Heart Religion: a Parable

HEART RELIGION: A PARABLE. TEXT: Mark 7:14-23.SUMMARY: This passage teaches, in the form of a parable, that the core of man’s being is not the mind but the heart, which for that reason is focus of all true religion, and the focus of God’s dealings with man.I. THE HEART IS THE FOCUS OF TRUE RELIGION. A. The Source of the Sinner’s Downfall.B. The Fountainhead of the Christian’s Perseverance.1689 “On Perseverance of the Saints”:1. Those whom God hath accepted in the beloved, effectually called and Sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of his Elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without Repentance, (whence he still begets and nourisheth in them Faith, Repentance, Love, Joy, Hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality) and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon… 2. This perseverance of the Saints depends not upon their own free will; but upon the immutability of the decree of Election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and Union with him, the oath of God, the abiding of his Spirit & the seed of God within them, and the nature of the Covenant of Grace from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.II. THE HEART IS THE FOCUS OF GOD’S SEEKING. A. In the Old Testament, God was a Seeker of the Heart.B. In the New Testament, God is a Seeker of the Heart.