Veiled Hearts and Broken Cisterns
God is like an infinite ocean. His Spirit is everywhere -- <I>except in the hearts of those who do not love Him.</I> Let's look at Jeremiah 2:13...
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns -- broken cisterns that can hold no water.
This idea of a people forsaking God, who is the fountain of living waters, and attempting to provide for their thirst by holding water in broken cisterns, provides a revealing picture of the spiritual relationship between God and man. A cistern is a large jar, used for storing water, and represents the heart of a man. From this idea, we can better understand the fall of Adam, the condition of the lost sinner, and the key to Christian living as God intended it.
Imagine that you are wading out into the ocean. You look down, and see a cistern on the bottom. The cistern is submerged and full of water. <I>This was Adam, at the beginning. Adam was in God, and God was in Adam. </I>Now, you pick up the cistern, and lift it above the water. <I>This was Adam's sin. Adam put himself above God. </I>As you hold the cistern, you notice that the water is quickly leaking out of a hole that has been broken in the bottom. <I>Sin separates us from God, and separation from God always results in damage. Adam left God, and God left Adam.</I> Now the Cistern is empty, and you set it on the shore. <I>This is the fall of man.</I>Adam was now empty, dead, lonely, hungry, longing to be filled. All of Adam's children are born this way, and we are all his children. We are born empty -- born with our backs toward God and our face toward sin. On the spiritual "compass", there are only two directions. Instead of north, south, east, and west, the options are simple: toward God and away from God. These two directions can also be called toward sin and away from sin. To turn toward sin is to turn away from God, and to turn toward God is to turn away from sin. Adam moved away from God--He turned his back on God. Since then, all mankind is born with our backs toward God.
Is it any wonder why so many say that there is no God. They can not see Him in their lives and in their world. They can not find Him no matter where they look. Jeremiah 2:27 says, "...For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face...". Because we all are born empty, we try to fill ourselves with all sorts of things. We may feel satisfied temporarily, but it all leaks out, and none of it can genuinely satisfy like the Living Waters of Christ. So we go through life as broken cisterns, going from one thing to the next, trying to fill what can not be filled. It is all idolatry. To attempt to substitute the Living Waters with something else is idolatry. We have cast God behind us, and no matter where we look, we can not see Him. Here is an adage to remember: If you have lost sight of God, and you can not see Him, <I>turn around! He is right behind you!</I> The only way to find God, or to see God is to turn away from sin.
This is an important principle in salvation. Unless we turn from sin, we can not find God. We can say that we believe, and pray to be saved, but real faith is turning our back on sin so we can seek the face of God. How can we seek God's face? <I>Turn and face God! </I>God knows that we can not overcome sin by our own power. Our feet are stuck in "miry clay". But we can turn away from sin and toward God, and He will pull us out. When we are saved, the broken cistern of our heart is immersed into the infinite ocean of the Spirit of Christ. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. The word baptism means to immerse, or submerge. We are immersed in Him and His Spirit fills us. This is the true baptism -- the baptism into the Spirit that identifies us with Christ, and washes our sins away. Physical baptism was only meant to be a picture of this spiritual baptism. An amazing thing happens to a broken cistern when it is immersed. By itself it can hold no water, but when it is immersed, it is healed --it remains filled as long as it remains immersed.
This is the key to living the Christian life as God intended it: remaining filled by remaining immersed. As Christians, we often find ourselves floating on the surface, "half full" of God. The Holy Spirit is still within us, but we are pulling against Him. It is God's <I>promise </I>to indwell us with His Spirit at salvation, but it is God's <I>command </I>that we be filled with the Spirit. So many of us pray for God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, but His answer is, "Be filled with the Spirit." It is up to us. We must immerse ourselves in Him. We must seek His face. If you are not filled with the Spirit, then I ask you, <I>what are you immersed in? </I>We are not to be floating along, taking it easy. We are to be laborers for Christ. So many float along, praying to be filled. <I>Immerse yourself in Him!</I> How? Turn from sin, and self, and the flesh, and the world. In so doing, you will turn toward God. Seek His face -- immerse yourself in Him.
We are often immersed in our circumstances, in the problems of life, in the past, in our heartaches, in our jobs and our success, in our prosperity, in our possessions, in ourselves, in pleasure, in the flesh, and in the world. If we find urselves no longer "full" of God, who moved? We did. We pulled against the Spirit to give ourselves a "little room" to do our own thing. Remember that sin is moving away from God. God and sin are opposite directions. To sin, we must pull in the opposite direction of the Spirit's pull. All that other stuff remains outside of Him. Do you remember this hymn?<I> "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."</I> Seek His face -- immerse yourself in Him, and all that other stuff will be left behind. This is why Christ told satan to get behind Him. Since Christ refused to turn His face away from the Father and toward sin, then satan's rightful place was behind Christ, and not in front. The devil calls to all of us, "Look over here -- just for a moment...". It only takes a moment to turn toward sin.
To more fully understand the sinning Christian, we must add a different illustration at this point. [In dealing with such abstract concepts, illustrations can be very helpful; however, every illustration has its limits, and often more than one is needed.] God no longer dwells in the temple at Jerusalem. God now dwells in the hearts of His children -- those who believe in Christ. It is written that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When a Christian sins, He is no longer filled with the Spirit. The Spirit is still present in his heart, but He has set up a "holy of holies" in his heart. The old temple had a special place, called the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant (and the Spirit of God) was. There was a veil, a curtain that was about five inches thick, which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. When a believer pulls against God to give himself a little room to do his own thing, he divides the room of his heart by pulling a veil across his heart -- just like the veil of the temple. It is like we can not sin in God's presence, so we have to separate ourselves from Him. When Christ died, the veil of the temple was torn apart, and it is wrong for us to put it back up again.
In this condition, we are not abiding in Christ. Christ is in us, but we want to come to Him on our terms. When we feel that we need Him, then we want to enter our holy of holies, get what we need, and then walk back out, close the veil, and live as if He can not see us. When we pull the veil across our heart, we create a room in our heart that is not surrendered to the Spirit. We are no longer "filled" with the Spirit. We have made a room for ourselves. It is a room of regarded iniquity. This is where we bring our idols, our televisions, our computers, our hobbies, our distractions, or obsessions, our jobs, and any other sins or pieces of our lives that we are not willing to let go of. Here is where roots of bitterness grow. Anger, fear, discouragement, and faithlessness all abound here. This condition is also known as "doublemindedness", "hardness of heart", and "walking in the flesh". We have divided our worship between God and other things.
When we have "veiled hearts", our prayers seem to go nowhere. God does not hear us if we regard iniquity in our hearts. The veil is thick, and our ears grow dull to the Holy Spirit, as well. All of God's power, love, peace and joy remain behind the veil, and we are left powerless, loveless, peaceless and joyless. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and they are on "our" side of the veil. Because we have veiled God, His love, joy and peace can no longer shine through them. We become Christians who do not look like, act like or talk like Christians. We have veiled hearts and we live veiled lives. It seems that the longer that we leave that veil there, the more difficult it becomes to remove. It is not made of fabric, but of flesh. The longer it is there, the stronger our flesh becomes, and the stronger that sin is in us. We may pray, "Lord, fill us with Your Holy Spirit!", but meanwhile, we sit in our room of regarded iniquity, covered in a trash heap of sin, entangled with roots of bitterness, idols all about us, and a "three-foot-thick" veil of flesh between us and God; and we wonder why our prayers are not answered. This is the mess that sin can cause in the life of a Christian, <I>but it does not have to be this way. God never intended for us to live this way.</I>The Pentecostals have long taught the idea that prayer can not be quick and easy, but rather, one must "pray through", meaning that the flesh causes a barrier that must be broken down before our praying is effective. Though I am not Pentecostal, I now see that this idea is correct. We must "rent the veil" on a regular basis, or the veil will grow stronger. The veil may become so strong, through the continual sowing to the flesh, that we can not break through. In such a case, we must sow to the Spirit, for this is the "fuel" for our prayers. As long as we remain in these mortal bodies, we will have to deal with sin. It is the natural tendency of our old nature. "Sin crouches at the door." Why is sin at the door? Because it is waiting for a chance to sneak in. We must be ever involved in the labor of keeping it out, and removing it when it comes in.<I>We must immerse ourselves in holiness. </I>We must be involved in the continual battle against sin in our lives. This is what it means to pursue holiness. The pursuit of holiness is not taught much anymore. If we are to live as God intended, we are to "pursue" holiness, "thirst" for God, and "hunger" for righteousness; but today, we hear instead, "rest", "relax", and "let go and let God". The reasoning behind this "easy" spiritual lifestyle is as follows:
1. Holiness is unattainable in our lives. Sin is inevitable.
2. Christ's holiness is all that we need. The work has already been done by Him.
3. There is no need to try to add our own holiness to His.
4. Therefore, we should rest on God's grace.
5. God will say, "Well done..." to all Christians.
This "easy spirituality" does not consider the whole of Scripture. It is conducive to living a "veiled" life. You see, <I>if we are not pursuing holiness, then we are regarding iniquity. </I><I>[Continued on next post]</I>
God is like an infinite ocean. His Spirit is everywhere -- <I>except in the hearts of those who do not love Him.</I> Let's look at Jeremiah 2:13...
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns -- broken cisterns that can hold no water.
This idea of a people forsaking God, who is the fountain of living waters, and attempting to provide for their thirst by holding water in broken cisterns, provides a revealing picture of the spiritual relationship between God and man. A cistern is a large jar, used for storing water, and represents the heart of a man. From this idea, we can better understand the fall of Adam, the condition of the lost sinner, and the key to Christian living as God intended it.
Imagine that you are wading out into the ocean. You look down, and see a cistern on the bottom. The cistern is submerged and full of water. <I>This was Adam, at the beginning. Adam was in God, and God was in Adam. </I>Now, you pick up the cistern, and lift it above the water. <I>This was Adam's sin. Adam put himself above God. </I>As you hold the cistern, you notice that the water is quickly leaking out of a hole that has been broken in the bottom. <I>Sin separates us from God, and separation from God always results in damage. Adam left God, and God left Adam.</I> Now the Cistern is empty, and you set it on the shore. <I>This is the fall of man.</I>Adam was now empty, dead, lonely, hungry, longing to be filled. All of Adam's children are born this way, and we are all his children. We are born empty -- born with our backs toward God and our face toward sin. On the spiritual "compass", there are only two directions. Instead of north, south, east, and west, the options are simple: toward God and away from God. These two directions can also be called toward sin and away from sin. To turn toward sin is to turn away from God, and to turn toward God is to turn away from sin. Adam moved away from God--He turned his back on God. Since then, all mankind is born with our backs toward God.
Is it any wonder why so many say that there is no God. They can not see Him in their lives and in their world. They can not find Him no matter where they look. Jeremiah 2:27 says, "...For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face...". Because we all are born empty, we try to fill ourselves with all sorts of things. We may feel satisfied temporarily, but it all leaks out, and none of it can genuinely satisfy like the Living Waters of Christ. So we go through life as broken cisterns, going from one thing to the next, trying to fill what can not be filled. It is all idolatry. To attempt to substitute the Living Waters with something else is idolatry. We have cast God behind us, and no matter where we look, we can not see Him. Here is an adage to remember: If you have lost sight of God, and you can not see Him, <I>turn around! He is right behind you!</I> The only way to find God, or to see God is to turn away from sin.
This is an important principle in salvation. Unless we turn from sin, we can not find God. We can say that we believe, and pray to be saved, but real faith is turning our back on sin so we can seek the face of God. How can we seek God's face? <I>Turn and face God! </I>God knows that we can not overcome sin by our own power. Our feet are stuck in "miry clay". But we can turn away from sin and toward God, and He will pull us out. When we are saved, the broken cistern of our heart is immersed into the infinite ocean of the Spirit of Christ. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. The word baptism means to immerse, or submerge. We are immersed in Him and His Spirit fills us. This is the true baptism -- the baptism into the Spirit that identifies us with Christ, and washes our sins away. Physical baptism was only meant to be a picture of this spiritual baptism. An amazing thing happens to a broken cistern when it is immersed. By itself it can hold no water, but when it is immersed, it is healed --it remains filled as long as it remains immersed.
This is the key to living the Christian life as God intended it: remaining filled by remaining immersed. As Christians, we often find ourselves floating on the surface, "half full" of God. The Holy Spirit is still within us, but we are pulling against Him. It is God's <I>promise </I>to indwell us with His Spirit at salvation, but it is God's <I>command </I>that we be filled with the Spirit. So many of us pray for God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, but His answer is, "Be filled with the Spirit." It is up to us. We must immerse ourselves in Him. We must seek His face. If you are not filled with the Spirit, then I ask you, <I>what are you immersed in? </I>We are not to be floating along, taking it easy. We are to be laborers for Christ. So many float along, praying to be filled. <I>Immerse yourself in Him!</I> How? Turn from sin, and self, and the flesh, and the world. In so doing, you will turn toward God. Seek His face -- immerse yourself in Him.
We are often immersed in our circumstances, in the problems of life, in the past, in our heartaches, in our jobs and our success, in our prosperity, in our possessions, in ourselves, in pleasure, in the flesh, and in the world. If we find urselves no longer "full" of God, who moved? We did. We pulled against the Spirit to give ourselves a "little room" to do our own thing. Remember that sin is moving away from God. God and sin are opposite directions. To sin, we must pull in the opposite direction of the Spirit's pull. All that other stuff remains outside of Him. Do you remember this hymn?<I> "Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."</I> Seek His face -- immerse yourself in Him, and all that other stuff will be left behind. This is why Christ told satan to get behind Him. Since Christ refused to turn His face away from the Father and toward sin, then satan's rightful place was behind Christ, and not in front. The devil calls to all of us, "Look over here -- just for a moment...". It only takes a moment to turn toward sin.
To more fully understand the sinning Christian, we must add a different illustration at this point. [In dealing with such abstract concepts, illustrations can be very helpful; however, every illustration has its limits, and often more than one is needed.] God no longer dwells in the temple at Jerusalem. God now dwells in the hearts of His children -- those who believe in Christ. It is written that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When a Christian sins, He is no longer filled with the Spirit. The Spirit is still present in his heart, but He has set up a "holy of holies" in his heart. The old temple had a special place, called the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant (and the Spirit of God) was. There was a veil, a curtain that was about five inches thick, which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. When a believer pulls against God to give himself a little room to do his own thing, he divides the room of his heart by pulling a veil across his heart -- just like the veil of the temple. It is like we can not sin in God's presence, so we have to separate ourselves from Him. When Christ died, the veil of the temple was torn apart, and it is wrong for us to put it back up again.
In this condition, we are not abiding in Christ. Christ is in us, but we want to come to Him on our terms. When we feel that we need Him, then we want to enter our holy of holies, get what we need, and then walk back out, close the veil, and live as if He can not see us. When we pull the veil across our heart, we create a room in our heart that is not surrendered to the Spirit. We are no longer "filled" with the Spirit. We have made a room for ourselves. It is a room of regarded iniquity. This is where we bring our idols, our televisions, our computers, our hobbies, our distractions, or obsessions, our jobs, and any other sins or pieces of our lives that we are not willing to let go of. Here is where roots of bitterness grow. Anger, fear, discouragement, and faithlessness all abound here. This condition is also known as "doublemindedness", "hardness of heart", and "walking in the flesh". We have divided our worship between God and other things.
When we have "veiled hearts", our prayers seem to go nowhere. God does not hear us if we regard iniquity in our hearts. The veil is thick, and our ears grow dull to the Holy Spirit, as well. All of God's power, love, peace and joy remain behind the veil, and we are left powerless, loveless, peaceless and joyless. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and they are on "our" side of the veil. Because we have veiled God, His love, joy and peace can no longer shine through them. We become Christians who do not look like, act like or talk like Christians. We have veiled hearts and we live veiled lives. It seems that the longer that we leave that veil there, the more difficult it becomes to remove. It is not made of fabric, but of flesh. The longer it is there, the stronger our flesh becomes, and the stronger that sin is in us. We may pray, "Lord, fill us with Your Holy Spirit!", but meanwhile, we sit in our room of regarded iniquity, covered in a trash heap of sin, entangled with roots of bitterness, idols all about us, and a "three-foot-thick" veil of flesh between us and God; and we wonder why our prayers are not answered. This is the mess that sin can cause in the life of a Christian, <I>but it does not have to be this way. God never intended for us to live this way.</I>The Pentecostals have long taught the idea that prayer can not be quick and easy, but rather, one must "pray through", meaning that the flesh causes a barrier that must be broken down before our praying is effective. Though I am not Pentecostal, I now see that this idea is correct. We must "rent the veil" on a regular basis, or the veil will grow stronger. The veil may become so strong, through the continual sowing to the flesh, that we can not break through. In such a case, we must sow to the Spirit, for this is the "fuel" for our prayers. As long as we remain in these mortal bodies, we will have to deal with sin. It is the natural tendency of our old nature. "Sin crouches at the door." Why is sin at the door? Because it is waiting for a chance to sneak in. We must be ever involved in the labor of keeping it out, and removing it when it comes in.<I>We must immerse ourselves in holiness. </I>We must be involved in the continual battle against sin in our lives. This is what it means to pursue holiness. The pursuit of holiness is not taught much anymore. If we are to live as God intended, we are to "pursue" holiness, "thirst" for God, and "hunger" for righteousness; but today, we hear instead, "rest", "relax", and "let go and let God". The reasoning behind this "easy" spiritual lifestyle is as follows:
1. Holiness is unattainable in our lives. Sin is inevitable.
2. Christ's holiness is all that we need. The work has already been done by Him.
3. There is no need to try to add our own holiness to His.
4. Therefore, we should rest on God's grace.
5. God will say, "Well done..." to all Christians.
This "easy spirituality" does not consider the whole of Scripture. It is conducive to living a "veiled" life. You see, <I>if we are not pursuing holiness, then we are regarding iniquity. </I><I>[Continued on next post]</I>
Thanks for taking the time to post that. 