Take your Bibles again, turn
to me, Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4, looking at
verse 23 this evening. The title of the message is,
The Issues of the Heart. The issues of the heart. The scripture says, Keep thy
heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. The heart. The heart. What is the heart? We are not talking about that
muscle in our body that pumps blood. When the Scripture speaks
of the heart, it's not talking about the physical vessel. But
it is talking about the root or the core of a man's being. When a heart is being mentioned,
The Scriptures are speaking in terms of the very essence of
the man, the core of the man, the heart. The heart is the core. It is the source out of which
all thoughts, imaginations, and actions come. The heart is the
being of the man. It is the nature of the man. Jesus said, where a man's treasure
is, there will his heart be also. See, this is the only way we
can see what's in the heart is by where the man is, where the
man is going, what the man is doing. We can only tell by these
outward things. But these outward things are
only because of the inward dwelling or the inward being of the man. If a man loves this world, it's
because that's where his heart, his heart, the core of his being,
is set toward the world. What is our heart? Some say that
the heart is the seat of the emotions or the seat of the affections
of a man, the deepest love of his soul. The question is, where or what
is our heart, is simply answered by the state or spiritual condition
of a man's soul. The heart is a spiritual condition
or state of a man's soul in the eyes of a holy and just God. How do we know what we desire
of our hearts? Can we tell by our emotions? Is that how you can tell by what's
in a man's heart is by his emotions? Can you tell by his sincerity?
How sincere he might be? Or just because what is right,
we know what's right, and he's trying to convince us of what's
right. No, the heart is told out by
the evidence of the whole man's life. Not by certain aspects
of a man's life. I'll give you an illustration
of this. I know a man. I know a man who
claims to be a believer in Christ for many years. He has claimed
to profess faith in Jesus Christ. And you talk to him about the
Scripture, he'll know everything that you know. He is a staunch
Calvinist. But if you were to look at his
life, you would see no evidences of affection or love for Christ. You will see no affection for
the church of God. You will see no affection for
the brethren of God. You will see no affection for
the gospel of Jesus Christ. These things are indifferent
to him. The only thing he is concerned
about is his emotion and how he can try to convince you that
he is saved. But yet he spends most of his
days with ungodly men doing ungodly things. and still professes faith
in Christ. What's his heart? How then would
we judge the heart? The affairs of the heart are
only, the heart is the core and the actions are what tell us
what's in the heart. And it's not just one or two.
If you were to look at some of the saints at one or two particular
times in their life, David, if you would have caught him just
the once, And he committed adultery with Beersheba at that time and
murdered Uriah. If you were to just have that
portion of that man's life, then you would say that man's wicked.
But we don't have just that, do we? We've got the whole man's
life. And he is a man after God's own heart. See, friends, it's not enough
for a man to assent to the truth of God. It's not enough for a
man to acknowledge that God is. or that God exists. It's not
enough even for a man to acknowledge the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. The devils have this
knowledge. The devils have this knowledge.
You remember that demoniac from Gadara? He knew more than his
disciples at that time. He ran up there and he said,
What have we to do with thee, thou son of God? What have we
got to do with thee? Art thou come to judge us before
the time? See, they didn't know about judgment.
They knew that this was the son of God and what he had come to
do. They had great knowledge. The devils believe. But friends,
they believe and at least they tremble. Therefore, the heart The affections,
the being, the core of the soul is the heart and out of it flow
the issues of life or the pattern of a man's life. That's what
the heart is and that's what comes out. Now, what is this
issue of our heart? What is the issue of our heart,
regardless of what we're thinking about anyone else, regardless
About what we think of other man's heart. The important thing
is about your heart. What is the issue of your heart?
What is the core of your being? What do you treasure the most? What is the issue of our heart
now, the scripture? The Lord Jesus Christ uses the
illustration of fruit. Very simple. Everyone understands
a tree, a seed, a root, a tree and fruit. Go to Matthew chapter
12. Matthew chapter 12. Verse 33. Verse 33 says, either make the
tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt
and his fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by his
fruit. Oh, you generation of vipers,
how can you, being evil, speak good things. For out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure
of the heart bringeth forth good things. And an evil man out of
the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you
that every idle word that a man shall speak They shall give an
account thereof in the day of judgment, for by thy words thou
shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
Fruit. You see, our Lord, he gives us
only two types of fruit, good and bad. And you notice that
the tree and the fruit go together. You can't have a good tree with
bad fruit. And you can't have a bad tree
with good fruit. They both are the same. The same is true of a man's heart.
Unless the heart is good, the fruit will not be good. The evidence,
the works will not be good. If the tree is corrupt, then
the works will be corrupt. It's very plain and simple. The heart is the seed and root
of a man's nature. And either your heart is corrupt
or your heart is good. We have this frivolous thought
in our society that, yes, we do bad things. We're not really
that good. Nobody's perfect. But you know
what? We do some good things. No. That's not what Christ said.
He said, either make the tree good and the fruit will be good.
Otherwise, the tree is bad and the fruit is bad. There's no
mixture here. Your heart is either desperately
wicked or it is perfectly righteous. There's no middle ground in this. Therefore, the good seed will
only bring forth a good root. And a good root will bring forth
a good tree. And a good tree will bring forth
good fruit. A bad seed. A bad seed will bring
forth a bad tree. And a bad tree will bring forth
bad fruit. And it will happen every time.
Every time. The seed or the core, the heart
of every son of Adam. We must understand that this
is the beginning of all salvation, is to understand our need. You see, the heart of man is
not basically good and does bad things. The heart of man is completely
and absolutely corrupt from the seed to the tree to the fruit. It's all corrupt, full of sin. Think of this, from the moment
the seed of the man conceives in the woman, from that very
moment, that child is born of corrupt seed, the seed of Adam. The seed of the man is born corrupt. David said, in sin did my mother
conceive me. Why is that? Were they sinning
when they were conceiving? No, that's not what he's saying.
He's saying, when the seed of man conceived me, when the seed
of man entered in, sin entered into me the moment I was created. And as the child is born and
grows up, the heart is sinful and desperately wicked, and it
only grows worse as the children get older. If this is not evidence by teenagers,
I don't know what is. I don't know what is. There's
that sweet and precious child. You hold him in your arms. Oh, my child. Oh, how precious. Two and three, they draw pictures
for you, you put on the refrigerator. Oh, it's so wonderful. And they
hug you and they love you. And then there's a point where
they just think they know everything. Wait a second, that's exactly
what I did. That's what I did. And you know what? That's what
you did. That's what you did. And that's
what my son will do. It's what my daughter will do.
It's what they'll do. Their heart is evil. It's not good. It's evil. And it only gets worse
as they grow. Born with an evil heart of unbelief. And we all are by nature the
children of wrath, even as others. What does that mean, the children
of wrath? Is that talking about the wrath of God? No, that's
talking about our hatred of God. We were children of wrath, haters
of God. Why? Why is it that we were born
in this? That we were sinners? How is
it that we could hate God? Oh no, when I was a kid, I prayed
all those prayers. Surely I loved God then. No,
you didn't. You've always hated God. Because
you were born corrupt. Your heart was corrupt. And therefore,
all the things that issue out of the heart is corrupt. full of sin. Sin is the desire of the natural
man's heart. And the core of his soul is evil
continually. You remember what the Lord said
before He sent the flood. He said, it repented the Lord
that He made man because of the very thoughts of the imagination
of his heart. The thought of the imagination.
That wasn't even the action. This was even the fault. Every
fault of his imagination was evil continually without stopping. And so the Lord destroyed the
earth and there was only eight souls left. And what did the
Lord say after Noah had offered up the offering? God says, I
won't destroy the world again. Why? Because man is still corrupt.
He's still corrupt. There's only eight of them, but
they're still corrupt from their youth up. They're still corrupt
from their birth. Continually evil. This is all that men can issue.
This is all the desire of a man's heart is to sin. That's it. To sin. This is all that can issue from
a heart because man's heart is deceptive. I know that what you do for me,
I can say that what you've done for me is good. And I know there are things that
I have done for you that you might say are good. But see,
we're not the judge, are we? I can't see into your heart.
I can't judge the thoughts and intents and motives of your heart
as to why you did anything for me. But I know this, that in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing." Why? Because the nature of man is
corrupt. And all it can produce is corrupt.
And yet, men go around thinking they've done some good. Why would
they think that? Well, because the heart is deceitful
and desperately wicked above all things who can know it. If you're deceived, You're not
ever going to know you're deceived. If you're deceived, you're deceived. And if you know you're deceived,
then you're not deceived, are you? You have to be deceived
and not know it. The heart is wicked. How wicked? I don't know. I hadn't reached
the bottom of that, have you? I imagine that I would end up
killing myself if I knew how wicked I really was. I imagine
it would be the end of me. The heart is deceitful. Therefore,
the fruit of a man's labor, all the issues from a heart, no matter
how religious it might be, no matter how good it may seem,
it is coming from a corrupt heart, a corrupt nature. And all the goodness that we
would merit, be deserving of nothing but hell. Only a fool would trust in his
own goodness or actions or his religious deeds. How do you, how do we suppose
that God would accept our works when our own conscience condemns
I don't even accept my words. How should I suppose God, who
is holy, would accept my words? This matter of the heart is the
source of all the issues of life, the affections, the thoughts,
and the will. It affects the whole man. The writers, I love this, they
summed up a whole man. in those three things. The heart,
or the affections, the thoughts, and the will. That makes up the
whole man. And you see, the heart affects
every one of these. If the heart is corrupt, the
thoughts are corrupt. If the heart is corrupt, the
thoughts are corrupt, the actions are corrupt. The will is corrupt. A corrupt heart issues a corrupt
mind and an evil mind An evil imagination and an evil imagination
brings forth evil actions. In Matthew, chapter 15. Matthew, chapter 15. Jesus said this. In verse 16, Are you also without
understanding? Do you not yet understand that
whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly,
and is cast out in the draught. But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile a
man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man. But to eat with unwashed hands
defiles not a man. You see, religion is always trying
to affect the heart by the outward actions. They're always saying,
you do this and it changes the heart. You do this and it changes
the will. You do this and it changes your
relationship with God. The religious world always works
from the outside in. But I'll tell you what, religion
in is dung out. That's what it is. Just like
food, when you put food in, it goes in the belly and it goes
out. It's the same as religion. It's about as worthless as crap.
That's it. It's worthless. Why? The heart
is evil. Evil. Man's heart is evil. God says
the ox knows his owner and the ass knows His master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my
people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord.
They have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. They are
gone away backward. Why should you be stricken any
more? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. and the
whole heart is faint. This is the condition of our
natural heart. This is the condition of all
human nature. Man is a rebel and his whole
mind and whole heart and whole will are corrupt. Therefore, it is of necessity that we receive a new heart. I'm not talking about patching
up the old one. The old heart is far beyond patching
up. There's no way to fix it. No
man is going to fix the inner core of his being by doing actions,
by doing things, by being educated. That's not going to fix the problem.
The problem is the old heart has to be done away with and
a new heart has to be created. And this is only the work of
God. God can only create. You must. being born again. That's what Christ is talking
about. You must have a new heart. A new heart. We cannot by our sincerity or
our best efforts or by our determination make our works acceptable no
matter how religious they seem. Isaiah said, as the Lord asked
this question, Isaiah said, what purpose is all the multitude
of your sacrifices? What good is that? He said, I'm
sick of your sacrifices. God said, I'm so full up with
your sacrifices. Makes me want to vomit. Wait
a second, didn't God tell them to sacrifice? Yes, God told them
to sacrifice. The problem is they didn't have
a heart to sacrifice. Their sacrifices were corrupted
because they didn't have faith. Their sacrifices were corrupted
because their heart had no affection, had no love for Christ, had no
love for the gospel. They were not accepted. And friends, unless our hearts,
unless we've been given a new heart, God will not accept us. We must have a new heart. Well, how is this heart made
good? How is the heart made good? Jesus
said, you make the tree good, the fruit will be good. How is it that we can have a
new heart or a new nature? Well, this comes only by the
sovereign grace of Almighty God. And He gives this heart to whomsoever
He will. Men must be given a new heart. You can't earn it. You can't
merit it. Because there was no goodness
in our heart to begin with, there's no merit there. We must be given
a heart by grace. And we can only see that this
heart was given by God according to election. According to election. Isaiah also says in his first
chapter, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small
remnant, we had been like Sodom and Gomorrah. If God had not
chosen a people and left a remnant, if God had not purposed to save
a remnant, there would have been no heart change. There would
have been no one saved, not one. And this is the beginning of
all salvation. Except the Lord had a remnant,
we would have been as a sodomites. Do you realize that we are not
as evil as we can be? I hope you realize that. Do you
realize that when you look at someone, you say, well, man,
how in the world could that person do that? Why is it that you haven't
done that? The only reason we've not done
that is because God kept us. from doing that. Otherwise, we'd
have been right there with them, no matter what it was. But I praise God that He does
have a remnant. I'm thankful for that. There'd
be no message. There'd be no reason for us to
be here if God had not had a remnant. And you who believe on Christ,
you're the remnant. You're the remnant. And this is the The root of our
salvation is in the election of God that he has promised to
give his children a new heart by a covenant promise. Go over to Ezekiel, chapter 36. Ezekiel, chapter 36, verse 22. God says, therefore, say unto
the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do this, I do
not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's
sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen whither ye
went. And I will sanctify my great
name, which was profaned among the heathen which you have profaned
in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am
the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in
you before their eyes." How will he be sanctified in us? He says,
for I will take you from among the heathen. and gather you out
of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then
will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from
all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse
you. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh,
and I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in
My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them. And
you shall dwell in the land that I gave you to your fathers, and
you shall be My people, and I will be your God." A new heart. God says, I'll take out the stony
heart, that old heart that has no affection. Does anybody coodle
up next to a stone? Anybody have a stone in their
bed and they say, oh, this is so comfortable. This is so...
It just thrills my heart when I hug onto this stone. No, because
the stone doesn't hug back. The stone gives no affection.
It's cold. It's dead. And that's our heart. It's like those tablets that
the law was written on. Stone. Cold. Indifferent. God says, I'm going
to take that heart out of you. And I'm going to give you a new
heart. A heart of flesh. A heart that has affection. A heart that has faith in Christ. Do you have that heart? Where
is your heart What have you set your affections on? From the core of your being,
what is the aim or the path of your feet? Where are you going? Because wherever you go, that's
the treasure of your heart. That's where your heart is. You
see, people don't come to worship. I know where their heart is.
It's not here. Not here. Somewhere else. Now they can
tell me with all of the rosy words they want to. But I know
this, you'll be where you want to be. I'll be where I want to be. And you know I'm not talking
about these exceptions. You guys got stuck in traffic.
There's no way you could have made it. You didn't have a plane.
You couldn't have flown here. But your heart was here. That's
the important thing. And I'm not talking about looking
at someone else. Look at your own heart. Where
do you want to be? What do you want to hear? I want
to hear of Christ. I want to hear of blood. I want
to hear of righteousness, sanctification, redemption, the wisdom of God
that's found only in the Savior, Jesus Christ, my Lord, my King
and my friend. I love him. I love him. That's not natural. That's not
natural. That's something God gives. It's
something God creates. It is a heart of affection and
love. And our thoughts and will are
turned by our heart to Christ. Scripture says, with the heart,
man believeth unto righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. Do you see it's not backwards?
It's not by the confession of the mouth. The heart is made.
No, it's from a new heart that we confess. You must have a new
heart. You must have new affections.
This is an act of God's sovereign will. It is an act of His own
promise for His own glory. And praise God, He has taken
that old heart out and dashed it to pieces. His Son bore that
on the cross. bore my old heart, my heart of
sin, and God crushed it on the cross. Now, I tell you what, it weighs
me down, this old man that is still wicked. And if you think
you're without sin now, you've deceived yourself. You've deceived
yourself. We still have sin in this body.
We still have this old man But I'll tell you, he no longer rules
my thoughts, my emotions, and my affections, and my will. The
new man does. The new heart rules. And I'll
tell you, they hate each other. Nobody hates me more than me. I hate this old man. And because we have this old
man. Friends, we must keep our hearts with all care and diligence. Keep our hearts. How do we keep our hearts? Well, friends, to keep our hearts,
we should put away the forward mouth and perverse lips. Put
it away. How many times do you want to
say something, but you know, I mean, your heart is screaming
on the inside. No, don't say that. Just put it away. Put it away. Let us keep our eyes right on.
Right on what? Right on Christ. You keep your
eyes on Christ. is how we keep our hearts. Can our hearts go astray? Well, our affections can. You
remember the church of Ephesus. They were all right in doctrine.
They had the doctrine down pat. They hated the right people.
They didn't like those Nicolaitans which the Lord hated. But He
said, one thing I've got against you, you've left your first love. Put away the things of the world
and keep your heart focused on one thing, Christ. Because nothing
else matters. Nothing else matters, not to
me. That's my number one concern,
faith in Christ alone. Labor to enter into rest, and
I do. I do. I want to cast off this
old man at every opportunity. And this keeps my heart at peace.
I have peace so that nothing around me should affect this
heart of peace. Too concerned about the world,
friends, and it'll affect our hearts. I pray that God would bless this.
I pray that God would give you, if you don't have a new heart,
I pray that God give you one. Even now, that you would believe,
that you would trust in Christ. It's altogether different to
have a new heart, isn't it? And praise God, one day this
old flesh will fall off in the ground, and I'll truly be free
to be like I want to be. I want to be righteous. One day
I will. One day I won't have one sin
weighing me down, not one evil thought. What a glorious and
perfect day that'll be. Let's stand when we dismiss in
prayer.