FOURTH QUARTER 2021
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #9
NOVEMBER 27, 2021
“TURN THEIR HEARTS”

 

Our title raises a number of interesting questions which we will be studying together this week. Does God deal with His people any differently in the Old Testament than He deals with God’s people today? Can anyone turn their hearts through their own strength or merits given our sinful human natures? If not, who is doing the turning and what causes the turning?

 

In Tuesday’s lesson, we see that the Hebrew word teshuvah sheds additional light on Deuteronomy 4:30 for us: “The word in Deuteronomy 4:30, often translated “turn,” really means “to return.” That is, they are going back to the Lord, to where they were supposed to have been all along. The Hebrew word teshuvah, from that same root word for “to return,” means repentance. Thus, at the core, whatever else is involved in repentance, it is a return to God after we have been separated from Him by our sins.”

 

Returning to God indicates that we are returning to where God has put us and where we are meant to be. Contemplating this brought me to John 15 where Jesus reminds us that He is the vine, our source of life and strength, and we are the branches. He goes on to say that we are to abide/remain in Him with the promise that, in turn, He will abide/remain in us. This represents the “in Christ” concept, a dominant theme in Paul’s writings and throughout the New Testament. But now we see it also clearly as just as important to God’s people in the Old Testament as well! Knowing that God does not change --- He is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow so how He treats every human being, Old Testament or New, also has been the same from the very beginning. After all, scripture tells us that Christ is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”! Revelation 13:8.

 

When we have chosen the world rather than to abide/remain in Christ, God wants us to return our hearts to Him as Deuteronomy 4:30 points out. This is not because of fear of punishment or hope of reward but as a response to God’s infinite love and sacrifice, we want to be with Him.

 

Our lesson points out that repentance for our sins is a key to our returning to God and allowing Him to give us the new heart that we need and that He wants so much to give us. Where does true repentance come from? How do we get a new heart?

 

With this in mind, let us take a look at what insights E.G. White, E. J. Waggoner, and A. T. Jones have to share with us.

 

A.T. Jones: “Let no one be discouraged: He who knows all about that deceitful, desperately wicked heart, says to you, “A new heart will I give you.... I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Therefore, in full assurance of faith, we, every one, can ever pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” For this is according to His will. “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” ARSH November 30, 1897, p. 760.12

 

A.T. Jones: Then let everyone ever pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me;” and ever accept the answer, “A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” ARSH November 30, 1897, p. 760.13

 

A.T. Jones: Having asked according to His will, — indeed, in the very words of His will, — know that you have the petition that you desired of Him.” ARSH November 30, 1897, p. 760.14

 

A.T. Jones: “Many people have been longing and longing for a clean heart. They say: “I believe in the forgiveness of sin and all that, and I would take it all, if I was sure that I could hold out; but there is so much evil in my heart, and so many things to overcome, that I do not have any confidence.” But there stands the word, “Create in me a clean heart.” A clean heart comes by creation, and by no other means; and that creation is wrought by the word of God. For He says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” Are you a creationist now, or are you an evolutionist? Will you go out of this house with an evil heart, or with a new heart, created by the word of God, which has in it creative energy to produce a new heart? It speaks to you a new heart. To everyone it speaks just that way; and if you allow a moment to pass between the speaking of the word and the new heart, you are an evolutionist. When you allow any time to pass between the word spoken and the fulfilment of that thing in your experience, then you are an evolutionist.” ARSH March 7, 1899, p. 146.1

 

E.J. Waggoner: “When the Lord would cleanse His people, those who professed to be serving Him, from all their idols and their filthiness (Ezekiel 36:25), He said to them, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Ezekiel 36:26-28. PTUK August 24, 1893, page 324.1

 

This is the only way that any person can be brought into a condition where he can walk in the statutes of God, and keep His judgments. He must experience a change of heart.

 

E.J. Waggoner:  A change of heart is the great requisite felt by the repentant sinner as he turns to God. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10. Thus, David prayed after he had gone in the way of the carnal heart and grievously sinned against God; and his prayer is echoed by every repentant soul. The clean heart for which he prayed is one upon which is written the principles of righteousness. PTUK August 24, 1893, page 324.5

 

E.J. Waggoner:  All who are truly converted have these principles upon their hearts, the agency by which they are written being the Spirit of God. Thus, Paul writes to the church at Corinth: “Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.” 2 Corinthians 3:3. PTUK August 24, 1893, page 324.6

 

E.J. Waggoner:  As the heart is, so is the life; for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” It was the apostle’s trust that the Corinthian brethren would in their lives be an epistle unto their fellowmen, wherein would be read the virtues of Christ and the power of God unto the salvation of believers. All persons who have the Divine law written in their hearts will be the epistles of Christ.” PTUK August 24, 1893, page 324.7

 

E.G. White: “…. Repentance is turning from self to Christ; and when we receive Christ so that through faith He can live His life in us, good works will be manifest.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, pg. 87

 

E.G. White: ““Through faith we receive the grace of God; but faith is not our Saviour. It earns nothing. It is the hand by which we lay hold upon Christ, and appropriate His merits, the remedy for sin. And we cannot even repent without the aid of the Spirit of God. The Scripture says of Christ, “Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” Acts5:31. Repentance comes from Christ as truly as does pardon. How, then, are we to be saved? … The light shining from the cross reveals the love of God. His love is drawing us to Himself. If we do not resist this drawing, we shall be led to the foot of the cross in repentance for the sins that have crucified the Saviour. Then the Spirit of God through faith produces a new life in the soul. The thoughts and desires are brought into obedience to the will of Christ. The heart, the mind, are created anew in the image of Him Who works in us to subdue all things to Himself.” DA 175-76

 

E.G. White: ““It is the virtue that goes forth from Christ, that leads to genuine repentance. Peter made the matter clear in his statement to the Israelites when he said, “Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” Acts 5:31. We can no more repent without the Spirit of Christ to awaken the conscience than we can be pardoned without Christ. SC 26.2

 

E.G. White: Christ is the source of every right impulse. He is the only One that can implant in the heart enmity against sin. Every desire for truth and purity, every conviction of our own sinfulness, is an evidence that His Spirit is moving upon our hearts. SC 26.3

 

E.G. White: Jesus has said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” John 12:32. Christ must be revealed to the sinner as the Saviour dying for the sins of the world; and as we behold the Lamb of God upon the cross of Calvary, the mystery of redemption begins to unfold to our minds and the goodness of God leads us to repentance. In dying for sinners, Christ manifested a love that is incomprehensible; and as the sinner beholds this love, it softens the heart, impresses the mind, and inspires contrition in the soul.” SC 26.4

 

E.G. White: “How shall a man be just with God? How shall the sinner be made righteous? It is only through Christ that we can be brought into harmony with God, with holiness; but how are we to come to Christ? …. Repentance includes sorrow for sin and a turning away from it. We shall not renounce sin unless we see its sinfulness; until we turn away from it in heart, there will be no real change in the life. SC 23.2

 

E.G. White: There are many who fail to understand the true nature of repentance. Multitudes sorrow that they have sinned and even make an outward reformation because they fear that their wrongdoing will bring suffering upon themselves. But this is not repentance in the Bible sense. They lament the suffering rather than the sin. But when the heart yields to the influence of the Spirit of God, the conscience will be quickened … Conviction takes hold upon the mind and heart. The sinner has a sense of the righteousness of Jehovah and feels the terror of appearing, in his own guilt and uncleanness, before the Searcher of hearts. He sees the love of God, the beauty of holiness, the joy of purity; he longs to be cleansed and to be restored to communion with Heaven. SC 24.2

 

As we contemplate the powerful thoughts above, may our hearts and minds be on the cross of Calvary, reminding ourselves as E.G. White said: “In dying for sinners, Christ manifested a love that is incomprehensible; and as the sinner beholds this love, it softens the heart, impresses the mind, and inspires contrition in the soul.”

 

Lord, may I be made willing to be made willing, may Your will be done in my life and may I be used to help share this “most precious message”, You have given us, to the world. That is my prayer for me and for all of us today.

 

Blessings,

John Campbell