Proverbs chapter 4. All the words
of this proverb are wonderful and vital, give life, peace,
health. But verse 23 caught my attention
reading this the other day. It really caught my attention. Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life. Keep. Keep means to
guard, means to protect, it means to watch over. Something you
intend to keep, you zealously and carefully watch over it,
don't you? The Lord often says, watch, doesn't
He? Unto prayer. Your heart. Out of it are the issues of life.
The heart, that's the affection. That's the desires. That's the
real man. That's the inner man. That's
your love. That's who or what you love.
That's your character. That's your character or lack
of it. You have a bad one or a good one. Out of the heart
are the issues of life. Listen to some of the scriptures.
There are thousands of scriptures concerning the heart. But listen
to this, out of the heart are the issues of life. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. True faith is from the heart.
It's not the head, it's from the heart. As a man thinketh
in his heart, so is he. Out of the heart are the issues
of life. Where your treasure is, our Lord said, That's where
your heart is. What you really treasure. Who?
Listen to this. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. What's really in the heart will
come down to the mouth. This is where the issues of life.
Listen to this. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart. The Lord said, listen to this,
God's looking on the heart. So out of the heart are the issues
of life. Now these words, you notice He
said, My son, our children. This is the Heavenly Father talking
to His children. This is not written to the world.
This is not written to unbelievers. They can't receive it anyway.
This is to those whom the Lord said in Ezekiel 36, a new heart. I will give you a new spirit
I will put within you. I'll take away that stony heart,
that obstinate heart, and I'll give you a heart of flesh." This
is to those. This is to God's people. He says,
keep thy heart with all diligence, with everything you've got. Talk
about it. With all care, diligence. You've
been diligent about something, haven't you? That means you've
given it your all, your effort, your watchfulness, your care.
Give all diligence. He says that over and over in
the Scriptures, doesn't he? Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. Give diligence. Don't... Don't... Give this your all. Looking diligently
lest any man fall or fail of the grace of God. This is it. This is life. All right? Now, he says to us, keep thy
heart with all diligence. First of all, look at Proverbs
23. Proverbs 23. How do we keep our
heart? How? How do we keep our heart
from idols, from covetousness, from the world? How? Look at Proverbs 23. This is
where you start, okay? Proverbs 23 verse 26, My son, give me nine hearts. Unless the Lord keeps us, we
won't be kept. Right? Unless the Lord keeps us, we
won't be kept. We are kept by the power of God. You surely didn't think I was
going to say something contrary to that, did you? When it's all
said and done, we don't keep ourselves at all. No, sir. We are kept by the power of God.
And so keeping the heart is first and always submitting thyself, committing thyself, Casting all
your care upon Him. He cares for you. Here's my heart,
Lord. You're going to have to keep
it. We just sang that, didn't we? Take my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Keep it. Give it. He says, give
it to me. Now, aren't many false religions
say this to everybody, don't they? To unregenerate people,
don't they? They quote this, give your heart
to Jesus. You can't do that unless you're
a child of God. He's already given a child of
God a new heart, and what he's saying is, commit thy heart,
submit thyself, roll thy way. You know that psalm, that proverb,
all thy care, your heart, your affection, Lord, you know. David
said this, all my desire is before you. Oh Lord, take my heart and set
it on things of metal. Take my heart. Keep my heart.
Lord, here I am. Would you please keep me? Keep
my heart. Because without Him, we can do nothing. Nothing. Without Him, we can do nothing.
I love Martin Luther's hymn. I quote it all the time. Did
we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our
side. The man of God's own choosing. My son, give me thine heart. You can't keep it. Give it to
me. I can't. So keep calling. And
this is what we do. We call on the Lord. We come
to the Lord. We cry unto the Lord. Lord, take my heart. Keep me
from unbelief. Like that man said, Lord, I believe,
help my unbelief. Lord, keep me from covetousness.
Lord, keep me from this world. Keep me from the deceitfulness
of sin. Keep me from the deceitfulness
of riches. And the worst thing of all, keep
me from myself. Here's my heart. Here's my heart. Now look at this in our text.
If the heart is kept, out of it are the issues of life. And
these things follow. If the heart is kept, verse 24,
put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put
far from thee. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. If the heart is kept, the mouth
will be too. See that? If the heart is kept,
the mouth will be too. It will be kept from harsh words,
anger, wrath, and bitterness. Offensive if the heart is kept. You know, the heart must be broken. The only good heart is a contrite
heart. The only good heart is a broken
heart. The only good heart is a humble heart, a proud heart,
an abomination of the Lord. But a humble heart, the Lord
will hear that person. And a humble heart is one who
loathes themselves and esteems others. And so, Lord, humble
me. Break my heart. Don't let me
be proud in heart. Because out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. A humble heart, there'll be no
self-righteousness, there'll be no boasting, there'll be no
pride. Oh my! A humble heart, there'll
be no words of criticism, anger, wrath. A humble heart will hear
the Word in gratitude, and great thankfulness, a humble heart
like a little child. Our Lord said that. You know,
little children are humble, aren't they, for the most part? He said,
except you receive the Word as a little child, a humble heart
will receive the simplest message with great gratitude and great
thankfulness. A humble heart. Here's my heart,
Lord. A heart kept in love. will be
kept from words of anger and wrath and bitterness. Words will
come out gracious. Look at the next thing, verse
24. No, 25, I'm sorry. Let thine eyes look right on.
If the heart's kept, the eyes will be kept. You see how important? Out of the heart are the issues
of life. If the heart is kept, Set on things above, the eyes
won't be so prone to wander. The eyes won't be so full of
lust with it. Like Job, and so many said, Lord,
why should I turn away my eye? David said, Lord, turn away my
eyes from beholding vanity. Let your eyes look straight before
thee. Our Lord said, if your eye be
single with the heart, it starts in the heart. Verse 26, ponder
the path of thy feet. If the heart is kept, the feet,
the walk. See, out of the heart are the
issues of life. The walk will be established.
All thy ways will be established. It begins with the heart. A bad
heart, a bad mouth, a bad look, a bad countenance,
a bad walk. A good heart. Now you won't turn,
verse 27 says, turn not to the right or to the left, right hand
or to the left, remove thy foot from evil, out of the heart of
the issues of life. Our Lord said, straight as a
gate, look straight on. Look straight on. So He says,
give me thine heart. You can't keep it. Give it to
me. I can. It's certain we're kept by the
power of God unto Him that is able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before His throne. That's what Jude
wrote, didn't he? Aren't you thankful for that?
We're kept by the power of God. Who is the power of God? Christ
is the power of God. He said, those that thou hast
given me I have kept and none is lost. He keeps His sheep. He that keepeth Israel shall
not slumber nor sleep. He's our keeper. The Lord is
our keeper. Alright? But now listen to it. Listen to it. This is a positive command. This is a positive injunction. This is a positive word of exhortation. Keep the heart. You know, I started where I should
with Him keeping us. Christ is the power of God. We're
kept from falling by Him, by the power of God. What else is
called the power of God? The Gospel. The Word, you're
looking at. It's called the Word of His power. And you really can't separate
the written word from the incarnate word, can you? But there is a
written word, it is His Word. How does Christ keep us? How
does He keep us? Through His Word. By speaking
to us. How does He keep us? Our feet in the right path, our
eyes to His Word. This is His power. So when he's
telling us to keep thy heart, what he's saying is, like when
Paul wrote in another place, he said, keep yourselves in the
love of God. You've read that, haven't you?
Keep thyself in the love of God. Well, God loves us. Remember, He'll never quit loving
us. He'll always keep loving us, won't He? Yes, He will. Alright,
but where are you here about the love of God? What tells you
about the love of God? How do you know God loves you?
Except through the words, this is how you keep yourself under
the sound of the Word, which speaks of the love of God, the
grace of God, the keeping power of God, which speaks of Christ.
Now this seems like a contradiction to most people, but not to those
with understanding. But here it is, if your heart
is kept, He keeps it. But if we don't keep it, He's
not keeping us. It's like he said in Hebrews,
we looked at Hebrews 11 not long ago, and I can't tell you how
many times he says, we're saved if we hold fast. Doesn't he? Doesn't he say that?
Just stating the facts. If we hold fast. If we die in
the faith, that's what we looked at. If we hold fast. He said
this twice in one chapter in Hebrews, Hebrews 3. He said,
if we hold fast. Today, if you will hear His voice,
harden not your heart as a day of provocation." He said that
twice. Seriously. If we hold fast. If we hear His
voice. This is His power. This is His
Word. This is His voice. This is what
keeps us. The Word of God is His power. The Word of Truth, the Gospel.
Scripture says we're born again by it. We grow by it. We are instructed by it, we're
taught by it, we're constrained by it, we're restrained by it,
we're reproved, rebuked, corrected, and kept by it. The Word of God,
it's His voice, it's His power. My son, look at it. Here are
you children, verse 1. Here are you children, the instruction
of a father. Go on back a little further.
Go back to chapter 2. And this is all through the Proverbs,
isn't it? Proverbs 2 verse 1 and 2, My
son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments
with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply
thine heart to understand them. Oh, he said, seek after it like
silver, search for it like hid treasure. And you know it's not
talking about an id, talking about a person. Verse 10 and
11 here, Proverbs 2, when wisdom enters thine heart, and knowledge
is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding
shall keep thee. It's like walking along and it's
this wellspring of knowledge and understanding. It's what
the Lord teaches. There's people in you, if you
retain it, if the Lord puts it in your heart and your mind,
you're walking along and you're tempted, and the Word comes to
your mind, doesn't it? The Holy Spirit takes the Word
and warns you, doesn't it? Approves, rebukes, corrects.
No, no, no, don't turn to the right, don't turn to the left.
Look, let your eyes look straight up. It's His Word. Look at verse 20 of chapter 2. that thou mayest walk in the
way of good men, keep the paths of the righteous, the upright
shall dwell in the land, the perfect shall remain in it, the
wicked shall be cut off. Look at chapter 3, verse 1, My
son, forget not My law, let thine heart Now, the Lord's not talking about
the Mosaic law, the law of Moses, or the law that says, this do
and live. We're not saved by keeping the
law. You know that, don't you? But we're not without law. Whose
law are we under? Christ's. We're under the law
of Christ. Whatever He says, do it. Oh my, he said, keep my
commandments. That's what our Lord said. Length
of days, verse 2, and long life and peace shall they add to thee.
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck. Throughout the scripture, mercy
and truth are mentioned together, aren't they? Mercy and truth.
By mercy and truth, men depart from evil. Bind them about thy
neck. Write them upon the table of
thine heart. And these things are found in Christ. Mercy and
truth. found in His words. So shalt
thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
So many of you love this proverb, don't you? Look at the next one,
verse 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding,
and all thy ways acknowledge Him. He shall direct thy path. How? By His Holy Spirit bringing
up His Word. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. And how does He instruct
and lead? By His Word. Keep your heart by the Word. Chapter 4. Go on down to chapter 3, verse
21. This is good. Chapter 3, verse 21. My son,
let not them depart from thine eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion. That is, look to Christ and keep
looking and listening and hearing His Word. Keep sound wisdom and
discretion, so shall there be life under thy soul and grace
to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way
safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. You'll lie down and
won't be afraid. Yea, you'll lie down and your
sleep shall be sweet." Look into him. How often have you awakened
in the night afraid, fearful, full of doubts, troubled, worried? How often? How many times? All right, what do you do? Well, you need to do two things,
and I know you do. You call on the Lord. Lord, help me. Help me. And then what do you
do? You turn to His Word. And if He blesses you, and He
will if you ask Him, and if He blesses you and speaks a word
of peace to your heart, you're going to sleep. You go to sleep. This is His Word. This is His
Word. This is His Word. And He only speaks, though, through
this Word. And you have to ask Him. You
need to ask Him. Look at chapter 4 here. We started
here. Here, you children, the instruction
of the Father. Attend to no understanding. I
give you good instruction, good doctrine, good teaching. Forsake
ye not my law. He says, I was my father's son.
That's Christ in Him. I'm the son of my father." Our
Lord fed upon the Word of God, didn't He? Didn't He? Oh, as my father's son, tender
and only beloved in the sight of my mother, that's the Holy
Spirit. He taught me also and said unto
me, let thine heart retain my word. Keep my commandments and
live. Let thine heart retain my word. Keep thine heart, heart, heart,
heart, heart. Keep thine heart. You know, Solomon
wrote this. Solomon wrote this. The Lord
had him write this. And this is also Solomon speaking
here. Solomon was the wisest man to
ever live, wasn't he? Until our Lord came along. And
Solomon said, you know where I heard this? From
my dad. from my dad, David. David, the
sweet psalmist of Israel, David, who all through the Psalms said,
Oh, how I love thy law, how I love thy Word, how I love thy precepts,
how I love thy statutes, how I love thy way of saving my meat,
my drink, my food. David, can you see David all
the time, all the time calling on his Lord, communing with his
Lord, and seeking and pouring over his Word. Can you see that?
He needed on his Word. And he had this young boy named
Solomon. Solomon's son? Seek the Lord with all your heart.
God wrote a book, Lord, immerse yourself in this. Ask the Lord
to reveal Himself to you. He did. He did. So this is what Solomon is saying
too. He first heard the Word from a man, didn't he? That's
what Timothy, the Lord, Paul, thanks Timothy's mother and grandmother
that they taught him the Word that was able to make him wise
unto salvation. The only thing that is able to
save is the Word of God in it. And God is pleased by what I'm
doing. Foolishness of preaching. Save
them that believe, how shall they hear without a preacher?"
You notice how many times he said, hear, hear, hear, hear,
hear, faith cometh by hearing. Tell me, is it not so? You can
read and read and read the Word, but you don't get as much out
of it as when you hear it. Isn't that right? Well, that's
the way the Lord ordained it. Because it's live. It's living. Here, here with a heart, keep
thine heart. Listen, listen how often we're
told to keep. Said, you're saved if you keep
in memory the things that I preached unto you. Paul said that to the
Corinthians. You're saved if you keep in memory the things
I preached unto you. Keep. Keep thine heart. You're blessed if you keep the
things that are written. Remember that? Revelation 1.
Blessed if you keep the things that are written. He said in
the last chapter of Revelation, those that keep these things,
that keep my Word, will be kept in the hour of temptation that's
coming on the whole world. What's that? Calamities, disasters,
the wrath of God coming on the whole world, that those that
lay hold of the promises Lay hold of Christ are kept. Kept. Kept. Listen to this. Little children, keep yourselves.
This is the last thing John said in his first epistle. He said
a lot then. The very last word. Little children,
keep yourselves from idols. Call on Him, Lord, keep me from
idols. Keep looking for Him in this Word. You see
the beauty, listen to this, you see the beauty of the Lord. This
is what David said, one thing have I desired and that will
I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life. and to behold the beauty of the Lord. He's
talking about in the tabernacle on this earth, a man standing
up to preach, preaching the Word, that I might behold the beauty
of the Lord. If I behold His beauty, it will
turn away my eyes from beholding vanity. It will keep me from
idols. Christ will be my idol. If I
behold His beauty and inquire in His temple, David, don't you
know a lot about the Lord? Oh, I don't know much at all. That's why I come, he said. I
come to learn. He kept. Little children, keep
yourselves from idols. Listen to this. Keep yourselves
in the love of God. Listen to this. Endeavor to keep
the unity of the Spirit. On and on it goes. Keep thine
heart. Let me close. Look at verse 23
again. Keep thy heart. Thy heart. With all diligence. Keep looking
to Christ. Keep calling on the Lord. Keep
seeking the Lord. Your heart. Your heart. Keep coming. To whom? Coming. Keep coming to hear the
Word. Keep coming. Forsake not the
assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. but
exhort one another." So much more as you see in the damn book.
Keep coming. Because our Lord is coming. Where
do we hear about the coming? When do you think about the coming
of the Lord more than when you're here? Nowhere. This is the fold. This is the sheepfold. Keep coming. Keep hearing. Keep yourselves
under the Word of God. Keep yourselves in the Word of
God. Keep yourself in the worship circle. Keep yourself with the
people of God. Our Lord said, come out from
among them. Be separate. Keep yourselves
with the people of God. Keep yourself. Keep thy heart
with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Stand with me. Our Lord. are totally dependent on Thee
to keep us. We know that without Thee we
can do nothing, that we do not keep ourselves. We know that.
We know it from Thy Word. We know it from experience. But,
O Lord, You say so many words to us to exhort us Encourage
us as your children to chasten us and instruct us. Oh Lord,
keep speaking to us. Keep reminding us. Keep us, oh Lord. Keep us and
we'll be kept. Keep us looking to Thy Son. Keep us trusting in Him. Keep us, oh
Lord, calling upon Him. Keep us coming to hear the Word
of Truth, the Gospel of our salvation. Keep it in our hearts, we pray. Keep it in our hearts. And, O
Lord, enable us to keep Thy Word, to retain Thy Word. Give us receptive
hearts. Make it sink down deep in our
ears and write it on the tables of our hearts so that it will
keep our feet and keep our eyes and keep our hands and keep our
mouths, O Lord. Break our hearts. Humble us,
we pray. And keep us looking to Christ.
Thank You so much for Your Word. Thank You for it. Forgive us
that we don't look into it more. O Lord, make it our heart's desire,
we pray, in Christ's name, Amen. Thank you.