Who You Are in Christ – You Are a Person With a New Heart

I’m sure you’ve heard the verse from Jeremiah 17:9 that tells us how wicked our hearts are. It reads, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and it desperately sick; who can understand it?” There are major theologies that teach the utter wickedness of mankind and their inability to even come to God.

Some even proclaim that the hearts of Christians are wicked. Maybe you think your own heart is wicked and evil. If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I have good news for you, God has given you a new heart.

Your heart isn't wicked. It’s new. It has been touched by the cleansing power of Jesus Christ and made clean.

I’ve had this conversation many times with believers. They are so convinced of their own wickedness and inability to overcome sin that they say it over and over again. I’m just a sinner saved by grace. That is not what the Bible says. It says you are a saint saved by grace.

We have trained our minds to see the wickedness of the heart and overlooked what the Scriptures says about it. In a moment we will look at a bunch of New Testament Scriptures that make absolutely no sense at all if our heart is still wicked after coming to the Lord.

Maybe you remember the story in Genesis 6:5-7 where God sends the flood because of the wickedness of man. It reads:

5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 

See, doesn’t that prove how wicked and evil mankind is? Man’s heart is so bad that God had to kill everyone on the face of the earth.

The only problem with using those verses is that it forgets verse 8. Not everyone on the earth has a wicked and evil heart.

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Noah’s heart was not evil. He was a follower of God. He was a man of faith that put His trust in God and followed His ways and did all that He commanded him (v. 22).

Listen to the promise that God gave to Israel, and to the Gentiles also through faith. He said:

31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

God promises to do a work in the hearts of those who come to Him. He definitely doesn't give us a wicked and evil heart, but changes it into something new. Look at these New Testament verses that speak of the heart. Not one of these verses makes any sense if the heart is totally wicked.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from [ab]that which fills his heart. (Luke 6:45)

In the parable of sower, Jesus is describing the seed as the word of God and it falls upon the hearts of those into which it is sown. Listen to how Jesus describes the good soil that the seed falls upon and brings forth fruit. He says:

But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. (Luke 8:15)

Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, (Acts 2:46)

Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; (Acts 11:23)

 8 And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. (Acts 15:8-9)

 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)

17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)

8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Romans 10:8-10)

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:5)

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6)

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; (Ephesians 5:19)

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; (Colossians 3:12)

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10-:22)

It’s time to believe the word of God and recognize that your heart has been touched by the power of Jesus Christ and that it is no longer evil. Combine the above verses and it tells you that your heart is pure, honest, good, sincere, resolute, cleansed, filled with the love of God, is believing, has the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ, has the Spirit of God aiding in it, has Christ dwelling in it, sings and makes melodies, is guarded by God’s peace, is compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient, and sprinkled clean.

I sure hope you don't need any more evidence that you when you come to Christ you get not only a new nature, you get a new heart.

If you struggle with the idea that your heart is evil and you feel that your heart is your enemy, then I encourage you to listen to this again and again until it begins to sink in that your heart has changed and you can begin to let good things flow out of your good heart.