Guarding the Heart - Proverbs 4:23

figured out when job sing us playing this taught me to get up it has taken me three times to figure this out I now get it and then I get that look from everybody like what are you doing this is your time good evening to you all I'm so glad to be back with you again that was a privilege to be here last week so privileged to be here again before we begin I forgot to introduce someone to you that made this all possible mom would you stand I want everybody to see my mummy and she came back the second time so I could get it right I love it well let's open up in a word of Prayer shall we Lord we do thank you that our lives are completely in your hands and Lord we ask that as we seek to look into your word tonight that we would not just hear what you tell us but by the power you've given us that we will begin to submit ourselves to it accordingly knowing Lord God that's submitting our lives to you will be transformation it will be inspiration and an opportunity to help others to your glory our good and the blessing of others thank you for the privilege of this salvation you've given us thank you for your grace and your mercy we ask all this in Christ's name Amen now one of the things that I was thinking about is we were going into this particular passage it's thinking about grass I have anybody cuts the grass around here new grass cutters amen now the one thing about cutting grass is this once you cut it you have to what you had to keep doing it again right I have seen some people who've tried to cut it maybe once a month and before you know it you get this grass it gets pretty high and it gets pretty bad and you can get weeds that get out in there you've seen that and then it's pretty bad it's gotten to the point where I can't because of how busy I am I can't cut it every week so I've had to get some people pretty well blessings if you will to help me on that area and they do it every week to keep it down but if they weren't there my grass would get very high and every time you cut the grass it keeps coming back so what I've discovered is cutting grass is a discipline would you agree if you don't what happens well your grass is kind of like your heart and the Bible gives us a direction as to how we have to guard it and if we do not stuff starts to get into our hearts that if not weed it out and root it out we can be half stubborn hardened evil hearts and in this passage we are given a prescription for life that I want us to think about tonight and not only understand what it is asking us to do I want us to get into the application of how we do it I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs we want to look at proverbs a familiar passage to all of us proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 and remember the book of Proverbs is wisdom literature and so when you're looking at wisdom literature one of the things and particularly about the book of Proverbs there are two key things when you want to do an interpretation one is proverbs gives you a description of life and it also gives you a prescription for life so every time you're reading a proverb you're either getting a prescription or a description of life and then sometimes you can see a little bit of both of those particulars in your interpretation in this particular passage we're given a prescription for life or warning if you will a direction for how we need to think about things in proverbs chapter 4 verse 23 he says watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the Springs of life now in some Bibles you may have the word guard your heart I know that sound familiar hearing it watch guard over your heart either way from from it flow the Springs of life now I want us to do some unpacking of this passage tonight because I think we need to understand some key definitions and then from there we can understand some key applications for how we can guard our hearts so we don't become like grass that keeps growing back because we don't get outside and cut it and just like cutting grass is a discipline that has to happen unless you want weeds and everything to grow in your yard garden your heart has to happen so simple question what does it mean to guard the heart well let's look at point number one I'm glad you asked I've been waiting all week to try to unpack to you what does it mean well first of all we've got to give a definition of the word heart so when we look at this text and it says to guard the heart here's what the heart is in letter aid the heart can be defined as the enema two aspects of man consisting of his mind his will his affections so when the Bible is telling us to guard the heart is talking about the mind the mind has to do with the intellectual the thoughts the discernment the judgment that is coming from your heart is dealing with your affections when we're talking about the affections we're talking about your emotions and your desires it's talking about the will that is your ability to choose or to not choose action now let that sink in for a moment everyone in this room has a mind a will affections everyone in this room is either in a position where they're being influenced by that which is of God and our mind will or affections or were being influenced by that which is of the devil and our mind will and affections this text says guard your heart paraphrase guard your mind which would include thoughts judgments discernment the conscience guard your affections will include your desires your emotions guard your will now let her be let's understand what this guard means the guard means to protect to preserve to watch over God has given us a responsibility even though we have been delivered from the penalty of sin the power of sin and soon the presence of sin even though when a right standing with God even though we have been declared righteous in the sight of God we are in that phase of life called progressive sanctification where we are becoming in practice what we have become by position our position has changed our condition has changed and we're to live out in a life what we've become by position and in doing so part of the processes we've got to guard our heart we've got to protect our mind protect our will protect our affections we've got to preserve and watch over it the third letter C it means with all diligence so what does that mean I've got to guard my heart as a prison guard was watching over a prisoner have you ever seen a good prison guard a good prison guard you get out when you're supposed to you get in when you're supposed to and guess what you can't move unless that prison guard allows you to move God expects you and I just like a prisoner in jail is being well guarded God expects you and I to guard our minds our will our affections from the tainted nosov this culture and that means that we're to be in this world but not of this world but it says something that passage says guard your heart with all diligence from from it flow the Springs of life we need to understand what that means look with me at letter D Springs of life means the control center of our thoughts words actions and experiences the control center let me see if I can put it to you this way every time you think something guess where it comes from your heart every time you say something guess where it comes from your heart every time you do something guess where it comes from your heart every time you experience something or your interpretation of that experience if you will guess where it comes from now let me show you what that does to the culture that's antithetical to the reality of God I want you to say these four things with me and then we're gonna break them down past parents people predicaments you say those again past parents people predicaments when I sit in counseling with people and they start to tell me their stories and their troubles and their problems guess what four things they blame all of their thoughts words actions and experiences on any idea past parents people and what predicaments I am the way I am because of the I am the way I am because of the I said what I said because of and I'm doing what I'm doing because of it is always an external reason why they're doing what they're doing and if they're not blaming people or circumstances it is never because of what's happening on the inside of them it's always an external reason for where they are these are people ladies and gentlemen who haven't understood that everything that comes out of you is coming from you now sure parents have influence sure people have influence but watch this no one or nothing can determine your decision to do or not to do everything about you comes from where you that's the reality of the spring of life that is saying listen your mind your will your affections that is the control center for you if you want to be mad at anybody is sitting in your seat if you want to point the finger at anybody you got a twenty back at you because every time you do anything what four things can I not look to tell me again the and and and they are around you but they do not determine let me see if I can give an example any tea drinkers in the room when you put the tea bag in the water the tea bag has a certain flavor depending on the flavor that you like and when you put it in the water all the water does is just bring out what's already in the tea bag the water doesn't determine the flavor the water doesn't determine how it tastes the water just brings out what's already in the tea bag keep telling those four things we talked about again what are the four of them again and and and that's the water you are the tea bag they never determine who you are they expose who you are they bring out who you are every decision you make or do not make is because it is coming from your heart your thoughts your words your actions your experiences or how you interpret them this is all a n-side job and by the time people come to me for counseling they're frustrated angry upset and they believe it's everything I just mentioned to you and they want to give me a long long detailed analysis of all of those four things but here's what's interesting less for grins say that what they're saying is true terminals for things again let's just say for grins that that's true then guess what you have to change in order for you to be okay it would have to be what but can you control any of those things huh so we got a problem here if my condition is based upon things I can't control then I stay miserable unless you want to change boy what a mean god to make my life so dependent on external things what an awesome god what a terrible god to make my world determined by the attitudes and actions of other people what if I'm married to someone dumb if they don't get smart then what happens I'm miserable for the rest of my life until they get smart according to what I believe is smart of course does that make any sense to you the Bible says guard your heart because it is the control center you are where you are because of your heart the Bible says that what defiles the man is not what comes into the man but what defiles of man is what comes out of his what again heart we are to be transformed we are to be purifying we're to be renewing our heart your condition joy happiness sadness you name it it is coming from your heart so for to pull this all together just for a big picture what you look at the key point here's the key point to guard the heart means to watch over one's mind to watch over one's wheel to watch over his affections as a prison guard would watch over a prison understanding that the heart is the control center of our thoughts words actions and experiences what would happen this week if you stop blaming your bad attitude on the traffic what would happen this week if you stop blaming your frustration on that stupid boss that never listens to your directions what would happen this week if you stop looking into external things as the reason why you are the way you are and start looking at the internal perspective of your mind will affections what would be different about your life if you started to guard your heart well I got a stupid question for you you ready for a stupid question yeah let's do this okay good let's do this how does one guard the heart okay so it tells us guard it but but how do we do this what does it take for you and I to guard our heart I'm glad you asked let's identify some of the practical things that has to happen to guard the heart here's what I want you to see letter a1 guards the heart by protecting it from the onslaught of evil from without you know what that means when it comes to your mind your will your affections you've got to make sure that you're not connecting to music media and all the types of things around you that's promoting something that is contradictory to your belief system as it relates to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now you can't avoid many things as you're driving on the street but the place where you can avoid it the most is in your car and in your home you can avoid it when you think about the types of entertainment now I'm not one of those don't do this don't do that kind of guys all I'm saying to you is if you want to guard your heart your mind your will your affections you got to be careful with the evil around us and you've got to make sure you guard your eyes your ears your mind but secondly one guards to heart by purifying it from the evil that's what then not only do you have to deal with what's on the outside you got to take a hard look at some of the ugly stuff that's inside of you now I'm gonna tell you a practical way you do this and I've been doing it for a day or two now because every now and again I have to stop I turn everything off I had a Saturday where I was free to myself and so I spent most of the day in silence didn't have the TV on didn't have anything on and while I was in silence I was allowing the stuff that's just normally in my mind to flow through my mind and all of the stuff that was evil and ungodly I will begin to acknowledge it unto the Lord Lord I ask your forgiveness because I've been too busy to take time to pay attention to what's happening from within and I start to step by step ask God's forgiveness for so many different things and then I would go to God's Word and begin to renew my mind and I just spent a day of just evaluating and saying you know what there's a lot of stuff that I haven't been paying attention to because I've been too busy watching television too busy listening to the radio too busy engaging people too busy doing all this stuff that I haven't sat down and just listen to my heart and listen to God's Word to repent and replace the issues that are coming out of my heart you ever thought about doing that just one day of silence if that's too much just try 15 minutes just cut the radio off for 15 minutes you'll be amazed at the stuff that's in your heart not only have to guard from the outside we've got to get rid of the evil we've got to purify our stuff on the inside here's a third thing I want you to see about this one guards the heart by providing it with the things from without that will cultivate holiness see not only they have to protect it not only have to purify it you've got to be to put things in to help transform you there must be a daily or at least consistent dosage of God's Word going into you now think about these words if you look at Romans 12 and just let this sink in it says be not conformed to this world okay and conform there has to do with being pressed in and made into the image of so don't be shaped into the mold of this world but be transformed well how does one become transform first of all you don't do it it's a passive act the transformation that's something you do is something that's done to you but there's something you do in order to be transformed be transformed by the what renewing your you want God to cleanse and transform the way you see things you've got to spend time in God's Word not just random reading stuff I'm talking about getting into the things that are close to your heart things that you are dealing with in your life if you've got to stubborn this problem if you've got an anger problem if you've got a bitterness problem you need to be reading what the Bible says about those things you need to be reading what the Bible says you ought to be putting on and understanding how all of this should be in your heart whatever is pure and lovely and right whatever's worthy of praise dwell on these things in order to cultivate this holiness there has to be a constant putting in the mind the truth and God will transform you as you walk in that renewing it meant a powerful reality people say old faster I want to change you don't want to change Oh pastor I really do okay to spend time steady well I'll have time then you don't want to change you want to talk about change if you really want to change you've got to spend time with the control center allow God's Word to begin to saturate your thinking and transform you to where you no longer have a human observation without a biblical interpretation you have human observations with biblical interpretations and you see things around you as God sees them and you submit the things around you as God what have you why because you see differently and as a result of seeing differently you submit practically part of guarding this heart it's to cultivate things from the outside with holiness let's look at the fourth thing together you're tracking with me so far making sense to you a letter d1 guards the heart by promoting within the heart all that cultivates holiness so not only do you provide it with holiness you've got to promote that which calls for a hold of this can I say what that means practically as you listen to the junk in your mind take those thoughts captive and promote truth in your mind see all of us have junk going on in our heads but we're too busy to pay attention to it but once you just stop and listen to the garbage that's going on in your mind you're wait a minute wait just a minute God's Word says this God's Word says this no I refuse to long-overdue well on this foolishness in my mind God's Word says this you know what happens if you start doing that on a regular basis instead of listening to the junk in your mind and start actually giving truth to the junk in your mind you no longer have junk in your mind at the highest level anymore you never be completely pure but you'll be consistent see as a tell folk we're not perfect we're being perfected we're not sinless but we ought to be what sinning less an anticipation of God coming to transform us into the perfect likeness of His image let it be said about you and I we have been faithful to the cultivation of our souls so if we pull this together what is the key point keep water simply this one guards the heart by protecting it and purifying it of evil and to provide and to promote the heart with what is holy I mean you familiar with the Great Wall of China anybody have gone to the Great Wall of China oh I'd love to talk to some of you that is one of the things on my list that I wanted to do have studied some of the history about this wall this wall could not be penetrated at any level possible that's a profound thing so they built a wall for the purpose of no one being able to get in at all but yet they were taken over many times why because someone bribed the guards your heart was meant to be protected because we have the indwelling Spirit of God in us your heart was meant to be protected because we have been made now with the new position in new condition tell me why we keep stumbling into sin because we keep listening to the bribes of the flesh as we entertain these delicacies of the world you and I have the power to say no you and I have the power to say yes to something more satisfying you and I have the power to change but we keep being bribed by the sensationalism of the culture as our flesh enjoys to listen when will you begin to guard your heart what do you look at the Third Point with me so we've talked about what it means to guard the heart we've talked about how to guard the guard the heart I want to ask a third question what should one purify and protect the heart against so what are some of the things that I need to watch out for what do I need to guard and and keep my my heart from how do I pull this together in a practical way let's look at letter A together one should purify and protect the heart against being double-minded now can I tell you what double-minded means only Christians can be double-minded sinners aren't double minded again as I asked you last week what's the job description of a sinner what do they do for a living so they can't be double-minded okay they're single-minded in their sin okay only Christians can be double-minded here's what it means to be double minded you know the truth of God's Word but you keep living the reality of Satan's lies and you know the way you should live but you keep living opposite but you have good common sense good reality of what God wants you to do but you're double minded in that you keep living in Satan's lies even though you know the reality of God's Word do you know how many people I've counseled over the years that can quote the scripture better than I but yet unwilling to confess and repent of their sins that's double minded and that person is unstable in all their ways we've got to purify and protect ourselves from having a double mindedness from the heart here's the second thing I want you to see one should purify protect the heart against being evil and unbelieving so here's what happens in the Christian life if you're not careful if you're not daily pursuing the Willing ways of God if you're not daily cultivating protecting and guarding your heart you know how to talk about the weeds that grow up in life with the grass well there's some weeds of sin in your heart that because you haven't been dealing with you haven't been understanding and coming to address and weeding out and confessing and repenting guess what happens that stuff starts to grow and fester and before you know it Amazing Grace is no longer amazing before you know it you're not really interested in the things of God the way you used to be before you know it you find yourself questioning that which was a clear reality last week now was questionable this week before you know it you start the finest of moving into a position where you have to experience the discipline of God because of your stubborn rebellious heart how does a Christian move into a stubborn rebellious heart by not guarding their hearts by focusing on the external what is those four things again can you tell me you remember him still if I keep my mind stayed on that and not cultivate my heart I will blame all of my life on these things and what will that leave me not better but better not renewed but in a very bad spot an evil and unbelieving heart for a Christian is one who is chosen to backslide but understand if you're truly his you can't stay there because the Bible says in first John those who are born of God cannot continue in sin you know what that means if you're truly a Christian you can't continue there is God's discipline or there's death but if you're not his you can continue in sin because you never really had a relationship you've never been delivered you've never had a true relationship with God so therefore you can do that because you don't belong but if you belong you will not and cannot you hear the words you will not and cannot and that's where church discipline becomes the place for stubborn evil unbelieving individuals who are professing Christianity but then we have to remove them because the Bible says a little leaven leavens a whole lump that's how one can move into an evil unbelieving heart either they were Christians who according to 2nd Peter have forgotten the purification of their former sins they forgot that God saved them to live with him and therefore they have to be dealt with or maybe they were what we call these people who had spiritual deception they never knew him at all you have to ask the question where am i with my heart and my questioning things I once confirmed am i being evil in places where I need to be righteous and holy am i purifying and protecting my heart against this another way that one can have an evil and unbelieving heart there's no accountability you show me a person who's not answering to anybody who professes to be a Christian I show you a person who's headed for destruction it takes the community of Christ to help us grow it takes the community of Christ to stay and help us stay where we need to stay it takes the community of Christ to keep us on ground why do you think God called us to himself and then put us in a community of believers you can't grow by your self as a Christian you can't be all of what you need to be as a Christian by yourself you showed me a Christian that can't be told what to do I show you a Christian that's moving to an evil and unbelieving heart here's the third thing I want you to see that we should purify and protect our heart against one should purify and protect the heart against being hardened hardened what does it mean to be hardened you know it's wrong but you stop feeling with the wrong you just don't care anymore you've just gotten to the place where you're so stubborn you can come to the body of Christ with a bad attitude and leave with a bad attitude you can come to the body of Christ in sin and be around people in sit and walk away from them still in sin you can come and hear the Word of God can be in worship and still be just as wrong as two left shoes how does that happen because it's not a protecting there's not a purifying of the heart letter D once it purifying protect the heart against being proud Wow notice these things double minded he will not believe in hardened I can tell what a proud heart is some mindset himself that's all of this self-centeredness consumed with my thoughts my ideas my opinions my desires my wants my needs my cares life is all about me how many of you ever heard of the radio station W I i FM does if I know what that means what's in it for me and when Christians are tuned in the wifm they have tuned out from WG o d building a evil heart we have to protect ourselves from this type of heart so what's the key point as we bring this to close from this particular section here's what we're saying one purifies and protects the heart against all that leads one into a life of sin this man was walking down the street and as he was walking down the street he heard a voice that says stand still don't take another step so he stood still and as he stood still he recognized that a brick was falling down kept him so he was walking he was about to go across the street a voice said stop stand still don't move he didn't stop he stopped he stood still he didn't move and a car almost hit him he kept going down the street and before you know it the voice said stop look behind you someone may be coming after you run as quickly as you can to safety he stopped he looked behind he ran found a mess up said wait a minute who is this talking to me he said this is your guardian angel he said where were you before I got buried uh-oh uh-oh too sensitive too soon how okay what part am I making you've got to listen to the word of God as the Spirit of God uses it to protect to your heart be careful don't get too smart don't get too cute don't think you have it all together you've got to humble yourself to the Word of God look we'll be at number four so what should one promote within the heart what should one promote within the heart letter A one should promote a broken and contrite heart do you know what a broken contrite heart is that is someone who says you know what I am sad over my sin and I am sad about the distance and damages brought between me and God and me and others and I don't want to be in this place anymore but I am open to the reality of where I am and lord I want things to be right with you and I want to be right with other people that is what we need to be promoting in our hearts a sense that we recognize that apart from God not only is life meaningless apart from God there is no real life and as long as I keep living this way the more my life will dishonor him and cause me to be in a place of confusion disorder and every evil thing we've got to promote broken contrite hearts secondly let her be we've got to promote a pure heart what is a pure heart one that seeks to be removed from all that is evil one that seeks to be consumed with all that is right and holy in the sight of God one that is doing due diligence to guard and preserve not just from what is wrong but to keep focusing in on that which is right let us see one should promote a sin sear heart what does a sincere heart one that has integrity one that really means what it says it says what it means one who is really about the things of God not just with their mouths but with their lives one should promote a wise heart what is a wise heart letter D a y as hard as one that understands here's what God's Word says and according what God's Word says here is how I need to put it to practice not just intellectual understanding but practical application one who can do two things or actually three things they can have exposition of scripture exposition of their hearts and application of the word as a result see real change is not just exposition of the Word of God real chain says now that I've looked at the Word of God let me do a deep exegesis of my heart and as I see my heart and connection of God's Word what will I confess what will I repent what will I renew my mind in and how will I replace as God has exposed his word and exposed my heart how will I now move towards change that's wisdom intellectual understanding is being able to articulate that what you've heard and regurgitated back wisdom is being able to live out what one has heard in a practical matter of life key point one should promote within the heart all that leads one to a god-honoring life and then number five as we begin to close what should one provide the heart what should one provide the heart lastly once you provide the heart with the precepts of God we have been given a wonderful wonderful Bible it is sufficient it is superior to all other wisdom it is the only thing that can change your life do not be deceived do not be confused the culture has some good insight God has great insight the culture has some stuff this great God has some stuff that superior and that's not what arrogance that's just a reality the Word of God is superior to all of the wisdom and if we want to truly be transformed we've got to go to the one who created us who's given us the insight and so we need to be promoting and providing our hearts with the precepts of God let her be one should be providing the heart with the presence of God delight thyself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart guess what the desire is if you delight in the Lord he'll give you himself and as he gives you himself he says in his presence according to Psalm 16:11 his fullness of joy in his right hand are pleasures forever he'll make known to us the path of life you want to see things clearly you want to have fullness of joy you want to have a satisfaction that sustains all around you it will never be by fixing what four things again it'll never happen it only comes through real relationship with God John 17:3 says this is eternal life that we may know him to know him is to be an experienced awareness of him that comes from obedience John 14:21 says if we obey we show that we love him and he will disclose himself when he disclosed himself some Psalm 16:11 says in his presence is fullness of joy and his right hand are pleasures forever you want to have the presence of God in your life but then third one should provide the heart with the promises of God when you are at your wits end it's not what people can tell you they can do that should sustain you is what God said he will do that will sustain you the only person that will never let you down is God himself because he's the only one that can control all things I'd rather listen to his promise than the promise of people around me they mean well but circumstances can keep them from doing what they mean nothing can keep God from doing what he means he controls the circumstances he controls it all eyes and you and I need to be providing our hearts with the promises of God and then lastly one should provide the heart with the pleasures from God as much as I love the church my wife my family all that I've been able to do around the world nothing can ever give me joy like the presence of God not a single person not a single experience not a single practice and the more I come to terms with that the more stable my heart and life becomes so what's the key point one should provide the heart with all that leads one into a god-honoring life well I hope this helps you to begin to think about when we say guard the heart what we're saying because for you and I as Christians that means something very powerful because if you want your life to change you've got to stop trying to look at those things we talked about because God may allow those things to stay the same he may be using those things as an avenue to get you to look at the one thing that needs to be worked on and that is your heart now the question is are you guarding your heart and the only way you can answer that is to look at the fruit of your life from the last seven days or so because as you have been thinking as you have been speaking as you have been acting as you have been relating all of those things reveal what and where your heart is and you cannot blame what for things again amen god bless you [Applause] you

Channel: Founders Baptist

Views: 848

Rating: 4.7647057 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, God, Father, Christianity, Founders Baptist, Nicolas Ellen, counceling, proverbs

Id: m3WaeI3hPhQ

Length: 44min 20sec (2660 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 03 2018