The Human Heart

“On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.”
Zephaniah 3:11–13
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The Human Heart
The human heart is full of all kinds of evil. Of the three great enemies of the church, the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, the sinful nature attacks, and rages against us from inside of us. The sinful nature is the best accomplice of the devil because of its location. Left to our own, the sinful nature will destroy us. It wants nothing to do with God. It hides from God and runs in the opposite way when it hears him coming. God must intervene. He must come down to rescue and to save. God does this for you. He does this because of his great love for you. He sends his Holy Spirit to call you by the Gospel, enlighten you by his gifts, and to make you holy, and to keep you in the true faith. God daily and richly destroys the sinful nature (and all your enemies) by forgiving your sins and drowning the sinful nature in the waters of your Baptism. All of this means that God is active to protect, defend, and to make alive. He makes you a humble and lowly people instead of a haughty and high people. God changes your heart. He takes out the old one—the one of stone—and gives you a heart of flesh. He takes away our fear and gives us peace in the blood of his Son Jesus.