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Written On The Heart, August 11
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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