The Ways of the Heart
Frank Allnutt

Section 4: The Ways of Spiritual Masters

Satan learned from being banished from heaven to earth that he could never be come self-sufficient and supplant God as Lord of heaven and all creation. We can only imagine how embittered he was by his fate and how much he must have wanted to retaliate against God. Of course, he was no match against Almighty Father. But his evil, scheming mind came up with a vindictive payback. He did the worst thing possible: Through his deception of Eve and the temptation of Adam, the couple disobeyed God by eating forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

As a result of their disobedience to God (not the fruit itself, which was good), they suffered critically sin-damaged spiritual hearts, and were made spiritually dead and separated from God. They would live out their mortal lives enslaved to their sin-corrupted nature or flesh, to Satan, to sin, to Satan’s fallen world order, and to the death-curse of God’s law. This is illustrated in Figure 4-1 below.

We can only imagine the sadness it brought to God’s heart. Oh, how He loved Adam and Eve! But there was more sadness to come: All of Adam and Eve’s descendants—all of future mankind—would go the fallen way of their first two ancestors (Figure 4-2).

In effect, Adam’s entire family tree, from the beginning to the present and extending until Christ’s return, is condemned.


Figure 4-1:

Figure 4-2:

As following generations came and went, there were always the few chosen ones who worshiped God. Satan perhaps thought he had little cause for concern; after all, most humans were enslaved to himself. As for the chosen who were rescued from him, he could make their lives on earth miserable as well. So he mounted tremendous persecution against humanity.

God promised His chosen people a land of “milk and honey.” Generations passed, and they were taken into captivity in Egypt. God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt, and they eventually entered the Promised Land. They became lawless, as they had been before and would be again. They were repeatedly conquered and taken captive. But a remnant of the chosen always returned. Their Temple of God in Jerusalem was destroyed, rebuilt, then destroyed again.

Yet there was always a remnant of chosen ones who Satan could not separate from God.

“A Savior is Born”
One night in the city of Bethlehem, an extraordinary baby was born. An angel of the Lord proclaimed to the world: “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10, 11).

“A Savior, who is Christ the Lord”! The words must have struck terror in the heart of Satan. He could not stand by and allow the chosen to receive the promises of God through this newborn Savior.

Satan became obsessed with one thought: The Christ must not succeed. His first counteract was to have the Christ-child killed. He enticed King Herod to kill all firstborn males, but the baby Jesus was whisked away to safety.

Satan’s next plan unfolded three decades later when he sought to tempt Jesus away from His earthly mission and Lordship. But, we know from Luke chapter four that Jesus would not yield to him.

Then came Christ’s death on the cross. Imagine the victory celebration that must have taken place in Satan’s domain! But, of course, when Christ rose from the grave and saved all who believed in Him, Satan’s apparent victory turned into defeat. Christ was raised from the tomb in victory over death, Satan, the world, and sin. The old man—with Adam’s heart, life and nature —died with Christ, and the new man—with a new heart, Christ’s life and nature—was resurrected in victory and freedom with Him!

Satan was no match against Jesus the Christ. So he directed all his authority and power toward waging spiritual war against humanity—against those enslaved to himself as well as those rescued from him and unto God, by Jesus. Even so, a chosen remnant of every generation has been rescued from Satan’s enslavement and placed into freedom and victory in Christ. In this way, Christians, like branches, were cut from Adam’s family tree and grafted into the family tree of Jesus Christ.

Jesus alluded to the family of Adam and the family of God in His teaching about “false prophets,” in which he gave an analogy of two trees. Here is the passage:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. No everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:15-23).

You see, those false prophets were of the “bad tree”—Adam’s condemned family tree—and were not of the “good tree”—the family tree of God, of which Jesus is the first fruits and we Christians come after Him. All who are in Adam are of his bad tree, and produce bad “fruit for death” (Romans 7:5), and all who are in Christ are of His good tree, and are enabled and motivated to produce good “fruit for God” (Romans 7:4) when they walk the path of whole-heartedness; Half-Heart Christians, however, produce “fruit for death” because they are out of fellowship with the indwelling Spirit of Christ, much as when they were in Adam and were separated from God.

We were Redeemed and Reconciled to God
Through Christ's Atonement
It was through Christ’s atonement that we were redeemed and reconciled to God.

Before God fulfilled His New Covenant promise in us, through Jesus, we were His enemies, as members of the old humanity in Adam, who were held in bondage to the realm of darkness, to the flesh, to Satan, to sin, to the world, and to the death curse of God’s law. Those were our “spiritual masters,” and we were their slaves. However, God, out of His love for us, chose to redeem us—to buy us for the highest price ever paid for anything: the life of His Son:

Those were our “spiritual masters,” and we were their slaves. However, God, out of His love for us, chose to redeem us—to buy us for the highest price ever paid for anything: the life of His Son:

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the richness of His grace (Ephesians 1:7).

Through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained [our] eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).

You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18, 19).

For your have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:20).

Redemption did not deliver us from the captive old heart so that we might be set free in an independent, self-sufficient life. That was never God’s plan. Redemption is a two-part process: First, we were crucified with Christ and delivered from slavery in Adam, and then we were resurrected with Christ, with new hearts, and placed into freedom in Him. God’s way is for us to be free in Christ. Freedom can only be found in Christ; outside of Him, there is no true freedom.

Christ came to set us free
Before you became a Christian, you were a captive, and you needed to be set free. And that’s why God sent us His Son: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free” (Galatians 5:1).

Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The “truth” is the spoken Word of God, but also the expression of God Himself in the person of His Son (John 1:1). Jesus bore witness of this when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6); and “I am the true vine” (John 15:1; see Figure 4-3). Jesus not only shows us the way to God, He is the way! He is the only way to the Father; He is the Truth, He is the Word, and He is eternal life; and only in Him and through Him can man experience freedom and reconciliation with God (“atonement”).

The crucifixion with Christ of the old man and the resurrection with Christ of the new man brought about several radical changes in our relationships. In this and following sections we will use some new illustrations based on God’s Model of the Heart to visualize that, when you were crucified with Christ, you “died” to—were released and removed from—old-man relationships with Satan, sin and death, the world order, and the authority and condemnation of God’s law (Figure 4-3). Through your resurrection with Christ you were reconciled to God—made “alive” to, or placed into, new-man relationship with God, God’s love, God’s kingdom, and God’s grace (Figure 4-4).
Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome:

Figure 4-3: Christ came to set us free

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:10, 11).

Figure 4-4:

At the time you became a Christian, God took you out of old spiritual relationships and placed you into new ones.

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