The Desperate Wickedness of the Human Heart

Matthew 12:14-21  And suggested further reading: John 7:1-9

The desperate wickedness of the human heart is exemplified in the Pharisees, who, silenced and defeated by our Lord's arguments, plunged deeper and deeper into sin. What evil had our Lord done that He should be so treated? None, none at all. No charge could be brought against His life: He was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. His days were spent in doing good. No charge could be brought against His teaching: He had proved it to be agreeable to Scripture and reason, and no reply had been made to His proofs. But it mattered little how perfectly He lived or taught. He was hated.

This is human nature appearing in its true colors. The unconverted heart hates God and will show its hatred whenever it dares and has a favorable opportunity. It will persecute God's witnesses. It will dislike all who have anything of God's mind and are renewed after His image. Why were so many of the prophets killed? Why were the names of the apostles cast out as evil by the Jews? Why were martyrs slain? Why were so many Reformers burned? Not for any sins they had committed. They all suffered because they were godly men. And human nature, unconverted, hates godly men because it hates God.

It must never surprise true Christians if they meet with the same treatment that the Lord Jesus met with (1 John 3:13). It is not the utmost consistency, or the closest walk with God, that will exempt them from the enmity of the natural man. They need not torture their consciences by fancying that if they were only more faultless and consistent everybody would surely love them. It is all a mistake. They should remember that there was never but one perfect man on earth, an that He was not loved but hated. It is not the sins of the believer that the world dislikes but his goodness. it is not the remains of the old nature that call forth the world's enmity, but the exhibition of the new. Let us remember these things and be patient. The world hated Christ and the world will hate Christians.

For meditation: Light let in under a lifted stone sends creatures scurrying back to the dark. So it is with sinners in the presence of holiness (John 3:19-20)

~J. C. Ryle~ - "Daily Readings from all Four Gospels"