The heart is deceitful above all things
This is the source of the idolatry and creature confidence of the
Jews, sins which were the cause of their ruin; and though what is
here said is particularly applicable to their hearts, yet is in
general true of the heart of every man; which is "deceitful", and
deceiving; and puts a cheat upon the man himself whose it is: it
deceives him with respect to sin; it proposes it to him under the
notion of pleasure; it promises him a great deal in it, but does
not yield a real pleasure to him; it is all fancy and
imagination; a mere illusion and a dream; and what it gives is
very short lived; it is but for a season, and ends in bitterness
and death: or it proposes it under the notion of profit; it
promises him riches, by such and such sinful ways it suggests;
but, when he has got them, he is the loser by them; these
deceitful riches choke the word, cause him to err from the faith,
pierce him through with many sorrows, and endanger the loss of
his soul: it promises honour and preferment in the world, but
promotes him to shame; it promises him liberty, but brings him
into bondage; it promises him impunity, peace, and security, when
sudden destruction comes: it deceives him in point of knowledge;
it persuades him that he is a very knowing person, when he is
blind and ignorant, and knows nothing as he ought to know; and
only deceives himself; for there is no true knowledge but of God
in Christ, and of a crucified Christ, and salvation by him; see (
1
Corinthians 3:18 ) ( 1
Corinthians 8:1 1
Corinthians 8:2 ) ( Galatians
6:3 ) it deceives in the business of religion; it makes a man
believe that he is a very holy and righteous man, and in a fair
way for heaven, when he is far from that, and the character it
gives him; in order to this, it suggests to him that
concupiscence or lust, or the inward workings of the mind, are
not sin; and it is only on this principle that it can be
accounted for, that Saul, before conversion, or any other man,
should be led into such a mistake, as to conclude that, touching
the righteousness of the law, he was blameless: it represents
other sins as mere peccadillos, as little sins, and not to be
regarded; and even puts the name of virtue on vices; profuseness
and prodigality it calls liberality, and doing public good; and
covetousness has the name of frugality and good economy: it
directs men to compare themselves and their outward conduct with
others, that are very profane and dissolute; and from thence to
form a good character of themselves, as better than others; and
as it buoys up with the purity of human nature, so with the power
of man's freewill to do that which is good, and particularly to
repent at pleasure; and it puts the profane sinner upon trusting
to the absolute mercy of God, and hides from him his justice and
holiness; and it puts others upon depending upon the outward acts
of religion, or upon speculative notions, to the neglect of real
godliness; see ( James 1:22 James 1:26 ) . The man
of a deceitful heart, the hypocrite, tries to deceive God
himself, but he cannot; he oftentimes deceives men, and always
himself; so do the profane sinner, the self-righteous man, and
the false teacher; who attempts to deceive the very elect, but
cannot; yea, a good man may be deceived by his own heart, of
which Peter is a sad instance, ( Matthew
26:33 Matthew
26:35 Matthew
26:70 Matthew
26:72 Matthew
26:74 ) . The heart is deceitful to a very great degree, it
is superlatively so; "above all", above all creatures; the
serpent and the fox are noted for their subtlety, and wicked men
are compared to them for it; but these comparisons fall short of
expressing the wicked subtlety and deceit in men's hearts; yea,
it is more deceitful to a man than the devil, the great deceiver
himself; because it is nearer to a man, and can come at him, and
work upon him, when Satan cannot: or "about", or "concerning all
things" F17; it is so in everything in which it
is concerned, natural, civil, or religious, and especially the
latter. The Septuagint version renders it "deep"; it is an abyss,
a bottomless one; there is no fathoming of it; the depths of sin
are in it; see ( Psalms 64:6 ) and,
seeing it is so deceitful, it should not be trusted in; a man
should neither trust in his own heart, nor in another's, (
Proverbs
28:26 ) ( 25:19 ) ,
"and desperately wicked": everything in it is wicked; the
thoughts of it are evil; the imaginations of the thoughts are so;
even every imagination, and that only, and always, ( Genesis 6:5 ) the
affections are inordinate; the mind and conscience are defiled;
the understanding darkened, so dark as to call evil good, and
good evil; and the will obstinate and perverse: all manner of sin
and wickedness is in it; it is the cage of every unclean bird,
and the hold of every foul spirit; all sin is forged and framed
in it; and all manner of evil comes out of it, ( Revelation
18:1 ) ( Matthew
15:19 ) yea, it is wickedness itself, ( Psalms 5:9 ) , it is so
even to desperation; it is "incurably wicked" F18, as it
may be rendered; it is so without the grace of God, and blood of
Christ:
who can know it?
angels do not, Satan cannot; only the spirit of a man can know
the things of a man within him; though the natural man does not
know the plague of his own heart; the Pharisee and perfectionist
do not, or they would not say they were without sin; such rant
arises from the ignorance of their own hearts; only a spiritual
man knows his own heart, the plague of it, the deceitfulness and
wickedness in it; and he does not know it all; God only knows it
fully, as is expressed in the next words, which are an answer to
the question; see ( 1
Corinthians 2:11 ) ( 1 Kings 8:38
) ( Psalms
19:12 ) .