David said, let me sing that
hymn, More Than Life to Me. David said, Thy lovingkindness. Well, let me read some of it
here. He says, I want to see Thy power
and Thy glory as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary. Because
Thy lovingkindness is better than life. That's what he said. The Gospel, the Word, better
than anything in this life. Proverbs 4, these verses you read with me,
we look at verses 23 and following, speaks of the heart, the mouth,
the eyes, and the feet. These words spoke to me. In reading
through Proverbs I said, I came to this chapter and they spoke
to me Monday morning or Sunday, whatever. I couldn't get them
off my mind. I like that. It's not always
that way, is it, when you read God's Word. You want that to
happen. You want the Word to stay with
you. And it spoke to my heart. And
that's what we want the Word to do, speak to our heart. And that's what I want. He speaks
of the heart and the mouth, the eyes and the ears. That's the
whole being in it. whole being. It needs to be kept. It needs
to be guarded and watched. But it begins with the ear. This whole chapter begins with
the ear. In fact, all of Proverbs begins
with the ear. That's where life begins. The incorruptible seed, which
is life-giving, this is where it goes in. Now, if it just stays
here, if it goes down here, and it's
planted in the heart, and the heart are the issues of life,
but it goes in the ear. Look at verse 1, chapter 4, here,
you children, hear me, verse 10, here, O my son, receive my
sayings. The years of thy life shall be
many. Verse 20. My son, attend to my words. Be in attendance. Come. Sit. You can't hear if you're
not here. And you know it's not the same. Mixer, don't. Attend. Forsake not the assembly, the
attendance. Like I said, I just read What
David said, I saw your glory in the sanctuary. Incline thine
ear unto my sayings. Look at chapter 5, verse 7. Hear me now. Verse 7. Hear me now. Oh you children, depart not,
don't leave. Stay here, the words of my mouth.
My dad used to say that to me. Listen to me now. Are you listening
to me? This is our Father speaking.
Isaiah 55, He said, Hear and your soul will live. So it begins
in the ear, hearing. Faith, which is life, cometh
by hearing. And where does hearing come from?
The Word of God. So that's where it begins. The
Word, the Gospel must speak to our hearts, not just our head.
Our heart must pierce the heart. As we saw Sunday, it has to give
you a new heart. It has to give you a new heart,
which is a broken heart, a contrite heart, a heart of flesh that
is tender and receives it. And that heart begins to beat
in affection toward God and the things of God. And then he says
in verse 23, "...keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of
it are the issues of life." The heart throughout the word is
understanding. And it involves your whole life
experience. But the heart is the seat of
your understanding. You can see something and say,
well, that's true, that's true. Then when you experience it and
it touches your heart, Now I understand with my understanding. I always
quote this, 1 John 5, verse 20. I love it. When the Son of God
has come and given us an understanding, He Himself speaks to you through
His Word. And He just doesn't instruct
your head, but He touches your heart. You say, oh, now I understand. Understand. So it's the understanding,
the heart, it's the affection. Affection. Set your affection. We're going to look at that in
Colossians 3. Set your affection. Have you ever said this? I've
got my heart set on that. We've all done it. I've got my
mind set on my heart. And set your affection on things
above. And this only applies to God's
people. In Proverbs he said, My son, give me thine heart. That only applies to God's people.
He said, My son. Everybody's not God's child.
Okay? Religion tells people all the
time, give your heart to Jesus. You're dead. You can't. He's
got to come give you a new heart. That's the heart, He says, don't
give your heart to everything or anybody else. Give it to Me. Set it on Me, like a marriage.
When you're married, these two become one, and your heart, your
affections set on that person. Okay? That's what that means.
An old preacher used to say, what's Jesus want with your old
black filthy heart? Nothing. Now the heart of the
issues of life, life, health. Look at verse 22. It said, these
words of mine are life unto those that find them health. Not only
to your heart, but to your flesh. Good for you. Okay, so verse
23. Let's deal with the heart. Keep
thy heart, guard, protect, watch over, hedge about thy heart with
all diligence or out of it are the issues of life. Look at John
15 with me. Go to John 15. Now you and I
know, God's people know, all of God's people know, that we
don't give ourselves life. God does. And we don't keep ourselves
alive. God does. God made this new heart
first start beating, and He keeps it beating. This is not what
He's saying, keep yourself alive. In Him we live. and move. He is our life. Because He lives,
we live. We're in Him, and He in us. But here's what our Lord said.
John 15. John 15. Look at verse 4. Abide
in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except
you abide in me. That is, these two are so vitally
united together. They live. The branch lives because
the vine lives. The fruit lives. That's Christ.
He said, I'm the vine, you're the branches. You would have
no life except as you're united and joined to me. Why does he
tell us to abide in him? If we're in him, why does he
tell us to do what we already are? Because it means stay close. That's what he's saying. Don't
go anywhere else. Abide with Him. Walk with Him.
Live on Him. Live with Him. Talk to Him. Be
with Him. Your life is in Him, dependent
on Him. Look to Him. Abide in Him. What does it mean to abide? A
husband that's out here and out there and out here and in Salem
at home, he's not abiding with his wife, is he? He just didn't marry in name
only, in word and paper. That's not marriage. An abiding
relationship, you live together, you walk, talk, eat together,
you live with each other. And he's telling us. Abide. Abide fast and fast. Remember
when Boaz told, what Boaz told Ruth to do? You abide fast right
here by my maidens. Don't go anywhere else. You don't
need to. You don't need anybody or anything
else right here at my table with my maidens. You can be here.
Look at verse 5. I am the vine, you're the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do Nothing. Is that clear? So, He's not telling us to keep
yourself alive. He's not saying that you've got
to keep your own heart beating. Keep your heart, your affection,
everything fixed on Jesus Christ. Abide. Live with. He's talking to living, breathing,
loving, walking, talking sons. That's what he's talking about.
Abide in me. Live on me. Live with me. Walk with me. Abide. Stay close. Follow. Listen. Call on me. Because without me,
you can do nothing. If you get far from me, you'll
feel like you're cut off. You'll feel like you're dead.
You'll feel like a branch is cast out to spit for nothing
but to burn you, won't you? So you're safer the closer you
stay to him. Keep your heart. from one end
to the other. Does that make sense? It's the best I can do with it. Keep your heart. Go to Colossians 3. Let's go
ahead and go over there before I forget it. Colossians 3. Christ
is our life. I like what that plumber said
to somebody one time. Somebody asked this plumber,
he's a believer, and I knew the man. I said, what do you do for
a living? He said, well, I'm a plumber
to meet expenses, but Christ is my life. Plumbing is not my living. That's not my life. These things
are to meet expenses. Christ is my life. Is that so?
Verse chapter 3 of Colossians says, If ye then be risen with
Christ. That means quickened. Seek those
things which are above, where Christ sits. Notice who you're
seeking. David said, When you said, Seek
my face, I said, Thy face will I seek. It's him. You're not
after heaven. You're after Him. Your husband. Where Christ sits on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things above. What things?
Christ. You're dead. Crucified with Christ. Buried
but risen with Him. But you're dead. You're good
as dead. Reckon it to be so. And your life is hid. Your true
life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, our life, shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory, if He is your life. So go back to our text, Proverbs
4. It says keep your heart, keep.
Here are some things to keep doing that keep your heart. Keep hearing the word of the
Lord. Keep yourselves unto the Gospel.
Can you do that? Well, by God's grace you can.
Without Him you can do nothing, but with Him all things. He'll
give you the grace. He said, flesh lusts against
the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh. He says you cannot
do the things that you would, but He giveth more grace. Ask
Him. Just ask Him. Lord, my flesh, help me. in present hell. Keep hearing the Word of the
Lord. Look at verse 20. My son, attend to my words, incline
thine ear unto my saying. Keep reading the Word. Keep reading.
And brothers and sisters, every time I read the Word of God,
I don't get something out of it every time I read it. Do you? Would you be honest with me and
tell me that most of the time you read, you don't get much
out of it? Would you be honest and tell
me that? Now I'm more desperate than you. I've got to feed you. So I sit
down, and I can't tell you how many times I sit down and just
read and read and read. Lord, I'm not getting it back.
I need something. It's not just for me, but for
them. How many times have I told you,
just keep reading, just keep reading until something speaks
to you. Look at verse 20. 21. Let not
them not depart from thine eyes, he said. Give me your ear. You come here, and there's a
full five-course meal, John, five smooth stones prepared for
you. All you got to do is become hungry,
and I'm going to feed you. All you want to eat, open your
mouth wide, and I'll fill it up with dessert. Let me tell you something before
I forget it. And you people, you listen well. I know where
I'd rather preach. And quite often standing back
there, you'll come and you'll bring up something from the Word
that I wish I'd said. It's kind of like dessert, you
know. You know, Sunday's message of
creating us a new heart. Deborah came back there and was
talking. We were all talking. And Deborah said, you know, I
thought of Psalm 51 where David said, created me a clean heart.
Ezekiel said, I'll be at you. You inquire me for this. I said, Deborah, I wish I said
that. I wish I had quoted that. It just went perfectly. Don't tell me she's reading. She's thinking. She's pondering.
So are you. I listened to my wife. Melanie
and John, all of you. You're attentive. You're reading.
Verse 21, keep them, his words, in your eyes and in the midst
of your hearts. Let these sayings sink down deep
into the recess. Write them on not tables of stone,
but fleshly tables of hearts. Their life. Their life. Moses
said his dying words in Deuteronomy. He said, these aren't vain words.
This is your life. Words of life. So, that's the
heart. That's the heart. Keep reading.
Keep reading. Let me tell you this before we
go on to the mouth. Brother Gabe and I were walking
right after I had that heart procedure. And we went down somewhere
together and we were walking back to the car, which was a
couple blocks away. We had to walk up a little incline.
It wasn't too steep, it wasn't too long. I'd stop. And he even got worried about
me. I didn't walk far at all. He said, you know, I didn't realize
the heart. The heart affects everything,
doesn't it? I said, those are true words.
They affect everything. If your heart's not right, it
affects everything. Your speech, what you're looking
at, how you walk, how you live. Heart. Out of the abundance of the heart,
what happens? Look at our next word. Put away
from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips. Put far from thee
the mouth and the lips. Listen to this. My, my, what
a word this is. From Proverbs 13. Listen. He
that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life. He that keepeth his lips keepeth
his soul from many troubles. Wow. That's how dangerous this
is. You know these verses. James
3. I'll just read it to you. He talks about a ship can be
controlled by a little rudder. And a horse, a big powerful animal
that could kill you, is controlled by a little bit in its mouth.
But he said, the tongue, oh boy, how great a matter a little
fire cannot. It's a fire. The tongue's a fire.
It's a world of iniquity. It defiles the whole body. It
sets on fire the course of nature. Let me light people up. He said,
every kind of beast and everything's tame. But the tongue, no man
can tame. It's an unruly evil. It's full
of deadly poison. No man can tame it, but I know
who can. Now what does it say when the
Word of God comes, the Law of God, and whatsoever things the
Law sayeth, saith them that under the Law that every mouth may
be one? That's what the Word of God does. We need it, don't we? We need
it. And now, more than ever, this
world is set on fire. The tongues,
the lips. You know Romans talks about their
throat is an open sepulcher. Tongues use deceit, the poison
of asps under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness, blasphemers. On and on it goes. Now more than ever, let us keep our lips and keep
our mouths. If we speak, let it be in love. If we speak, let it be with kindness.
If we speak, let it be seasoned with salt. Gracious speak, seasoned
with salt. If we must answer, let it be
a soft one. If we must. If we speak, let it be edified
to the earth with grace. You know good and well that's
how our Lord's paying us. He never uttered any idle words.
No foolish jesting. Things that are not convenient
don't do anybody any good. Just foolishness. Wisdom. Edified. Ah, boy. Keep your mouth. Keep
your mouth. And I love what old brother Shank
said. Jack Shank's a big old tall Texan. He talked very slowly. And one time he said, take every
opportunity to shut up. That's a good advice, isn't it?
Have the abundance of the heart. I'm out speaking. So keep your
heart. And that'll keep your mouth from uttering rash things. Keep your heart from being overcome. Our Lord talked about serpentine
and drunkenness and this and that and the other. Keep your
heart. That'll make your mouth open
wide and start uttering perverse things. Don't do it. Keep your mouth. Let your speech
be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you might know
how you ought to answer every man that you speak to. And as I said, this world is
now more than ever, let the wise study the answer and let their
answer be with grace edified. Look at the next thing, Proverbs.
And let us speak of Christ, huh? That's who men need to hear of,
need to hear the truth. or if you're saying it. Put away from this forward mouth
and perverse lips. Verse 25, let thine eyes look
right on. Let thine eyelids look straight
before thee. The heart affects the mouth. The heart affects the eyes. Whatever your heart is set on,
that's what you're going to be looking at. Whatever your affection, as I
said, that's what you're going to be looking at and looking
for and seeking at. It is. Let thine eyes look straight
on. Hebrews 11. Turn over there real quickly. Hebrews 11. You're
going to be amazed how short this message will be tonight.
I'm going to shorten it up. Hebrews 11. Look at this. We've
looked at Hebrews 11 more than any passage in God's Word. I
love it. And it's good for us. These are people just like us,
living in a world just like ours, in a present evil world. There's
a great cloud of witnesses, brethren, who, like John Bunyan's pilgrim,
were all fleeing from the city of destruction and had their
eyes on the celestial city, the heavenly place. And this is exactly
what our Lord is saying. Don't look at this. Don't look
at that. The things that are seen are temporal. Look with
the eye of faith toward that heavenly city where
our unseen God and our unseen Christ. Let your eye be fixed
on the prize, which is Christ. That's what he's saying. Hebrews
11. I love this. I love this beginning with going
down here to verse 24. By faith in Moses, when he has
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
what happened to Moses? He saw the Lord up the burning
bush, didn't he? The Lord spoke to him out of
the burning bush, which is Christ crucified. And he came down from
that mountain. He's a new man, a new heart.
He's got his affections set. Things that are higher and things
that are nobler. He was in Egypt. Now he didn't want to be there
anymore. He wants out of there. He chose rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for
a season. That's all it lasts. It's for
a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ
or for Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt and
searchable riches of Christ. He had respect on the recompense
of the reward. God said, I'm your reward. By
faith, verse 27, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
king. And he endured, he continued, as seeing Him who is invisible. That's who He was looking at,
looking to. That's who He was looking to.
And chapter 12 begins this way, seeing we are encompassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses. Verse 2, looking unto Jesus. Looking to Him. Great cloud of
witnesses, let's lay aside the weight All these things that
weigh us down, encumber us, the sin which does so easily beset
us, that's not one particular thing, it's everything. Unbelief
and everything to follow. And let us run with patience,
this race set forth, looking unto Jesus, look to Him. Let
your eyes, He said, look right on, looking unto Him. The author and finished paraphrase.
Licked by an eye, eyelids look straight before thee. Straight
gate in the narrow way. Which is right. Look to Him. Look at Him. Like those people. I want to walk like He walked.
If you look at Him, you love Him, you admire Him, and you
want to be just like Him. I want to walk like He walked.
He had perfect peace. I want to walk like Him. Look
like Him. I want to look like Him. Don't you? I want to sound
like Him. I want to talk like Him. Don't
you? How does that happen? Look to Him. Walk with Him. The more you're with Him, the
closer you're with Him, the more you're resembling Him. You know that? He's joy. He's peace. He's goodness. He's
holiness. You side up, you abide with Him,
and you'll be more like Him. That's right. You're with the
world, who are you going to be like? Like the world. So, look to Him. Look at Him. Look like Him. Look
for Him. Wait for Him. We're waiting on
Him. We're waiting on Him to come. Why do we come here? We're
waiting on Him to come meet with us. Come meet with us. I want
to speak to him. And as I've said so many times, I believe
he's going to come while God's people are meeting together.
I want to be there. So back to our text, and I close.
Verse 26. Ponder the path of thy feet.
Let all thy ways be established. Ponder the path of thy feet.
Let all thy ways be established. Where am I going? What course am I taking? There
was a time I was walking according to the course of this world.
I ran with the excess of riot with all those... Where am I
going? I'm not going with them anymore.
By God's grace, no. I'm not walking that course anymore.
I was in that way. I don't like that way. I don't
want to go down that way. It ends in destruction. I'm leaving,
by God's grace, the city of destruction and head to the celestial city. Lord, don't let me turn back.
Ponder where you're headed, where you're going, the prize. Press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ. Press, press, press. Where am I going? What course
am I on? Who am I following? Who am I
listening to? Turn away your ears from the
world and listen to our Lord. I'm telling you, stop your ears
to what the world is saying, or they'll turn away your heart
and your feet from following the Lord. Once you let your eyes
look straight on, you've inclined your ear unto Him, set your affection
on things above, follow the Lord, and you'll not stumble. And the
way will be straight. What am I doing? Who am I walking
with? Who am I walking with? I was a young believer. I loved
the Word of God. And now I know maybe He's preparing
me to be a preacher. I don't know. There are many
verses I love. He let me remember them. One of them was Psalm 119, 133.
Order my steps according to Thy Word, and let no iniquity have dominion
over me. I'll never forget reading that
first time thinking, that's what I want. That's what I want. Blessed is the man
who walketh not. Listen to this. Blessed are the
undefiled in the way he walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed
are those that keep his testimony, that seek him with a whole heart. Old David said that my ways were
directed to keep that statue. And he says in closing, turn
not to the right. Let your ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand or the left. Remove thy foot from
evil. What's that? This word. This
present evil word. Let me close with this article
by my pastor. It's great. It's been in our
bullets many times. The race. He wrote this on the
race. The race. Let us run the race. who are so foolish to allow anything
in their life to cause them to renounce their faith in Christ
and neglect their duty and privileges. This is our duty to worship our
God. It's our reasonable service. We're His servants. It's our
duty to worship the Lord. It's our duty to bring our children
to worship the Lord. It's our duty to exhort one another
to come to worship. Isn't it? And privileges. This is a privilege. It's an
honor. It's a blessing. It's good. To renounce and neglect these
duties and privileges as children of God is like Esau. You'll be
like Esau someday. You'll weep bitter tears when
it's beyond your power to recover what you've lost. Guard against apostasy. That means leaving. Fleshly appetites. Guard against them. Now take
away your heart. Proverbs, wine and whoredom taketh
away the heart. Guard against neglecting worship. Guard against neglecting worship
and daily communion with the Lord. Don't let anything or anyone
keep you from seeking first your Lord. You'll stumble. You'll stumble during the day.
Guard against unwholesome companions in worldly social context. Guard
against covetousness, it's idolatry. Guard against materialism, lest
you come at the very last to mourn bitterly your foolishness
and your wickedness. You'll mourn. This is what he
said, guard is what keep your heart made, guard. We've entered
a race. Prize goes to those who finish. There will be difficult times,
heavy trials. Along the way, there'll be tempting
pastures of pleasure which appeal to the flesh. Don't stop. Press on. We must go on. We must proceed. We may stumble,
we may fall, but looking to Christ, we'll continue. I have a responsibility
to my Lord, to the gospel of His grace. Neither the smiles
nor the frowns of the world will cause me to surrender what I
believe and who I love. I have a responsibility to the
church, my brothers, my family, those whose lives are intertwined
with mine. By His grace, I must not allow
anything to cause me to quit this race and not go on. And he went on to say, 50 years
of pastoring. He pastored 60 some. 50 years of pastoring and preaching,
I've seen many runners get in the race, and only those who
finish are crowned with glory. And they laid aside the weights
and the sins which hindered them. They didn't look back to Egypt.
They didn't look around at others. but only forward to Christ. He
was their goal. They didn't always maintain the
same pace. Sometimes the track is smooth.
Sometimes it's rocky or muddy. They're always moving in one
direction toward Christ. Isn't that good? David said,
I'll be satisfied. I'll wait for this man. Keep
your heart, your mouth shut. Alright, stand with me.