Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Proverbs 4:23

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Proverbs 4:23. Keep thy heart with all diligence — "Above all keeping," guard thy heart. He who knows any thing of himself, knows how apt his affections are to go astray.

For out of it are the issues of life. — תוצאות חיים totseoth chaiyim, "the goings out of lives." Is not this a plain allusion to the arteries which carry the blood from the heart through the whole body, and to the utmost extremities? As long as the heart is capable of receiving and propelling the blood, so long life is continued. Now as the heart is the fountain whence all the streams of life proceed, care must be taken that the fountain be not stopped up nor injured. A double watch for its safety must be kept up. So in spiritual things: the heart is the seat of the Lord of life and glory; and the streams of spiritual life proceed from him to all the powers and faculties of the soul. Watch with all diligence, that this fountain be not sealed up, nor these streams of life be cut off. Therefore "put away from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips - and let thy eyes look straight on." Or, in other words, look inward - look onward - look upward.

I know that the twenty-third verse is understood as principally referring to the evils which proceed from the heart, and which must be guarded against; and the good purposes that must be formed in it, from which life takes its colouring. The former should be opposed; the latter should be encouraged and strengthened. If the heart be pure and holy, all its purposes will be just and good. If it be impure and defiled, nothing will proceed from it but abomination. But though all this be true, I have preferred following what I believe to be the metaphor in the text.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Wisdom the inner guide (4:1-27)

The writer further instructs his ‘sons’ by passing on teaching that his own ‘father’ once gave him. The main point of that teaching was that, more than anything else, he was to get wisdom and insight (4:1-5). The first step in getting wisdom is the desire for it. Once obtained, wisdom will bring into the life of the possessor a new measure of security, honour and beauty (6-9).
By living according to God’s wisdom, people will have true freedom, and at the same time will be morally upright (10-13). They will not join in the evil deeds of those whose thoughts and actions are governed by the desire to do wrong (14-17). The more people do right, the better they understand life; the more they do wrong, the more confused their understanding becomes. Consequently, their mistakes become more frequent and more disastrous (18-19).
In addition to reminding themselves constantly of the instruction they have received, the disciples must keep their heart and mind, their whole inner person, in a state of moral and spiritual good health (20-23). Since the tongue and eyes can easily lead to wrongdoing, a person must control them through developing and maintaining right thinking and right attitudes (24-27).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE EIGHTH DISCOURSE

“My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thy heart. For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a wayward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Make level the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil.”

“My son, attend to my words” It is just as reasonable to construe these words as being spoken by the teacher (or the father) during a given speech as it is to make them invariably the beginning of another discourse. Such an address could have come in the middle of an exhortation as the attention of the listener diminished and needed to be stimulated.

“Let them not depart from thine eyes” This is exactly the same as Proverbs 3:21, another example of the constant repetition in Proverbs. “The repeated message is that, `it is not enough to hear wise instruction; it must be assimilated, pondered and kept at the center of man’s being.’“The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 555.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence… etc.” Here is another favorite verse which many have committed to memory. The heart, as the word is used in the Bible, means the mind, which is the center of human intelligence, emotions and the will. “The fact here stated is that the whole moral conduct of human life, and its every action, attitude and purpose are determined by what one thinks and believes.”The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 91, The great corollary of this is that “thought control” is the prerequisite of all moral rectitude and uprightness. See Proverbs 23:7.

“The last verses of this discourse are put together around the discipline of (1) the heart, (2) the mouth, (3) the eyes, and (3) the feet.”Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), Vol. 5, p. 23. This is true, but if one takes charge of his mind and controls his thoughts he is not likely to have much trouble with the other organs mentioned. The attainment of such power is greatly aided by the admonition of the apostle Paul (Philippians 4:8). “Whatsoever things are true… honorable… just… pure… lovely… of good report… any virtue… any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS”!

“Let thine eyelids look straight before thee…turn not to the right hand nor to the left” These instructions have found their way into the vernacular as, “Keep your eye on the ball, and stay in the middle of the road.”! The great goal of earthly existence, for every wise man, is that of receiving at last the blessed welcome of the Lord, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Looking straight ahead means that men should not allow sensual, earthly, selfish, or material temptations to turn their eyes and their purpose away from the true goal and toward such other considerations. The mention of the right and the left hand is a warning against extreme positions. It should always be remembered that there is a ditch on either side, (the right or the left) of the road!

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Better, as in the margin, i. e., with more vigilance than men use over anything else. The words that follow carry on the same similitude. The fountains and wells of the East were watched over with special care. The heart is such a fountain, out of it flow the “issues” of life. Shall men let those streams be tainted at the fountain-head?

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 4

Continuing to his son.

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend that you might know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, don't forsake my law. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother ( Proverbs 4:1-3 ).

So Solomon now is speaking of his father David and of his mother Bathsheba. "Tender and beloved in the sight of his mother."

Now he taught me ( Proverbs 4:4 )

Now this would be David, his father.

He taught me also, and said unto me, Let your heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Now get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all of thy getting get understanding ( Proverbs 4:4-7 ).

Now you know, there are certain people who have a lot of knowledge but they're fools. They don't know how to use their knowledge. They don't have wisdom. If there is to be a choice made between wisdom and knowledge, it's better to choose wisdom. It's like the mother who told her child, "Honey, when you don't got an education, you got to use your brains." And wisdom is really preferable to knowledge. For unless you have wisdom, knowledge can be dangerous. Knowledge can destroy. Wisdom is the principal thing, which is actually the correct application of knowledge. It's knowing what to do with what you know. Understanding.

So here is David talking to Solomon. "Now look, son, wisdom is the principal thing. So get wisdom. And with all of your getting get understanding." Oh, to have an understanding heart. Oh, to have a heart that is filled with wisdom. Fear of the Lord, the beginning of wisdom, where it starts.

Concerning wisdom:

Exalt her, and she will promote you: she shall bring you to honor, when you do when you embrace her. She shall give to your head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory will she deliver to you. Hear, O my son ( Proverbs 4:8-10 ),

It seems like Solomon picks it up here again.

receive my sayings; and the years of your life will be many. For I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in the right paths. When you go, your steps shall not be straitened; and when you run, you will not stumble. Take hold of instruction; [grip her] don't let her go: keep her; for she is your life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, do not go in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, run from it. For they sleep not, unless they have done some mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they've caused someone to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and they drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day ( Proverbs 4:10-18 ).

So here is the contrast. The wicked who go in darkness and who cannot sleep until they've done their mischief and so forth, in contrast to the path of the just, which is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Beautiful.

The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. My son, attend to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life ( Proverbs 4:19-23 ).

Here, I think, is perhaps the key. Keeping our hearts with all diligence. Now the Bible speaks of the soul, the emotions of man, conscious level, but it speaks also of the heart of man, which is always considered one level deeper. "Out of the abundance of the heart," the scriptures said, "the mouth speaks" ( Matthew 12:34 ). "It is not which goes into a man's mouth that defiles a man but that which comes out" ( Matthew 15:11 ). Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And out of the heart there issue you know all of these things. So the heart is considered as sort of the center of the volitional part of man, the will of man. There is a difference made in the scripture with the believing in your mind and the believing in your heart. "That if thou shall confess with thy mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in your heart" ( Romans 10:9 ). What you believe in your heart affects the way you live, what you believe in your mind can pass by and have no effect upon the way you live. But when it's down deep within your heart, then there is the effect upon your life. We must keep our hearts with all diligence, because it is out of the heart that the issues of life spring forth.

Put away from you a froward mouth [a perverse mouth], perverse lips put far from thee. Let your eyes look straight ahead. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Don't turn to the right or to the left: but remove your foot from evil ( Proverbs 4:24-27 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

8. The importance of persistence 4:20-27

The last pericope of this chapter emphasizes the importance of persisting in the good practices that will lead to life. Success usually comes to those who keep concentrating on and perfecting the basics in their work. Our temptation is to leave these when we become adequately proficient and move on to things that we find more interesting and exciting. These verses give the reader a checkup on his or her condition.

Advocates of the "prosperity gospel," who teach that it is never God’s will for believers to experience sickness or privation, appeal to Proverbs 4:20-22 as support for their position (along with Exodus 15:26; Exodus 23:25; Psalms 103:3; Isaiah 33:24; Jeremiah 30:17; Matthew 4:23; Matthew 10:1; Mark 16:16-18; Luke 6:17-19; Acts 5:16; Acts 10:38). The Book of Job and the past earthly career of Jesus are two lessons, among many in Scripture, that prove this view is incorrect. [Note: For a critique of this movement, see Ken L. Sarles, "A Theological Evaluation of the Prosperity Gospel," Bibliotheca Sacra 143:572 (October-December 1986):329-52.]

"By using ears, eyes, and heart, the teacher is exhorting the whole person to receive the traditions." [Note: Ross, p. 925.]

"Heart" (Proverbs 4:23) usually means "mind" (Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 6:32 a; Proverbs 7:7 b; et al.), but it has a much broader meaning that includes the emotions (Proverbs 15:15; Proverbs 15:30), the will (Proverbs 11:20; Proverbs 14:14), and even the whole inner person (Proverbs 3:5). [Note: See. R. J. Bouffier, "The Heart in the Proverbs of Solomon," The Bible Today 52 (1971):249-51.] Here the affections are particularly in view. Proverbs 4:23, in conjunction with Proverbs 4:20-22, helps us see that the life in view is not some prize that one gains all at once. It is rather a growing spiritual vitality that empowers the wise person and enables him or her to reach out and help others effectively (cf. Mark 7:15-23; Luke 6:45; John 4:14 and especially John 7:38). One’s words (Proverbs 4:24) reflect his or her heart’s affections. We must be single-minded in our pursuit of wisdom (Proverbs 4:25; cf. Psalms 101:3; Psalms 119:37). We must also give attention to practical planning so we end up taking the steps we need to take to arrive at our intended destination (Proverbs 4:26-27; cf. Hebrews 12:13).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Keep thy heart with all diligence,.... The mind from vanity, the understanding from error, the will from perverseness, the conscience clear of guilt, the affections from being inordinate and set on evil objects, the thoughts from being employed on bad subjects; and the whole from falling into the hands of the enemy, or being the possession of Satan: great diligence had need be used in keeping it, since it is naturally so deceitful and treacherous; a strict eye is to be kept upon it; all the avenues to it to be watched, that nothing hurtful enters, or evil comes out; it is to be kept by all manner of means that can be thought of, by prayer, hearing, reading, meditation; and, above all, by applying to Christ for his grace and Spirit to sanctify, preserve, and keep it. Or, "above all keeping, keep thine heart" b; though other things are to be kept, and care taken of them, as kingdoms and cities, and towns and families, and treasures and riches; yet the heart above all:

for out of it [are] the issues of life; of natural life: it is the seat of it, from whence all actions of life are derived; it is, as philosophers say, the first that lives, and the last that dies; and it is the seat of spiritual life the principle of it is formed in it; from whence all spiritual and vital actions flow, and which lead unto and issue in eternal life: as is a man's heart, such is his state now, and will be hereafter; if the heart is quickened and sanctified by the grace of God, the man will live a life of faith and holiness here, and enjoy everlasting life hereafter: and if the heart is right, so will the actions of men be; they are regulated and denominated by it; they will then spring from right principles, and be directed to right ends, and performed with right views; great care therefore should be taken of the heart, since so much depends upon it, and it is so well known to God the searcher of it.

b מכל משמר "prae omni custodia", Vatablus, Baynus, Mercerus, Gejerus, Michaelis, Schultens; so Aben Ezra and Ben Melech.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.   21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.   22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.   23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.   24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.   25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.   26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.   27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

      Solomon, having warned us not to do evil, here teaches us how to do well. It is not enough for us to shun the occasions of sin, but we must study the methods of duty.

      I. We must have a continual regard to the word of God and endeavour that it may be always ready to us.

      1. The sayings of wisdom must be our principles by which we must govern ourselves, our monitors to warn us of duty and danger; and therefore, (1.) We must receive them readily: "Incline thy ear to them (Proverbs 4:20; Proverbs 4:20); humbly bow to them; diligently listen to them." The attentive hearing of the word of God is a good sign of a work of grace begun in the heart and a good means of carrying it on. It is to be hoped that those are resolved to do their duty who are inclined to know it. (2.) We must retain them carefully (Proverbs 4:21; Proverbs 4:21); we must lay them before us as our rule: "Let them not depart from thy eyes; view them, review them, and in every thing aim to conform to them." We must lodge them within us, as a commanding principle, the influences of which are diffused throughout the whole man: "Keep them in the midst of thy heart, as things dear to thee, and which thou art afraid of losing." Let the word of God be written in the heart, and that which is written there will remain.

      2. The reason why we must thus make much of the words of wisdom is because they will be both food and physic to us, like the tree of life,Revelation 22:2; Ezekiel 47:12. Those that seek and find them, find and keep them, shall find in them, (1.) Food: For they are life unto those that find them,Proverbs 4:22; Proverbs 4:22. As the spiritual life was begun by the word as the instrument of it, so by the same word it is still nourished and maintained. We could not live without it; we may by faith live upon it. (2.) Physic. They are health to all their flesh, to the whole man, both body and soul; they help to keep both in good plight. They are health to all flesh, so the LXX. There is enough to cure all the diseases of this distempered world. They are a medicine to all their flesh (so the word is), to all their corruptions, for they are called flesh, to all their grievances, which are as thorns in the flesh. There is in the word of God a proper remedy for all our spiritual maladies.

      II. We must keep a watchful eye and a strict hand upon all the motions of our inward man, Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 4:23. Here is, 1. A great duty required by the laws of wisdom, and in order to our getting and preserving wisdom: Keep thy heart with all diligence. God, who gave us these souls, gave us a strict charge with them: Man, woman, keep thy heart; take heed to thy spirit,Deuteronomy 4:9. We must maintain a holy jealousy of ourselves, and set a strict guard, accordingly, upon all the avenues of the soul; keep our hearts from doing hurt and getting hurt, from being defiled by sin and disturbed by trouble; keep them as our jewel, as our vineyard; keep a conscience void of offence; keep out bad thoughts; keep up good thoughts; keep the affections upon right objects and in due bounds. Keep them with all keepings (so the word is); there are many ways of keeping things--by care, by strength, by calling in help, and we must use them all in keeping our hearts; and all little enough, so deceitful are they, Jeremiah 17:9. Or above all keepings; we must keep our hearts with more care and diligence than we keep any thing else. We must keep our eyes (Job 31:1), keep our tongues (Psalms 34:13), keep our feet (Ecclesiastes 5:1), but, above all, keep our hearts. 2. A good reason given for this care, because out of it are the issues of life. Out of a heart well kept will flow living issues, good products, to the glory of God and the edification of others. Or, in general, all the actions of the life flow from the heart, and therefore keeping that is making the tree good and healing the springs. Our lives will be regular or irregular, comfortable or uncomfortable, according as our hearts are kept or neglected.

      III. We must set a watch before the door of our lips, that we offend not with out tongue (Proverbs 4:24; Proverbs 4:24): Put away from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips. Our hearts being naturally corrupt, out of them a great deal of corrupt communication is apt to come, and therefore we must conceive a great dread and detestation of all manner of evil words, cursing, swearing, lying, slandering, brawling, filthiness, and foolish talking, all which come from a froward mouth and perverse lips, that will not be governed either by reason or religion, but contradict both, and which are as unsightly and ill-favoured before God as a crooked distorted mouth drawn awry is before men. All manner of tongue sins, we must, by constant watchfulness and stedfast resolution, put from us, put far from us, abstaining from all words that have an appearance of evil and fearing to learn any such words.

      IV. We must make a covenant with our eyes: "Let them look right on and straight before thee,Proverbs 4:24; Proverbs 4:24. Let the eye be fixed and not wandering; let it not rove after every thing that presents itself, for then it will be diverted form good and ensnared in evil. Turn it from beholding vanity; let thy eye be single and not divided; let thy intentions be sincere and uniform, and look not asquint at any by-end." We must keep our eye upon our Master, and be careful to approve ourselves to him; keep our eye upon our rule, and conform to that; keep our eye upon our mark, the prize of the high calling, and direct all towards that. Oculum in metam--The eye upon the goal.

      V. We must act considerately in all we do (Proverbs 4:26; Proverbs 4:26): Ponder the path of thy feet, weigh it (so the word is); "put the word of God in one scale, and what thou hast done, or art about to do, in the other, and see how they agree; be nice and critical in examining whether thy way be good before the Lord and whether it will end well." We must consider our past ways and examine what we have done, and our present ways, what we are doing, whither we are going, and see that we walk circumspectly. It concerns us to consider what are the duties and what the difficulties, what are the advantages and what the dangers, of our way, that we may act accordingly. "Do nothing rashly."

      VI. We must act with steadiness, caution, and consistency: "Let all thy ways be established (Proverbs 4:26; Proverbs 4:26) and be not unstable in them, as the double-minded man is; halt not between two, but go on in an even uniform course of obedience; turn not to the right hand not to the left, for there are errors on both hands, and Satan gains his point if he prevails to draw us aside either way. Be very careful to remove thy foot from evil; take heed of extremes, for in them there is evil, and let thy eyes look right on, that thou mayest keep the golden mean." Those that would approve themselves wise must always be watchful.

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

2 Sermons: The Great Reservoir and Wisdom Guards the Heart

The Great Reservoir

February 21, 1858 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Proverbs 4:23 .

If I should vainly attempt to fashion my discourse after lofty models, I should this morning compare the human heart to the ancient city of Thebes, out of whose hundred gates multitudes of warriors were wont to march. As was the city, such were her armies, as was her inward strength, such were they who came forth of her. I might then urge the necessity of keeping the heart, because it is the metropolis of our manhood, the citadel and armory of our humanity. Let the chief fortress surrender to the enemy, and the occupation of the rest must be an easy task. Let the principal stronghold be possessed by evil, the whole land must be overrun thereby. Instead, however, of doing this, I shall attempt what possibly I may be able to perform, by a humble metaphor and a simple figure, which will be easily understood; I shall endeavor to set forth the wise man's doctrine, that our life issues from the heart, and thus I shall labor to show the absolute necessity of keeping the heart with all diligence. You have seen the great reservoirs provided by our water companies, in which the water which is to supply hundreds of streets and thousands of houses is kept. Now, the heart is just the reservoir of man, and our life is allowed to flow in its proper season. That life may flow through different pipes the mouth, the hand, the eye; but still all the issues of hand, of eye, of lip, derive their source from the great fountain and central reservoir, the heart; and hence there is no difficulty in showing the great necessity that exists for keeping this reservoir, the heart, in a proper state and condition, since otherwise that which flows through the pipes must be touted and corrupt. May the Holy Spirit now direct our meditations. Mere moralists very often forget the heart, and deal exclusively with the lesser powers. Some of them say, "If a man's life be wrong, it is better to alter the principles upon which his conduct is modeled: we had better adopt another scheme of living; society must be re-modeled, so that man may have an opportunity for the display of virtues, and less temptation to indulge in vice." It is as if, when the reservoir was filled with poisonous or polluted fluid, some sage counsellor should propose that all the piping had better be taken up, and fresh pipes laid down, so that the water might run through fresh channels; but who does not perceive that it would be all in vain, if the fountain-head were polluted, however good the channels. So in vain the rules by which men hope to fashion their lives; in vain the regimen by which we seek to constrain ourselves to the semblance of goodness, unless the heart be right, the very best scheme of life shall fall to the ground, and fail to effect its design. Others say, "Well, if the life be wrong, it would be better to set the understanding right: you must inform man's judgment, educate him, teach him better, and when his head is well informed, then his life will be improved. Now, understanding is, if I may use such a figure, the stopcock which controls the emotions, lets them flow on, or stops them; and it is as if some very wise man, when a reservoir had been poisoned, proposed that there should be a new person employed to turn the water off or on, in hope that the whole difficulty would thus be obviated. If we followed his advice, if we found the wisest man in the world to have control of the fountain, Mr. Understanding would still be incapable of supplying us with healthy streams, until we had first of all purged the cistern whence they flowed. The Arminian divine, too, sometimes suggests another way of improving man's life. He deals with the will . He says, the will must first of all be conquered, and if the will be right, then every thing will be in order. Now, will is like the great engine which forces the water out of the fountain-head along the pipes, so that it is made to flow into our dwellings. The learned counsellor proposes that there should be a new steam-engine employed to force the water along the pipes. "If," says he, "we had the proper machinery for forcing the fluid, then all would be well." No, sir, if the stream be poisonous, you may have axles to turn on diamonds, and you may have a machine that is made of gold, and a force as potent as Omnipotence, but even then you have not accomplished your purpose until you have cleansed the polluted fountain, and purged the issues of life which flow therefrom. The wise man in our text seems to say, "Beware of misapplying your energies, be careful to begin in the right place." It is very necessary the understanding should be right; it is quite needful the will should have its proper predominance; it is very necessary that you should keep every part of man in a healthy condition; "but," says he, "if you want to promote true holiness, you must begin with the heart, for out of it are the issues of life; and when you have purged it, when you have made its waters pure and limpid, then shall the current flow and bless the inhabitants with clear water; but not till then." Here let us pause and ask the solemn and vital question, "Is my heart right in the sight of God?" For unless the inner man has been renewed by the grace of God, through the Holy Spirit, our heart is full of rottenness, filth, and abominations. And if so, here must all our cleansing begin, if it be real and satisfactory. Unrenewed men, I beseech you ponder the words of an ancient Christian which I here repeat in thine ear: "It is no matter what is the sign, though an angel, that hangs without, if the devil and sin dwell therein. New trimmings upon an old garment will not make it new, only give it a new appearance; and truly it is no good husbandry to bestow a great deal of cost in mending up an old suit, that will soon drop to tatters and rags, when a little more might purchase a new one that is lasting. And is it not better to labor to get a new heart, that all thou dost may be accepted, and thou saved, than to lose all the pains thou takest in religion, and thyself also for want of it?" Now, ye who love the Lord, let me take you to the reservoir of your heart, and let, me urge upon you the great necessity of keeping the heart right, if you would have the stream of your life happy for yourselves and beneficial to others. I. First, keep the heart full. However pure the water may be in the central reservoir, it will not be possible for the company to provide us with an abundant supply of water, unless the reservoir itself be full. An empty fountain will most assuredly beget empty pipes; and let the machinery be never so accurate, let every thing else be well ordered, yet if that reservoir be dry, we may wait in vain for any of the water that we require. Now, you know many people (you are sure to meet with them in your own society, and your own circle; for I know of no one so happy as to be without such acquaintances) whose lives are just dry, good-for-nothing emptiness. They never accomplish anything; they have no mental force; they have no moral power; what they say, nobody thinks of noticing; what they do is scarcely ever imitated. We have known fathers whose moral force has been so despicable, that even their children have scarcely been able to imitate them. Though imitation was strong enough in them, yet have they unconsciously felt, even in their childhood, that their father was, after all, but a child like themselves, and had not grown to be a man. Do you not know many people, who if they were to espouse a cause, and it were entrusted to them, would most certainly pilot it to shipwreck. Failure would be the total result. You could not use them as clerks in your office, without feeling certain that your business would be nearly murdered. If you were to employ them to manage a concern for you, you would be sure they would manage to spend all the money, but could never produce a doit. If they were placed in comfortable circumstances for a few months, they would go on carelessly till all was gone. They are just the flats, preyed on by the sharpers in the world; they have no manly strength, no power at all. See these people in religion: it does not matter much what are their doctrinal sentiments, it is quite certain they will never affect the minds of others. Put them in the pulpit: they are the slaves of the deacons, or else the, are over-ridden by the church; they never have an opinion of their own, can not come out with a thing; they have not the heart to say, "Such a thing is, and I know it is." These men just live on, but as far as any utility to the world is concerned, they might almost as well never have been created, except it were to be fed upon by other people. Now, some say that this is the fault of men's heads: "Such a one," they say, "could not get on; he had a small head; it was clean impossible for him to prosper, his head was small, he could not do anything; he had not enough force." Now, that may be true; but I know what was truer still he had got a small heart and that heart was empty. For, mark you, a man's force in the world, other things being equal, is just in the ratio of the force and strength of his heart. A full-hearted man is always a powerful man: if he be erroneous, then he is powerful for error; if the thing is in his heart, he is sure to make it notorious, even though it may be a downright falsehood. Let a man be never so ignorant, still if his heart be full of love to a cause, he becomes a powerful man for that object, because he has got heart-power, heart-force. A man may be deficient in many of the advantages of education, in many of those niceties which are so much looked upon in society; but once give him a good strong heart, that beats hard, and there is no mistake about his power. Let him have a heart that is right full up to the brim with an object, and that man will do the thing, or else he will die gloriously defeated, and will glory in his defeat. HEART IS POWER. It is the emptiness of men's hearts that makes them so feeble. Men do not feel what they are at. Now, the man in business that goes heart and soul into his business, is more likely to prosper than anybody else. That is the preacher we want, the man that has a full soul. Let him have a head the more he knows the better; but, after all, give him a big heart; and when his heart beats, if his heart be full, it will, under God, either make the hearts of his congregation beat after him; or else make them conscious that he is laboring hard to compel them to follow. O! if we had more heart in our Master's service, how much more labor we could endure. You are a Sunday-school teacher, young man, and you are complaining that you can not get on in the Sunday-school. Sir, the service-pipe would give out plenty of water if the heart were full. Perhaps you do not love your work. O, strive to love your work more, and then when your heart is full, you will go on well enough. "O," saith the preacher, "I am weary of my work in preaching; I have little success; I find it a hard toil." The answer to that question is, "Your heart is not full of it, for if you loved preaching, you would breathe preaching, feed upon preaching, and find a compulsion upon you to follow preaching; and your heart being full of the thing, you would be happy in the employment. O for a heart that is full, and deep, and broad! Find the man that hath such a soul as that, and that is the man from whom the living waters shall flow, to make the world glad with their refreshing streams. Learn, then, the necessity of keeping the heart full; and let the necessity make you ask this question "But how can I keep my heart full? How can my emotions be strong? How can I keep my desires burning and my zeal inflamed?" Christian! there is one text which will explain all this. "All my springs are in thee," said David. If thou hast all thy springs in God, thy heart will be full enough. If thou dost go to the foot of Calvary, there will thy heart be bathed in love and gratitude. If thou dost frequent the vale of retirement, and there talk with thy God, it is there that thy heart shall be full of calm resolve. If thou goest out with thy Master to the hill of Olivet, and dost with him look down upon a wicked Jerusalem, and weep over it with him, then will thy heart be full of love for never-dying souls. If thou dost continually draw thine impulse, thy life, the whole of thy being from the Holy Spirit, without whom thou canst do nothing; and if thou dost live in close communion with Christ, there will be no fear of thy having a dry heart. He who lives without prayer he who lives with little prayer he who seldom reads the Word he who seldom looks up to heaven for a fresh influence from on high he will be the man whose heart will become dry and barren; but he who calls in secret on his God who spends much time in holy retirement who delights to meditate on the words of the Most High whose soul is given up to Christ who delights in his fullness, rejoices in his all-sufficiency, prays for his second coming, and delights in the thought of his glorious advent such a man, I say, must have an overflowing heart; and as his heart is, such will his life be. It will be a full life; it will be a life that will speak from the sepulcher, and wake the echoes of the future. "Keep thine heart with all diligence," and entreat the Holy Spirit to keep it full; for, otherwise, the issues of thy life will be feeble, shallow, and superficial; and thou mayest as well not have lived at all. 2. Secondly, it would be of little use for our water companies to keep their reservoirs full, if they did not also keep them pure. I remember to have read a complaint in the newspaper of a certain provincial town, that a tradesman had been frequently supplied with fish from the water company, large eels having crept down the pipe, and sometimes creatures a little more loathsome. We have known such a thing as water companies supplying us with solids when they ought to have given us nothing but pure crystal. Now, no one likes that. The reservoir should be kept pure and clean; and unless the water comes from a pure spring, and is not impregnated with deleterious substances, however full the reservoir may be, the company will fail of satisfying or of benefiting its customers. Now it is essential for us to do with our hearts as the company must do with its reservoir. We must keep our hearts pure; for if the heart be not pure, the life can not be pure. It is quite impossible that it should be so. You see a man whose whole conversation is impure and unholy; when he speaks he lards his language with oaths; his mind is low and groveling; none but the things of unrighteousness are sweet to him, for he has no soul above the kennel and the dunghill. You meet with another man who understands enough to avoid violating the decencies of life; but still, at the same time he likes filthiness; any low joke, anything that will in some way stir unholy thoughts is just the thing that he desires. For the ways of God he has no relish; in God's house he finds no pleasure, in his Word no delight. What is the cause of this? Say some, it is because of his family connections because of the situation in which he stands because of his early education, and all that. No, no; the simple answer to that is the answer we gave to the other inquiry; the heart is not right; for, if the heart were pure, the life would be pure too. The unclean stream betrays the fountain. A valuable book of German parables, by old Christian Scriver, contains the following homely metaphor: "A drink was brought to Gotthold, which tasted of the vessel in which it had been contained; and this led him to observe. We have here an emblem of our thoughts, words, and works. Our heart is defiled by sin, and hence a taint if sinfulness cleaves unfortunately to everything we take in hand; and although, from the force of habit, this may be imperceptible to us, it does not escape the eye of the omniscient, holy, and righteous God." Whence come our carnality, covetuousness, pride, sloth and unbelief? Are they not all to be traced to the corruption of our hearts? When the hands of a clock move in an irregular manner, and when the bell strikes the wrong hour, be assured there is something wrong within. O how needful that the main-spring of our motives be in proper order, and the wheels in a right condition. Ah! Christian keep thy heart pure. Thou sayest, "How can I do this?" Well, there was of old a stream of Marah, to which the thirsty pilgrims in the desert came to drink; and when they came to taste of it, it was so brackish that though their tongues were like torches, and the roofs of their mouths were parched with heat, yet they could not drink of that bitter water. Do you remember the remedy which Moses prescribed? It is the remedy which we prescribe to you this morning. He took a certain tree, and he cast it into the waters, and they became sweet and clear. Your heart is by nature like Marah's water, bitter and impure. There is a certain tree, you know its name, that tree on which the Saviour hung, the cross. Take that tree, put it into your heart, and though it were even more impure than it is, that sweet cross, applied by the Holy Spirit, would soon transform it into its own nature, and make it pure. Christ Jesus in the heart is the sweet purification. He is made unto us sanctification. Elijah cast salt into the waters; but we must cast the blood of Jesus there. Once let us know and love Jesus, once let his cross become the object of our adoration and the theme of our delight, the heart will beam its cleansing, and the life will become pure also. Oh! that we all did learn the sacred lesson of fixing the cross in the heart! Christian man! love thy Saviour more; cry to the Holy Spirit that thou mayest have more affection for Jesus; and then, how ever gainful may be thy sin, thou wilt say with the poet,

"Now for the love I bear his name, What was my gain I count my loss; My former pride I call my shame, And nail my glory to his cross."

The cross in the heart is the purifier of the soul; it purges and it cleanses the chambers of the mind. Christian! keep thy heart pure, "for out of it are the issues of life." 3. In the third place, there is one thing to which our water companies need never pay much attention; that is to say, if their water be pure, and the reservoir be full, they need not care to keep it peaceable and quiet, for let it be stirred to a storm, we should receive our water in the same condition as usual. It is not so, however, with the heart. Unless the heart be kept peaceable, the life will not be happy. If calm doth not reign over that inner lake within the soul which feeds the rivers of our life, the rivers themselves will always be in storm. Our outward acts will always tell that they were born in tempests, by rolling in tempests themselves. Let us just understand this, first, with regard to ourselves. We all desire to lead a joyous life; the bright eye and the elastic foot are things which we each of us desire; to carry about a contented mind is that to which most men are continually aspiring. Let us all remember, that the only way to keep our life peaceful and happy is to keep the heart at rest; for come poverty, come wealth, come honor, come shame, come plenty, or come scarcity, if the heart be quiet there will be happiness anywhere. But whatever the sunshine and the brightness, if the heart be troubled the whole life must be troubled too. There is a sweet story told in one of the German martyrologies well worth both my telling and your remembering. A holy martyr who had been kept for a long time in prison, and had there exhibited, to the wonderment of all who saw him, the strongest constancy and patience, was at last, upon the day of execution, brought out, and tied to the stake preparatory to the lighting of the fire. While in this position he craved permission to speak once more to the Judge, who, according to the Swiss custom, was required to be also present at the execution. After repeatedly refusing, the judge at last came forward, when the peasant addressed him thus: You have this day condemned me to death. Now, I freely admit that I am a poor sinner, but positively deny that I am a heretic, because from my heart I believe and confess all that is contained in the Apostles' Creed (which he thereupon repeated from beginning to end). Now, then, sir, he proceeded to say, I have but one last request to make, which is, that you will approach and place your hand, first upon my breast and then upon your own, and afterwards frankly and truthfully declare, before this assembled multitude, which of the two, mine or yours, is beating most violently with fear and anxiety. For my part, I quit the world with alacrity and joy, to go and be with Christ, in whom I have always believed; what your feelings are at this moment is best known to yourself. The judge could make no answer, and commanded them instantly to light the pile. It was evident, however, from his looks, that he was more afraid than the martyr." Now, keep your heart right. Do not let it smite you. The Holy Spirit says of David, "David's heart smote him." The smiting of the heart is more painful to a good man than the rough blows of the fist. It is a blow that can be felt; it is iron that enters into the soul. Keep your heart in good temper. Do not let that get fighting with you. Seek that the peace of God which passeth all understanding, may keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Bend your knee at night, and with a full confession of sin, express your faith in Christ, then you may "dread the grave as little as your bed." Rise in the morning and give your heart to God, and put the sweet angels of perfect love and holy faith therein, and you may go into the world, and were it full of lions and of tigers you would no more need to dread it than Daniel when he was cast into the lion's den. Keep the heart peaceable and your life will be happy. Remember, in the second place, that it is just the same with regard to other men. I should hope we all wish to lead quiet lives, and as much as lieth in us to live peaceably with all men. There is a particular breed of men I do not know where they come from, but they are mixed up now with the English race and to be met with here and there men who seem to be born for no other reason whatever but to fight always quarreling, and never pleased. They say that all Englishmen are a little that way that we are never happy unless we have something to grumble at, and that the worst thing that ever could be done with us would be to give us some entertainment at which we could not grumble, because we should be mortally offended, because we had not the opportunity of displaying our English propensities. I do not know whether that is true of all of us, but it is of some. You can not sit with them in a room but they introduce a topic upon which you are quite certain to disagree with them. You could not walk with them half a mile along the public streets but they would be sure to make an observation against every body and every thing they saw. They talk about ministers: one man's doctrine is too high, another's is too low; one man they think is a great deal too effeminate and precise, another they say is so vulgar they would not hear him at all. They say of another man that they do not think he attends to visiting his people; of another, that he visits so much that he never prepares for the pulpit. No one can be right for them. Why is this? Whence arises this continual snarling? The heart must again supply the answer, they are morose and sullen in the inward parts, and hence their speech betrayeth them. They have not had their hearts brought to feel that God hath made of one blood all nations that dwell upon the face of the earth, or if they have felt that, they have never been brought to spell in their hearts "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." Whichever may have been put there of the other ten, the eleventh commandment was never written there. "A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another." That they forgot. Oh! dear Christian people, seek to have your hearts full of love, and if you have had little hearts till now that could not hold love enough for more than your own denomination, get your hearts enlarged, so that you may have enough to send out service-pipes to all God's people throughout the habitable globe; so that whenever you meet a man who is a true-born heir of heaven, he has nothing to do but to turn to the tap, and out of your loving heart will begin to flow issues of true, fervent, unconstrained, willing, living love. Keep thine heart peaceable, that thy life may be so; for out of the heart are the issues of life. How is this to be done? We reply again, we must ask the Holy Spirit to pacify the heart. No voice but that which on Galilee lake said to the storm "Be still," can ever lay the troubled waters of a stormy heart. No strength but Omnipotence can still the tempest of human nature. Cry out mightily unto him. He still sleeps in the vessel with his church. Ask him to awake, lest your piety should perish in the waters of contention. Cry unto him that he may give your heart peace and happiness. Then shall your life be peaceful; spend ye it where ye may, in trouble or in joy. 4. A little further. When the water-works company have gathered an abundance of water in the reservoir, there is one thing they must always attend to, and that is, they must take care they do not attempt too much, or otherwise they will fail. Suppose they lay on a great main pipe in one place to serve one city, and another main pipe to serve another, and the supply which was intended to fill one channel is diverted into a score of streams, what would be the result? Why nothing would be done well, but everyone would have cause to complain. Now, man's heart is after all so little, that there is only one great direction in which its living water can ever flow; and my fourth piece of advice to you from this text is, Keep your heart undivided. Suppose you see a lake, and there are twenty or thirty streamlets running from it: why, there will not be one strong river in the whole country; there will be a number of little brooks which will be dried up in the summer, and will be temporary torrents in the winter. They will every one of them be useless for any great purposes, because there is not water enough in the lake to feed more than one great stream. Now, a man's heart has only enough life in it to pursue one object fully. Ye must not give half your love to Christ, and the other half to the world. No man can serve God and mammon because there is not enough life in the heart to serve the two. Alas! many people try this, and they fail both ways. I have known a man who has tried to let some of his heart run into the world, and another part he allowed to drip into the church, and the effect has been this: when he came into the church he was suspected of hypocrisy. "Why," they said, "if he were truly with us, could he have done yesterday what he did, and then come and profess so much to-day?" The church looks upon him as a suspicious one: or if he deceive them they feel he is not of much use to them, because they have not got all his heart. What is the effect of his conduct in the world? Why, his religion is a fetter to him there. The world will not have him, and the church will not have him; he wants to go between the two, and both despise him. I never saw anybody try to walk on both sides of the street but a drunken man: he tried it, and it was very awkward work indeed; but I have seen many people in a moral point of view try to walk on both sides of the street, and I thought there was some kind of intoxication in them, or else they would have given it up as a very foolish thing. Now, if I thought this world and the pleasures thereof worth my seeking, I would just seek them and go after them, and I would not pretend to be religious; but if Christ be Christ, and if God be God, let us give our whole hearts to him, and not go shares with the world. Many a church member manages to walk on both sides of the street in the following manner: His sun is very low indeed it has not much light, not much heat, and is come almost to its setting. Now sinking suns cast long shadows, and this man stands on the world's side of the street, and casts a long shadow right across the road, to the opposite side of the wall just across the pavement. Ay, it is all we get with many of you. You come and you take the sacramental bread and wine; you are capsized; you join the church; and what we get is just your shadow; there is your substance on the other side of the street, after all. What is the good of the empty chrysalis of a man? And yet many of our church members are little better. They just do as the snake does that leaves its slough behind. They give us their slough, their skin, the chrysalis case in which life once was, and then they go themselves hither and thither after their own wanton wills; they give us the outward, and then give the world the inward. O how foolish this, Christian! Thy master gave himself wholly for thee; give thyself unreservedly to him. Keep not back part of the price. Make a full surrender of every motion of thy heart; labor to have but one object, and one aim. And for this purpose give God the keeping of thine heart. Cry out for more of the divine influences of the Holy Spirit, that so when thy soul is preserved and protected by him, it may be directed into one channel, and one only, that thy life may run deep and pure, and clear and peaceful; its only banks being God's will, its only channel the love of Christ and a desire to please him. Thus wrote Spencer in days long gone by: "Indeed, by nature, man's heart is a very divided, broken thing, scattered and parceled out, a piece to this creature, and a piece to that lust. One while this vanity hires him (as Leah did Jacob of Rachel), anon when he hath done some drudgery for that, he lets out himself to another: thus divided is man and his affections. Now the elect, whom God hath decreed to be vessels of honor, consecrated for his holy use and service, he throws into the fire of his word, that being there softened and melted, he may by his transforming Spirit cast them anew, as it were, into a holy oneness; so that he who before was divided from God, and lost among the creatures, and his lusts, that shared him among them, now, his heart is gathered into God from them all; it looks with a single eye on God, and acts for him in all that he doth: if therefore thou wouldest know whether thy heart be sincere, inquire whether it be thus made anew." 5. Now, my last point is rather a strange one perhaps. Once upon a time, when one of our kings came back from a captivity, old historians tell us that there were fountains in Cheapside that did run with wine. So bounteous was the king, and so glad the people, that instead of water, they made wine flow free to everybody. There is a way of making our life so rich, so full, so blessed to our fellow men, that the metaphor may be applicable to us, and men may say, that our life flows with wine when other men's lives flow with water. Ye have known some such men. There was a Howard. John Howard's life was not like our poor common lives; he was so benevolent, his sympathy with the race so self-denying, that the streams of his life were like generous wine. You have known another, an eminent saint, one who lived very near to Jesus: when you talked yourself, you felt your conversation was poor watery stuff; but when he talked to you, there was an unction and a savor about his words, a solidity, and a strength about his utterances, which you could appreciate, though you could not attain unto it. You have sometimes said, "I wish my words were as full, as sweet, as mellow, and as unctuous as the words of such an one! Oh! I wish my actions were just as rich, had as deep a color, and as pure a taste as the acts of so-and-so. All I can do seems but little and empty when compared with his high attainments. Oh, that I could do more! Oh, that I could send streams of pure gold into every house, instead of my poor dross," Well, Christian, this should teach thee to keep thine heart full of rich things. Never, never neglect the Word of God; that will make thy heart rich with precept, rich with understanding; and then thy conversation, when it flows from thy mouth, will be like thine heart, rich, unctuous, and savory. Make thy heart full of rich, generous love, and then the stream that flows from thy hand will be just as rich and generous as thine heart. Above all, get Jesus to live in thine heart, and then out of thy belly shall flow rivers of living water, more rich, more satisfying than the water of the well of Sychar of which Jacob drank. Oh! go, Christians, to the great mine of riches, and cry unto the Holy Spirit to make thy heart rich unto salvation. So shall thy life and conversation be a boon to thy fellows; and when they see thee, thy face shall be as the angel of God. Thou shalt wash thy feet in butter and thy steps in oil; they that sit in the gate shall rise up when they see thee, and men shall do thee reverence. But one single sentence, and we have done. Some of your hearts are not worth keeping. The sooner you get rid of them the better. They are hearts of stone. Do you feel today that you have a stony heart? Go home, and I pray the Lord hear my desire that thy polluted heart may be removed. Cry unto God and say, "Take away my heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh;" for a stony heart is an impure heart, a divided heart, an unpeaceful heart. It is a heart that is poor and poverty-stricken, a heart that is void of all goodness, and thou canst neither bless thyself nor others, if thy heart be such. O Lord Jesus! wilt thou be pleased this day to renew many hearts? Wilt thou break the rock in pieces, and put flesh instead of stone, and thou shalt have the glory, world without end!

Wisdom Guards the Heart Proverbs 4:23

What I want to do tonight is pretty much take up where we left off this morning, talking about spiritual warfare and the fact that one of the key battlefields in that warfare is the human heart. I want to look back at the Book of Proverbs, chapter 4 a single verse Proverbs 4:23 . I want you to turn there, even though it’s only one verse, because we will look a bit at the context. So, turn there, and while you’re doing that, let me read the verse. Proverbs 4:23 , “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.”

Now, I want to start by giving you just a very, very short summary of what that proverb means. What it’s saying is this: your heart is like a reservoir and what comes out of it is what determines the quality and the character of your spiritual life. If your heart is defiled, it will have consequences in your behavior, your speech, your attitudes, and every area of life. The heart is the wellspring of life itself, and if you pollute the fountain, you defile all of life. It’s vital to understand that.

Now, also, one other thing I don’t want you to miss and let’s not skip over is this: that when Scripture speaks of the heart, it’s speaking of your thought life, the core of your soul, where your thoughts and imaginations operate. We sometimes contrast heart and mind in a way that Scripture really doesn’t. The heart isn’t set against the mind in Scripture, but normally, when you see Scripture speaking of the heart, it’s speaking of the mind or at least at the very least including the mind, because the heart is where Scripture puts the seat of your thought life. Proverbs 23:7 , “As he thinketh in his heart , so is he.” So, what you think about and how you think, the ideas you entertain in the privacy of your own imagination, that is the true barometer of your spiritual character.

One of the key verses in the New Testament is Mark 7:20-23 , where Jesus said this, “That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man; for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.” Jesus said, “All these things come from within and defile the man.” He was answering people who had charged His disciples with eating with unwashed hands, and He was saying, you know, “It’s not what goes into you that defiles you, but what comes out of your heart.” You cannot entertain wicked thoughts without being utterly defiled by them. In fact, that is, is it not, the very principle our verse is teaching? “A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit,” Matthew 7:18 , “A contaminated well is unhealthy.” So, it’s vital to guard your heart and keep it from every kind of defilement.

Now, that’s the meaning of our text. That’s what it’s teaching. What I want to do in this hour is focus on the practical and doctrinal implications of this command that we’re given in this verse: “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life,” or, as another version has it, “Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” There are three clear spiritual and doctrinal ramifications of this verse that I want to highlight for you tonight. Number one is the duty of guarding the heart; second is the difficulty of guarding the heart; and third is the desirability of guarding the heart. We’ll look at these one at a time, so, if you’re taking notes, I’ll try to help you get the main points down.

First is the duty of guarding your heart. The duty of guarding your heart. This is on the face of it. Notice, this is an imperative; it’s a command. There’s a duty that’s clearly set forth in this verse and it’s essential that we embrace this duty and submit to the command. In fact, I would say that this is the chief practical duty of the Christian life as it pertains to us. You know, we’re taught by the first question in the Catechism that man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And that’s what God made us for to glorify Him and to enjoy Him and that’s a fitting statement of our duty with respect to God, but our first and primary duty with respect to ourselves, is the duty stated in this verse: “Keep your heart with all diligence.” As we’re going to see tonight, that is ultimately the only way you can glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Now, this is not an easy obligation and we’re going to talk about that when I get to the second point but the point here is that it, nonetheless, is an important duty. It’s not easy to keep our thoughts pure and holy, but our sinful thoughts are the first and most important sins we are called to crucify, mortify, put to death. We saw that a little bit this morning. Remember, Jesus taught that those sinful thoughts are the source and the fountain of all the evil that defiles us. That’s interesting, isn’t it? I mean, Scripture and Jesus here is explicitly teaching that you’re not defiled by sin that rubs off on you from the outside. Think of it. Jesus, perfectly sinless, came to this earth, dwelt among sinners as a man, and the sin that He lived in the midst of, none of it rubbed off on Him. Why? Because there was no sin coming from within to defile him. The truth is, our own sinful thoughts, what emanates from our own heart, that is the source of every problem we have. That’s what defiles us.

When the apostle Paul commands us to mortify the sin that’s in our members, his focus is not on external deeds I read you that verse this morning, Colossians 3:5 but what he does in Colossians 3:5 , when he says, “Mortify the sin that’s in your members,” he gives a long list of the kinds of sin that, basically, come out of the thought life. Sins that are hatched in an unholy heart; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, covetousness, evil concupiscence these are all sins that occur in the mind! They are sins of the passion and of the mind. So, the process of mortifying sin, as we saw this morning, involves getting control of the mind, the imagination, the passions, the heart. Paul is calling for internal purification when he says, “Mortify the sin that is in your members.” He’s not calling merely for the reformation of our external behavior you understand that, right? He’s not saying what your mother meant, when you were a child and she said, “Behave!” She meant, “Act nice.” Paul means, “Think nice.” That’s how sanctification works.

The focus on sanctification, in Scripture, is always about purifying the heart and renewing the mind. We’re transformed by the renewing of our mind. The outworking of our sanctification, naturally then, results in a change of behavior. But a change of behavior, without the renewal of the heart, is not sanctification at all. In fact, it’s a form of hypocrisy and I’ll have more to say about that as we go, but first, let me give you some practical steps for guarding your heart. How can we do this? What precisely does this verse require of us? “Keep thy heart with all diligence” what does that mean? Scripture gives us some clear guidelines for “keeping our heart” and I want to outline just the basics for you. So, you ought to write these down. If you’re taking notes, again, these are sub-points. I did this this morning, I rarely do this, I hate to confuse you with sub-points, but I’ve got a little list that you need to take down here.

Step one: give your heart to Christ . You cannot begin to put this principle into practice unless your heart is surrendered to the Lordship of Christ and you are devoted to Him in love. If you’re not a believer in Christ, that means your heart is not worth keeping! It’s a heart of stone; it’s cold, it’s dead, it’s spiritually lifeless. If you’re not a believer, your heart is corrupt and sinful and utterly impotent to produce any kind of righteousness. You need a wholesale heart renewal, a new heart. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “You need to be born again.” As Scripture describes it you can study this for yourself, in Ezekiel 36:0 but as Scripture describes the process of the new birth, regeneration, it’s all about a new heart, the implantation of a new heart. The Lord says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit I will put within you. I’ll take out the stony heart and put in a heart of flesh.” That is the promise. That is the biblical description of the new birth. That is what theologians refer to as regeneration.

But, it’s all about a supernatural work of God in the heart. Essentially, a spiritual heart transplant. It is the wholesale renewal of the heart and the will and the passions. It’s not something you can do for yourself. It involves, in effect, spiritual resurrection: life from the dead. Without it, Scripture says, your heart is utterly incapable of any righteousness whatsoever. That’s what Romans 8:7-8 means when it says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

There’re no exceptions to that rule, by the way. What it means is that without regeneration, without a new heart, what you have is a heart that is bereft of any kind of righteousness, incapable of obedience to God, devoid of any true love for Him, unable to do anything whatsoever to please Him. That’s really what theologians call the doctrine of total depravity. I didn’t make it up; it’s what the Bible teaches. If you don’t have a regenerate heart, your heart is not worth keeping, and it’s impossible for such a heart to produce any true righteousness. But Christ invites us to give Him our hearts.

Wisdom speaks in Proverbs 23:26 and says this, “My son, give me thine heart.” That’s the voice of wisdom and I believe that that is also the voice of Christ, who is personified throughout the Book of Proverbs as wisdom. You can’t truly give your heart to wisdom without devoting your heart to Christ. According to 1 Corinthians 1:30 , “Christ is made, unto us, wisdom.” So, if you want to keep your heart, step one is this: give it to Christ. Devote it to His wisdom. Devote it to love for Him. According to Ephesians 3:16-17 , the way to be “strengthened by might in the inner man” is to “have Christ dwell in your hearts by faith.” Give Him your heart. Embrace Him as the chief object of your love. Jesus Himself said, “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that love his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” If He is not first in your heart, then you have no hope of keeping your heart pure. It’s as simple as that.

Step two: crucify your mind . Mortify your evil thoughts. I already quoted Colossians 3:5 , “Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth…fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry,” but this is a recurring theme in the Apostle Paul’s writings, this idea of putting to death sin in your body, mortifying the sin. Romans 8:13 , “If you live after the flesh, you shall die; but if you, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.” What he’s saying is this: put your evil thoughts to death. Deal with them ruthlessly. Don’t allow them any breathing room. Choke the life out of them. Mortify them. Romans 13:14 , “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”

By the way, this is one of the marks of the true Christian. Galatians 5:24 says, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” We haven’t done it perfectly. It’s a process of crucifixion, and that’s a slow death, so those affections and lusts continually come back to plague us; but if you are truly a believer, then at some point and in some way, you have begun the process of crucifying these lusts and affections.

And Paul says continue the process. Carry it through to the end, because sinful thoughts are a fierce, deadly enemy that must be met with lethal force, choked out of existence, rooted up, exterminated, and utterly purged from our lives. That’s the only way to deal with sin in your life any sin. Understand what Jesus was saying when He said, “All that defiles you comes from your heart,” He’s saying that every sin that troubles you is hatched in your mind! If you can control your mind, if you can mortify that sin that’s in your mind, that is the pathway to sanctification. If you don’t do that, every wicked thought will destroy you, if you don’t destroy it. And you’ll never get control of your thought life if you’re not proactive, deliberate, ruthless in mortifying and putting to death the sin that’s in your heart.

Step three: put restraints on your heart that will keep you from entertaining iniquity in that private arena of your own mind. Put restraints on your heart you can shorten your version to just that put restraints on your heart. Get rid of evil influences. Don’t watch movies or read novels that fill your mind with wickedness. Have some self-control in what you expose yourself to; in biblical terms, “exercise yourself rather unto godliness.”

Look at the context of our verse now. Proverbs 4:0 you should have turned there Proverbs 4:20 go back to verse 20: “My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes, and keep them in the midst of thine heart, for they are life unto those that find them and health unto all their flesh.” And then our verse, “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” Verse 24, “Put away from thee a froward [or deceitful mouth], and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand or the left; remove thy foot from evil.” There’s lots of sound advice about how to guard your heart in that passage I just read. Look at it closely.

First of all, if you want to guard your heart, you have to guard your ears, verse 20, “Attend to my words; incline thine ear to my sayings.” Be careful what you fill your ears with. This verse suggests that the focus of your hearing ought to be the wisdom of God’s Word. Be attentive. Incline your ears to these sayings. I’m amazed at what some Christians fill their ears with. I could probably tell a lot about the state of your sanctification just by checking the presets on your car radio, right? I mean, what that tells me is what you listen to when you’re alone and can choose to listen for yourself. What do you tune into? What do you tune into? The shock jocks with their off-color humor and the angry ranting of certain drive time radio personalities? Do you gravitate to music that’s profane and full of iniquity? I always wonder why would a Christian ever want to fill his ears with profanity and lewdness, and how can a godly person derive enjoyment from those things?

Now, I’m not suggesting that all secular music or humor is evil, but I am saying, shouldn’t our listening be dominated by that which edifies? This passage seems to say so. Our ears ought to be inclined to the truth of the Word of God. If that’s not the focus and predominance of what you listen to when you’re alone, with time to think and meditate, then you’re probably not doing a very good job of guarding your heart.

Next: guard your eyes, verse 21: “Don’t let the truth depart from your eyes” and that’s also echoed in verse 25: “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” Keep your eyes where they ought to be or you won’t be able to keep your heart where it ought to be that’s a simple principle. Jesus said, in Matthew 6:22-23 , “The lamp of the body is the eye. If, therefore, your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness.” That’s a good reason not to watch some of the stuff we watch, isn’t it? Our culture constantly bombards us with images and entertainment deliberately designed to appeal to the lust of the eyes, and if you don’t know when to turn away and refuse to watch, you aren’t doing a very good job of guarding your heart.

And I’m not speaking only about that which is overtly evil. That’s a given. I shouldn’t even have to make that point. But much of what we watch is simply a waste of time! That is as detrimental to us, spiritually, as watching evil things, because it fills our hearts with vain thoughts. The Psalmist wrote in Psalms 119:37 , “Turn away mine eyes from looking at worthless things.” If you sit for hours watching TV even if you’re only watching the Fox News Channel or Home and Garden Network you’re probably not doing a very good job of guarding your heart.

Here’s another one: guard your conscience, verses 21 and 22 say this: “Keep these sayings in the midst of your heart, for they are life unto those that find them and health unto all their flesh.” When the sage here encourages us to guard our hearts, he is, in effect, urging us to keep a healthy and active conscience. He’s saying we should cultivate a mind and a conscience that are informed by the Word of God. In fact, I don’t need to say much about this; it’s self-evident. Don’t let the voice of God’s wisdom be silenced in your own heart by the hardening of your conscience.

There’s more, verse 24: guard your tongue, “Put away from you a deceitful mouth and put perverse lips far from you.” Proverbs 17:20 says, “He who has a perverse tongue falls into evil.” One of the very practical ways you can mortify sin in your heart is by consciously and carefully restraining its expression in your speech. James 3:2 says, “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body.” If you can control your tongue, you’ll be able to control your mind too.

Here’s another one: guard your feet, verses 26 and 27: “Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand or to the left; remove thy foot from evil.” In other words, stay away from places where temptation assaults you. That’s pretty much just straightforward, simple wisdom. Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” If you sincerely mean that, then don’t go places where you know you’re going to be tempted. It’s pointless to pray that prayer if you are willingly going to expose yourself to temptation.

Now, recently I said some of these things in a message I think in Grace Life and someone came to me afterwards and said, “Well, that’s not very balanced. Why don’t you warn about the dangers of legalism? You ought to do another message,” he said, “and explain why we shouldn’t be legalistic.” Well, I have preached on legalism before! I’ve actually preached on legalism twice from this pulpit and if you want to hear that, you can get the tape. But, let me just say that I don’t think legalism is the biggest temptation most of us face. If modern evangelicals have an imbalance, it’s in the other direction, in the direction of worldliness, not legalism. But, there’s nothing legalistic about what I’m telling you. I haven’t given you any lists or rules about specific things you can and cannot do. I haven’t gone beyond what Scripture says. I’ve only given you a list of principles. I’m telling you that you ought to avoid temptation. Again, this is just a basic principle of spiritual and biblical wisdom; it’s not a complex idea.

Matthew 26:41 , “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

1 Peter 5:8-9 , “Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” “Resist him,” Peter says, “steadfast in the faith.”

You’re in Proverbs 4:0 … Look down at verses 14 and 15, “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil.” Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it and pass on. Don’t “walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful,” and if that sounds legalistic to you, you’re probably having a hard time guarding your heart.

Two more things, and then I’ll move on to the next point. Keeping your heart also involves a watchful, cautious self-control over your emotions. Don’t let your emotions drive or control your mind, but vice versa. Emotions are good, but in their place, just like your arms are good, but they’re not for walking. Your nose is good, but it’s not very good for driving nails. In the same way, your emotions are good, but they’re not for thinking. Scripture condemns the person who thinks with his emotions. James 3:14-15 refers to that kind of thinking as “sensual wisdom”: wisdom driven by the senses, thinking that is driven by the emotions. James says this: “This wisdom descendeth not from above” this sensual wisdom “but is earthly, sensual, devilish.” He says it produces “bitter envying and strife in the heart.”

Listen to Richard Baxter, the great Puritan author. He said this: “Keep out” or cast out “all inordinate passions, for passions violently press the thoughts and forcibly carry them away. If anger or grief or pleasure be allowed in, they will command your thoughts.”

Another writer says it like this and I like this he says, “Emotions are like screaming kids. Until you calm them down, you can’t be heard. If you want to get rid of your bad thoughts, control your emotions.” That’s good advice.

But, finally and above all, the thing that sums all of this up: control your thoughts . This is the whole point, and this is the area where the virtue of self-control is most important. This is the one area where your battle for self-control will be won or lost: your thought life. If you willingly and deliberately allow yourself to indulge in evil thoughts or wicked fantasies, what this verse says is you’re filling the wellspring of your life with poison and nothing is more self-destructive! “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” We’re talking about spiritual warfare this morning. This is classic warfare issue, right?

I mean, we’ve got this reservoir up here that feeds water to most of the San Fernando Valley… And you realize, don’t you, that since the terrorist situation has become such a problem, that thing is guarded carefully, constantly! Because it’s a great danger if anyone would poison that reservoir. The Scripture is saying, “Your heart’s like that. Keep it pure. Out of it flow the springs of life.”

Now, let’s move on. That’s the first implication of our text: the duty of guarding the heart. So, doctrine number one that we want to draw from this text is this: it is your bound and duty to keep your heart. You need to do it carefully and diligently and conscientiously, and that’s a good place to make the transition to doctrine number two.

Doctrine number two is the difficulty of guarding the heart. Our text implies that keeping the heart is not an easy task. This is not something that comes naturally. “Keep thy heart,” he says, “with all diligence.” This is not something that comes easy for anybody. It requires diligence. It’s not something that you can do passively. It calls for effort, perseverance, persistence, constancy, and industry diligence. It’s a struggle. And that’s all an understatement, really.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”

Genesis 8:21 , God himself says, “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

According to Psalms 51:5 , we are “shapen in iniquity.”

Solomon said, in Ecclesiastes 9:3 , “The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live.”

We are all hopelessly, desperately, and completely wicked in and of ourselves. That is the state of every fallen human heart. Again, that’s the doctrine of total depravity. Romans 3:10 , “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous; no, not one.” Nobody escapes this verdict.

Now, remember that all the sin we struggle with emanates from our own hearts. Matthew 15:19-20 (this is a cross-reference to the one I read earlier), Jesus says, “For out the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies…These are the things which defile a man.” So, the heart is the source of our problem in the first place. We have to guard our heart, not only from evil outside influences, but, more importantly, from the evil that breeds right there within.

Proverbs 28:26 , “He that trusts his own heart is a fool.” Here’s a good lesson: you can never trust your own heart too little, and you can never trust God too much. We face perpetual threats to the purity of our hearts. We’ve already mentioned some. Vain thoughts, mindless, trivial matters that we give our attention to, the pleasures of sin entice us, the lure of the world, the wiles of the devil, the sinful tendencies of our own flesh all of those things appeal to the wickedness and corruption that lies in our hearts, and that wickedness that’s inside of us is ready to respond to any kind of catalyst. And you cannot cleanse your own heart. This is not a problem we can fix for ourselves.

Proverbs 20:9 , “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin’?” The implied answer is nobody can say that.

Job 14:4 , “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean one?” No one!

1 John 1:8 , “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

So, this is a huge problem. Our hearts are desperately wicked and we can’t change that, Scripture says, any more than the leopard can change his spots. It’s part of our nature. We can pretend that we’re basically good that’s what a lot of people do but that doesn’t change reality. The great Scottish Puritan, Andrew Grey, said this and I love this statement he said, “We conceive that if there were a window opened in each of our bosoms, through which each one of us that are here might behold one another’s hearts, we would become monsters and wonders to one another, and to ourselves likewise, and we might cry out, “Oh, where is the God of judgment that takes no vengeance on such deceitful hearts?” If our hearts, he says, were turned inside out, so to speak, and we saw the insides of our hearts, we would wonder at God’s patience. That’s true. I know that’s true because I’ve peeked in my own heart. Our hearts are breeding grounds for all kinds of evil. According to 1 John 1:10 , if you think you’re an exception to this rule, you are self-deceived. You’re calling God a liar, and His Word is not in you.

To quote Proverbs 28:26 one more time, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” That’s why it is no simple task to keep your heart pure. Remember that Adam had a heart that wasn’t even already defiled by sin, and he kept it pure only a very short time. The fall occurred before he and Eve had ever conceived a child. It must have been very soon after their creation. That shows the difficulty of keeping a pure heart. That also gives us some perspective on what kind of diligence is required for the keeping of our hearts. This is something we have to do constantly. If you keep your heart only part-time pure, that’s nothing but hypocrisy. It’s an abomination to God. If the only time you think about these things or the only time you ever strive to obey, even, is when you’re listening to a message on the subject or when you come to the Lord’s Table or when it’s otherwise convenient to examine yourself, then all you’re doing is practicing the religion of the Pharisees. You’re merely honing the skill of hypocrisy.

Face it, there are times when it’s fairly easy to guard our hearts. When we’re under affliction, when we’re under conviction, when we’re in church, or when we’re in public it’s much easier to keep our hearts pure and focused than when we’re alone, in private, or enjoying our leisure. And, frankly, that’s why trials that’s one major reason why trials and difficulties are good for us. That’s why, when God providentially sends us trials and afflictions, it’s sometimes an act of mercy on His part, because when circumstances force us to be dependent on the Lord, our hearts stay fixed on Him. But the real test of obedience in this matter is whether you keep your heart pure in private, when you’re alone, when things are going well, when you have opportunities to rest from all the cares of life your leisure time. That’s when it’s most vital to keep careful watch over your heart! Sadly, that is precisely where most of us fail so miserably.

What’s the solution? Well, you could devote yourself especially, in your leisure time, to the task of cultivating humility, repentance, holiness, and the fear of God. Give your private life to God. It’s relatively easy to be a Christian in public. It’s fairly simple to search your heart and examine your life if you do it only once a week or if you limit your self examination to those times when you come before the Lord’s Table, but if you do that, God despises your worship.

Listen to Isaiah 66:2-4 . The Lord says this, “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my Word.” And then it says this: “He that killeth an ox” and it’s talking here about sacrifices for sin “is as if he slew a man and he that sacrifices a lamb is as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an oblation as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burned incense as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways and their soul delighted in their abominations.” And the Lord says this: “I will also chose their delusions and bring their fears upon them because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear, but they did evil before mine eyes and chose that in which I delighted not.”

In other words, God’s saying, if you choose your own way, if your private life is devoted purely to personal pleasure, where you seek delight in what God deems abominable, then when you come to worship, your worship is unacceptable. It’s repulsive to God. Your sacrifice, He says, is no more valid than if you’d offered pig’s blood! Graphic language, isn’t it? But what its saying is that your supposed service to God if you’re a hypocrite your service to Him offends Him. You may think you’re sacrificing a lamb, but it’s no more acceptable to God than if you cut off a dog’s neck and offered that to him. It’s a repulsive picture, isn’t it? It’s summed up for us in Proverbs 15:8 , which says, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.”

So, what’s acceptable to God? Well, I just read it. Isaiah 66:2 , “Him that is of a poor and contrite spirit, and trembles at my Word.”

Psalms 51:17 says the same thing, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” Notice, it’s the offering of our hearts that is acceptable to God! And, by definition, you cannot do that on a part-time basis. If God is to have our hearts, He must have the whole heart. That’s a difficult duty, but think about it. That is the substance of the first and great commandment, Matthew 22:37 , “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy mind.”

So, we’ve seen the duty of guarding our hearts and the difficulty of guarding our hearts; here, quickly, is a third doctrine we can glean from this text: the desirability of guarding the heart. Look at the text again. “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” It’s sheer folly not to guard your heart, because it’s spiritual suicide! It’s unbelievably self-destructive. It’s a sure way to ruin your life. Poison the wellspring with evil? Don’t ever trivialize the sins you commit in the privacy of your own heart. Don’t think for a moment that you can entertain sin in your mind without any danger to your soul, because the sin you cultivate in your imagination directly assaults your soul. It assaults your conscience. It poisons your mind. When you engage in evil thoughts, you are pouring poison directly into the well that supplies all of your life and you will reap what you sow.

Cultivating sinful desires removes every barrier from the will that might otherwise keep you from doing the deed. If you imagine it, you will do it. The thought is the parent of the deed. If you foster a desire for sin, you will succumb when temptation presents itself; you won’t have any defense against it. Micah 2:1 says, “Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds.” He’s talking about people who lie in bed at night and imagine the evil things they might do, or derive enjoyment from fantasies about evil. And he says this: “When the morning is light, they practice it because it is in the power of their hand.” In other words, when the opportunity comes in real life, in the light of day if opportunity presents itself and you’ve imagined it and enjoyed and thought pleasantly of that evil imagination, you will do it…when the opportunity comes by.

Hosea says the same thing, but listen to the vivid imagery he uses. Hosea 7:6-7 , “For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto Me.” He’s comparing the mind to an oven where you bake the deeds that come out in your life, and he says, to stoke that oven with evil thoughts is to fan those flames and it will be destructive. To stoke the mind with evil thoughts is to fan the flames of evil and, if you do that, you won’t have any will to resist when temptation comes.

Proverbs 25:28 says, “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.” So, guard your heart! It’s the wellspring of your life. If you defile the fountain, you destroy yourself.

Galatians 6:7 , “God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that also shall he reap.” That, in and of itself, is a good reason why we ought to guard our hearts. It’s the only way to safeguard our own well-being.

But there’s something even more serious at stake here than your earthly reputation and happiness. When you give your heart to evil thoughts, by entertaining evil in your hearts you incur the wrath of God. Psalms 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”

Job said something similar. He knew something about keeping his heart pure, didn’t he? And he also experienced God’s grace in the midst of his trials. But he said this: “What is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained? When God takes away his soul, will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?” Did you realize that it’s the heart and not merely the behavior that God sees and judges?

In 1 Chronicles 29:17 , David prays this: “I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness.”

Jeremiah 17:10 , God Himself says this: “I, the Lord, search the heart” I test the mind! “even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

Do you understand that? God is saying…not that He looks at what we do and then judges us accordingly, but that He looks at our hearts and judges us according to that. Revelation 2:23 is an echo of that: “I am He who searches the minds and the hearts and I will give to each one of you according to your works.” God sees every thought of your heart, and He knows your heart perfectly.

Psalms 44:20-21 , “If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out own hands to a foreign god, would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.”

Jeremiah 20:12 says, “God sees the mind and the heart.”

1 Chronicles 28:9 says, “The Lord searches all hearts and understands all the imaginations of all of our thoughts.”

In Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication for the Temple, he said this (1 Kings 8:39 ): “Thou even, Thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men.”

Hebrews 4:13 says, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and open unto God’s eyes.”

Scripture is full of this truth. God sees our hearts. If you would blush to have the secret thoughts of your heart made manifest for everyone in this room to see, you ought to tremble at the reality that God already sees those thoughts and knows them altogether. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Hebrews 12:14 adds this: “Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.” So, this is a vitally important matter. It underscores the desirability of guarding our hearts. An impure heart can ruin us for life and all eternity. There’s no advantage, frankly, to poisoning the wellspring of your heart.

So, where do we go for a pure heart? I’ve already spoken of the utter impossibility of cleansing your own heart. What do we do with defiled hearts? Well, first and most obviously, we have to repent of the impurity . David wrote, in Psalms 51:17 , “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, Thou wilt not despise.” He’s talking there about repentance.

Second, while we can’t cleanse our own hearts, God Himself can cleanse us . That’s why David prayed also in Psalms 51:19 , “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

Again, if you’re an unbeliever if you have never trusted Christ for salvation what you need is a new heart. I’ve already quoted Ezekiel 36:25-26 , where God describes the work of regeneration. Actually, I referred to it and quoted a snippet of it. Let me quote it again. God says this: “I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean; from all your filthiness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. A new heart also I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Acts 15:9 says, “God purifies our hearts by faith.” Malachi 3:2 says this about Christ: “He’s like a refiner’s fire and like a fuller’s soap.” He can do that work of cleansing that we so desperately need and cannot do for ourselves.

If you’re a Christian, part of the work of your sanctification is to go to Him regularly for that kind of forgiveness and cleansing. If we “confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God promises forgiveness from our sins and He imparts to us his own Spirit. That is what enables us to know His mind, to equip us to think righteous thoughts, to empower us to obey his commandments. And although we still don’t do that perfectly because of the weakness of our flesh and the imperfections of our fallenness Christ, Scripture says, clothes us in the garments of his perfect righteousness so that we can stand before God without fear of condemnation. That’s the gospel message, and that is the greatest incentive I know for filling our hearts and minds with thoughts of Christ and His glory.

Let’s close in prayer.

Lord, our hearts are humbled by the duty that is set forth before us in this verse. Guard our hearts with all diligence. We confess that we have not done that as we should; we don’t do that as we should. Lord, we seek Your cleansing and thank You for the promise of that cleansing, and we pray with David, the psalmist, that You would create in us and constantly recreate in us pure and clean hearts for the glory of Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.