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“He that searcheth the hearts.”

Romans 8:27

This is the Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. None can search the heart but he who made the heart. The searching of the heart is the prerogative of God alone. No one has the ability to do it but him; and no one has the right to do it but him. Christ himself is the Searcher of the hearts of his people. He searches his own precious deposit in our hearts.

Hypocrisy Foolish

Because he searches the heart, hypocrisy is the work of fools (1 Chronicles 28:9). As Solomon might deceive David and all of Israel, so men deceive men; but no one can deceive God. God sees all things. He sees us as we really are. He looks beyond the mask of our profession and sees what we are.

The Searching

Our Lord Jesus searches the hearts of men by the piercing, penetrating power of his Word (Hebrews 4:12-13). The Word of God pierces and penetrates the heart. Like light shining in darkness, it shows us what we are.

Our Lord searches the heart by the piercing, penetrating power of his Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10). When the Spirit of God searches the heart, he makes great revelations of things that could never be known without him (John 16:7-20). He shows us our sin. He shows us the merit and efficacy of Christ’s righteousness and blood atonement. And he shows us the goodness and grace of God in Christ.

Nothing Hidden

He who searches the heart knows all about me He knows everything in the heart. Nothing is more terrifying to the hypocrite, and nothing is more comforting and delightful to the believer than the knowledge that Christ our God searches and looks upon the heart (John 21:15-17). We can never get out of God’s sight or reach; and so we would have it. With all the personal vileness that God’s searching exposes in me, still my cry is — “Search me, O God, and know my heart!”

David sought this searching (Psalm 139:1-6, 23-24). Nathaniel looked upon this as an identifying characteristic of our Lord Jesus as the Christ of God (John 1:48-49). The Samaritan Woman believed because of it (John 4:29). And Peter took refuge in it (John 21:15-17).

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s