GUARD YOUR HEART!

Guard Your Heart

Proverbs 4:20-27 (20) My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. (21)Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. (22)For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. (23)Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life. (24)Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you. (25)Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you. (26)Consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established and ordered aright. (27)Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left; remove your foot from evil.

The greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion is to keep the heart with God." Christianity affects the heart. It is not a system of moral conduct. It is the life of Christ in a person’s soul. Salvation is the work of God in a person’s heart. The conviction of sin, repentance, faith, and, worship are all works of the heart. The kingdom of God is not in meat and drink, things of the body; but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. These are things of the heart.

The state of a person’s natural life depends upon the soundness and vigor of his heart. And the state of a person’s spiritual life depends on the good or evil condition of his heart. Inasmuch as the heart of a person is the most important part of his being, "for out of it are the issues of life", it is only reasonable that it should be guarded "with all diligence". Therefore, I want to say to you today— Keep Your Heart.

J. Stowell, Fan the Flame: “Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as "the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity," "the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will," and "the center of a person: The place to which God turns." There is no responsibility placed upon the shoulders of a believer of greater importance than the keeping and proper government of his heart in all conditions, by faith in Christ the Lord.

Reconstruction of the Heart: Before anyone can keep his heart in a manner that will please God, there must be a Complete Reconstruction of the Heart. (Verses 20 to 22) The heart must be made new, by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit:

Ezekiel 36:24-28 (24) For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. (25)I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. (26)I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (27)And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (28)You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

The human heart is ruined by the plague of sin. But that has not always been the case. God created Adam with a pure and holy heart. In the original creation, our father Adam had a heart that loved God. He enjoyed the sweet fellowship and communion of God. His life was governed by the will of God. It was his pleasure to serve God. Adam was made a holy and happy creature, with no bias to evil. But Adam fell by the temptation of Satan. He sinned against God; and, immediately, his heart was corrupted. And now every child of Adam inherits that corrupt heart; so that all people’s hearts are by nature plagued with sin.

How does a worm get inside an apple? Perhaps you think the worm burrows in from the outside. No, scientists have discovered that the worm comes from inside. But how does he get in there? Simple! An insect lays an egg in the apple blossom. Sometime later, the worm hatches in the heart of the apple, then eats his way out. Sin, like the worn, begins in the heart and works out through a person’s thoughts, words, and actions.

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander......."God saw that . . every imagination of the thoughts of people’s heart was only evil continually." The prophet states this very plainly. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Our Lord himself declared that every kind of evil in the earth proceeds "out of the heart". Because the human heart is evil, a person’s entire being is corrupt, and subject to the wrath and curse of God.

The world says that reconstruction of the heart is too difficult and too costly, so the world tries to tackle the problem of the heart in a number of ways: The solution of psychoanalysis, the solution of social work, the solution of intellectualism. The only hope of a person whose heart is plagued with sin is the complete reconstruction of his heart by the sovereign power of God. Only a new creation will do the dead sinner good. People whose hearts are corrupt are totally unable to change their own hearts. The Holy Spirit must come in sovereign, life-giving power, and create the heart anew in Christ Jesus. The new birth is nothing less than a new creation. It is a spiritual resurrection! The Holy Spirit implants within us the new principle of faith which works by love. He gives us a new will, which hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of Christ.

Where there was blasphemy, there is praise. Where there was pride, there is humility. Where there was despair, there is hope. Where there was death, there is life! But, how does the Holy Spirit accomplish this mighty work? The only instrument he uses is the gospel of Christ. He sovereignty applies the preaching of the gospel to the hearts of men and women who are in need of a new heart. He opens their hearts. He enlightens their hearts. And he wins their hearts to Christ.

How can we keep our hearts with all diligence? The motive for keeping our hearts must be the glory of God. If we are God’s children we seek to magnify him in our hearts. We love him, and endeavor to keep our hearts for him, just as a loving wife keeps herself for her husband. We delight in the assurance of God’s love; and the only way our hearts can be assured is if they are kept for Christ. If we keep our hearts, it will bring the beauty of holiness into our lives, and sweeten our spirits with the grace of heaven.

We are promised that God does keep our hearts, as we trust him by faith. "The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:7, but we also have a responsibility to keep our hearts. Tongue: Watch what you say: let only wholesome talk come out of your mouth. Confess those things that are positive: many people are sick because they have convinced themselves that they are sick. Eye: Watch what you watch: Be careful what Internet sites you log on to and the stuff you read and watch on television. Watch where you walk: Whom do you spend your time with? What do you spend your money on? What are your hobbies? "Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Keep your heart by Prayer. Keep it by resisting temptation. Keep it by reading and hearing the Word of God. Keep it by exercising your faith. Keep it in communion with Christ. "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Have you been given a new heart? Have you been created anew in Christ Jesus? Your religious badge is meaningless; you need a new heart. Your religious exercises are meaningless; you need a new heart. If you have not yet gotten a new heart, go to Christ, the Great physician. He alone can heal the plague of sin in your heart by creating it anew.

Jesus Name, Amen