The Searcher Of Hearts Will Keep The Hypocrites & Judases Out Of The Church

The Searcher Of Hearts Will Keep The Hypocrites & Judases Out Of The Church

"There is nothing which more clearly pertains to God than the power of searching the heart, and nothing that is more constantly claimed by Him as His special prerogative."

"To himself a man's heart is an inscrutable mystery. God alone can fathom it."

- both quotes from Barnes' Notes

"To a hypocrite, all whose religion lies in his tongue, nothing is more dreadful than that God searches the heart and sees through all his disguises. To a sincere Christian, who makes heart-work of his duty, nothing is more comfortable than that God searches the heart..." - Matthew Henry Commentary

Throughout the Scriptures, God is appropriately referred to as - "The Knower of the heart."

1 Chronicles 28:9 says - "...for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts..." Deuteronomy 29:29 adds - "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God..." One of those "secret things" is the thoughts and imaginations of our souls. Another is the "heart of kings" which Proverbs 25:3 terms as "insearchable" for man - but not for God.

In Psalm 44:21, the Psalmist - in questioning the possible apostasy of Israel - referred to God in his inquiry - "Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart." "Forgetting God"...willfully ignoring Him...or "stretching out one's hands to a strange god" in prayer or worship were serious sins. He and He alone would know whether or not His faithful remnant kept themselves pure from the idolatry of their time.

In Psalm 139:1, David declared - "O LORD, Thou hast searched me, and known me." His search is likened unto the accurate or close search of the earth for water or metals by boring or digging. In every posture, movement, circumstance of life, or occupation - He has a full knowledge of all men.

In Jeremiah 17:9-10, He boldly declared Who indeed is able to probe the heart of man - "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."

In Ezekiel 11:5, He asserts to all religious deceivers who want to follow after the things of the world and not after God - "...for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them."

In Acts 1:24, He is addressed in prayer as "...Thou, Lord, Which knowest the hearts of all men..." Because He knows the most secret purposes, intentions, and dispositions of all men, He - in turn - knows the real from the false...the capable from the incapable...and the faithful from the betrayer. He is able to judge infallibly of men.

In Acts 15:8, it is said of Him - "And, God, Which knoweth the hearts..." He knows a true convert from a false one.

Romans 8:27 refers to Him in this manner - "And He that searcheth the hearts..."

In Hebrews 4:12, as the "Word of God," the Lord Jesus is - "...a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." When the "Word" is preached, He discovers the most secret and remote thoughts and suggestions...exposes the whole character of the man...lays open the secret propensities and designs of the soul...and detects the actual feelings and intentions of the hypocrite or self-deceiver.

Lastly, Revelation 2:23 depicts Christ's omniscience in this way - "...I am He Which searcheth the reins and hearts..." Here we see Him as the Great "I AM" Who alone has the power to search "the reins" - the center of the emotions or the moral center of the life(according to the Semitic thought) - and the "hearts" - the center of the thought or intellect - representing the totality of feelings, thoughts, desires - stemming from the deepest inner life.

Interestingly, in that same verse, the Lord Jesus prefaced this introduction of Himself with the following words - "...and all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts..."

"And all the churches shall know" - Think about what He is saying here.

What is it that He wants all of the churches to know?

"...that I am He Which searcheth the reins and hearts..."

For what reason?

One being that there is such a lack of the Fear of God in our midst in that everyone nowadays in the Church is claiming to be saved. Looking around, we can easily see that that is certainly not the case.

Also, there is a lack of discernment as to who is a real disciple of Jesus and who is a Judas...who is a real minster and who is a phony...or who is committed and who is a hypocrite.

How we desperately need the Presence of this "Revealer of hearts" to come into our midst. How we need for the Preachers to preach the whole counsel of God - holding back nothing - so that this One Who is called the "Word of God" would be able to rightfully turn the sinners or backsliders inside out - "discern the thoughts and intents of their hearts" - bringing down severe conviction of sin on their heads.

The churches need to know Who Jesus really is - the Reader of men's hearts...the revealer of deep secrets...and the searcher of hidden things and ways - so that the Fear of God will come back into our midst.

Revelation 3:20 pictures Him standing at a door knocking - "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock..."

We wonder whose church He is standing outside today - knocking in hope that the Pastor and congregation will let Him in - not as the typically sought after "God of Love" but as the "Searcher of men's hearts."

2 Timothy 2:19 says - "...The Lord knoweth them that are His..."

Are you one of them - one whose heart has been searched and found to be true and faithful?

The hypocrites and Judases don't want this kind of Jesus in their midst on Sunday morning.

What about you?

May God Bless His Word.

Connie

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