. ____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER ____________________________________________________ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ July 5, 2009 ____________________________________________________ Contents: 1) The Deceitful Heart (Daniel H. King Sr.) 2) Trapped But Not Bound (Greg Litmer) 3) News & Notes ____________________________________________________ -1- The Deceitful Heart by Daniel H. King Sr. The prophet Jeremiah's life and the unique experiences which he had with Israel, offered him a "laboratory" to study the workings of the human heart. God had entrusted him with a message of dismay, desolation, and destruction for the land of Israel and the people of God. And there was no turning the judgment back. Its realization was inevitable. But the people to whom he spoke did not wish to hear such bad news. They felt secure in their actions and believed that God would bless them and protect them from their enemies. The Lord predicted otherwise, however. In one particularly brutal revelation to Jeremiah, God forbade him from marrying or fathering children, with these chilling words: "The word of Jehovah came also unto me, saying, Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters, in this place. For thus saith Jehovah concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land: They shall die grievous deaths: they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground; and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth. For thus saith Jehovah, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith Jehovah, even loving kindness and tender mercies" (Jer. 16:1-5). The Lord warned the prophet that when it was all over they would turn to him and ask why all this evil had come upon them, whereupon he was to tell them that "ye have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto me" (Jer. 16:12). Their hearts had become evil and depraved, so their actions were also evil and depraved, and God could do nothing except to judge them for their rebellion. At the end of the day, the Lord through his Spirit gave the great insight into the human psyche which explains Israel's stubborn resistance to the oft-repeated divine appeals for her repentance: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9) This verse explains how, even though the Almighty was fed up with Israel's flagrant disregard for her covenant with him, she was able to convince herself that no harm would come her way. But this profound text does more than that. It shows us how our own minds can work to rob us of God's grace and send us careening blindly down the road that leads to spiritual death. Here is what it says: 1. The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. Jeremiah had seen plenty of evidence to confirm the Lord's pronouncement about this. The hardness and deceitfulness of the people's heart in his time kept them from yielding to the Lord's will. It kept them from turning from their sin. And, it convinced them that all was well when certain death lay just over the horizon. Today many folks try to look inward for their insights into life and even for their knowledge of God. Several of the religious traditions of our time tell us this is where genuine knowledge of God is to be found. The Bible is foursquare against this notion. Dependable knowledge about God or even of ourselves cannot be discovered by looking within. The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things. It is not a dependable guide in such matters. The heart is influenced by things like the deceitfulness of riches (Matt. 113:22), the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13), the deceitfulness of lust (Eph. 4:22). Scripture says that a deceitful witness speaks lies and not the truth (Prov. 14:25). The human heart is such a witness. It cannot be trusted for spiritual guidance. Our guidance must come from outside of ourselves. That is where biblical revelation enters the picture. God's revelation of himself and of his will for man in the Bible is essential precisely because of the deceitfulness of the heart. The word of God acts as a constant check against the cunning and devious ways of the heart. 2. The Heart Is Exceedingly Corrupt. This word means "morally degenerate, perverted, depraved." The prophet had beheld the depravity of his own generation to the extent that he did not plead for mercy upon them, but only asked that he with his own eyes might see God's judgment performed upon them: "Let me see thy vengeance on them..." (20:12). In our day we have seen the likes of the Boston Strangler, the Son of Sam, Charles Manson and his "Family," Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy, Richard Ramirez, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc. These people, and a host of others like them that we could also mention, illustrate how "exceedingly corrupt" the heart of man can become. That which is capable of such degeneracy, perversion and depravity, could never be viewed as a dependable source for human guidance. As the prophet elsewhere said: "O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23). 3. Who Can Know It? The world we live in is filled with mysteries. There are so very many things which we do not understand and cannot comprehend. God's word concludes this set of observations about the duplicity of the human heart with this question: "Who can know it?" Of course, it is immediately understood that God knows the heart (see verse 10), else he could not speak so authoritatively about the evils which lurk within it. As David advised his son, "And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Jehovah searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever" (1 Chronicles 28:9). The point is, that one cannot know the goings-on within the mind of another man, nor if he permits himself to be deceived by his own ambitions, lusts and desires, can he even claim to comprehend his own mind. Thus, the Bible instructs us to "keep the heart with all diligence" (Prov. 4:23). -- Via Guardian of Truth XXXIX: 2 p. 22-23, January 19, 1995 ____________________________________________________ -2- Trapped but not Bound by Greg Litmer Several years ago I had the opportunity to go to a nursing home every Saturday morning with a group of Christians and sing, pray, and teach God's Word with a number of the residents. One week, we were studying Acts 16 and our particular focus was upon Paul and Silas being imprisoned in Philippi. I read vss. 22-25, "And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them." As we examined the passage and the situation in which Paul and Silas found themselves, I made the point that their actions served to illustrate that, as children of God, we can have joy no matter our circumstances. Looking at the crowd that had gathered to study with us, I noticed one older woman. She was bent over, obviously unable to straighten her body. She could barely lift her head. Yet when I mentioned that circumstances do not control true joy of a Christian, she smiled and nodded her head as best as she could. As I looked at her, I could not help but compare her with Paul and Silas. Here was an older woman, trapped in a wheelchair by a body that would no longer function as it used to. I thought of her childhood and imagined the way she used to run and play as the wind blew through her hair. I thought of her as a young woman, beautiful and so full of promise. Perhaps she was married and raised children. But now, her time was drawing near and her body would not permit her to engage in the physical things she used to do. She was trapped but not bound. Nursing homes are paradoxical. I have spent much time in them over the years and have witnessed some of the saddest scenes I could ever imagine. At the same time, I have learned wonderful lessons about what it means to have our citizenship in heaven and our souls anchored there. So many older brothers and sisters in Christ, trapped in bodies that just would not function properly, have held my hand, smiled, and helped me to understand just exactly what Paul meant when he wrote, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). Whatever happens to our bodies -- accident, sickness, or just the accumulative effects of age -- may entrap us physically but the spirit of the faithful Christian cannot be bound. -- Biblical Insights, Vol. 8, No. 6, June, 2008 ____________________________________________________ -3- News & Notes Born October 16, 1925, Luther Shuff passed away last Thursday (7/2) at the age of 83 -- far exceeding the "threescore years and ten" that the Bible speaks of in Psalm 90:10, and more than the "fourscore years," the same verse mentions, "if by reason of strength." And for the last 61 of those years, he and Agnes (nee Day) had spent together in marriage. He was a generous man whose most important interest was in spiritual things. When his health was better, it was always encouraging to see him and Agnes often having perfect attendance for every service at church, month after month. And even when his health began to decline, he continued to be with us until he became confined at home. We will remember, too, his love for people. He enjoyed being around others, communicating with them, had a keen interest in history and baseball, and often liked to use some of his wit to interject good-natured humor among us. Is it any wonder that out of all his jobs, he enjoyed working for 20 years in his barbershop in Greenville, Mississippi, the best? We can be especially thankful that Luther was a Christian; and we can, therefore, draw much comfort from God's word in times such as this. Let those of us who are Christians also be praying for all his family and friends. On July 6, we had a graveside funeral service for Luther in Winnsboro, Louisiana, about 150 miles north of here. We ran into rain about an hour and a half from the cemetery, and there was no let up. When we arrived at a building, about 2 miles from the cemetery, where we met others who would be going with us and then return there afterwards for a meal, it was still raining. While driving into the cemetery property, it continued to rain; but about the time we stepped out of our vehicles to walk to the graveside, where the service would be, the rain finally stopped. I then spoke about 15 to 20 minutes, including a prayer at the end. Just as I was about ready to finish the prayer, the rain started again; and it continued for about another 3 hours. Whether that temporary ceasing of rain was a providential answer to prayer or for some other reason, I was thankful unto the Lord either way -- "...for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matt. 5:45). ____________________________________________________ CHURCH OF CHRIST 201 Rushing Road (at the Hampton Inn) Denham Springs, LA 70726 Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520 tedwards@onemain.com http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go DIRECTIONS: Take the Denham Springs exit (exit 10) off of I-12. At the end of the exit ramp, turn north. Go about a stone's throw to Rushing Road. (You'll see a Starbucks, Circle K, and two other gas stations; with each on each corner.) Turn left on Rushing Road, and go less then 0.3 of a mile. Hampton Inn will be on the right. We assemble in its meeting room, which is very close to the reception counter. ____________________________________________________