A HEALTHY HEART
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. A Healthy Heart
a) Heart-felt devotion to the things of God brings a deep and abiding joy and blessedness. This devotion expresses itself in a self-sacrificing service to God and our fellow man, including our enemies.
b) Every Christian in the world should be like salt that cleanses, preserves, and enhances, and like light that brightens, guides, and warns. We live in this world, yet we belong to the kingdom of heaven. So we ought to influence the world accordingly.
c) Although our religion certainly shows outwardly, it is not of the outward person, but of the inward. The Law of Moses controlled what people did more than it controlled what they thought. The gospel primarily controls people’s hearts. It makes them kind, loyal, honest, forgiving, loving, meek, and pure. It removes hatred, unbridled anger, lust, and unfaithfulness.
d) Righteousness was possible for people who kept the Law, but they did not derive their righteousness from keeping the Law. Jesus did not want people to stop keeping the Law yet, for he had not yet fulfilled the Law. However, he did want people to change their hearts, a change that would outlast the Law and make people well fitted for the kingdom of heaven.
e) The Law itself was righteous, and for that reason Jesus did not come to destroy it. The Law, however, did not have the means to make people righteous in the way that God is righteous. The gospel of Jesus Christ does have that power, and thus transcends the Law.
The End ...
1. A Healthy Hearta) Heart-felt devotion to the things of God brings a deep and abiding joy and blessedness. This devotion expresses itself in a self-sacrificing service to God and our fellow man, including our enemies.
b) Every Christian in the world should be like salt that cleanses, preserves, and enhances, and like light that brightens, guides, and warns. We live in this world, yet we belong to the kingdom of heaven. So we ought to influence the world accordingly.
c) Although our religion certainly shows outwardly, it is not of the outward person, but of the inward. The Law of Moses controlled what people did more than it controlled what they thought. The gospel primarily controls people’s hearts. It makes them kind, loyal, honest, forgiving, loving, meek, and pure. It removes hatred, unbridled anger, lust, and unfaithfulness.
d) Righteousness was possible for people who kept the Law, but they did not derive their righteousness from keeping the Law. Jesus did not want people to stop keeping the Law yet, for he had not yet fulfilled the Law. However, he did want people to change their hearts, a change that would outlast the Law and make people well fitted for the kingdom of heaven.
e) The Law itself was righteous, and for that reason Jesus did not come to destroy it. The Law, however, did not have the means to make people righteous in the way that God is righteous. The gospel of Jesus Christ does have that power, and thus transcends the Law.
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