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2nd Cor. 3:15-18  “But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away…But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

{I will preface this teaching by saying that I am an ignorant and unlearned man, and I only have one thing going for me…I’ve been with Jesus (Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”) So therefore if my grammar or punctuation is off a bit, don’t dwell on that and miss the forest for the trees.  These things of knowledge and learning are nothing and will come to nothing.  All that really matters is the heart of man and the Life of God.}

Notice the word “it” in the verse that says “Nevertheless when “it ” shall turn to the Lord.” We know here that Paul (the Holy Spirit actually) is talking about the heart; for it is the last word listed in verse 15.  So we know then that when the heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil (that which covers, blinds, keeps in darkness), shall be taken away.  A brief recap here of the trichotomy (man created with 3 parts) of man may be helpful to some.  We will not belabor the point as there have been many that have gone before us who have laid this foundation well.

 

But nevertheless, a brief recap of the 3 parts of man may be helpful to some.  God said “let Us make man in Our image” ~ then Jesus said to the woman in John 4 “God is a Spirit.” So God formed Adam out of the dust (so then there’s a dead body laying there on the ground that They just created), then God breathes into man the Breath of Life (God’s own Spirit – Hebrews 12:9 calls Him “the Father [progenitor/originator] of spirits“) and man becomes a living soul.  So then, when the Spirit touched the body, the soul was created.  The soul is in the middle.  The divine principle of this is found in 1st Thessalonians 5:23 where it says “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Man’s spirit is made up of 3 parts: conscience, intuition, and communion {and we could give many verses for each one of these ~ but this is not our study today, but we will be teaching this on the weekly telecast for those of you who are interested in this subject which I think is a must for every single Christian to have a firm grasp on and a deep understanding of, because it will help you in your living and in your seeing spiritual things}. Man’s soul is also made up of 3 parts: mind, will (or volition), and emotion. And there are too many verses to mention here for these 3 also.  And man’s body is made up of 3 parts: the flesh, the organs, and the members, in the which we cannot now go into detail, for this part would take us down a deep and winding rabbit trail.

You can liken the spirit, soul, and body to 2 different things: the tabernacle (or the temple ~ either one) and the world, as touching that which concerned the Israelite children.  The flesh being that which coincides with the outer court and with Egypt; the soul being that which coincides with the inner court and with the wilderness; and the spirit being that which coincides with the Most Holy place and the land of Canaan.  As one brother so aptly stated: “Under normal conditions the spirit is like a mistress (the wife of the house-owner), the soul like a steward, and the body like a servant. The mistress (the wife of the house-owner) commits matters to the steward who in turn commands the servant to carry them out.  The mistress (the wife of the house-owner) gives orders privately to the steward; the steward in turn transmits them openly to the servant.  The steward appears to be lord of all, but in actuality the lord over all is the mistress (the wife of the house-owner).” This is a brief recap of the 3 parts of man.

 

If anyone desires further instruction along these lines, get in touch with me and we will fellowship upon the matter.  I personally feel that if a Christian doesn’t have a basic grasp on these things, he will struggle much inwardly, and outwardly, because he doesn’t “understand” these issues (Matt. 13:51 & Mark 7:14).  But our teaching here today is as touching the “heart” of man.  But you needed to have a basic understanding of the former things already listed to grasp the concept (the parts) of the human heart. The heart is made up of all 3 parts of the soul and 1 part of the spirit which is the conscience.  I realize that most of you have a grasp on these things already, but we need to belabor this point of the hearts’ parts so that others might be able to come a little bit further into the garden.  We should do all things for the younger ones, the seeking ones, the weaker ones, and the struggling ones.

 

So then, lets affirm these parts of the heart so that we can move on to the teaching (before any house can be built, the foundation must first be laid). The “mind” which is the first part of the soul is a part of the heart: Matthew 9:4 “Why are you thinking…in your hearts?” So now we know that one can think in his heart.  Genesis 6:15 speaks of “the thoughts of his heart.”  Hebrews 4:12 speaks of “the thoughts…of the heart.” I’m sure you get the picture that the mind is a part of the heart.  The “will” is also a part of the heart.  We see this in Acts 11:23 “that with purpose of heart…” and also in Hebrews 4:12 it speaks again of the “intentions of the heart.” There are other verses, but the scriptural standard is that only 2 witnesses are required, and I don’t want this to be a long teaching.  The “emotion” is a part of the heart. John 16:22 says, “Your heart will rejoice” and in the same chapter the Lord said, “Sorrow has filled your heart.” So now we see that all 3 parts of the soul are a part of the heart; but there is still one more: the conscience.  As touching this, Hebrews 10:22 says, “Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.” and then 1st John 3:20 mentions that “our heart condemns (blames) us.” To blame then is a function of the conscience.  

Now then, with that little foundation laid, and with a little more understanding in your minds, let us move on. 

2nd Cor. 3:15-18  “But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away…But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

The heart is everything according to the Lord.  What is the one thing He has really asked of us? “My son, give me your heart.” Proverbs 23:26  Now just stop for a moment and repeat that verse a few times over with passion and tenderness, and see if something doesn’t well up inside you and cause you to be moved.  “My son, give me your heart.”  You see, your heart is the express image of who you really are.  It is your “face” before God as you speak to Him, and/or, are in His presence.  “God LOOKS on the heart.” (1st Sam. 16:7).

 

When I have a cup of coffee with you and fellowship with you I look at you and I see your face, your eyes, your expressions, and I hear the inflections, nuances, and intonations of your voice.  But when you are talking to God, He sees your heart (face), your thoughts (expressions), your intentions (eyes).  He hears your motives (understanding), nuances (inflections), and the intonations (the voice of) your heart.  This is the most important thing you will EVER learn as a christian, and if you do not have a deep grasp on this concept here before you today, you will not and cannot go on into the deeper things of God.  It is that important.  The entire door hangs on the one hinge of this understanding.  EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOUR HEART BEFORE GOD!!

 

Your heart is the reflection of who you really are.  When you ministers begin to really understand this, you’ll be able to know exactly where someone is spiritually in a single moment of time. In one moment you’ll know the extent of their spiritual life and the depth of what they are walking in.  This is not rocket science ~ this is Spiritual-Life 101. And we cannot move on to Spiritual-Life 201 until we have first graduated with this degree of understanding under our belt. Because there is a great lack of understanding in this area among us, and I am in a real quandary as to why, although I think we all know why, don’t we?

 

Note again the aforementioned verse “Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”  Many still have veils on their minds (verse 14), and many, many still have veils upon their hearts.  But when we really turn our hearts towards Him, these veils are taken away.  Do not wrestle with this scripture and say within yourself “I’m a Christian, therefore I have no veil upon my mind or on my heart.” (Matt.3:9 “And think not within yourselves , we have Abraham as our father“). 

 

The heart of man is the ark of the Lord.  Just think for a moment was was inside the ark.  God has ONLY been concerned with one thing all these many thousands of years, and it is the heart of man.  Because your heart affects your spirit.  Look at it this way brethren: an egg.  I raised many chickens as a boy. We have the shell (flesh, which is unprofitable and discarded), the white (the soul), and the yoke (the spirit).  The part we are after that has life, flavor, and  sustenance is the yoke.  The yoke is in the very middle surrounded and protected by the white, and these two are encased in a shell.  The white of the egg is that part which gives the nutrients to the yoke (but only if it is fertilized). A hen will lay an egg each day, (whether there is a rooster present or not) and she can sit on that egg for years and no chick will form in that egg unless a rooster played a part in it and gave it life.  Do you understand these things?  The white will just lay dormant without the sperm of the rooster and will transfer no life to the yoke. But if a rooster plays a part in it, then DNA and life is now transferred to the white, which in turn will transfer the life to the yoke through the medium of the umbilical cord. We have all cracked open an egg that we have bought from a farmer and have seen at one time or another the little bitty 1/8″ long cord that goes from the white to the yoke.  

This my brethren is a deep, deep, deep truth.  And now we understand 2nd Cor. 7:1 “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” We now see that our spirit can become filthy by what we are allowing the soul to feed it through the “little bitty” umbilical cord that connects the two.  I am amazed at the ones who should know this and don’t, and yet they are teachers in Israel (“Jesus answered and said to him, Are you a teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?” John 3:10).

 

As I have previously stated in an earlier briefing: Jesus said in Mark 4:13 that if you do not understand the parable of the sower, then you WILL NOT understand any of His parables. This is worthy of deep consideration and meditation on your part; for the parable of the sower is the parable concerning the 4 types of soil that can be found the human heart.  And these 4 types of soil are: half-hearted, shallow-hearted, hard-hearted, and whole-hearted.  Understand this and you will understand all in the Kingdom of God, all in the tabernacle, all concerning the children of Israel, all that was within the ark, all things that Jesus ever taught, and even the very scriptures themselves with an emphasis on the Song of Solomon.This is how important the heart of man is.  “My son, give me your heart.” So we can glean a few things from this verse before we move on to the teaching-verse at hand. 1) it’s a “son’s” heart He is after.  In other words, the son is already His, but yet He is asking for his heart.  2) He is only interested in the heart of the son, not any any other thing or any other offering. 3) The heart has to be “given” which implies a volition of our will to offer it.  Brothers and sisters…this is the sum of all spiritual matters.  We will pick up this matter again next week and began to look at the dynamics of the human heart and what our part in its development is, and also what it really looks like to our Father.  What might help you in the meantime is a thorough study of 2nd Cor. 3:18.  The crux of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was the human heart.