Guard Your Heart, part 2

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” 

(James 1:14)

I had a great time of fellowship with one of my best friends this morning—a true time of "iron sharpens iron"—sharing our stories, the scriptures, what God is doing in our lives, and praying for each other. We also discussed my latest blog post about guarding our hearts. And we talked quite a bit about the dual nature that resides in every person who is a born again Christian. The old man -vs- the new man. (See Ephesians 4:22-24)

My last blog entry was called "Guard Your Heart." The opening scripture verse was Proverbs 4:23,

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

My friend said he has a different take on guarding our hearts. He says we need to guard our hearts from the Devil, who is constantly attacking us, looking to take us down. And yes, that is absolutely true. Many Christians today fall in sin because they ignore Jesus' warnings about our enemy Satan. Jesus said:

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

The Apostle Peter also warns us:

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

So, absolutely, we do have a common enemy of our souls; Satan, the Devil. There are hundreds of passages in the Bible that speak to his dark evil and diabolical nature. The bible warns us to resist the devil. 

In my last article, I pointed out that the heart is fickle, and can be deceived. But my friend contends that since we have a New Covenant promise from God that He puts a new heart in us at conversion, that "our hearts are now good."

But as I read the passage again from Ezekiel 36:26-27, I noticed the text does not specifically state the new heart is "good." It also doesn't say it is bad. It just says "new." So I looked up the Hebrew word for "new" as used in this passage from Ezekiel 36. The word is H-2319: chadash; "new; fresh, new thing." Again, it doesn't use the word "good."

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

So, at conversion, we are given a fresh, new heart. And like a new born baby, we start a new life in Christ, "in process." Positionally, in Christ, we're seen by the Father as perfect. The blood of Christ washed away all our past, present, and future sins. Forgiven, forgotten, forever. But like Paul confesses in Romans chapter seven, he himself still sins sometimes. He practices the very things he hates. And in the good things he desires to do, he falls short. He's not perfect yet. He's in process. And I'm not referring to his eternal salvation; Jesus paid for that in full on the Cross. His salvation, our salvation, "is finished." I mean his earthy walk as a Christian—his transformation—is in process. We are being changed to be more like Jesus; from glory to glory. (See 2 Corinthians 3:18)

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

In Ezekiel 36, besides giving us a new heart, God says: "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."

But even as Paul says, he still practices the things he hates. Thus, he doesn't always walk in God's statutes or keep and do His judgments perfectly, 100% of the time. Paul still has the internal struggle of his flesh warring against his spirit. The old man warring against the new man.

We also discussed the desires of our hearts, and how that fits in with the new heart that God gives us at conversion. And in my previous article I quoted Psalm 37:4;

"Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

It's seems clear (to me) then, from this reading of scripture, that desires come from our heart. So if our new hearts are in fact good, then where do any evil desires that we may have come from?

The opening scripture verse to this new post is from James 1:14,

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.”

So this passage says that a person is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desire and enticed. And since desire is in, or comes from the heart, one can conclude that the dual nature (old man and new man) are somehow part of our heart. This is a great mystery, but I'm not sure how else to word it or see it. 

What is the old man?  It is our old sinful nature (also called the flesh) which we had before conversion—before we were born again by the Spirit of God, having believed in and put faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior.

And what is the new man?  That is our new born again spirit, the one that God said He will put in us, along with a new heart, which is a promise of the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was a system of Law by which a man attempts to make himself righteous before God by keeping all the specific commands of the Mosaic Law. But you have to keep all of them, which no human being in history has ever been able to do; save One; the Son of Man: Jesus Christ—God in the flesh. 

The New Covenant is; we are saved only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, through belief in His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. And that faith is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, and not of works, lest any man should boast. (See Ephesians 2:8-9)

So even though God did put a new heart in us at conversion, we have to realize that any ungodly desires  we have must also come from our heart. The bible doesn't say we have two hearts. In fact it says He takes the old heart of stone out of us. But again, it does say we have the old man in us, and the new man.

We are also commanded to put off the old man, and put on the new man.

“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:20-24)

To be honest, it's quite a mind-boggling mystery to me, how we can have two natures residing within ourselves after conversion. How there can actually be the old man and the new man living side by side in my person. My little brain can't fully grasp it. But I know one day God will make all things known to us and all our questions will be answered.

In reading Ephesians chapter four, we are told to put off the old man (old sin nature) and put on the new man (the new spirit man, created by God). And this is not a one time thing. I find I have to do this every day, all day long, and in any situation, because not only is Satan the devil coming at me from all sides trying to attack me and trip me up with all kinds of fiery darts of temptations, accusations, and lies. But I also know from James 1:14, that my own desires can can be impure at times and can lead me away and entice me. 

So, all this to say; we have to guard our hearts from the outside; against this wicked world and against Satan and his evil attacks to try to steal from us, kill us, or destroy us. 

And we have to guard our hearts from the inside, against our own desires of the old man, that can lead us away and entice us. "Harden not your hearts."

Paul the Apostle summed up the dichotomy of this struggle of old man -vs- the new man in Romans chapter 7:

“For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my flesh, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my flesh. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:15-25)

Even Paul the Apostle, great man of faith that he was, struggled with the mysterious dual nature. The flesh -vs- the spirit. The old man -vs- the new man.

But Paul cried out to the God who saves: "Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Then he said; "I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!" He is Who will deliver us from these bodies of death. 

We don't have all the answers. None of us. 

But He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

"Christ in you—the hope of glory!" (Colossians 1:27)

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.