"Keep Thy Heart With All Diligence" — Proverbs 4:23
I. THIS HEART IS WHAT PAUL CALLS "THE INWARD MAN." (2 Cor. 4:16.)
A. It is that with which we reason and think. (Matt. 9:4; Mark 2:6-8.)
B. It is that which loves. (Matt. 22:37.)
C. With the heart man believeth. (Rom. 10:9, 10.)
D. The heart is the source of all purposes and intents. (Heb. 4:12, 13; 2 Cor. 9:7.)
E. Acceptable obedience must be from the heart. (Rom. 6:17, 18.) This heart is not the blood pump in the human breast.
II. OF THE HUMAN HEART, JEREMIAH SAYS: "THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS, AND DESPERATELY WICKED; WHO CAN KNOW IT? I THE LORD SEARCH THE HEART, I TRY THE REINS, EVEN TO GIVE EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS, AND ACCORDING TO THE FRUIT OF HIS DOINGS."
A. The unconverted heart's imaginations of thoughts are evil continually. (Gen. 6.)
B. Therefore, the heart must be purified by faith to please God (Acts 15:9; Heb. 11:5, 6); must believe with all the heart. (Acts 8:37.)
C. The heart or soul ("inward man"), must be purified by obeying the truth (1 Peter 1:22-25); and when purified, is cleansed from the things that are enumerated 1 Peter 2:1.
D. God expects the "newborn babes" to make mistakes, to stumble in trying to learn to "walk in the light," but He doesn't expect them to be willingly guilty of the things in 1 Peter 2:1 or Romans 14:10-13.
E. The converted heart will strive to follow 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, etc.
III. "KEEP THY HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE FOR OUT OF IT ARE THE ISSUES OF LIFE." (Our lives and characters are exactly like the heart within us!)
A. As the kind of tree determines the kind of fruit; so the kind of heart determines the kind of words and lives. (Matt. 12:33-37.)
B. But words sometimes are the exact opposite of the heart. (Matt. 15:7-9; Prov. 23:7; Mark 12:38-40.)
C. The Devil puts wicked thoughts and purposes in our hearts, unless we "keep" our hearts "with all diligence." (John 13:2.) He filled the heart of Ananias to lie to the Holy Spirit. (Acts 5:3.)
Watch out for him; he may appear as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:13-15.)
D. "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart; and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; these are the things which defile a man . . . ." (Matt. 15;18-20.)
E. Through the dirty windows of a defiled, unbelieving conscience and mind, all things and all people look as unclean as the wretched inside of the heart; Titus 1:15 — like looking at a white washing through a dirty window!
IV. BUT ONLY GOD, AND THE PERSON HIMSELF, KNOW WHAT IS IN THE HEART. (2 Cor. 2:11.)
A. Therefore, we should study and heed 2 Cor. 13:5.
B. "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified; but He that judgeth me is the Lord. Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart; and then shall each man have his praise from God." (1 Cor. 4:3-5.)
1. It is a great sin to pass judgment on the thoughts and hearts of others!
2. It is wrong, human guessing to vote on candidates for baptism, etc.
Christian Friend, Do You Pray As David Did In Psalms 19:12-14?
Sinner Friend, are you ready to OBEY FROM THE HEART? (Rom. 6:17, 18.)