If we hold dear in our hearts
towards someone or something, then our lives will produce a
passionate resolve to do all in our power to encase our lives
around this affection. Ask yourself the same question
this morning, what is it that your life lives for? What is
it that your heart longs for? What is it that you believe for
that you would die for? Really? We love what we love
because of one reason, because what we love gives us joy. It gives us joy. And we seek after it and we pursue
it and we embrace it. And we endure all type of suffering
for it. If we love our lives, It is the
joy of that love that we look for. We love our children. The same thing. We love ourselves. What about our knowledge? Do
we love our knowledge? Do we love our own way, our hopes,
our dreams? Joy. We see the word and oftentimes,
even from this pulpit, we have heard sermon after sermon after
sermon about the fullness of joy. It is a person. His name
is Jesus, the Christ, a man who is fully God and yet fully man,
who came to this earth and gave himself up as a sacrifice, worthy
sacrifice, so that the Father might display his righteousness
in forgiving sinners and therefore creating a people for himself.
As we peel through the Scriptures and as we look in Proverbs today,
As I've said each week now for four weeks, it's difficult to
preach through the Proverbs. It's even more difficult to decide
where to go and what to pull each time we get together. It's a laboring task, very frustrating
at times, wondering, is this what God wants for his church? But honestly, as I come before
you this morning, I want to remind you that This pulpit is not a
place of one way teaching. It is a place of sharing what
God has done and is doing with us, myself included. It is a
journey that we walk together. Not a classroom that we might
gain knowledge and understanding of our own, but we seek spiritual
understanding, intimacy with God, as we shared this morning
in our Proverbs study at 915. It is one thing to say that we
seek with our minds and with our heads the knowledge of the
word of God. It is another thing to pray and
cry out for God to give us the wisdom of his Holy Spirit so
that intimacy might be the result of all of our learning. Our learning
should flow from an attitude and heart of worship, not the
other way around. So this morning, I ask you to
look at your heart. really deeply inside of your
heart, the heart. What a funny thing. In a biological
sense, a biophysical sense, it is one of the most important
organs in the body for supplies oxygen through the blood to keep
the systems alive, the tissue alive. And yet, in a spiritual
sense, it is that same core. It is what makes all that you
desire come to pass. It is what drives your passions.
And as we see the text in the New Testament, as we see the
work of Jesus, I like to say sometimes that he is the greatest
cardiologist that ever lived. For at every turn, Jesus would
always check people by asking them to check their hearts. At
every turn, he conditioned his arguments for those hearing him
to ponder and evaluate their heart, their affections, the
root of all that they say and do, their passions. Check these things and to conclude
as to whether the heart within their souls lived for him or
for some other lover. In our journey through the Proverbs,
as I've stated, it has been a delight and it's also been a distress.
Much of the time I have poured through the countless phrases
and endless rhythms to conclude a proper recipe for this sermon
just today. So as I proclaim God's word,
my prayer is that his word will send itself through the hearts
of each listener, dividing his truth into the flesh, into the
eyes and bring sight of the true condition of our souls, that
we might see our hearts for what they truly are. And by his grace, that we might
be once at once be made alive in Christ. The heart of one who loves Christ
is the heart of one, as the Scriptures say, as the deer pants for the
water, so my soul longs for you. Is that the reality of your heart
today? Is that your soul? Do you pant
for Christ? Do you pant for the The moment
when you can be intimate with the Word of God and thus be intimate
and face to face with the Creator of all things. Who has made Himself
known by He who sits at His side, Jesus the Christ. Is the panting of your heart
today for Christ? Are you His children? Do you
pant for the Living Word? For the supreme wisdom of God? immeasurable knowledge and endless
mercies for his ever reigning and supreme majestic power in
your life. Is that your love? Is that why
your heart beats? Oh, how many a sonnet have been
written through the centuries from one lover to another? How many poems have been penned? How many lyrics have been put
to song? To use the phrase, my heart beats
for you, you complete me. One goes into another. Jesus states that wherever a
man's treasure is, his heart will be found. And Matthew. He gives this instruction, do
not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust
destroy. and where thieves break in and
steal. But lay up yourselves, for yourselves, treasure in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break
in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also. Today's message could easily
be centered on money. But that's coming in the later
months. Today's lesson could be We could dive right into materialism. That, too, shall come. Today's
sermon could be dealing with the eagerness to engage in personal
interests. Before a primer. For the next
few months, let's consider the root of all these things. Sin. The reality of our hearts desires
we as simple human beings are in bondage to the affections
of the flesh. They come in many shapes, they
come in many sizes, they come in many colors. From food to
fashion. From cars to coats. Power and opinions. The list never ends. Our affections
and our heart. Continually builds and creates
idols from which it just flows one moment to another. And when
one idol is stricken down, we just create another one. We replace
two in the place of one. And if it not be for the grace
of God, we would not sit here today, his children, but rather
objects of his wrath. So praise God for his infinite
mercy. Praise God for his grace. Praise God, as you have testified
this morning, church. from whom all blessings flow.
The blessings of life, even on the wicked, are from the hand
of our Father. Please do not lose sight of what
you think you have done for yourself. But today, Church, I want us
to engage our hearts. I want us to engage our hearts
in several things. One, I pray that you can engage
your hearts in the worship of Christ, in the affection for
him. And I pray that you could look
deep within, much like we did last week at the seriousness
of our hearts and the outpouring of our lust, which is a mirror
laid before us by God, that we might see the inner core of our
desire, the inner passion of our flesh. I want us to see what
we really love. I want us to know what we really
have a passion for. Even in the realm of our faith,
friends, we can easily find lustful and worldly corners surrounded
by fluffy figurines of Christlike love and affections that look
just like Jesus. But are they really? Do we really
love Christ? Are we really in love with the
creator of our body and the lover of our soul? Let's pray. God, as we endeavor to look deep
within, Father, it does us no good to look on our own power. As we try this morning to really
hone in on the reality of who we are in the flesh. We must first recognize that
we are in the flesh. And that our bodies, even as
your children, war against your spirit. And so, God, my prayer
this morning is that for every one of us, that you and your
power would come and you would touch us in such a way that we
would see the reality of our affections, that you would show
us the idols of our hearts. That you would do what it is
that you need to do in us, that we might be rightly aligned And that Christ would be our
treasure. Father, that we would continue
to work together as a family. To encourage and lift and build
and edify each other as we grow into the fullness of the measure
of Christ, who is our head. Into full maturity. Which you are doing in us. God, I pray that your word would
speak, not me. I pray that your Holy Spirit
would speak, not me. Lord, I pray that you would just
guard our hearts. From pride. To guard our hearts from apathy. To guard our hearts from complacency,
that you would guard our hearts from the enemy. That you would
guard our hearts from ourselves. Father, we thank you in Christ's
name that your will be done. Amen. You can turn to Proverbs chapter
three, we'll be there in a few minutes. But before we get to
Proverbs chapter three. I want you to think of Proverbs
chapter four. And it's after three, it's so
hard, it's a hard thing to do. Scripture teaches us, as I just
prayed, to guard our hearts. Proverbs chapter four, verse
23, says, Keep your heart with all diligence. For from it flows
the springs of life. One translation that I memorized
as a young kid is to guard your heart for it is the wellspring
of life. I don't know what translation
that is. Is it the NIV? OK. So it wasn't too long ago. But keep your heart with all
villages, for from it flows the spring of life. Guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life. From your heart comes life, or
the reality of what is life for you. For from within, out of the heart
of man, come evil thoughts. From within, out of the heart
of man comes sexual immorality. Out of the heart of man comes
theft, comes murder, comes adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit,
sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. And all of these
things come from within and they defile a person. Mark 7, 21 through
23. The good person out of the good
treasure of his heart produces good and the evil person out
of the evil treasure produces evil for out of the abundance
of the heart, his mouth speaks. Luke 6, 45. So as we look at the heart today. It is a reality that is worth
noting in the Proverbs that we should guard our hearts. We should protect them. We should
put walls up around them, not in the sense of walling up from
intimacy with the body of Christ, with those that we love, but
discerning, carefully filtering what we allow into our hearts.
The scripture always said also said that the eyes are the windows
to the soul. But we are to guard our heart
Here in Proverbs 4, 23, we find a recipe for our hearts. We find
the fact that from our heart flows life. From our heart flows
life. If you back up a little bit,
four verses and look at verse 20 of chapter four. It says these
words, my son, be attentive to my words, incline your ear to
my sayings, let them not escape from your sight. Keep them within
your heart. Did you hear that? Keep them
within your heart for they are life to those who find them. And healing to all their flesh,
then he says, guard your heart. Sort of reminds me of Paul's
teaching to Timothy, guard the good deposit. fan into flames
the fire of that deposit that God has entrusted in you, which
is the gospel. That's the wisdom of God. Christ
is wisdom from God. Christ is his word. Christ is
the knowledge of God. For God, who said, let light
shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to what? To show us the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. But we cannot know God without
Christ and Christ is visible through the word of God made
possible for us to see by the Holy Spirit of God. Paul says
faith comes through hearing and hearing comes from the word. Be attentive to my words, son. Inclined. Turn your ear to what
I'm saying. Let these words not escape from
your sight and keep them in your heart, for they are life. That's
why the heart is the wellspring of life, for when the word of
God is in the heart, comes life from the heart. That's why Jesus
could say, as the good person out of the good treasure of his
heart produces good and the evil person out of the evil treasure
produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth
speaks. We can see who we really are
and what we treasure on the inside by what we say. We can see who we really are
and what we treasure in our hearts by how we act and live, but most
importantly. Of what our treasure is. This life which God has given
us, these words of wisdom, this understanding. Do we treasure
wisdom? I think a lot of times as I went
back through and I listened to the first two weeks of our Proverbs
together, sometimes even as I listened to my own words, I sort of felt like, well, that's
all about knowledge. It's all about learning, study.
It's not all about study. mandatory and beneficial, but
study from an intellectual point of view is powerless. If it is
not driven by worship and adoration and affection. We just, hey. No heart. The word of God should should
reach down into the depths of our soul and like a defibrillator
should pump us up and bring us to life. And we should go, oh,
look at you, God. Wow, I just love you, Lord. I don't know any other explanations
I could say to get ridiculous. But that should be the responsiveness
of the wisdom of God, which is his word, this life that which
God has given is the word of his wisdom that What God has
given is the reality, life in His Son, through His Son, Jesus
the Christ. This is our passion for the believer. That is what is in our heart.
And therefore, that is what comes out of our heart. And that is
what flows through our heart. And that is what paves the street
in which we walk. It paves the map in which we
live. It defines the calendar in which
we schedule our lives. a Wednesday night, and I pray
that you would come. We are looking at what is a family. Right now,
we're in week three of week 10 of understanding how to explain
the gospel foundationally, specifically to children. And if you can explain
the gospel to a child, you can explain it to anybody. In the first few weeks of that
in January, I made the comment and we talked and looked at the
word of God as to the reality of what the church ought to be
and what the home ought to be. And the home, the family that
lives together in your house, they should, we as believers,
as a family, should order our life around the body of Christ. Let me say that again. We as a family should order our
life around the body of Christ. That's what Christians do. For
the family in the home is a temporal picture. The body of Christ is
an eternal reality. We don't forsake. The family
and we don't forsake. The church. God has given us Christ, and
if Christ is not flowing out of our hearts, then our life
is not him. And ultimately, I could say our
life is not life, because last week I reminded you of the proverb
that says there is a way that seems right to a man, but this
way ends in death. So life for us, then, if Christ
is not the passion of our heart, our life is actually death. And so our life that resides
in our hearts is the root of the flesh, which leads to death.
Death is the opposite of healing of the flesh. Look there, for
they are life to those who find them and healing to all their
flesh. This doesn't mean that is the
power of healing everything, as Tim has talked about. It's a miracle to be healed,
and some of you in this congregation have been healed supernaturally.
Some of you have been healed supernaturally through the hands
of doctors and some of you are praying for healing today. But
not everyone is healed in this life. Even Paul himself was not healed. But what we see there. Is that
the word of God, the reality of Christ brings life to the
church. And the wellspring of life that
is hidden in our heart, the heart overflows with life, it's about
living. I came that you may have life,
Jesus said. And life in all of abundance.
And that is not... You couple that with you will
see pain and you will have trials and you will drink the cup that
I drank. The cup of death. But you will not stay there. So we ought to keep our hearts.
We ought to guard our hearts. We ought to keep our hearts with
all diligence. That means we fight for it. We work for it.
We guard it. Guarding is not a passive issue.
It may look like it. You may think about guarding
as something that somebody just stands there and you may be standing
there, but you walk up to the fence and try to infiltrate the
entrance. It's a fight. Reminds me of the old, I don't
even know what they're called now, but the Queen's Guard. It
stands outside the palace and they don't move. And people and
it's so rude. But you see videos of people
going and getting in their face and they don't move. They never
blink. They don't breathe. I think they're dead and they're
like Terminators or something. But if you touch them. Either by a foot or the butt
of a gun, they'll just knock you down and then they'll stand
right back at attention, guarding. And when it comes time to take
up arms and fight, we must be willing to fight the influences
of the flesh and the influences of the world. And it may mean
also that we actually break ties with people who continually poison
our lives with false teaching and poison our lives with negativity
and poison our lives with lies and deceit and seduction. We
guard our hearts. Are you guarding your heart today
in the area of temptation? Are you guarding your heart today
in the area of worship? Are you guarding your heart today
through true fellowship? Are you guarding your heart today
by receiving the Word of God in worship, in spirit and in
truth? Are you in a place where you can worship God today? Guard it. Wisdom from the Lord. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We looked at that
a month ago. It's something you need to understand
about this issue of guarding a heart. It's a command given
that we might be sensitive and careful to never allow our hearts
to part from God's wisdom of the fear of the Lord. The heart,
see, is the center of man. The heart is the essence of his
being. The heart is where the mind thinks
and plans are made and where decisions are worked out. The
heart drives one where he currently sits and makes his hands move
where they may. The heart is the conditioner
of the soul, where the affections hold the reins of one's life.
Picture that image, if you will. There is a way that seems right
to man, but it leads to death. The heart takes us there. See, God is recreating in his
people a new mind, a new soul, a new heart and ultimately a
new body. into the image of his son, Jesus Christ. I mean, let's think about affections
for a minute before we get to Proverbs three, which is my Texas. Affections, remember, first John,
first John 15, I mean, first John to 15. Yeah, you got you
almost. Yeah, we're going to turn their
first John to 15. Do not love the world. or the
things in the world, if conditional statement, if anyone loves the
world, then the father, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
and he lists them, the desires of the flesh, some say lust of
the flesh, that's what a lust is, is a desire, the desires
of the eyes and the pride and possessions. is not from the
father, but is from the world and the world is passing away
along with all of its desires. But whoever does the will of
God abides forever. James. Four, four, you adulterous
people. Do you know? That friendship
with the world is enmity with God. Therefore, whoever wishes
to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You know what God guards? His
righteousness. God guards his righteousness. And he will not allow sin in his presence. So he had to come and die. so
that he would be just in forgiving sinners by sacrificing himself
as the Lamb of God. This message today is a primer.
This message is a primer to future proverb readings and sermons
that will continue throughout the first quarter of this year.
Today, we'll get to the heart of our hearts so that everything
we learn in the next few weeks are filtered through this. I
want you to pay close attention. Our worldly passions are at constant
war with the Spirit of God. And it is an enemy with God. The very nature of learning God
and His wisdom is to realize that only He can create a heart
that loves Him and worships His holiness. That loves His Word. That loves His Son. And that
loves His worth. But it's not, just as we spoke
this morning, about sitting and Diving into the darkness of our
closet. Good place. We should study the
Word of God alone with God, as Charles Bridges so eloquently
put it in Old English this morning in our commentary. Alone with
God. And then we diligently pray for
God to show us what it is he wants us to see. And then those
things are affirmed in our corporate time together and in our making
disciples of one another as iron sharpens iron. If you have no
sword, how in the world do you sharpen another? And honestly, I asked this question
of you this morning, Church, what is better than knowing God?
What is better than intimacy with Christ? What is better than
the treasure of the universe? Who is Jesus? What is better? Now turn to Proverbs chapter
three. Didn't realize I was going to
take so long. Chapter three, verse 13 through
18. So hard. Follow with me as we read Proverbs
3, 13 through 18. Blessed is the one who finds
wisdom and the one who gets understanding. For the gain from her is better
than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She
is more precious than jewels and nothing you desire can compare
with her. Long life is in her right hand.
In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness. And all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those
who laid hold of her. Those who hold her fast are called
blessed. And I'll tell you something right
now, does that bring a song to mind? Which one? Yeah, you're more precious than
silver, more costly than gold. Nothing I desire compares with
you. That's the proverb. That's Solomon
imparting supernatural wisdom of the great treasure of Christ
to his son. Thousand years before Christ.
Maybe not thousand. Bunch of years. Think of that. Matthew six. And so here we see that there
is no comparison to Christ, none whatsoever, no comparison to
wisdom. Where do you get Christ out of
that, Pastor? This is the Old Testament because that's what
this speaks of. Jesus talks to the Pharisees
in John, John five. You search the scriptures for
life. You do not find it for they speak
of me. I am the life, he says. I am
the wisdom of God, the righteousness of God. I am joy. I am peace. I am hope. I don't bring those things. I
am those things. So our treasure is Christ. He
is the treasure of heaven. He is the mansion. He is the
crown. He is the jewel. He is. The Holy Anointed One of God,
the Christ, Christus. There is no comparison. Hear
these words. Blessed. Blessed. You know what that really means?
Joyful. That's a good way of putting
it. Joyful. Joyful is the one who finds wisdom. Full of joy. Blessed. The one who is blessed is approved
by God and because he's approved by God, he is full of joy. Why?
Because the only way one is approved by God is that Christ is in him
and has made him new, a new creation. And then God sees the righteousness
of his son and says, therefore, there is no condemnation for
those who are in Christ. And he has transferred us out
of the domain of darkness into the light of his marvelous son.
The light has come into the world, John writes. The darkness has not overcome. That's a miracle. Joyful. Joyful is the one who
finds the Lord. Joyful is the one who seeks after
wisdom. Joyful is the one who studies
to show that self-approved. Joyful is the one who is disciplined
to pray even when they don't feel like it. Joyful is the one
who sees the beauty and the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Joyful. You know what we say in the antithesis?
Miserable is the man who knows not the glory of the Lord. Miserable
is the man who is really into religion. Miserable is the man
who studies with his head and his heart is far from him. Miserable
is the man who uses the Lord's name in vain and sings songs
of worship, but yet his heart is dead and incapable of loving.
Miserable is the man who seeks not the kingdom of heaven. For his joy is dead. The things of his heart that
he longs for, the affections of his soul no longer have any
power except to be rotted and stolen and rusted and thrown
away. It is dying, friends. If your
heart is not bent toward Christ, everything you love will bring
you misery. When your heart is tears, even
those things you love will bring you pain, but never misery, because
the joy of the Lord is your strength. Blessed, joyful is the one who
finds wisdom. For the gain from her is better
than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. See,
it yields a crop, a profitable interest. A multiplication of
exponential proportions and where God's wisdom continually gives
an abundance. Paul says that we have all spiritual
blessings in Christ. And so many people are out there
seeking another fix. Another high. Another way to
get deeper in some kind of a spiritualized, revolutionary way of experiencing
God with some awful, unbiblical, external thing. And they fail
to see the beauty of the promise of God that Christ is everything
God has to offer. There is nothing else. And if
Christ isn't enough. There's nothing else to offer.
Because the wisdom of God, she in this in this illustration
in here, in this metaphor, Solomon describes wisdom as a woman. Who offers. Long life in her right hand,
eternal life in her right hand, the greater riches than the world. It's the best return. The yield of her interest in
both hands is long life and riches and honor. Imagine that, you
know what I think when I see this, I think of these gifts
that God provides. And how so many people throughout
the world today, they look at the church. And as I said a couple
of weeks back, that oftentimes we are hated because we are so
self-righteous. But we will be hated because
we stand for truth and that we are lovers of God and Christ.
Because the world hates righteousness. But you know, I've come to find
that a lot of people think that Christ is a killjoy. He's a boar. And we come to church and we
sing those songs that are 300 years old and why? Why not? I'm reading I'm reading a manuscript
that's thousands of years old. We worship a God that's predated. Who is the same yesterday, today
and forever. Why do we need new ways of experiencing life when
he is the fullness of joy forever? The gifts that God brings are
not a bore. They are not a killjoy. They
are life and riches and honor and not the riches and honor
that you think of, not the prosperity of the world for John. Go back
to first John to. The loss of the eyes, the pride
of life, the honor. And the pride of possessions,
riches, the world can give you that and it'll rot and you'll
be miserable. Or Christ can be that riches.
Christ can be that honor. Christ can be that life. It's
the fullness of joy, even in the midst of pain. What gifts do the affections
of your heart bring you? What yield, what return, what
fruit, what gain from the labor of pursuing what you love? A
temporary fix. A season of bliss. Maybe something
to hold on to like a wish. I think it'll be better. I'm
holding on to this. Are we standing in the solid
foundations of the gospel, knowing that Christ alone is the ultimate
prize? Nothing brings the full joy.
But Christ, for he is joy. It is wise. To desire the word of God. But
is it wise to desire the world? Is it wise to desire riches and
retirement and hold on to what we have earned? Is it wise to
desire crumbled, dead garbage when the wisdom of the Lord is
life? Is it wise? See, Christ died. The wisdom
of God is foolishness to men, Paul says. Christ died the righteousness
the righteous dying for the unrighteous so that he might bring something.
Look here in verse 17, her ways are ways of pleasantness and
all her paths are peace. Huge misnomer in the world of
Christendom today. That we think the church and
in fact, somebody that I've always Admired, he's not alive now.
But he said that when a culture or a civilization begins to see
poverty, and I'm paraphrasing a little bit, poverty or decline
socially, that it's the fault of the church. I think I might take his books
off my shelf, really. But at the same time, I give him grace.
Because we all think things sometimes, but the reality of that is that
the purpose of the church is not to bring a better world into
play. If your joy and your heart and
you think that the church's function is supposed to go out there and
make the world a world of peace, you haven't read the scripture.
Jesus is very clear. He will not bring peace in this
life ever. He brings peace among the brethren.
That's the metaphor, wisdom of God that the world says, what's
going on? We're killing each other out here and you're loving
each other in here. That's that's the confoundment,
that's what really troubles the world. We don't we don't go to
a culture and try to Christianize them. We preach the full counsel
of the word of God. And through hearing the word
of God, some will be saved, but not all. As a matter of fact,
Jesus says few will be saved. Brawl is the way of destruction.
Many go that way. Narrow is the gate that leads
to righteousness. Few will find it. What does that
mean? Few will find it. Why? Because of the affections
of their heart. The affections of their heart. The world has
a hold that only God can break. And when the word of God is revealed
to them and the gospel is preached and when the church loves and
lives and learns and gives and teaches and they reject it, they
reject the very thing that gives them the fullness of joy. And
so there's nothing else, Hebrews teaches, left for repentance.
For they have rejected Christ. I don't love him, the rich young
ruler, Jesus says. He sought Him. He knelt before
Him. He agreed He was God. He wanted eternal life. He kept
the law. He loved holiness and righteousness.
But he did not see Christ as the treasure of God in lieu of
all that he'd worked for. And he walked away dejected. Nothing brings the joy. Look
at that. Her paths are peace. Jesus brings
peace. Christ died to bring peace between
the church and God. And we cling to that. Blessed
is the one who finds wisdom. In verse 18, she is a tree of
life. to those who lay hold of her,
those who hold fast. You know, that reminds me of
a mantra of Hebrews. Hold fast to the confession of your hope. But we have a great high priest.
An eternal one. Not a symbol, not a shadow, but
the real. Hold fast, cling, hold fast. The two shall become one flesh.
Husbands, wife, hold fast. But that relationship will sever
because it is a shadow of the mere beauty of the glory of the
gospel. When Christ will culminate and
you will be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. John writes
in Revelation, blessed is the one who is invited to the marriage
supper. This is the same language. This isn't new. It's not new
theology. It's not Old Testament that we
should forget. It points to the fullness of
Christ. And we are joy. When we are in
him. We cling, we hold fast to what
we cherish, friends, we truly hold fast to what we adore and
we are joyful is what we hold fast to truly the mark of joy
or will it bring pain? Is it a dead thing that we hold,
thinking that it is living? There are some who can hear the
words and tell themselves that they live for Christ, love him
and long for him as their highest treasure. Is that really obvious? Does your life exude your passion
for Christ and his glory? We're back to first John now.
Back to James. If we say, but we walk in darkness,
then the truth is not in us. Faith without works is dead,
though we are always saved unto good works, is the fruit of our
salvation obvious. But we can't put our trust in
that, can we? Because what did David trust
in when he adulterated, impregnated, and murdered? Nothing. Not his good works. He only had to lay himself at
the mercy of God. Have mercy on this. But it's the faithfulness of
God, not the faithfulness of man that saves. Does your greatest
joy find itself as Christ? Consider several things in closing
today. First, ask yourself this question. Do you know or do I know, ask
yourself this question, that all that I say, think and do
are in the eyes of God? I mentioned this several times.
In some study, I don't know, I teach so much, I don't even
know when it is now. And now I'm in Proverbs in two
or three places, so it's confusing. Quorum Deo in the face of God. We are living our lives in the
presence and audience of our creator and nothing is hidden
from his sight. And what's amazing or should be fearful is his holiness
is the measure of judgment against us. And each inch of his righteousness
will be measured by every mile of our depravity. And he will
bring recompense. Against us, Proverbs 521 says,
For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord and he ponders
all his paths, the iniquities of the wicked ensnare him and
he is held fast in the courts of his sin. He dies for lack
of discipline and because of his great folly, he is led astray.
So I ask you to test your hearts again. Test your hearts again,
let's look at the heart of the gospel. Some of us, when we move
from this point today, we condition ourselves to be sorry for our
sin. We go, OK, God, I'm I'm sorry for our sins. Some of us
are fearful. I really don't want to stand in your judgment. Others
might just be considering the reality of God's holiness for
the first time. There's a way that leads to death.
The affections of the world are affections for things that are
already dead. This is the way Of those who
do not cherish the wisdom of God and the ways of the world,
of the word, but rather they long for the desires of the flesh.
Let me say that again. Those who seek after the world. Have
a heart and they do not to cherish not the wisdom of God in Christ,
but the things of the world and the desires of the flesh. Worldly
sorrow leads to death, but godly sorrow leads to what? Repentance,
which leads to. Life. So guard your heart as
the wellspring of life. Here's a good test for us. Do not enter the path of the
wicked. Do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it. Do not go
on it. Turn away from it and pass on.
That's repentance, Proverbs 4, 14 through 15. A little bit before
what we talked about earlier. The difference is one type of
repentance is sorry and wants to be forgiven. The other is
sorry and fights to stop sinning. Now, why would I put this here?
Well, because this is the ultimate test of our affections, I think,
for this message, because godly sorrow is in comparison to worldly
sorrow throughout the scripture, even in the Proverbs. And our
sorrow will show and reveal to us the affections of our heart
in some degree. We need to pay attention to it
this morning. How often do you sit up all night confessing your
sins one by one? How often do you cry out for
mercy and forgiveness after doing that? How often are you aware of your
very, very, very sinful nature? How often are you bothered by
the heart of idolatry? When you come to this place,
is it daily? Is it every hour? Is it often or never? Here's
the test. When you cry out in confession,
Do you fight to turn and correct your sins? Not because that's
what puts you in right standing. Because that's what repentance
is. Or do you just remain calm and
you're thankful that God has forgiven the very sin that you
will not stop doing? Friends, this is a slap at grace.
And we're all guilty. every one of us. We're all worthy
of wrath, but God in His rich mercy has given His Son to pay
for just this type of unbelief and just this inability to repent
and to empower us to see it through His Word that we might be transformed
by His Word. So now we go back to the very
beginning of where I started. Guard your heart. The heart is deceitful above
all things. and desperately wicked. Who can know it? God Himself
says the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.
This is the reality of our hearts and our hope is not in ourselves,
but in Christ alone. Whoever trusts in his own mind
is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. Now,
put that in perspective of what we've learned today. And listen to the words of Paul.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that
he is wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become
wise. He must become wise. By becoming stupid. Guard your heart against the
love of the flesh and of this world, long for the affections
of the spirit, pray, study to find the wisdom of God daily.
Otherwise, you'll find yourself in the hands of this battle rather
than fighting it yourself in the power of God. Last week,
I stated this concerning our hearts and in the context of
anger, I said our affections drive us to anger. When we love,
when what we love is not what we love and what we're given
is what we love is not what we have and what we want is not
what we have. Anger over our desires is Antichrist. And Proverbs 22, 24 said, make
no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful
man. This week, this week, I can add these words. Our affections
drive us either toward or away from the gospel. Where is our heart in the hands
of Christ or lost among the world? Remember, we are not only in
the eyes of God, but he searches our hearts and knows all things.
He knows our thoughts. He knows our motives. He knows
our imagination. Are you battling? Are you battling
in the mind for joy? Are you battling and making war
for grace to rest in the grace of God? Are you battling and
are you in a battle and are you fighting with the weapons of
righteousness? Are you fighting with faith? Trusting in God alone? Trusting in Christ alone? Laying
yourself at the mercy of God? Disciplining yourself to be intimate
with the Word? Loving the saints? Serving one
another? Making disciples? Friends, you've got to fight
until there's no fight in you. And the good news is that God continually
fights for us because He is faithful. Jesus is our mediator. Fight
with your church family, not against them. We fight together
to be pure, to be holy, to love one another, to grow deep in
our affections for Christ through His Word. Fight with your marriage,
not against your spouse. Fight to forgive each other and
to repent without looking for someone else to repent to. Fight
with your stuff. Fight against the lust of the
eyes, the desires of the flesh, the pride of life. Fight with
your money. Push it away so you can get closer
to Christ. Be transformed by the gospel. Repent and believe. For it is only through the gospel. Will our hearts be transformed
into lovers of Christ? God sent his son to pay the penalty
of your sin. Why is it that sin is so fascinatingly
precious? Do we believe in Christ today?
Are we believing? My prayer for you, church, is
that you would truly hear. I know it's very ambiguous. We didn't finish. We didn't stop. How am I going to put this down
and walk out the door with it? I can't answer that question
for you. So test your heart. Check your affections. Make war
against sin. Quit snuggling with the world
and embracing it. I pray that you would just truly
put your faith in Christ. Be safe, some of you need to
be baptized, some of you have have come to faith and never
publicly profess that in baptism. Some of you need to join this
church or another church so that you're not an orphan floundering
around. The one man pea shooter making
war by yourself. Some of you are just. Struggling. To understand what it really
means. To have new life in Christ. Whatever
it is, we want to be here for you, we want to help you, this
is a one way communication and most in reality, it's not, but
in context, it is because you're thinking you're speaking back.
In your own hearts and your own minds. But we want to know what
it is that we can pray for you and how we can minister to you,
how we can help you grow in understanding the things that you struggle
with. The only way we know is if you
tell us. And so as we close our time today,
my prayer is that you would just truly hear the Word of God. And believe in Christ and He
has sent. Let's pray. The tree of life, Father. There's
just so much that could be brought out of just that little passage. I talk too much sometimes. Tree of life. Wow. And then that tree is planted
in our hearts. By your grace. as a gift. And it yields fruit, so we should
guard it. Lord, help us guard our hearts. Make war against
sin. Be discerning and careful, all
careful what we hear and what we see, what we put our affections
on. Lord, help us to be accountable
to each other. Father, I pray that you just
give us that type of heart, each of us, everyone. You just bring
us to life. Bring us to a living relationship
with you through Christ. And let us get out of these dead
relationships with the world. God, we just come to your throne
of grace. The reason it's called that is
because that's all that we can take. There's nothing we can
bring. It's just about us taking. You can't bring anything to you
except our sin. And through your grace, you put
that on Jesus and destroyed it. Nailed it to the cross. God, envelop us in worship as
a people. Make known to all of us, especially
those who are not saved. Make known to us the greatness
of your mercy. To give us eyes to see. And a
heart to long and seek after your wisdom, which is the gospel. Lord, help us to be intimate
with each other. And to be your will, God, we come back this
afternoon at 530 to look at one of the most amazing passages
of text in the Scripture, where the love that one has for another does
hard things so that God might be glorified. May we all do hard things for
the sake of the gospel. And we pray these things in Jesus'
name, Amen.