On The Deceitfulness Of The Human Heart

Adapted From A Sermon By

John Newton

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

(Jeremiah 17:9-10 ESV)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9).

These solemn words of the prophet expose the hidden corruption that lies within every one of us. In this sermon, adapted from the faithful ministry of John Newton, we will consider the dreadful deceitfulness of the human heart, the searching eye of our holy God who alone knows it fully, and the only remedy found in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the Lord open our ears to hear and our hearts to tremble at His truth.

The prophet Jeremiah had a difficult job. God appointed him to teach hard truths to a proud and unresponsive people. It caused him great pain to see that all his pleas and warnings, his prayers and tears, only made them view him as their enemy. This brought criticism and persecution upon him. He lived to see his own predictions come true. He saw the land where he was born ruined, the city destroyed, the people nearly wiped out, and the few who survived carried away to a distant country to spend the rest of their lives in captivity.

Those who have decided honestly and firmly to proclaim the word of the Lord have faced this kind of trial in every age. The message they must deliver has been unwelcome and ignored. It is not hard to create talks that win general approval from people. It is not difficult to predict how plain truth will usually be received. But those who accept this responsibility must carry it out. Ministers must tell the people everything that affects their well-being, whether they listen or whether they refuse.

If the watchman sees danger coming and does not sound the trumpet to give the clearest public warning possible, he is responsible for all the harm that may follow. This warning was given to the prophet Ezekiel. Without doubt, everyone who serves in holy matters shares in it.

"So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand."{Ezekiel 33:7-8}

Let this serious passage serve to excuse sermons that seem too urgent or too direct. They cannot be too direct or too urgent. The work is critically important. Every opportunity we get of hearing a sermon is critical and valuable. It puts the messengers souls at risk if he speaks falsely, and it puts your souls at risk if he speaks without any effect.

In the preceding verses, the prophet shows us a clear picture of the difference between a righteous person and a wicked person. He compares their present condition, their hopes, and their final outcome. One is like a tree planted by streams of water. The other is like dry bushes and stubble out in a hot salty desert. One is green, healthy, and full of fruit. The other is dried up and dying.

The righteous person puts his hope in the Lord, the all-sufficient and almighty God. The wicked person depends on weak human strength. Their endings match this difference. The righteous person is blessed and protected from every evil, so he does not need to worry even in a year of drought. The wicked person is cursed and cut off from any hope of improvement. "He shall not see any good come."

The main purpose was to show the Jews that there was no way to escape the judgments of God and the troubles that were coming except by returning to the Lord. God had begun to punish them, and he alone could heal them. But they refused. They chose their own plans instead. They leaned on human power, sometimes on Egypt and sometimes on Assyria. Sometimes they trusted in military force, and other times in clever schemes. They kept inventing new solutions. When one plan failed, they quickly turned to another.

But the prophet declares that God’s curse rests on them and on everything they depend on. Then he adds the words of our text, which can be understood either as further proof of what he had already said or as the reason for the stubbornness he had described: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

But without limiting these words to the first time they were spoken, let us consider them as teaching us a clear truth that many other parts of scripture also confirm.

I. That truth is that "the heart is deceitful and desperately sick." This will be explained in a simple and familiar way.

II. Second, from the next verse the fact will be emphasized that, the heart, bad as it is, is always under the close inspection and examination of God. "I the Lord search the heart and test the mind."

III. Third, we will consider the purpose and result of this examination. It is so that every man may in the end receive according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.

And may the Lord enable us to examine ourselves here in such a way that hereafter we may be found without blame and without fault before him, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I. The heart is described here first as deceitful above all things, or in every way. Second, as desperately sick, in such a dangerous and hopeless condition that no one can fully understand it or figure it out. "Who can know it?" The word in the original which we translate desperately sick means a fatal, incurable disease. It is a disease that attacks the vital organs, affects the whole body, and threatens everything. No remedy can cure it.

This points us back to the first sin, when man turned away from God. That sin destroyed the health of his soul and left him in the condition described by Isaiah in chapter one. "The whole head is sick," all the powers of the understanding disordered; "and the whole heart faint," all the springs of the affections enfeebled. "From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds:"{Isaiah 1:6} the evil growing worse continually, and no help or helper at hand: "they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil."

Because of this deep-rooted disorder, the heart is deceitful. That means it tricks us and lets us down in every situation. It promises more than it can deliver. It misleads us with empty desires and leaves us with failed efforts. It is like the weak attempts of a sick man trying to do actions that require full health and strength. Please listen carefully to the following points which will make it clear that this is true.

Scripture and reason together tell us clearly that everything we see is the work of an almighty God. The heavens and the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and even the grass and flowers in the fields all declare the presence, the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God. Yet man shows an extreme lack of sensitivity to this truth.

i) The wisest people in places where they did not know divine revelation always mistook the effect for the cause. They gave honor to created things that belongs only to the Creator. This was the best they managed. In general they sank even lower and worshiped pieces of wood and stone.

To the lasting shame of natural human understanding in the things of God, the more civilized any nation was, the more famous for its arts and military power, and the farther it stood from those it called barbarians, the more vile and worthless the idolatry it practiced usually became.

The wisdom of the Egyptians gave divine honors to cats, monkeys, and the lowest reptiles. The refined taste of the Greeks made gods out of beings who, if they had lived among men, would have been regarded as the worst specimens of society. These gods were openly both examples and supporters of the most shameful vices.

The strength of the Romans set up altars to fear and panic. They were so deeply deceived and so completely without common sense that the worst enemies of the apostle Paul could find no better charge against him in one of the most cultured cities of that time than this: he had dared to say, "that gods made with hands are not gods."{Acts 19:26}

ii) Thus stood the case with the heathen people. Now let us look closer to home. We must admit that the main difference between them and most of us who are called Christians is that we do not share in their obvious outward idolatry. In other ways, our lack of feeling is perhaps even greater than theirs, and our greater knowledge makes it even less excusable.

We acknowledge that there is a God, that there is only one God, that he is the cause of all things, and that in him we live and move and have our being. If the poor heathen people had known this, we can judge from how they acted in their false worship that it would have influenced how they lived. But how many of us live as if we are without God in the world.

Let our own conscience judge and speak. What do we really think about the constant presence of God around us and within us? We know that he is aware of all our thoughts, words, and actions. Yet are we not more strongly held back and awed by the presence of other people than by the awareness of that eye which is ten thousand times brighter than the sun?

How do the works of God affect us? Does not the sight of a beautiful day or a wide and lovely view bring a feeling of satisfaction to everyone? But how few of us truly recognize and acknowledge the hand of the glorious author of these things. How seldom and how weakly do we make the reflection of David: "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"{Psalm 8:3-4}

What is our opinion of the word of God: that glorious message of love in which he has shown us the way of salvation? Is not this book the least read, the least admired, and the least understood of any book? We are quickly moved and we enter with full feeling into the emotional scenes of a novel or a movie, even though we know they are not true and have nothing to do with us. But we can read the history of Jesus Christ, his life and teaching, his death and suffering, with indifference, even though we say that everything he said, did, or suffered was for our sakes.

What are our thoughts about the eternity to which we are all heading, and to which, for all we know, a few hours may bring us? Is it not true that the smallest distraction can hide this important reality from our view?

It would be easy to list many more examples. But are not these enough to show the deceitfulness and the desperate wickedness of the heart? Consider one more. The judgments of God are now at work in the world because of these things. We have warnings all around us. We know that many fruitful lands near us have been turned almost into a wilderness because of the sins of the people who live there. Every news report brings us word of new destruction, and we cannot say how soon it may become our own situation. Yet we have no real sympathy for our fellow human beings and no real concern for ourselves. We hear, we feel a moment of pity, and we forget in the same moment.

But these things are distant. Do we take more to heart the things we see and feel directly? Our friends and acquaintances are taken from us every day. Some of them suddenly, while in the middle of their strongest efforts or just as they are about to complete their favorite plans. We shed a meaningless tear and then turn to every empty distraction for relief. Perhaps we ourselves become sick and are brought near the edge of the grave. But even then, for the most part, we remain unmoved. If we feel a slight impression, it gradually fades as the illness passes, and as soon as we recover we return to our old foolish ways with even greater eagerness. This gives us only a small picture of the insensibility of the human heart. Let us now consider,

iii) Its ingratitude. The Israelites were a clear example of all mankind in this respect. God came to them in Egypt while they were suffering. Without any request from them, he took on their rescue and carried it out completely. He brought them out from among their enemies "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm."{Deuteronomy 26:8} He led them safely through the wilderness. He protected them with a cloud from the burning sun. He gave them light at night with a pillar of fire. He fed them with bread from heaven and made streams flow in the dry desert. He made a covenant with them and chose them as his special people. He destroyed all their enemies before them and finally gave them full and peaceful possession of a land flowing with milk and honey.

Yet when we read their history alongside God's gracious acts toward them, we see their behavior was one long series of rebellion, stubbornness, complaining, and disobedience. And are we any better than they were? Not at all.

If we took time to consider the natural, civil, and religious blessings we enjoy as a nation, it would be clear that we too have long been a specially favored people. The eye of the Lord our God has been on us constantly for good, and we have reason to say, "He has not dealt thus with any other nation."{Psalms 147:20}

The history of all ages and countries shows many examples of national prosperity, but few can match the remarkable degree and duration of the blessings we have enjoyed as a nation since Confederation. Yet, sadly, it would be equally difficult to find a match for our great ingratitude. The point I made earlier already points us to this sobering truth. Those who have so little awareness of the value of God's gifts—or of His sovereign hand in bestowing them—cannot truly be grateful. The root of ingratitude lies in the heart, and it reveals itself in our words and actions.

Now, what are the main topics of conversation among us? Are the great things God has done for us, the deep obligations we owe him, the comforts of our holy religion, and the blessed hope set before us in the gospel among them? On the contrary, is not even the smallest mention of these things in company usually met with awkward silence, if not with contempt and dislike?

"Out of the abundance of the heart (the) mouth speaks."{Luke 6:45} God and the things of God have little place there. Instead, light talk, criticism of others, bad temper, and often profanity and obscenity in our conversations clearly reveal the nature of the source they come from.

And if we look at the actions of people in general, they match their words. People are consumed by business or enslaved to pleasure. For a time they strain every effort to gather wealth, and then they become restless and eager to spend it. Whatever passion rules them at the moment, or whatever changes they make in their plans, it is too clear that a spirit of gratitude to God and a real desire to please him have little influence in forming or carrying out their plans.

If these things are true, we have another proof of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of the heart. It is full of the blackest ingratitude.

Need anything more be added to these two charges? Have we not said enough to confirm the prophet's statement? If not, consider a third point, if possible even more absurd and inexcusable than the first two. Man is not only unaware of most things that should concern him most, and ungrateful and disobedient to his maker and preserver, his best and only friend, but he is proud as well. Though he has nothing except what he has received, and has received nothing that he has not twisted and mismanaged, and must give a strict account of his mismanagement, yet he is proud. We have already seen his blindness and low character. Only pride was needed to make him a complete monster.

And do we need to spend time proving this? No. This at least is a universal problem. Any man can easily see it in every other man except himself. And every thinking man can sense it working inside himself all the time. Whether we are alone or with others, whether with friends or enemies, with those above us or below us, pride creeps in. Even in the very presence of God, when we gather to ask for his mercy, while the most humbling confessions are on our lips and we are accusing ourselves as miserable and helpless sinners, even here pride finds us. Those who are not aware of this must be complete strangers to themselves. Now, why is dust and ashes proud? Proud of our failures! Proud of our weaknesses! Is it not because the heart is terribly diseased, desperately wicked, and deeply deceitful?

I will not go any further with this point. I will not try at this time to list those [evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immorality, thefts, and slanders]{Mark 7:21-22} which our Lord assures us constantly come "out of the heart of man."{Mark 7:21-22} We focus on insensibility, ingratitude, and pride because these are the faults that in everyday life we condemn most strongly. We prefer to think we are largely free from them, and we can least bear to be charged with them.

We must admit that between one man and another there often appears to be much generosity, gratitude, and humility. But what good will it do us if we stand on fairly good terms with each other in these matters while we remain guilty before God? "The Lord sees not as man sees:"{1 Samuel 17:7} He cannot be deceived or satisfied with a good outward appearance, for he searches the heart and tests the inner thoughts. This is the next point to be considered.

II. The heart, with all its activities and all its faults, is constantly under the close inspection and examination of God: "I the Lord search the heart and test the mind."{Jeremiah 17:10} In the language of scripture, this refers specifically to the affections and the thoughts. The words search and test carry a strong emphasis in the original language. It is hard to fully express that emphasis in English without a longer explanation.

The Lord searches the heart. He traces and investigates the deepest motives of our souls back to their very beginning with complete accuracy. He tests the mind. He watches every thought as it arises. He tests it against his perfect law. He examines it with the greatest care, like a refiner tests his metals, in order to reject anything that falls short of the required standard.

To get a clearer picture of this examination, let us ask ourselves this question. How could we stand to be forced to declare out loud, in front of a whole group of people, every thought that passes through our minds and every wish and desire we are aware of, without holding anything back? Surely very few people are so completely without shame that, if faced with this test, they would not rather die than go through with it. There are things they would notice, especially under such pressure, that they could hardly bring themselves to say no matter what.

The Lord has mercifully kept us from knowing each other's hearts any more than we choose to reveal. If every man were forced to speak everything he thinks, society would come to an end. Man would no longer dare to live with man any more than with tigers and bears.

We know what harm one uncontrolled tongue can sometimes cause. Now, the tongue can do no evil except as it reveals the hidden things of the heart. Yet even the worst tongue only reveals a small part of what is inside. What then would happen if all our hearts were completely open and all our desires known to one another? What a mixture of confusion, defiance, shame, rage, fear, and contempt would appear on every face! And yet we stand completely exposed to the searching eye of a pure and holy God.

The Lord knows that the thoughts of man's heart are empty and worthless. Long ago he declared the result of his observation: "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."{Genesis 6:5}

Even though the world was flooded because of this, things did not improve afterward. Taking a second look, the judgment is the same: "The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God."{Psalm 14:2} "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips."{Romans 3:10-13}

We have already considered how things were in the time of our blessed Savior. Neither scripture nor experience gives us any reason to think it has been better since then or is better now. The apostle Paul has assured us, "That, in the last days" (a description which probably matches our own days) "there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power."{2 Timothy 3:1-5} Surely, if these are the signs of the last days, they must have already begun. In summary, we see how vile and hateful our hearts must look in the sight of a God who searches the heart.

III. There is one more thing we must consider. The Lord does not watch the heart of man with the indifference of a mere observer. He watches as a perfectly fair and unyielding judge, "to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."{Jeremiah 17:10} This was the third point we were to address.

But, sadly, what can be said about this? Is it not enough to fill our souls with amazement and to make every face grow dark? We hear that the Lord has determined to give every man according to his works, and that he sits as judge not only over our outward actions but over the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Are any one of us up to such a trial? Which of us will dare to say, I am clean? What good does it do for any of us to claim, I have not committed adultery, if God charges us with every wrong desire and every lustful look? What will it help us that we have never attacked the life of our neighbor, if every angry word and every hint of ill will or desire for revenge counts as murder in the sight of God?

It will not be enough to say, I am no thief or extortioner, unless we can clear ourselves even of the slightest wish to possess what belongs to another. If we are sure we have not sworn falsely but have kept our oaths to the Lord, that is good as far as it goes. We will not be condemned for open perjury. But if we have ever spoken or even thought the name of God without the deepest reverence, we have taken his name in vain, and he has declared he will not hold us guiltless.

This is not some made up theory. These are the very words of truth, spoken by the one who will judge us one day. The fifth chapter of Matthew makes this clear. There a lustful glance is called adultery. An angry word is condemned as murder. And to speak carelessly even about the hairs on our head is treated as a form of profane swearing. Why? Because all these things come from the heart, which is "naked and exposed," without any covering or concealment, "to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."{Hebrews 4:13}

This is uncomfortable teaching, and rightly so, if we could go no further. There is nothing in heaven or on earth, in time or in eternity, that gives the smallest comfort to fallen man if God is strict to mark what is wrong, or if man trusts in himself and tries to argue with his Maker.

The divine law demands perfect, constant, sinless obedience. It pronounces a curse on the smallest failure: "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them;"{Galatians 3:10} every one, without exception, who does not continue from the beginning to the end of life in all things, great and small, to do them completely, without any defect in either the act or the way it is done.

This would be most uncomfortable teaching indeed if no remedy had been provided. For the law of God is as eternal and unchanging as his own nature. It cannot be softened or lowered to fit our weakness. Neither can the penalty be avoided, for the God of truth has said, and has sworn, that "the soul who sins shall die."{Ezekiel 18:4}

Here, then, we must accept "the sentence of death."{2 Corinthians 1:9} Here "every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God."{Romans 3:19} Here we must say with the apostle, "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin."{Romans 3:20}

O that we could all say this sincerely, that we were brought to feel and confess our lost and ruined condition and our complete inability to save ourselves! Then with joy we could consider what follows.

What is the purpose of dwelling on such an unpleasant subject? Why look into of the depths of the heart? It is to show more clearly the wonderful grace and goodness of God given to us in the gospel, and at the same time to show the complete impossibility of finding salvation in any way except the one God has provided.

For consider this: God so loved the world {John 3} that he sent his Son to do for us what the law could not do because of the weakness of our flesh.{Romans 8} Jesus Christ lived in perfect obedience to the law of God in our place. He died and paid the full penalty for our sins. He rose from the grave as our representative. He has entered heaven as our forerunner. He has received "gifts among men, even among the rebellious."{Psalm 68:18} He is exalted on high "that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations."{Luke 24:47}

He has established his ordinances for this purpose. He has commanded his people not to neglect meeting together. He has charged his ministers at such times first to declare the guilty and hopeless condition of mankind, and then to proclaim the good news of salvation through faith in him. He has promised to be with them in this work to the end of the world. He has promised that where his word is faithfully preached, he will send his Spirit and power with it to overcome all resistance. He has promised that while we speak to the ear, he will by his hidden work apply it to the heart and open it to receive and embrace the truth, as he did with Lydia.

Who would dare to preach a message so unwelcome to our natural minds as Jesus Christ and him crucified? Who would take on the difficult task of lowering man from his high opinion of himself and publicly charging him with insensibility, ingratitude, pride, and deceit? We do so only because we have, first, a command to speak plainly, and it is at our peril if we do not, and second, a promise that we shall not speak in vain.

We do not expect everyone to accept it. The time has come when many do "not endure sound teaching;"{2 Timothy 4:3} but there will be some whom God is pleased to save through what the world calls the foolishness of preaching. May we all here be among them.

To you I say: Do not try to satisfy the justice of God by any weak efforts of your own. Do not try to cleanse or remove the evil in your hearts by your own methods. Instead, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."{John 1:29}

He died so that you may live. He lives so that you may live forever. Therefore put your trust in the Lord, for with him is full redemption. His sufferings and death are a complete and final payment for sin. "He is able to save to the uttermost,"{Hebrews 7:25} and he is as willing as he is able.

It was this that brought him down from heaven. For this he gave up all his glory and submitted to every humiliation. His humility covers our pride. His perfect love atones for our ingratitude. His tender compassion pleads for our lack of feeling.

Only believe. Commit your case to him by faith and prayer. As our Priest, he will make full atonement for your sins and present you and your service acceptable to God. As our Prophet, he will teach you the true wisdom that leads to salvation. He will not only make you know his commands but also love them. He will write them on your hearts.

As our King, he will powerfully defend you against all your enemies. He will enable you to resist temptation, to endure hardship, and to overcome every obstacle. He will supply everything you need for this life and the next from the endless riches of his grace. He will strengthen you to overcome all things, to endure to the end, and then he will give you a place in his kingdom, a seat near his throne, a crown of life, a crown of glory that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that does not fade away.