“And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my
throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst
of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel
no more defile, neither they,
nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their
high places.” (Eze 43:7 AV)
There
are two factors to consider here. That
is, the means by which perfect obedience will be accomplished. There are two ways in which a guarantee of
perfect obedience can be accomplished.
The first is the promise of a rod of iron. The book of Revelation as well as other
places tell us that when Christ comes, the will rule with a rod of iron. Absolute rule with no compromise. However, the Old Testament is replete with
the promise of a new heart. The LORD
will take away the stoney heart of the Jewish nation and give them a new
heart. This new heart will hate
sin! This new heart will have the
free-will desire to walk in obedience to the law of God. It is this second means which I wish to
consider this morning.
If
we are saved, then the LORD gave us this new heart. This new heart desires to comply to the word
of God. We do not walk in obedience
nearly as much as we should, but there still is a new part of us that desires
to do so. Paul wrote of this conflict in
Romans chapter seven. We still have to
battle the old man. It is part of our
human experience until the day we die.
It reminds me of a cartoon that I saw years ago. In fact, the same theme was in several. It plagued Tom (the cat) in Tom &
Jerry. It pestered Foghorn Leghorn. It manifested itself in the Sheepdog and
Coyote. The There would be episodes
wherein one of the characters would have a battle of the heart. On one shoulder would be an angelic
representation of himself while on the other would be a devilish
representation. Both would speak into
the ears attempting to lead the individual character down their perspective paths. Almost always, the devilish character won
out. It was more natural and amusing.
There
will come a time when our wicked hearts will be no longer. There will be a time when there will be no
conflict of conscience. We will always
do the right thing because we want to do the right thing! Just like Israel who will be permanently
transformed, those who have trusted in Christ will enjoy the same liberty! Liberty from this conflict of
conscience. Rid of the evil, wicked,
selfish part of us which Christ slew on Calvary’s cross! Romans chapter six tells us it is dead. Yet we keep resurrecting it! One of these days, it will be dead forever!
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