Every Unconverted Heart Wants to Kill God — Douglas Wilson

God's Omniscience and the Heart's Desire to Hide

So, it's easy to say, well, God must not be looking. He's got so many things to attend to, and the universe is big, and he might not be looking. 30 seconds reflection will tell you that that can't be the case.

The Unconverted Heart's Hostility Toward God

But that's what the heart wants to do. But when this starts to be born in on us, this is why the unconverted heart hates God, and this is why the unconverted heart would kill God if that were possible.

The unconverted heart would murder God if that were possible. After all, on the day of judgment, it's either him or you, right? On the day of judgment, it's either him or you, and if you had the power, would you murder him?

Sinful Desire Rather Than Creaturely Ability

We're not talking about ability. The ability is obviously, it's obviously ludicrous to imagine a creature, a finite creature, pretending to have, or pretending that a state of affairs could exist where any creature could have that ability.

We are not talking about ability. We are talking about intent. We are talking about desire. What would a sinner do? What would the unconverted heart do if it had the power? The 14th Psalm has these people turning aside, while here they are described as turning back, running in the opposite direction, trying to get away from God.

God's Omnipresence as Comfort or Insult

God is there, so they turn and they run back. But when they run back, God is there, and this is obviously intolerable to them. What David found to his comfort was that God is everywhere. Psalm 139, in verse eight, wherever I go, God is there.

If he ascends into heaven, God is there. If I descend to Sheol, God is there. David found this to his comfort, but the sinner finds this to be a standing insult. If there were a blow that he could strike that would kill God, he would do so.

If there were a blow that he could strike that would kill God, he would do so. And the only deliverance from this state of affairs, the only deliverance from this settled disposition is when God, in his mercy, strikes us.

Mercy That Slays the Sinful Nature

When God, in his mercy, strikes the blow that slays the dragon in every human heart. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said the line between good and evil is a line that runs through every human heart. All of us have to deal with this.

And when God, in his mercy, strikes the blow that slays the dragon in every human heart, God has killed that in us which would kill him if it could. That's what we call being crucified with Christ. When that happens, that's what we call being born again.

The unconverted heart has not gone through that. The regenerate heart has. And it's entirely and completely the mercy and goodness and grace of God.