Matthew 12:34-35 says, "Offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man, out of his good treasure, brings forth good things, and the evil man, out of his evil treasure, brings forth evil things." The Lord Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, because the heart is the man himself. Therefore, a good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things. Therefore, the sins and evil deeds that a sinner commits all come out of the heart. The heart is the mingling of the spirit and soul. Therefore, all evil things come out of the heart.
Matthew 15:18-19 says, "But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil reasonings, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies." What comes out of the heart is unclean because what is inside of man is unclean.
It is very interesting that, even though man is composed of three parts (spirit, soul, and body), when the Bible speaks of our regeneration, it does not say that God gave us a new soul, but it says that God gave us a new spirit and new heart. God gave us a new spirit, which enables us to communicate with Him and which causes our deadened spirit to recover its function. God also gave us a new heart, which enables us to have a new living on earth and new inclinations.
Although there is something in common between the spirit and the heart, the Bible maintains a boundary between the two so that there is no confusion. Ezekiel 36:26 says, "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 a heart of flesh." God does not say, "I will give you a new spirit and a new soul." In God's view the organ of the soul does not need to be changed. The personality of man does not need to be changed either. However, the heart of man does need to be changed because out of the heart are the issues of life. This is why the heart should be fixed.
What happens to a believer's spirit and heart when he sins? Psalm 51:10 says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; / and renew a right spirit within me." This verse speaks of the heart and the spirit. The heart and the spirit are what God is concerned with. If the heart of a believer is defiled, he should ask God to create in him a clean heart and a right spirit. Therefore, our hearts must be clean and our spirits must be right.
The Bible places this emphasis on the heart in order to cause us to see the important position that the heart occupies in the Bible. The heart is very important because the heart is our real self. The condition of our heart is our real condition. The heart is the source of man's life. The heart includes the conscience in his spirit and the mind in his soul. We communicate with God through the spirit, but God sees our heart. In our living, the heart is the most important element. We say that we are saved, but exactly how are we saved? It is by believing in our heart. How do we serve God? We serve God from the heart. What kind of people does God bless? God blesses those who are upright in their heart. In the future, what part of man will God judge? God will judge the hidden things in man's heart. Therefore, in order to come before God, we must have a good heart. But in order to have a good heart, we must have a good mind. Therefore, today I want to talk especially about the nous.