Jeremiah 17:9, 10 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? The repudiation of his charges by Judah and Jerusalem leads the prophet to advert to the causes of this behavior. They not only declare their innocence when guilty, but pursue after unholy aims on the plea of serving God. How are such ignorance and infatuation produced? The reply is that the natural heart is deceitful and corrupt above everything else. I. THE MYSTERY OF THE HEART. 1. It is a "mystery of iniquity." The heart is affected by what it contains. It is itself the greatest dupe and sufferer. And, being so inextricably bound up with evil, it is involved in its danger and judgment. 2. Exceeding human diagnosis. No one is so ignorant of his own depravity as the sinner himself; and no earthly eye can read the true significance of the symptoms. 3. Preeminent in this respect. It is the source of it all The master is greater than his work. The center contains all the threads of connection. II. ITS INTERPRETER. 1. Jehovah. Because (1) he made it; (2) he is related to it in its constitution and conscience; (3) "All things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do." 2. This qualifies and authorizes him to judge. It is not his only qualification, nor is that the sole reason for his knowledge. But it is obvious that, as knowing man so intimately, he also is able to judge of his state. And he alone has the standard of perfect righteousness. - M. Parallel Verses KJV: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?WEB: The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? |
    |