IN these couple of verses Jesus sums up the whole of his assessment of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law that has gone before. The imagery Jesus uses is very familiar to us. In the place where people were buried, the tombs were all painted white, and looked bright and clean; however because the tombs held dead bodies, inside each outwardly pure tomb was corruption and decay. Jesus likens the Pharisees to these tombs. He points out that outwardly they were clean through the meticulous observance of the rules of their faith. They appeared to others as pure and holy. However this was a deception, because like the whitened tombs, inside, in their hearts, all was corruption and decay. Jesus speaks of this corruption as hypocrisy and wickedness.

Because of this state of heart, in spite of the great efforts of the Pharisees to appear holy, this corruption showed itself in all the different ways Jesus has been describing. They deceived; were proud; lacked justice, mercy and faithfulness etc.

In Proverbs 4:23 we read this profound truth “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” The fact is that the state of our heart, our inner being, is that which determines who we are and what we are in life. Jesus has just told us in the previous verse to the two before us, that if the heart is clean, then our life will be clean. This is why God is not particularly concerned about our outward behaviour. Our outward behaviour can be a screen which hides the real person we are, and the real desires and motivations within. God looks for a clean heart. The Bible speaks of the need for us to have a new heart, by which it means that our inner being needs to be clean.

What the Pharisees did not take account of was the fact that God knows the secrets of our hearts, and this was why Jesus could expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees so profoundly. It is God, first and foremost, that we have to do. We can't hide from God, for he can see deep into the smallest nook and cranny of our hearts.

What Jesus brings before us in this inditement of the condition of the inner being of the Pharisees is the truth about the natural human heart. The fact is that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Each one of us is born a fallen creature from God's original creative purpose, and our hearts have a natural bent towards sin. A child sins naturally without being taught. We have to be taught to be good and this is an uphill work. The trouble is that this corruption within is denied. People speak of people as being good at heart, when the truth is that naturally we are all evil of heart. The Pharisees felt insulted when Jesus spoke of them as being evil at heart, and this is the natural reaction of all of us. We are quite ready to say that we are not perfect, but to say we are bad at heart is resented. Most people feel themselves to be good people.

The first sign of real grace in a person's life is when he or she is ready to confess that they are bad at heart, and begin to see the corruption within their soul. Isaiah felt himself to be a good person until he saw the Lord in all his holiness when he was granted a vision in the temple of the Lord high and lifted up. What happened then was he saw his inner corruption, and he saw himself as about to be consumed by the holiness of God, and in terror of soul he cried 'Woe is me, I am undone'. He saw himself lost and doomed to die.

We see the soul who knows from experience the work of God in his soul in Romans chapter 7 from 14. There Paul, at the height of his ministry, saw in himself, that is in his flesh, no good thing, and that even his best works were tainted with corruption. It is because of this that all his hope was in Christ. Where could he, with all his corruption within, find victory, cleansing and salvation. He tells us in triumphant words. It was not in himself and his good works. No! He cries 'Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.'

There is no real answer to our corruption within, except in Jesus Christ. It is his blood which cleanses us from all sin. It is in him we receive a new heart and are born again. It is by this Saviour that we have our prayer answer, and are given a new heart as was promised through Jeremiah and Ezekial, and we become a new creation. Out of this work of power and grace comes a life which mortifies our corrupt affections, and produces works which bring praise to God. It is not us but God working in us to will and to do of his good pleasure.

When David sinned so grievously with Bathsheba and in the murder of her husband, he expressed the spirit within the gracious soul. He cried in Psalm 51:10 'Create in me a pure heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. He also expressed the state of heart which brings down God's grace on our soul. Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”