Acts 7:51] Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
[52] Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
[53] Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
[54] When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
In the previous study, we looked at how the man has ‘resisted’ the Holy Ghost, and whether it were by the mouth of God, or by His Holy Prophets, or by the mouth of the Lord, man has rejected God’s word of Truth. And as we can see in the verses above, it is by the foolish heart of the man, and his lusts, that God’s word will not he heard by him. And just as the Pharisees were “cut to the heart” by Stephen’s testimony, the heart of man will “always resist” whatever seeks to ‘take away’ the lusts of his vain heart. And this is the only way we can actually serve our Father, we must be “transformed by the renewing of” our minds, and be not conformed to this world. And whenever someone is “conformed” to something, they are ‘given unto’ it, and they are after its identity, the word itself; “conformed” (con-formed), goes after something being ‘made to resemble’ the original. And those Pharisees in the book of Acts, and throughout the Lord’s time here on the earth, became “cut to the heart,” and had a “hardened heart,” their hearts were “waxed gross,” but the rejection of God’s word is always based upon the heart being ‘offended’ by what could possibly affect its affections and its lusts.
Gal.5:16] This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
[17] For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
However, the heart of man is in perfect union with the flesh, and this is because the flesh ‘reaps the benefit’ of its ‘hearts desire.’ But the heart and flesh “lusteth against” the Word of God, and what this means is, not only will it not accept the word of Truth, but it will ‘personally attack’ all that the lusts are founded upon, and it exposes what we love, and our affections and lusts as being a waste of time, and actually as nothing at all in the sight of God. The word of God testifies that our hearts are deceitful, and the things that we love are evil, and are of this world. This is where the man objects to what he hears, and this is what has been the case since Adam in the garden. He has chosen his wisdom and understanding as ‘gospel’ over God’s wisdom and understanding, because God’s word, and will does not include the physical gains, the physical happiness, the physical endeavors that man has exalted above all things.
Acts 28:26] Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
[27] For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Simply put, the lusts of the flesh, and the affections of the heart has always been at the core of the rejection of God’s word, and God’s will. And when Satan said that his desire is to be “like the Most High,” this declaration made based upon Satan’s heart. Isaiah chapter 14:13 says:
13] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
[14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Therefore, the ‘father’ of the ‘hardened heart,’ and of the rejection of God’s word is Satan himself, and man is born into a conformity of to the ‘attributes of Satan.’ And from the heart of Satan is where he formed his plan and purpose to reject the word and will of God, and the man too follows this ungodly design to “not endure sound doctrine.” The word of God teaches us that it is by these “lusts” of the heart why the man has always rejected His Holy Word, and walked contrary to the will of God. Man has been “conformed to this world,” and actually “conformed” unto the attributes of Satan. Notice again how Satan’s heart is at the ‘root’ of the power of the darkness of this world in Ezekiel 28:
2] Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
5] By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
[6] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
[17] Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
So, when the question is asked, ‘why is it that the man will not endure sound doctrine?’ The answer to this question is found in 2nd Timothy chapter 4:3: “but AFTER their own lusts” is why man chooses to reject the word of God. Furthermore, our Father has graciously by His infinite Wisdom provided for us the means to “be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of” our minds. But we who are “in Christ,” must first understand our own hearts, and also understand its own lusts, and that when God saved us through His Son’s provision for us, that the lusts of our hearts remained with us! And the only way we will be “able” to serve Him, and not this world and ourselves, is to be renewed in our minds by His word and transformed unto the heart of a ‘wise son.’ And possessing the heart of a son who is taught after the selfless love of the Father, and desires to be the “living sacrifice” that we have been predestined to be as “Sons and Daughters” in Him. And our Father has left His Holy Word unto us who are “Christ’s,” so that we have the ability to “walk in the Spirit,” (walk in His Word) and to ‘crucify the affections and lusts’ of our hearts. But the only way this gets accomplished; is by following what we are told of our Father; and being as David, who was a man after God’s “own heart.” And so we today must understand the doctrine of Romans Chapter 6:17, and HOW we are taught to serve our Father and not our flesh and its affections and lusts.
Rom 6:17 But 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.
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Rod Jones
SUPPLY OF GRACE 