Temple Baptist Church - 6-27-2021
Proverbs 4:20-23
Introduction:
A. We have read a familiar portion of scripture this morning: familiar because of its importance to both life and eternity. For the most part, when the Bible speaks of the heart, it is not speaking of the organ that pumps your blood, but of the very soul of man. (Out of the mention of heart and hearts, 833 + 113 = 946 only 3 possibly refer to the physical heart)
1. Therefore, when I speak of heart this morning, I am not referring to the physical organ but rather to who and what we are.
2. Man is a trinity: the body, the soul, and the spirit—made in the likeness of God through His marvelous creation: fearfully and wonderfully made. We are created in God’s image while Jesus Christ is referred to as the “express image of his person.”
a) The body is world conscious with five senses: hearing, sight, taste, smell, and touch. It is with our bodies that we perceive the world around us.
b) The soul is self-conscious: it is what we desire and what we desire is what we are. It is with the soul that we have thoughts, emotions, desires, likes and dislikes, our treasures, our love or lack of it, our faith and our fears.
c) The spirit is God conscious: it is with the spirit that man seeks after God and worships in His presence. It is with our spirit that we have a relationship with God.
d) The Soul of man is strategically positioned between the flesh which is world conscious or carnal and the spirit which is God conscious and spiritual.
e) Thus, the battle rages within the soul of man which is self-conscious! It is the “court system” which stands between law and obedience.
B. I want to deal with the heart this morning because it is the heart that dictates what we do with both body and spirit! Again, this heart is not the physical organ. This heart is the center of our affections, desires, intellect, imaginations, dreams, and will.
Principle of First Mention - Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
1. In the First Mention of Heart in your Bible, God ties the mind with the soul!
2. The heart or soul of man controls the body by either suppressing or encouraging its desires.
3. The heart or soul of man controls the spirit by either turning to God or turning away from God.
4. Thus, the heart, mind, and body are fundamentally tied together.
Psalms 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
C. The heart or soul is vitally important:
1. To our Salvation - Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
2. To our Sanctification - Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
3. To our Service - Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
D. Now, let us look at Proverbs 4:23: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
1. Keep means to guard or protect. We keep things that are important to us: keepsakes: things that we treasure! Everyone here this morning keeps things that are important to us, things that remind us of good things, souvenirs, or mementos. The Lord should be the most important “keepsake” of all. Castle Keep – a place where treasures were protected. A high place easily defended. Enemies were kept in dungeons.
2. Issues comes from a root word that carries two meaning: boundaries that are concise and goings forth or what issues from within these boundaries. We are to guard or keep our boundaries clear and concise. Old Testament walls were boundaries or landmarks were used to both protected and define an area of safety.
3. Diligence - DILIGENCE, n. [L., to love earnestly; to choose.] Steady application in business of any kind; constant effort to accomplish what is undertaken; exertion of body or mind without unnecessary delay or sloth; due attention; industry; assiduity.
E. It is of no wonder that the Bible says to “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of
HOW TO KEEP YOUR HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE
1. You Keep Your Heart Through Examination - Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
a. The Secrets Of The Heart - Psalms 44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
b. The Control Of The Heart - Psalms 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
c. The Leading Of The Heart - Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
2. You Keep Your Heart Through Meditation - Proverbs 23:7a For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
Psalms 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
a. Meditate Upon The Law Of God - Psalms 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psalms 119:15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
b. Meditate Upon The Son Of God - Psalms 63:6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
c. Meditate Upon The Work Of God - Psalms 77:12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.
3. You Keep Your Heart Through Saturation - Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. (God’s word is more necessary than physical nourishment!)
Psalms 119:34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with [my] whole heart.
Psalms 119:69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with [my] whole heart.
Psalms 119:80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.
Psalms 119:145 I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.
a. They Will Rejoice Your Heart - Psalms 19:8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
b. They Will Purify Your Heart - Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
c. They Will Stabilize Your Heart - Psalms 119:10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
4. You Keep Your Heart Through Adoration - Psalms 9:1 I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
Psalms 138:1 I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.
Psalms 111:1 Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
Psalms 84:2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
Psalms 86:12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
Psalms 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
