformation, “Regular and careful study of Scripture builds a foundation of truth that, among other things, exposes sin in a believer’s life with the purpose of bringing correction, confession, renunciation, and obedience” (John F. MacArthur Jr., 2 Timothy, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995), 157.)

c.   Correction: “The third use of Scripture is to provide correction. The terms ‘correcting’ and ‘training’ show a positive use for Scripture. Negatively, the Scripture is helpful for convicting the misguided and disobedient of their errors and restoring them to the right paths. The term ‘correcting,’ used only here in the New Testament, suggests that Scripture helps individuals to restore their doctrine or personal practice to a right state before God. Correction is one means God uses in order to restore people to spiritual positions they have forfeited. This emphasis frequently appears in the wilderness experience of Israel (see Deut 8:2–3, 5)” (Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, vol. 34, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 237).

d.   Training: this just means education. “This illumination upon our path through life comes from the many directives we have in the Scriptures concerning different aspects of life—our use of time, family life, the use of money, the rearing of children, marriage, sexual relations, etc. In all these things, broad principles and guidelines are laid down which help to train us in the life of righteousness”(Peter Williams, Opening up 2 Timothy, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2007), 86).

e.   But note that the training for a purpose:

Equipped for every good work could be paraphrased, “enabled to meet all demands of righteousness.” By his life he will affirm the power of the Word to lead men to salvation and to equip them for righteous living and for faithful service to the Lord. When the man of  God is himself equipped by the Word, he can then equip the believers under his care. Just as “we are [the Lord’s] workmanship,” Paul explains, we also should be doing His work. We are “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Christ says to all those who belong to Him what He said to the Twelve: “We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work” (John 9:4).[1]

D. Counseling may be both public and private

1.   If the purpose of Scripture is instruction which leads to change, then all teaching and preaching in the church well done will rightly include an aspect which one could call ‘counseling’.

2.  E.g. 1 Corinthians; 1 Peter

3.    We, however, tend to think of counseling primarily as private instruction.

E.   Counseling is not “good advice”.

1.   Counseling is application of the Scripture to one’s particular life.  It is not your experience or your good advice.  It flows out of exegesis.

2.   It is the Word of God which the Holy Spirit uses to transform people. Psalm 119:11

3.   It is not word-association. It is a common enough thing. The preacher goes along until he finds the word “sin” or “love” and then launches off into a spiel on sin or love which may all be fine but which has nothing to do with the text. I saw a great example of this, on an Amazon review by Gepraptai on the book Saving Eutychus: How to preach God’s word and keep people awake:

Phil’s comments are right on: “Chappo had a point. (The Preacher) had sanctified a bunch of commonsense suggestions by mixing them with the text of Luke 5 and delivering them with all the authority of Scripture. None of it was wrong. It was just that none of his points were the points Luke was actually making. Sure, Luke mentioned the party – but he wasn’t telling us to have one. It wasn’t God speaking. It was (the Preacher) [emphasis added]”

Do not do this: it is not counseling.

F.   Conclusion: Counseling is not an exotic or occasional aspect of the Church’s work. Rightly understood, it takes place in all instruction from evangelism to the conversation of the most mature believers. Now, such counseling will either be done well or poorly. The purpose of training is not to create some “elite” class of believers; but rather to help all the persons in the church to be able to “rightly handle the word of truth” (1 Timothy 2:15).

II.         What is the Purpose of the Instruction?

A.  This is perhaps the greatest error of Christian counseling. 

1.   A woman in an unhappy marriage to an unbeliever comes in for counseling. You read to her,

3 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. 1 Peter 3:1–6 (ESV)

2.   First, you should never just pluck a sentence or paragraph from the middle of a letter. If you are going to teach, teach it in context. To give her this command as a stand-alone without the appropriate context would be cruel.

3.  What is the purpose of this instruction?

4.   Will this instruction make her “happy” or give her a “happy marriage”?

5.   Some context:

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6–7 (ESV)

6.   Some more context:

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 1 Peter 4:12–13 (ESV)

7.   The purpose is not a “happy marriage.”

B.   To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Thomas Watson, in A Body of Divinity writes:

The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions. “Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Everything works to some end and purpose; now, man being a rational creature, must propose some end to himself, and that should be—that he may lift up God in the world. He had better lose his life than the end of his living. The great truth is asserted—is that the end and purpose of every man’s living should be to glorify God. Glorifying God has respect to all the persons in the Trinity; it respects God the Father who gave us life; God the Son, who lost his life for us; and God the Holy Spirit, who produces a new life in us. We must bring glory to the whole Trinity.

C. From Dr. Ernie Baker’s course notes for “Introduction to Biblical Counseling”:

1.   Your primary goal is not to dig into the subconscious, or get proper behavior, or constructive thought patterns, or self-esteem, or well-functioning families; it is to please the Lord; to grow in Christ-likeness (note diagram/1 Cor. 10:31).

2.   Romans 8:28-30, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

III.        The Nature of our Trouble

A.   All our trouble stems from sin: our own, the sin of others against us, and the effects of sin generally. In his book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be, Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. writes of “shalom” the Hebrew word usually translated as “peace” but refers to the order and beauty:

We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.

He goes on to explain, “In sum, shalom is God’s design for creation and redemption; sin is blamable human vandalism of these great realities and therefore an affront to their architect and builder” (16). [2]

B.   Sin has brought in guilt and shame.

1.   Genesis 3:7

2.   We experience shame when we are sinned against. 2 Samuel 13:1-20

C. Sin has disordered our ability to think. Ecclesiastes 9:3 & 10:3; Romans 1:28.

D. Sin has made us unable to rightly use and enjoy the creation. Ecclesiastes 2:1-11.

E.   Sin has subjected the creation to futility. Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 8:20; Ecclesiastes 1:2.

F.   Sin has subjected us to death (and disease). Genesis 3:19.

G. Sin has separated us from God. Isaiah 59:1-2.

H. Sin has made us into enemies. Genesis 3:16.

I.    All our guilt, shame, sorrow comes from sin. Therefore, anything which fails to address sin and remove all its stain and power is too little. “20 And her brother Absalom said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? Now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother; do not take this to heart.” So Tamar lived, a desolate woman, in her brother Absalom’s house.” 2 Samuel 13:20 (ESV).

IV.        The Heart

A.   The heart is the locus of our trouble. Mark 7:14-23.

B.   Therefore, change must take place at the level of the heart.

C. The heart is the center of the human being, affections, thoughts, desires, et cetera.

1.   It is the source of all life (Proverbs 4:23).

2.   But it is also the place where one interacts with God, “for with the heart one believes and is justified” (Romans 10:10).

D. Godward change

1.  The analogy of the pond atop a hill.

2.   The analogy of a swamp.

3.  The analogy of a tree.

4.   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

5.   This is the trouble of the various extra-biblical psychologies: All our experience, our physiology, our circumstances do not per se cause sin. The root of rebellion against God which gives rise to sin is inherent in our very being. Psalm 51:4; Romans 2:1-3:23. Let us assume a “perfect” psychologist who explains why you do X. The most such a psychologist could do is tell why you sin in this way. That would be like explaining why the water runs down the hill in a particular gully as opposed to another place; or how the mosquitoes get from the swamp to your skin. Let us further say that the psychologist could get you to stop performing behavior X. That would be like damming up a particular channel so that the filthy water could flow in a particular direction. But the filth would continue to burble up; the mosquitoes would continue to fly.  No change in our mere behavior is sufficient to cause you to glorify and enjoy God. No mere psychology however good can ever be good enough to reach our goal.

6.   This change is better, because it is does not depend upon circumstances. Moreover, true godliness is sufficient for any circumstance. Stop and imagine the worst possible counseling trouble – the one you fear discussing with a brother or sister. Now assume that your brother or sister learns to walk in the Spirit and abound with the fruit of the Spirit: what trouble remains? Galatians 5:22-23.

 

V.         The Means of Change

            A.   The Word of God being used by the Holy Spirit to transform the human heart.

B.  This change takes place within the congregation of believers: Christ committed discipleship to the Church and it is his Church that transforms human beings.

C. The power for this transformation comes from union with Christ: it is the result of our union with Christ that we become true worshippers of God. Therefore, our goal is to become conformed to the head (Romans 8:29; Colossians 3:10).

VI.        An Encouragement and an Admonition

Too many people in the church have the wrong understanding of counseling. First, many people think that counseling is something akin to the work of a professional psychologist: it is not. Counseling is the work of one Christian and a Bible speaking to another Christian with a Bible. This is to be the normal work of the people of God. James 5:16; Hebrews 3:12-13. Therefore, this is work that all Christians are called to. Second, other Christians seeing that this work of admonition and encouragement belongs to all Christians jump to the opposite error and believe this something anyone can do without preparation. That is no more true than that everyone should preach on Sunday morning.  The Scripture is a powerful instrument; misused it causes great damage. Thus, while everyone is called to this work in some measure, not everyone has been trained to handle the Scripture sufficiently so as to be able to counsel well.

The balance is perhaps best seen in Colossians 3:16: First, one takes in the Scripture. Only after that does one teach and admonish:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

VII.       Homework

Since the Scripture must first work in you and only later in another, I am going to leave you with a homework assignment. I want you to decide on an aspect of your own life which you need to address, such as a besetting sin, a relationship, a difficult affection, such as depression, et cetera. For this first week, I want you to begin by taking a look at your own heart. Begin a temptation journal. Write out when you are tempted. Describe the circumstances of the temptation. Look especially to your thoughts and desires. What do you see is true about you? What are you thinking when it comes to God?

Also – very important – look to see how you explain this to yourself: what excuses or explanations do you give. For example, if your trouble is depression, do you think “God could never forgive my sin?” (Not all depression stems from unrepentant sin. It can have many causes, such as profound loss or even bodily illness.) Or if it is a repeated sin, do you think, “This is a small sin”?

We will continue with this exercise next week.

[1] John F. MacArthur Jr., 2 Timothy, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995), 161–162.

[2]Cornelius Plantinga Jr., Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: a Breviary of Sin (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), 10.

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.2

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Contentment, Faith, Jeremiah Burroughs

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(The previous post in this series is here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/the-rare-jewel-of-christian-contentment-1/

Contentment is Inward:

Burroughs provides a thoughtful, comprehensive definition of contentment. First, he states that contentment is “inward”. By this, he means that contentment takes place in the heart. It is not contentment to merely maintain a calm composure; rather the face must reflect a quiet in the heart.

We can see that the heart, the soul must be true seat of contentment:

For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation. Psalm 62:1

Or again:

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me. Psalm 131:2

The heart, the soul, the inner man is the place in which the human being truly interacts with God, and is the place where sin (Mark 7:21-23) and true faith (Romans 10:9) have their true root. In the Bible, the “heart” (soul, mind) is the complex thoughts, affections, memory and desire which constitutes the true self. The outward expression may be deceitful:

6 Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, 7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. Proverbs 23:6-7.

Thus, true contentment must have its place in the heart — or it does not have a true place in the life. Indeed it is in the “soul” that distress has its place (Psalm 6:3). When the Psalmist is discouraged, it is his downcast soul which is “in turmoil within me” (Psalm 42:5).

Seeing that contentment must exist in the heart, and not merely in the face, it takes a fundamental hold upon the soul — it requires a transformation which can only be done by the Spirit, “It is a work of the Spirit indoors.”

Thus, the work of contentment is ultimately a work of submission, “it is the inward submission of the heart.” And here we see the trouble of contentment: It is not merely a tranquil emotional state. Rather it is the heart in submission to God.

What then must be done in teaching this matter? First, recognize that contentment will require great learning:

If the attainment of true contentment were as easy as keeping quiet outwardly, it would not need much learning. It might be had with less strength and skill than an Apostle possessed, yea, less than an ordinary Christian has or may have. Therefore, there is certainly more than can be obtained by common gifts and the ordinary power of reason, which often bridle the nature. It is a business of the heart.

How, as a practical matter, would one begin to learn such a thing. Certainly, we must know the target: submission of the heart in quiet. However, to know an end can often be a ground for frustration. Imagine a box containing dozens of pieces necessary to construction some furniture. I may know that in the end, I will possess a desk or dresser. But if I do not have instructions for use of the parts, knowing the goal will be of little help.

Yet, when we look to the matter of submission, we find a direction to follow. Submission is complex of how I understand myself, my circumstances and God. To lack submission ultimately means that I value myself too highly and somehow denigrate God’s authority, wisdom, goodness, strength.

Thus, to gain contentment, I would do well to begin to learn and meditate upon the nature of God. The Shorter Catechism explains that God is, “a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” A failure to understand and believe anyone of these aspects of God would lead to discontentment in my circumstances.

A massive erudite volume like “No One Like Him” (Feinberg) (as wonderful a book as it is) would crush a wavering Christian. Therefore, a counselor should suggest something shorter, like Tozer’s “Knowledge of the Holy” or Pink’s “Attributes of God” or a sermon series like Hughes’ sermons on Psalm 145 (http://calvarybiblechurch.org/site/cpage.asp?sec_id=180007650&cpage_id=180020121&secure=&dlyear=0&dlcat=The+Attributes+of+God+-+Psalm+145) would be a good source. Read (or listen) to the discussion of a single attribute. Make sure the counselee fully understands the particular attribute. After you have confirmed the knowledge, move to application. Doest the counselee truly believe (not merely state, but willingly trusts) that God is so? If the counselee really did believe God’s (power, goodness, holiness, etc) were true, how it change the way the counselee relates to the situation.

At the same time, the counselee needs to begin to examine himself: How is he being tempted to discontentment? When? Where? What is being desired? The counselee needs to be more acutely aware of his own sin, the need for daily repentance. The blessing of God’s free grace. Thus, journaling, prayer, meditation are needed.

There many wonderful songs which express God’s attributes and our response. A counselee should learn such songs to help focus his thoughts and affections. For example, “Great is thy Faithfulness” will help confirm and teach the reliability of God.

Faith Opens the Door

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Faith

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 Faith opens the door to the blessings of Christ (the related questions of grace and regeneration and order do not set aside the fact without faith, the human being cannot receive the gracious salvation granted by God in Christ Jesus; Ephesians 2:8-9):

 

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.Romans 5:1-2.

 

Now as all blessing comes through the door of faith, so whatever does not come by faith is sin, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

 

Therefore, the movement toward sin does not begin directly with the object of sin but rather through damage to faith. The first temptation begins with an attack upon faith,

 

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

 

Genesis 3:1. Knowing this, Parson rightly notes that faith — and unfaith– must be understood to understand the work of our adversary:

 

The Scriptures teach that salvation is by faith alone. “He that believeth shall be saved.” “He that believeth not shall be damned.” “Whatsoever is hot of faith is sin.” “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom he hath sent.” Christ is the ” author and finisher of faith ;” the adversary, in a similar sense, doubtless, is the inspirer of unbelief. In order to understand Satan’s power of evil in this capacity, we need a distinct conception of what are the elements of faith and unbelief.

 

William Leonard Parsons. The believer’s victory over Satan’s devices.  

 

Parons first explains — contrary to the common cultural understanding — faith is not “blind” nor does it lack content. Rather, faith is the trust which one places upon a known object:

 

Faith, then, implies an object. Without this, there is nothing on which the mind can repose its confidence, and faith will be naturally impossible. This object must be revealed to the mind, the intellect must see it, or faith can not be. To trust in a person of whom you have no knowledge is impossible.

 

Yet faith does not end with an intellectual acknowledgment. There must be assent of the affections which compell the will:

 

Again: the object of faith so presented to the mind must be closed in with by the will. To see the truth and enthrone it as the law of our voluntary being, is to believe unto life. To see the truth, approve it with the reason, and to refuse, by the soul’s voluntary act or state, to enthrone it as our law of life and conduct, is to be guilty of fatal unbelief. The voluntary element, or the want of it, in our faith, makes all the difference between a living and a dead faith — between a religion of forms and one of life and power. To see the truth on which our faith must repose in order to salvation, is not virtue; but, seeing it, to will it. The devils see it, and, rebelling against it, tremble in their guilt before its majesty. To see the truth does not save. To see it is condemnation; but seeing it, and welcoming it to perfect lordship over us, is to unite the soul to its Redeemer, and make it a joyful partaker of his life.

 

Thus, it is at this point that Satan attacks. While an outright denial of the object of faith may be an option for some, for the believer, Satan cannot deny God in toto. Thus, as he did with Eve, he aims for trust rather than knowledge. A knowledge of the true God coupled to an arrested will can bring on sin as easily an outright denial of God. “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17).

 

Sin makes one untrusting of God:

 

Man, by sin, has lost his confidence in God — not the sentiment that God is worthy of confidence, not the knowledge of his truth absolutely and entirely, for the law is engraven on the reason — but that living faith, the essential element of which, after the truth is seen, consists in its enthronement in the will, as the all-governing law of life and duty

 

Here is the paralysis of sin: We cannot utterly erase the law, but we will still fall into sin because we lack the faith to trust God on the matter. The will stumbles at trust.

 

(John Piper draws this point out at length in his book “Future Grace” — where he explains that all sin derives from the tacit (at least) belief that God’s offer will not satisfy as well as sin.)

 

Thus Satan seeks to stymie faith at every point — with some he stops up knowledge, with other he poisons trust or corrupts the will:

 

On the other hand, Satan becomes the author and ‘finisher of unbelief, by hiding from the mind the true object of saving faith, and thus he renders its exercise impossible. When the truth reaches the intellect, he will obscure, pervert, and distort it, and bring all possible influences within his reach to bear upon the mind to prevent the will from so closing in with it as is indispensable to a vital and saving faith.

 

What can we draw from this knowledge? That our efforts must be directed at the point of attack. Note that our response to sin is a sort of indirection. Rather than concern ourselves primarily with fruit upon the tree, we must look first to the to the roots, to the heart.

 

Sin finds its spring in the heart (Mark 7:20-23). The heart faithless toward God will breed sin. Thus, Satan seeks to draw off the heart from a faithful sight of Christ. Therefore, we must keep our sight focused firmly upon our hope:

 

16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

 

Ephesians 1:16-23.