May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Holy Word. Now let's turn to the book of
the Proverbs, chapter 4, and we'll read the last five verses. Verses 23 to 27. So the Proverbs,
chapter 4, and reading verses 23 to 27. Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a
froward 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, nor
to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. It really is quite wonderful
to think how the Spirit of God directed King Solomon to write
so much detail in the Proverbs. We know that not all the Proverbs,
of course, were written by him, but most of them were. And we're
thankful that God gave him that wisdom. We know that God promised
to give him that wisdom when he was given the option to choose
whatever he wanted to. And he was given grace to ask
that he might be given wisdom. And that, of course, was given
to him abundantly in his life and he was able to write down
these Proverbs and we read a little of his poetry but he wrote very
much poetry which is not recorded. So he was a man greatly gifted
under the favour of God. And so Proverbs, I suppose, is
not preached from as much as it should be. There are many
gracious words, gracious directions in the book of the Proverbs and
I suppose if we were more thorough in our reading and consideration
our lives might be quite a bit different to what they are if
we followed the words of the Proverbs. Well this evening we'll
just speak from these last five verses in this fourth chapter.
They are linked together and therefore they're not separated
as such. And we commence with the heart. The heart. And, well, we're told
to keep our heart. And how are we told to keep it?
With diligence. Why? For out of it are the issues
of life. You may say, well, how are we
to keep our heart? Well, we are to endeavour to
direct our thoughts and our words to things which are good and
righteous and honourable, and not to involve ourselves in things
which are contrary, are the opposite. And yet, you see, our nature
as such, very easily, runs after those things which are not good. And yet here we are told to keep
thy heart and be diligent. We're often not diligent in the
things that we do. We do things perhaps in a careless
way, not diligent to realize the relevance of many things,
to search out whether they are right or whether they are wrong. we just sometimes accept things
accept what people say and we follow the comment well there's
no wrong in that and that'll be all right and we think well
that's good I can involve myself in that and we don't realize
that by involving us in things which do not profit they affect
our soul and is that which is needed therefore to remember
we are directed to keep our heart with all diligence. It's hard
to be diligent sometimes in the things of life. Many things,
many pressures are crowned in and we think, well, we needn't
really be too diligent about that. But here the Word of God
tells us very carefully and very powerfully that we are indeed
to keep, therefore, our heart. Our heart really is the centre
of our affections, it's really our mind as well, and therefore
so much emanates from our very heart. There are many, many words
in the Word of God directing us with regard to our heart,
and one of the Perhaps we might think earlier statements occurs
in Jeremiah and it's in Jeremiah 17 and verse 9 and this is what
we're told about the heart. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Again, that's
something we just need to ponder over with regard to our heart. It's deceitful. It deceives us. The devil was deceitful. The devil was deceitful to Eve
in the Garden of Eden. And he hasn't changed and he's
still deceitful today. And therefore he comes and tempts
us. He puts deceitful things into
our heart. so we have this statement the
heart is it's not doubtful statement it's a fact the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked we don't like to think
of that perhaps that our heart is desperately wicked But again,
it's good sometimes just to meditate upon the truth of God's word
and to think, well, what have I been thinking today? Has it
all been good thoughts? Have I had any wrong thoughts,
any evil thoughts, any sinful thoughts? And I'm sure if we're
honest, we will find that our hearts are wandered. this way
and that way and so we can understand this statement our heart is deceitful
above all things then he uses this strong word desperately
wicked something which is desperate well it is something which needs
to be dealt with desperately wicked who can know it and then
Jeremiah goes on in the next verse he tells us I the Lord
search the heart I try the reins which means really our innermost
being even to give every man according to his ways and according
to the fruit of his doings so let us realize that The devil
on the one hand is deceitful, trying to deceive us, trying
to turn our heart from good things to bad things, and then to realise
on the other hand we have a God who is searching us to see whether
we're going to listen to the devil, whether we're going to
obey what he says and be coerced into wrong thoughts, perhaps
wrong words. perhaps wrong actions. And so we have words of advice
and words to direct us and words of comfort. And we should therefore
be concerned that we take on board these great and important
truths. And then also, Solomon says, He tells us about six things
that he hates. It's interesting to realize these
six things that the Lord hate, even seven are an abomination
unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that deviseth
wicked imaginations. feet that be swift in running
to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that
soweth discord among brethren. Well that's a list isn't it?
Reasonably comprehensive to direct us and to keep us as Solomon
says there's six things which are an abomination unto him and
this one is at heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. Wicked imaginations are things,
of course, which we just imagine in our heart. Things in reality
don't come to pass. But our evil heart goes after
such things and panders to the temptation of Satan. how easily
we're taken in and how easily we have to realize that our heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and so
we are told to keep our heart what does that mean? well it
means I believe that when temptations come into our mind which they
will and be sure all of us will have temptations We're not to
dwell on them, we're to turn away from them. We're to thrust
them away and pray the Lord will take them away because we know
they won't benefit us and we know all they will do is to produce
sin. And so it's important that we
seek for grace to turn away from them. Keep thy heart with all
diligence for out of it are the issues of life. You know the
Lord Jesus when he was on the earth he spoke about this. There
was that wonderful sermon on the mount that he preached. He
preached some great and solemn truths in that. And in the sixth
chapter we read about some of these things and the Lord Jesus tells us in these
things what we are to do and indeed what we are not to do. So in Matthew 6 verse 21 we are
told this, for where your treasure is there will your heart be also. That means things that we think
about a lot and like to think about and to realize therefore
if we think about them a lot it's because they are valuable
to our minds they may not be good they're probably not and
yet we're told where your treasure is there will your heart be also
and then naturally of course we can have things which we can
value which we're pleased to possess and we may treasure them
we may treasure things that we've been given things perhaps that
may be valuable and we think about them too much perhaps for
where your treasure is there will your heart be also sometimes
we just need to stop and think that all those things which you
and I possess God has given to us We don't possess things because
of our own acumen, because of being clever, because of being
able. It's because of God's favor and
it's because of God's goodness. So if the Lord has given us things,
the scripture has a phrase, we are to hold them with a light
hand. That means we're not to grasp
them and not willing to let them go. A light hand means that if
they were pulled away, we wouldn't hold on to them. That's something
you and I need to just ponder. And remember, this emanates from
the heart. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. Well, you see, only God knows
what we think. I don't know what you think.
You're all sat here this evening, I've no idea what you're thinking
about. But God knows. God knows if you are thinking
about good things or if you're thinking about evil things. Well that's in the 6th of Matthew
and in an earlier chapter what we call the Beatitudes. You may
be familiar with the opening verses in Matthew 5 which are
those things which the Lord speaks about as those who are blessed. And it comes down to verse eight. And the Lord says, blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see God. That doesn't mean deceitful
in heart. It doesn't mean evil. It doesn't
mean having wrong thoughts. It means, blessed are the pure
in heart. and the promise, for they shall
see God. I'm sure if we're honest, we'll
realise that we're not usually pure in heart. No, we're unpure. We're sinful and we're evil.
We need God to come and possess our hearts and indeed to possess
our mind. And the Hebrews tells us in the
fourth chapter and the twelfth verse again about our heart. This is what it says. For the
word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even through dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart." You and I can't hide anything from
God. God knows everything about us.
He is indeed a discerner. of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. You see, really, I've just mentioned
a few texts there just to support this great statement. Keep thy
heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. The issues of life, those things
which are indeed relevant and those things which are indeed
important to us. What a blessing it is. if those
issues which come out from our heart are good, good thoughts,
that we try to do good, we intend to do good, and we come and we
confess to our God our failures. It's always good to come and
to confess our faults, confess our failures, not just pass through
them, I think, well, that's all right. I didn't do very well
today. We should confess our faults.
For out of them are the issues of life. Well, may we understand
a little then about our heart. It's a very important element.
It's a very important part of us. And yet often we ignore it
and carry on in our own way. And the Lord gives us these statements,
these truths, to test the reality of our religion. As to whether
our religion means anything to us, or whether we're happy to
just go along with the flow and do those things which fall into
our place, not God's place, and we carry on in that way. Well,
you and I, my friends, have to stand before God one day, and
let's be very clear of that, when all the things that we thought,
all the things that we've said, all the things that we've done,
will be revealed. And we'll never then be able
to come and say, well, so-and-so tempted me and so-and-so did
this. We shall stand before a holy God. Well, here we have this
statement in, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of
it are the issues of life." Then he goes on to speaking, and it's
good to know this, you see, there is this diligence, and we are
to put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips are
put far from thee. How easy it is for us to have
a Froben mouth. That means a false mouth, a mouth
that isn't truthful. No, a mouth that speaks those
things which are not right. You know, sometimes it's very
easy to fall into the trap of trying to impress people. You know, maybe an account that
we're telling, something that's happened in our life perhaps,
something that we've seen and observed, and we may perhaps
tell the story. But it's very easy to make it
sound a bit more impressive. So we can just embellish it a
little bit and make it sound more grand and better than it
actually is. Well, what is that? It's a fro-wood
mouth. And we're to put it away from
us. We're to be very honest in the things that we speak. Very
honest. Because people can go away otherwise
with a false impression of the things that we may have spoken.
They weren't true. They were false. And in essence,
underlying they were true, but we've said that which was not
true. And so we find that we are to
put away a froward mouth, turn away from such things which are
contrary to the truth. And don't forget, the devil was
a liar. He's the one we have to be aware
of. He came and told lies to Eve
by really, if you like, causing her to doubt the truth that God
had told her. She remembered what God had said.
God had told her she mustn't eat of the fruit of that tree,
and she told the devil. But the devil told her she needn't
worry, she needn't bother about that. See, he is the same today. That's what he does. He uses
his skill so that we come into this category of listening to
him and we are to put away a frail-wood mouth that agrees with wrong
things and turn away from them. And perverse lips put far from
thee. Perverse lips. speaking again things which are
not good we may know what is good we may know what is right
and yet you see we may not speak the truth no it's a solemn thing
to be like that and to be found with perverse lips and therefore
we read this proverb and perverse lips put far from thee don't
give it any room don't give it any room put it far away so we
have the heart and we have the mouth and then he goes on to
our eyes our eyes well he says here let thine eyes look right
on and let thine eyelids look straight before thee how much
evil can flow into our mind through our eyes perhaps more than ever
in a day and age in which we live there's so much evil around
so many pictures and posters of things which are not good
and our eyes in a flash they take in the information goes
into our brain and my friends let me tell you this it goes
in very fast It doesn't go out. It doesn't go out. Now I remember
in my life, years ago when I was in work and I went into a, to
do a job and the person there, he showed me something really
evil and really sinful. And I didn't appreciate what
he was showing me until I saw it. And to this day, I still
remember it vividly. I didn't want to. Keep our eyes. Keep our eyes. Let our eyes look
right on. Not deviate, not turn aside.
You see, the devil wants you and me to see wrong things. And you and I can see wrong things.
And my friends, those things stick in your mind. They stay
there. And the devil churns them up
and brings them back to our remembrance. We have to pray the Lord will
take them away. Sometimes the Lord doesn't see
fit to take them away. We have to learn a long and hard
and very painful lesson. So here we have a word of real
warning to let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids
look straight before you. That really means Only to look
at good things and not to be tempted to look upon bad things. It's very easy to find yourself
looking at wrong things. And you will regret it. I can
tell you that. You will regret it. Once your
eyes have seen something, they absorb it. Sticks in your mind. Can't get rid of it. The power
of sin. Oh, the devil's gone away laughing.
Yes, you've been captive. You've been caught by his cunningness.
My friends, never think that you're a match for Satan. Never
think you're strong enough to resist the devil. You need the
Holy Spirit to help you, to strengthen you, to turn away. and keep your
eyes looking straight ahead, away from anything that is wrong,
anything that is evil. And so Solomon goes on then and
tells us, ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways
be established. And that means what it says.
If there's a path before you, if there's something that you're
being told to follow, and something you've been told to indulge in,
just stop. Just stop. Think about it. Ponder it. Is it good? Or is it bad? I suppose a very
good test is to ask yourself, can you pray for God's blessing
on such a path or such a situation? Can you ask God to bless you? That he might encourage you in
such a thing? Ponder the path of thy feet.
Yes, think about it. The devil won't want you to.
He'll bring something before you, and it might seem attractive,
and you might think you can indulge in it, be involved in it, but
just stop. The devil wants you to hasten
on. He wants you to grasp evil things,
or just stop and think and pray. Well, my friends, it's good to
remember we have such glorious advice as we have here. Ponder the path of thy feet. And that, of course, can refer
to many things in our life. not only perhaps wrong things,
perhaps things which may appear to be good. We can think about
our life at school and our life at college and when we go to
work and we need to ponder those opportunities which are put before
us, whether they are good, whether they are right, whether they
will be profitable for our soul, whether they will draw us nearer
to God, or whether they would take us farther away. You see
how important it is that we ponder these things. Ponder then the
path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. And of course our ways need to
be established in the truth. We have the truth in the word
of God. It's very comprehensive. It's
there from Genesis to Revelation. And we sometimes fail and sometimes
falter because we don't know the truth. Because we're ignorant
of the Word of God. Whereas the Word of God is complete
and encompasses everything and all the advice that you and I
will need. And yet you see sometimes we're not established. We're
not established. It's good if we are established.
in the truth of God it's good that we're established in the
doctrine of God it's a great blessing and it's important that
you and I desire to be established in God's truth so that we do
know what is right and what is wrong again the devil will say
we don't need to worry about that it's quite obvious you can
carry on and do this and that my friends it's good to be established
in the things of God, and you and I are established in the
things of God as we study the Word of God. Never waste time. Always take every opportunity
to read and to study the Word of God so that you and I may
be established in the truth, established in the right way,
and not then found ourselves floundering in a false way. I wish we hadn't done this. I wish we hadn't done that. And
it was purely because we were not established in the truth
of God. Ponder the path of thy feet and
let all thy ways be established. And then he says, finally, turn
not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from
evil. The Lord sets before his people
a straight way. It may have difficulties, it
may have trials and temptations, but God's way is a straight way. And you and I need to be in that
straight way, not to turn away, especially when we think it's
getting a bit narrow, and perhaps it's getting a little bit difficult.
And we think, well, surely I needn't quite follow the way. Surely
I can just deviate a bit. Well, the Word of God tells us
here, not, turn not to the right hand, nor to the left. Don't
listen to Satan's temptations. Don't turn right. Don't turn
left. Follow the straight way. The
straight way is a narrow way. It's not an easy way. It's a
narrow way. But it's a way that leads to
eternal life. And that's why you and I should
be concerned that we are truly a follower. And therefore he
goes on to finally say, remove thy foot from evil. Yes, if you're
in a wrong path, get out of it. Get out of it. Might not be easy. Sometimes it may be costly. Maybe costly to what people think
of you. It may be costly financially.
But nonetheless, if it's not the right way, remove. Remove from it. Come out from
it. Turn away from it and follow
the narrow way. The important thing is that you
and I are right for eternity. It's not important if you and
I are right for the world, because the world perishes. Our natural
life perishes, but our soul lives forever. What a blessing it is
to be found right with God and to therefore hear His word. Remove thy foot from evil. Well we've had here tonight just
a few fairly simple statements. My friends they are relevant.
to your life and my life today. And don't forget, the devil's
very keen for you not to hear and to obey the word of God.
That's his great aim. He won't give up. He'll pester
you and pester you. But my friends, what a blessing
it is if God gives you grace. If God gives you grace, he'll
give you strength to do his will. So you're able to come and say,
nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And you have a
great and glorious example in the Lord Jesus Christ, who, when
in the Garden of Gethsemane, that Solomon's sacred place,
where he was tempted to the devil, and he pleaded to God, to his
father, If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, let this
situation pass from me. He didn't leave it there. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thine be done. And my friends, it's very relevant
to us today. You and I may come and hear those
words. a blessed example. And perhaps
we have what might appear to be an impossible and most difficult
and painful situation before us. And we may come and say,
if it be possible, let this situation pass from me. And the Lord may
graciously do so. But if not, to carry on and say,
nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And if we do,
God's will. We have the answer of a good
conscience. And also we have the evidence that we are one
of His children. And we can look forward to believing.
He's dealing with us, therefore, as sons and daughters of the
Most High. And that He's gone to prepare
a place for us. And as He says, I go to prepare a place for you.
If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. and receive
you unto myself, for where I am, there ye may be also, and that
for eternity. What a blessing. Let us never
lose sight of eternity. Let us never lose sight of the
relevance of the Word of God directing us in a right way. And come back to those words
in in the 107th Psalm, He, Almighty God, led them forth by the right
way that they might go to a city of habitation. May that truly
be our prayer and our concern, that God will be gracious to
us and strengthen us with might in our inner man to follow His
way and to do His will so that our souls may be eternally blessed. Amen.