The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Broken Heart, New Hearts"
"New wine must be put into new bottles."
(Luke 5:38)
The Apostle Paul identifies the heart of the born again believer as our spirit, wherein dwells the Holy Spirit.
"But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Romans 2:29; emphasis added).
"He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17).
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you" promised God to Israel, an assurance yet to be fulfilled to His earthly people Israel in the national sense (Ezekiel 36:26). The promise, however, already personally graces God's Heavenly people, the church, as salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ births a "new creature… new man… newness of life," and yes, a new heart and a new spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit (II Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; Romans 6:4).
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).
From a heart without God's living presence, to a heart indwelt by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, characterizes every born again believer (Romans 8:9). We still live in earthly temples of flesh, our members and faculties inherited from Adam. This constitutes great challenge - "the flesh lusteth against the spirit" (Galatians 5:17). A "law of sin" inhabits the flesh, meaning that if we walk after its characteristics, we will inevitably distrust and disobey our Heavenly Father (Romans 7:23; 25). Conversely, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" dwells within our hearts, empowering faith and faithfulness: "Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).
"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8:13).
We also do well to remember that a broken Heart, forsaken by God, made possible our new heart, indwelt by God.
"We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God… My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me" (Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 27:46).
The gift of our new heart, received in the new birth, required the execution of God's wrath upon the heart of the Lord Jesus. A cost far higher than we will ever know not only provided forgiveness of sin, but also a "new man, created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). Deep in the heart, born again believers are not who we once were because deep in the heart of our Savior, He "hath made Him to be sin for us" (I Peter 2:24; II Corinthians 5:21). A broken Heart made possible our new hearts. This we must believe because it is true, and because reckoning ourselves to be alive unto God provides a powerful basis for walking accordingly (Romans 6:11). Our Lord sacrificed far too much on the cross of Calvary for believers to ignore or neglect the gift of a heart spiritually birthed and transformed by Christ's living presence and the promise: "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).
A broken Heart, smitten and forsaken in the judgment fires of Calvary, made possible and actual in all believers a justified and enlivened heart birthed and inhabited by the Holy Spirit. He dwells within the deepest depths of our very being, imparting the risen Christ as the very Life of our lives. So great a gift, purchased by so high a cost. We cannot fail - we must not fail - to walk in the light and truth of the broken Heart that bequeathed to us the grace of our new hearts.
Made to be sin, who knew no sin,
Christ nailed to a cross, forsaken!
Made to be righteous because of Him,
Christ lives now in us, He dwells within.
His delight for the Father, now ours by grace.
His faithfulness revealed in us through faith.
"He lives, we live," the anthem we sing,
"Not I, but Christ!" the offering we bring.
Oh let us believe it because we received it
in the moment we entered His light,
sins were forgiven, God promised Heaven,
and Christ as the Life of our lives.
"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us."
(Romans 5:5)
"God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you."
(Romans 6:17)
Weekly Memory Verse
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
(Romans 8:13)
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