Is Your Heart Actually Desperately Wicked?
There are many go-to verses that we are quite familiar with in the Church of God; verses for just about every situation you might come across, and to refute all kinds of modern pagan religion. The Bible is a sword, after all, and it is quite powerful in the real sort of warfare we engage in on a daily basis. For instance, people in the world will tell you to “follow your heart,” meaning that whatever desire might cross the screen of your heart should be followed. You should essentially let your desires and emotions rule your life rather than any form of discipline or written code as in the case of the Christian religion. Though the problem with this is obvious, many Christians buy into this false idea that the heart is something to be followed. Jeremiah said something about this when he said, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 (AFV)
This is similar to the ideas that are echoed in Genesis and in Proverbs, the idea that the heart of man is wicked and it's a ridiculous thing to trust in, something that is desperately wicked.
Genesis 6:5 (AFV) And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Proverbs 28:26 (AFV) He who trusts in his own heart is a fool; but whoever walks wisely, he shall be delivered.
It’s really quite easy for us to see that these verses are true just by looking at the world around us. Everyone is wicked, and their thoughts are wicked continuously. The wickedness in the world is more than it has ever been in our grandparents and great-grandparents, and even our great-great-grandparent's time and it is just getting worse. The world around us is desperately wicked and that is born out of hearts that are desperately wicked. I think we can agree that in light of this information, it's pretty safe to say that you absolutely should not follow your heart anywhere, especially in matters of deciding what is right and what is wrong. You might as well follow one of the Tate brothers for moral advice. For any who don’t know, they are influencer brothers who give terrible moral advice.
Now, we don't have to look very far at all to prove these verses true, but there is an unasked question here that I think would be beneficial for us to ponder and explore a bit. The question is one that came upon me suddenly while reading a book on the topic of being a child of God. I love to read, so I end up reading all different kinds of books and many of them challenge my beliefs. Most of these challenges are pretty easy to answer, but every now and then, there is a challenge that requires a change or tweak to my beliefs and the way I read the Bible, which is good. When our beliefs are challenged it inspires growth in our relationship with God and our understanding of who He is and who we are in relation to Him. We do not have all the truth and we don't understand all things perfectly, so, if we are to grow in grace and knowledge, that leaves us no recourse other than growing and changing in our understanding which means studying.
The world is wicked and the hearts of those living in the world are indeed wicked. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. The question that I'd like to present to you today for your consideration is, what about our hearts? What about the hearts of those who have turned to God, repented, and been baptized? Are our hearts and the hearts of these other children of God desperately wicked?
Many, I think, would quickly answer, “Yes of course, that's what the Bible says,” and I would have been one of those people voicing that answer, but I want to present an alternate idea and some other verses from the Bible for you to weigh against that answer. Changing the way we think about this topic can have some major impacts on the way we view God and the way we view our relationship with Him.
The go-to scripture about the heart is the one there in Jeremiah, but have you ever read Psalm 5 in connection with this?
Psalms 5:4 (AFV) For You are not a God that has pleasure in wickedness; nor shall evil dwell with You.
This verse and many others tell us that God cannot dwell with sin, which when taken in conjunction with Jeremiah tells us that God cannot abide a wicked heart. We find this idea echoed all over the Bible where God tells us that He hates the heart of the wicked or a wicked heart and cannot stand to be around a wicked heart. God hates wicked hearts! He will not abide with evil or wicked hearts, which creates a dilemma for us. Before we get into that dilemma, let’s discuss the topic of conversion. What exactly happens to us when we repent and we are baptized?
Well, for one thing, we receive the Holy Spirit which is the indwelling of the Father and the Son. The Father and Son dwell in our hearts with us, which is pretty incredible. The New Testament is full of this topic, and what comes along with it. God writes His law on our hearts and minds through the indwelling of His spirit, which is pretty incredible in its own right. No longer are we confined to the letter as a people, but we have been brought into the Spirit of the law which simply means we are held to a higher standard. Now, we get back to our little dilemma because something must happen in order for God to dwell in our hearts, right?
A little something called forgiveness and spiritual circumcision, because God cannot dwell with sin, and if our hearts are wicked, how can He dwell in a wicked heart?
The obvious answer is that He cannot, but thankfully, we have an answer to this dilemma because God has given us a clean heart through the washing of His Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:5 (AFV) Not by works of righteousness which we practiced, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,
God cleans us through the washing of His Holy Spirit and requires us to put off the Old Man and put on the New Man. He requires us to maintain the change that was brought about in us at our baptism because we can go backward.
Colossians 3:9 (AFV) Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man together with his deeds,
Colossians 3:10 (AFV) And have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him Who created him;
So we put on this New Man, who is who, exactly? What makes him new?
Ephesians 4:22 (AFV) That concerning your former conduct, you put off the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts;
Ephesians 4:23 (AFV) And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Ephesians 4:24 (AFV) And that you put on the new man, which according to God is created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
What makes him new is that he is a new creation created clean with righteousness and holiness and totally without corruption. Like our original selves, this New Man is also created by God, and like our physical body, this New Man must be maintained by us. This New Man can't be in reference to our physical body, however, so it must be talking about something else entirely.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (AFV) For this reason, we do not lose heart; but if our outward man is being brought to decay, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
Okay, so it's our inward man that these verses about our New Man are talking about, but notice what Paul says at the beginning of the verse. We do not lose heart! Now, if our hearts are desperately wicked, that seems like a very good thing for us to lose, but Paul doesn't seem to think so. The question is, then, can our hearts be changed?
Psalms 51:10 (AFV) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
David seemed to think so since He asked God to give him a new heart. This certainly makes sense if we understand that our hearts were once wicked. When we obey God we obey from the heart and follow Him from our hearts which would be a challenge if they are still wicked.
Romans 6:17 (AFV) But thanks be to God, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you;
Now, we come to a prophecy about what God would do in the future and the work He would do within His people.
Ezekiel 36:25 (AFV) And I will sprinkle clean waters upon you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols.
God tells us that in the future He would sprinkle waters upon us and we would be clean. Clean of what, exactly? Clean of our filthy sins, of course. To accomplish this, He had to take away our old hearts and put new hearts within us.
Ezekiel 36:26 (AFV) And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:27 (AFV) And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances and do them.
Jeremiah 24:7 (AFV) And I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. For they shall return to Me with their whole heart.
God can give us a new heart, and it stands to reason that whatever heart He gives us is not going to be wicked, far from it.
2 Corinthians 5:16 (AFV) So then, from this time forward we know no man according to the flesh; but even if we have known Christ in the flesh, yet now we no longer know Him accordingly.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (AFV) Therefore, if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
We are a new creation, I think it's safe to say. We have been converted, given new hearts, and we have the indwelling of the Father and Son through their spirit. All is well and good, but that means we have to adjust another belief of ours that we might be holding; the belief that our heart is still wicked. Not only do we now have a serious problem with that belief, but the belief that our heart is wicked runs us smack into all kinds of difficulties. Now, not only would I postulate that our heart is not wicked once we are converted and have the indwelling of the spirit, but I would put forth that our hearts are good!
Matthew 12:33 (AFV) Either make the tree good and the fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for a tree is known by its fruit.
Matthew 12:34 (AFV) Offspring of vipers, how are you able to speak good things, being evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Matthew 12:35 (AFV) The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out good things; and the wicked man out of the wicked treasure brings out wicked things.
We cannot bring forth good works or obedience to God out of a wicked heart, and God cannot dwell in any heart that is not good, which means that His spirit cannot dwell in our hearts if they are not changed. If we are not given a new heart then we are not converted and God's spirit does not dwell in us. Does God replace our old desperately wicked heart with a brand new desperately wicked heart?
1 Peter 1:22 (AFV) Having purified your lives by obedience to the Truth unto unfeigned brotherly love through the Spirit, love one another fervently with a pure heart.
1 Peter 1:23 (AFV) For you have been begotten again, not from corruptible seed, but from incorruptible seed, by the living Word of God, which remains forever.
No! We have been begotten from pure seed, from the pure water of the word and the pure blood of Jesus! Brothers and sisters, if our hearts are now wicked, then we have walked back on this washing and regeneration, and we have made our hearts uninhabitable to the spirit of God. If we are a new creation in Christ Jesus, if we believe that we are a new creation, then we have a problem if we think our heart is wicked, brothers and sisters, a serious problem indeed. Was our heart wicked? Absolutely! Is our heart still desperately wicked? We are now a new creation, God has given us a new heart, a spiritually clean heart, and He requires us to maintain this clean state through obedience and repentance.
Isaiah 59:2 (AFV) But your iniquities have come between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear,
We can acquire a dirty heart once God has cleaned it; we can once again be in a state where it can be well-said of us that our heart is desperately wicked, but what does that mean about our clean heart, our good heart? If our heart is good and clean, then where do the sinful desires to stain our new heart come from? Why do we still sin?
Well, the Apostle Paul didn’t seem to think that his new heart given to him by God was evil or wicked, but he still admitted to sin, and he said something rather interesting about it that I think will give us a satisfactory answer to our questions.
Romans 7:15 AFV Because what I am working out myself, I do not know. For what I do not desire to do, this I do; moreover, what I hate, this is what I do.
Romans 7:16 AFV But if I am doing what I do not desire to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
Romans 7:17 AFV So then, I am no longer working it out myself; rather, it is sin that is dwelling within me;
Romans 7:18 AFV Because I fully understand that there is not dwelling within me—that is, within my fleshly being—any good. For the desire to do good is present within me; but how to work out that which is good, I do not find.
Romans 7:19 AFV For the good that I desire to do, I am not doing; but the evil that I do not desire to do, this I am doing.
Romans 7:20 AFV But if I do what I do not desire to do, I am no longer working it out myself, but sin that is dwelling within me.
Romans 7:21 AFV Consequently, I find this law in my members, that when I desire to do good, evil is present with me.
Romans 7:22 AFV For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man;
Romans 7:23 AFV But I see another law within my own members, warring against the law of my mind, and leading me captive to the law of sin that is within my own members.
Romans 7:24 AFV O what a wretched man I am! Who shall save me from the body of this death?
Romans 7:25 AFV I thank God for His salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, on the one hand, I myself serve the law of God with my mind; but on the other hand, with the flesh, I serve the law of sin.
Paul can be a little confusing in his writing style, but what he’s talking about here is a concept that’s not that difficult to understand. Essentially what he is saying is that the desires of his flesh are at war with his heart because his heart, the spiritual heart given to him at his baptism, is contrary to the desires of his flesh. What he’s saying is that the desires of his flesh are not him! The inward man he refers to is the new man, the new heart that he was given, so consequently, he is at war with his own flesh. Let me see if I can break this down a little more. Think back to your own baptism and receipt of the Holy Spirit, how many sins were there that just disappeared overnight? Things you used to struggle with that were just gone all of a sudden? Now, what things were there that you thought were not gone and you wondered why you still struggled with that particular thing?
Romans 8:5 AFV For those who walk according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who walk according to the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit.
Romans 8:6 AFV For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace,
Romans 8:7 AFV Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can it be.
Romans 8:8 AFV But those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:9 AFV However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
Romans 8:10 AFV But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin; however, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
The simple answer, and the idea that Paul is getting at, is that there are urges and desires in our own fleshly bodies that are not a part of us. Modern psychology will tell us that bad habits, especially of the sexual or drug-related nature, form pathways in our bodies that drive us to do things. From a biblical perspective, these pathways were once sourced out of our corrupt hearts, but now that we have a shiny new heart, those pathways are no longer coming from within our hearts. They are still there in the flesh, however, our old habits, our old ways of doing things, and that is what we struggle against when we struggle against our flesh. It’s the traitor within, our Old Man, but it is not us! The battle is not in our hearts, it is for our hearts!
Galatians 5:16 AFV Now this I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:17 AFV For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these things are opposed to each other, so that you cannot do those things you wish to do.
Galatians 5:18 AFV But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under works of law.
Or under the consequences of the law, if we walk according to the spirit, according to our new hearts, and not according to our old flesh.
Galatians 5:19 AFV Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness,
Galatians 5:20 AFV Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strifes, jealousies, indignations, contentions, divisions, sects,
Galatians 5:21 AFV Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such things as these; concerning which I am telling you beforehand, even as I have also said in the past, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Okay, so now you start to see the stakes of the war we are fighting over our hearts, that is, our very salvation! Our hearts can become corrupted again, and we need healing and renewal from God because of this. We are at war and the flesh is not an excuse to sin, in fact, we are supposed to war, actively fight, and put to death the lusts and urges of the flesh. The fact that our flesh has been corrupted by a life without God is not an excuse to give in to what it is trying to get us to do.
Romans 8:12 AFV So then, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh;
Romans 8:13 AFV Because if you are living according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live.
Romans 8:14 AFV For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
We are supposed to be putting to death the deeds of the body. Something important to understand about the body is that it is not us. We live inside our bodies, and one day we will be given a new body. Paul calls this carnal body a tent that we are sojourning in while we are here on Earth, but it is not us. So most of our battles, once we are converted, are external battles, battles fought against something outside our hearts, battles fought for our hearts by the forces of darkness and the forces of light, which is exactly why we are told to protect our hearts above all else.
Proverbs 4:23 CSB Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life.
Philippians 4:6 AFV Do not be anxious about anything; but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God in everything;
Philippians 4:7 AFV And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
It is the source of life physically, obviously, but when we apply this to our spiritual heart, we can start to see why guarding our hearts is so vital, so it is quite a relief to know that we do not have to guard it on our own. Our hearts are so vital as our source of life because they are the temple of the Most High God and they are filled with His Holy Spirit. With that understanding, it can easily be understood why the battle for them is so fierce! Satan and all his legions of darkness are after the destruction of our hearts because we bear the image and glory of God there as His new creations. Do we treat our hearts like they are the precious temple of God, or because we view them as desperately wicked, do we lock them away to prevent them from ever seeing the light of day? Do we view our hearts as the source of our life? It's where Jesus resides, and from Him flows the wellsprings of living waters, so by locking away our hearts, how can we drink deeply of the life Jesus offers us?
Isaiah 44:2 AFV Thus says the LORD Who made you, and formed you from the womb, Who will help you, 'Fear not, O Jacob My servant, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen, Isaiah 44:3 AFV For I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your offspring; Isaiah 44:4 AFV And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.'
John 4:14 CSB "But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life."
What Jesus is offering here is simply incredible! He is offering a chance to be changed from someone who is desperately wicked, someone whose heart is dry ground, a cracked cistern as it calls it in another place, changed from a useless tree into someone within whom reside the living waters of eternal life because the Son of God, the Alpha and Omega, the Lamb who was slain dwells there, makes His abode there in his heart! He is offering eternal life, a new heart, and communion with the Most High God, something never before available on a widespread basis, and He offers it to all who will come and drink.
I wanted to go more in-depth on the warfare that we face, the wounds we can take spiritually, and the mindset we need to face this war, but this is already a long post. Hopefully, this will serve as a good introduction to the topic and perhaps give us a perspective shift on the war we face on a daily basis by learning to recognize that our hearts are new creations, we are no longer bound to the old ways of sin and death and the corruption of the lusts of the flesh, we live outside of those as long as we walk in the spirit. So then the question is since I know someone somewhere will think, “Kyle said we should follow our hearts,” the question is, should we follow our hearts if they are now good?
Well, think about this. Most of what people perceive as coming from their hearts is the lusts, urges, and desires of the flesh, right?
The sudden urge to do whatever it might be that we know is a sin or contrary to the Word of God and those are the things we fight against on a daily basis.
James 1:14 AFV But each one is tempted when he is drawn away and is enticed by his own lust.
James 1:15 AFV And after lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is completely finished, brings forth death.
We can be tempted and led astray by these lusts, urges, and desires, so we must be careful what we allow through to the gates of our hearts because these lusts, desires, and urges are not part of us unless we give place to them.
Ephesians 4:24 AFV And that you put on the new man, which according to God is created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Ephesians 4:25 AFV Therefore, let each one put away lies and speak the truth with his neighbor because we are members of one another.
Ephesians 4:26 AFV When you become angry, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger;
Ephesians 4:27 AFV Neither give place to the devil.
1 Corinthians 6:9 AFV Don't you know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers of themselves as women, nor homosexuals, 1 Corinthians 6:10 AFV Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 AFV And such were some of you; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
We have a choice whether or not we give place to these things in our newly created hearts, so we must learn to discern what desires and messages emanate from our flesh and which ones come out of the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We do that by following the written Word of God first and foremost, and over time we will learn to distinguish the difference. So, should we follow our hearts? If your weak flesh is telling you to abandon your responsibility and run off to parts unknown, that’s not your heart. If God is leading you from your heart into the work and ministry He has for you, then yes! Your heart is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, our Redeemer and Mediator dwells there giving us direct access to the Father! Rivers of living water flow out of our hearts!
The way you learn to distinguish between the lusts of your flesh, the whispers of the Devil and your Old Man, and the communication coming from the Temple, is in how you live your life. We must put on the New Man daily and make a conscious choice to live according to the New, clean, pure heart God has given us and not according to the flesh. So the question I have for you is, are you living according to the flesh or according to the new spiritual heart God has given you?
Romans 12:2 AFV Do not conform yourselves to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind in order that you may prove what is well pleasing and good, and the perfect will of God.
The easy answer is, if following your heart means you are living according to the world’s ways contrary to the Word of God, then you are not following your heart; you are following your Old Man, the corruption of the flesh, brothers and sisters. So, let us seek and perform the perfect will of God through the renewing of our new heart, and not according to the works of the flesh.
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