As believers, we may have sung the song “Create in me a clean heart” or said that our hearts are desperately wicked by quoting these verses:

Jeremiah 17 “The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?”

Psalm 51 “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.”

But this was true when a person is under the Law as an unbeliever. That’s why Jesus said this thing to unbelieving Jews:

Mark 7 “²⁰ He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man. ²¹ For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, ²² covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.”

But what happens when we believe in Jesus Christ?

Our hearts are purified by faith:

Acts 15 “⁸ God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. ⁹ He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. ¹⁰ Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? ¹¹ No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

We have hearts that are obedient to God by faith in Christ:

Romans 6 “¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. ¹⁸ Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.”

We have a new heart, a new creation:

Ezekiel 36:26 “ I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them.”

We have a pure heart that can see God:

Matthew 5 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

We see God because we have believed in Jesus: We have seen Him by faith.

John 14:9 “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”