Heart Surgery

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jeremiah 17: 9, 10)

"The heart, in its moral significance in the OT, includes the emotions, the reason and the will." (Vine's NT words).

In the New Testament, the Greek word for "heart" is "cardia," from whence we get our English word "cardiac," and thus pertains merely to the physical organ. But, in the Bible, "heart" denotes that which is moral and spiritual.

The "heart" of man, according to Strong's definition, is "the middle or central or inmost part of anything" (as in the "heart of the matter"). Thus, when one sees the word "heart" used in the Bible, one may substitute "core of one's being," or "innermost being," or "the center of one's thoughts and affections."

So, in its broader scriptural use and signification, "heart" signifies a person's inner thoughts, his inner center of being, that entity from whence springs all a man's desires, affections, thoughts and purposes, and his choices.

"O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things." (Matthew 12: 34, 35)

"But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." (Matthew 15: 18-20)

All evil emotions, thoughts, and actions, taught Jesus, "proceed from" the very center of a man's soul, from his evil heart.

Sin, like a disease, has infected man in the worst of places, in his innermost being. His heart is the source of all that a man feels, thinks, chooses, and does. Thus, to have an "evil heart" is to be fatally diseased. Unless one has this heart problem taken care of, he will be doomed to a life of nothing but evil feelings, thoughts, and actions.

The prophet Jeremiah has stated the severity of man's spiritual heart problem ("desperately wicked") and how hopeless is his case. Only God himself, as a physician-surgeon, can safely remove the old heart and give a new heart. Notice these passages.

"And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 11: 19, 20)

"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." (Ezekiel 18: 30-32)

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezekiel 36: 25-27)

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." (Hebrews 8: 10, 11)

"For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an 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 unto me with their whole heart." (Jeremiah 24: 6, 7)

What gracious promises to those with spiritual heart disease! God has a cure for our evil heart and soul. God says he will give one a new heart! This new heart is a "good and honest heart," a heart that knows God and his laws. It comes with a "new spirit" and a "new life."

The old heart that is removed, was called a "hard and impenitent heart" (Romans 2: 5), and the new heart is soft and penitent. The old sinful and depraved heart caused the "understanding" to be "darkened," and the innermost soul to be "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them," and all this "because of the blindness of their heart." (Ephesians 4: 18)

The old depraved heart "is waxed gross," and has caused the sinner's "ears" to be "dull of hearing," and his "eyes" to be "closed." He therefore is both spiritually deaf and dumb. This evil heart keeps the sinner from saving truth and understanding. (Acts 28: 26-28)

Because of our evil heart, we "do alway err in heart" and therefore "have not known" the "ways" of God. (Hebrews 3: 10) An "evil heart of unbelief," such as we have before we are saved, naturally practices "departing from the living God." (Hebrews 3: 12)

Sinner, has God shown you the evil of your heart? Has he shown you how it is the source of all your sins and all your sorrows? If you see this, and desire a new heart, such as knows God and loves him and his word, then I point you to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God's Surgeon in this matter.