Chapter 129—Written on the Heart
After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts.... I will forgive their iniquity, and I
will remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:33, 34
.
The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone, is written
by the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about to
establish our own righteousness we accept the righteousness of Christ. His
blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then the heart
renewed by the Holy Spirit will bring forth “the fruits of the Spirit.” Through
the grace of Christ we shall live in obedience to the law of God written upon
our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk even as He walked.
There are two errors against which the children of God—particularly
those who have just come to trust in His grace—especially need to guard.
The first ... is that of looking to their own works, trusting to anything they can
do, to bring themselves into harmony with God. He who is trying to become
holy by his own works in keeping the law, is attempting an impossibility....
The opposite and no less dangerous error is, that belief in Christ releases
men from keeping the law of God; that since by faith alone we become
partakers of the grace of Christ, our works have nothing to do with our
redemption.... If the law is written in the heart, will it not shape the life? ...
Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes
us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience....
Where there is not only a belief in God’s Word, but a submission of the
will to Him; where the heart is yielded to Him, the affections fixed upon
Him, there is faith—faith that works by love, and purifies the soul. Through
this faith the heart is renewed in the image of God. And the heart that in its
unrenewed state is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, now
delights in its holy precepts, exclaiming with the psalmist, “O how love I thy
law! it is my meditation all the day” (
Psalm 119:97
). And the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in us, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”
(
Romans 8:1
).
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