HOW HARD IS THE NATURAL HEART?

Acts 3:1: Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

Most who continued worshipping in the temple had seen and heard Christ the Lord with the natural eye and ear. When the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the whole law of God, every one present in the temple saw the veil split from top to bottom. They discovered the holiest of holies empty, no ark, no mercy seat; God's glory was not there but rested in the One to whom the law and ceremonies had always foreshadowed. They were well aware that the priests and elders were guilty of leading a charade and taking advantage of them. Still, they continued right on in their religious play like actors on a stage. That is how hard the natural heart of every child of Adam really is.

It is utter denial to think that the same idolatry no longer exists among those who profess faith in Christ. Idolatry in our day calls on the name of Jesus while imagining acceptance and spiritual growth before God through a sinner's obedience to the Ten Commandments, or any other work of the sinner (Is 57:12; Ro 3:20; Ga 2:16; 2 Tim 1:9; Tit 3:5.) The gospel is, and always has been, concerning the person and finished work of God's Son. Those in the temple who continued in their free-will, works-religion only manifested what the free-will, works-religionists of our day manifest, that the natural heart hates God and can not submit to believe on Christ alone. (Ro 1: 1-5; Ro 8: 6-8; I Co 2: 6-9, 14.) The evil deeds which carnal religion does not want brought to light are not only the deeds of immorality, but the deeds of self-wrought religious works (Joh 3: 19-20.)