The Word Heart
Key Words of the Bible • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thine heart.
For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee a froward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil.
Introduction
Introduction
Words are an important part of our lives. Without words, we would not be able to communicate. Without words, we would not be able to learn from one another. Without words, we would be cut off from everyone around us. In the Bible, we find some words that are truly a foundation for the truths of the Bible. These words and their meanings are keys to unlock how we understand God, Christ, our sin and His salvation. Words need to be defined. In our series on the Key Words of the Bible, we are looking to define these important words as we study the Word of God.
The third word that we are going to be looking at is the word heart. The words “heart”, “hearts”, “hearted”, and “heart’s” are used 1,045 times in the King James Version. What the Bible says about the heart is central to our understanding of our daily walk with Christ.
The word “heart” is often today limited to the organ that pumps our blood. If someone were to ask you how your heart is, you would probably limit your response to the idea of a heart attack or blood pressure. However, we still do have some modern concepts of the heart that connect back to the concept of the heart in the Bible. When we say, “get to the heart of the matter”, or when we say “this is a heart matter”, we are connecting back to the Bible concept.
The word is defined by Webster as
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) (Heart)
heart
1 a: a hollow muscular organ of vertebrate animals that by its rhythmic contraction acts as a force pump maintaining the circulation of the blood
2 a: a playing card marked with a stylized figure of a red heart
3 a: PERSONALITY, DISPOSITION 〈a cold heart〉
4: the emotional or moral as distinguished from the intellectual nature
5: one’s innermost character, feelings, or inclinations 〈knew it in his heart〉 〈a man after my own heart〉
6 a: the central or innermost part: CENTER
The most important part of this definition for our understanding in the Bible is regarding the last part of the definition. Our heart is the center of our inner self. It is where our decisions are made. It determines our emotions and feelings. How is your center?
750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers (295: Heart)
Heart 295
In December 1995 NASA’s Galileo space probe parachuted into the atmosphere of Jupiter. Paul Hoversten writes in USA Today that Galileo’s mission was to radio data back to Earth on the nature of this gaseous planet. Through telescopes astronomers have long seen tremendous storms on the surface of Jupiter. The winds of these storms have been blowing at some four hundred miles per hour for literally hundreds of years. Scientists wondered, was sunlight driving these storms, as happens on Earth, or was there some sort of reaction going on within the planet, as happens in the stars?
Galileo found the answer to that question. It discovered temperatures ranging from a chilling minus 171 degrees at the cloud tops to a sizzling 305 degrees closer to the core. More important, it found that the superhot core of the planet is the source of the centuries-long storms. The storm winds actually swirl ten thousand miles deep into the planet.
Andrew Ingersoll of the California Institute of Technology explained, “The winds we see at the cloud tops are just the tip of the iceberg. Jupiter’s whole fluid interior is in motion just as rapidly as winds at the surface.… This helps us explain why you can have 300-year-old storms and jet streams that last for hundreds of years. You’ve got so much inertia behind it, it’s like a giant flywheel spinning forever.”
The core of Jupiter is the engine of the planet. So it is with a person.
The core of a person will affect his habits, his choices, and his eternal destiny. We see in this passage that God wants us to guard our heart. We must be careful with what comes in and with what comes out.
Declaration
Declaration
Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.
By monitoring the input of our heart, we can guard it. Sin that comes in will come out in our speech and will ultimately decide our path. Guarding our heart is to be the central job of the Christian as he follows Christ. Three questions will be answered in this passage.
1. What Goes into the Heart?
1. What Goes into the Heart?
My son, attend to my words; Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; Keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, And health to all their flesh.
Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology (The Heart’s Intellectual-Spiritual Functions)
As the mouth reveals what is the heart, the ear determines what goes into it.
Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary (Proverbs 4:20–27)
So a kind of medical inspection follows, in which one’s state of readiness in the various realms symbolized by heart, mouth, eyes and feet, comes under review.
What are the two things here that we see going into the obedient heart?
A. Scripture v. 20
A. Scripture v. 20
The father tells his son here to attend to his words. Attend means to be hearing with all of your body. Pay attention and be fully alert to the words.
He tells his son to incline his ear to the sayings. This was a command to bend and listen with obedience to the words spoken. The father is echoing words from elsewhere in Proverbs.
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, And apply thine heart to understanding;
My son, attend unto my wisdom, And bow thine ear to my understanding:
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, And apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
What we allow into our ears will go straight to our heart. This is what we will think about and ponder. Evil advice and evil influence will affect how we obey God. Think of times that words spoken to you have swirled in your hearts for years after they were spoken.
Good words will do the opposite. We find the good words in the Bible.
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
B. Health and Life v. 21-22
B. Health and Life v. 21-22
The words of the father are to be before the eyes of his son. A negative mandate is given here to not allow them to go away from the son. He is not to escape or turn aside from these words. The deviation from the words of Scripture will result in destruction and death.
My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: Keep sound wisdom and discretion:
We see here a series of commands given by the father. The first command is to keep the words in the heart. Keeping is guarding or watching the law faithfully. A soldier who is not faithful to watch will be caught unprepared for the invasion. Instead of raising the alarm, he will be surprised and is likely to be the first to die in the battle.
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
What is the reason for this command? Why is it important to keep them faithfully? We see this in the next verse. The words of Scripture are life and health. What is your source of healing? What do you turn to when there is conflict and pain? The words of Scripture are able to help us to heal and they are sent directly from God.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 665 Church Good for Your Health
A Johns Hopkins University medical researcher has just discovered what the Presbyterian Ministers’ Life Insurance Fund has known for more than two centuries: attending church is good for your health.
The risk of fatal heart diseases is almost twice as high for the non-church-goer than for men who attend once a week or more, according to a study made by Dr. George W. Comstock of the university’s Department of Epidemiology. The doctor also observed that the “clean life” associated with regular churchgoing appears to be statistically related to a lower incidence of other major diseases, adding that going to church is a very favorable input.
What goes into the heart?
2. Who Guards the Heart?
2. Who Guards the Heart?
Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.
A. We guard our own heart v. 23
A. We guard our own heart v. 23
In his book called The Holy War, John Bunyan tells the story of a battle for control of a town. The town is an allegory and is named Mansoul. As he describes the town at the beginning of the book, we see the truth of the allegory as it is describing man’s heart.
The Holy War Chapter I
This famous town of Mansoul had five gates, in at which to come, out at which to go, and these were made likewise answerable to the walls, to wit, impregnable, and such as could never be opened nor forced but by the will and leave of those within. The names of the gates were these, Ear-gate, Eye-gate, Mouth-gate, Nose-gate, and Feel-gate.
Sometimes our senses deceive us. We see this in the story of David’s crowning. God rejected the son that appeared most kingly in favour of the one who was called “a man after God’s own heart.”
But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
Our senses are both the entrance into our hearts as well as the exit out or our heart. We will see here that the way in must be kept pure to ensure purity inside. The heart is the idea in the Bible of what we would call the person. This is our character and the place of our decisions. Where do we reason? Where do we decide? These are in the heart.
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
We see here the command to keep our heart. Keeping is to guard or watch over the heart. This is the job of the soldier.
Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: Keep her; for she is thy life.
The word keep is repeated at the end of the phrase. This shows that diligence and effort goes into maintaining a clean heart. Above all, guard your heart. This should be the most important thing that we guard.
Proverbs Proverbs 4:23
No fort can be kept without government; soldiers, else, will rebel and betray the fort. Commit that charge to a well-informed conscience; submit all thoughts, and words, and deeds to it
There are multiple types of hearts in the Bible.
Double Heart Psalm 12:2 “They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: With flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.”
Hard Heart Proverbs 28:14 “Happy is the man that feareth alway: But he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.”
Proud Heart Proverbs 21:4 “An high look, and a proud heart, And the plowing of the wicked, is sin.”
Cold Heart Matthew 24:12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
And an unbelieving heart Hebrews 3:12 “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”
Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Proverbs 4)
A wrong heart always produces a wrong life.
How do we get a right heart? How do we ensure that the heart we guard is right with God? The way that we get a pure heart is through the change that comes at salvation.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
When we accept Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, we are saved. Salvation gives us many blessings. One of the blessings is that we are new creatures and have a new heart.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Proverbs Proverbs 4:23
Thou mayest make another thy park-keeper, thy housekeeper, thy shopkeeper, thy cashkeeper, but thou must be thy own heartkeeper.
B. God guards our life v. 23
B. God guards our life v. 23
Proverbs Proverbs 4:23
The man is as his heart is.
The reason that we are to keep our heart is that what comes out in our lives begins here. The issues are really the origin or the point of departure from our heart. Our actions, choices, thoughts, words, are all issuing from our heart. One theologian said,
Systematic Theology (5. Sin Has Its Seat in the Heart)
Sin does not reside in any one faculty of the soul, but in the heart, which in Scriptural psychology is the central organ of the soul, out of which are the issues of life. And from this center its influence and operations spread to the intellect, the will, the affections, in short, to the entire man, including his body. In his sinful state the whole man is the object of God’s displeasure.
Sin is found in our heart. It goes out into our lives as our sinful nature. Everyday we struggle against it through the power of the Spirit.
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
God is commanding us to make sure that we instead have a clean heart. Repentance for sin and commitment to obedience are the necessary actions God commands us to take.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
What goes into the heart?
Who guards the heart?
3. Where does the Heart Guide?
3. Where does the Heart Guide?
Put away from thee a froward mouth, And perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, And let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, And let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil.
A. The Heart Guides through our Mouth v. 24
A. The Heart Guides through our Mouth v. 24
Our mouth is the first way that the evil or the good in our heart will come out. Many people talk one way and act another. Some say things that are wrong before they ever take a wrong step. Others will say they will do something good but never follow through.
We see here the third command in the passage. We are commanded to put away a froward mouth. Frowardness is something crooked or lying.
A naughty person, a wicked man, Walketh with a froward mouth.
We see also the idea of perverse lips that carry this departure from the truth. This is the second time this word has been used. It was used in verse 21 as the word “depart”. When we are crooked or departing from the truth, we are beginning to see the effect of our sinful nature in our lives.
Whose ways are crooked, And they froward in their paths:
Good words are instead refreshing to the soul. What is in your heart determines what you say. It determines what comes out.
Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott Peace Begins with Righteousness in the Heart
If there is righteousness in the heart,
there will be beauty in character.
If there is beauty in character,
there will be harmony in the home.
If there is harmony in the home,
there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
there will be peace in the world.
B. The Heart Guides through Straight Eyes v. 25
B. The Heart Guides through Straight Eyes v. 25
We see the second part of the outpouring of the heart is found in the eyes. Our eyes are always looking for something new. We see something shiny and we look at it more. Our eyes are often the senses that we rely on first in any situation we encounter.
Whatever the heart loves, the ears will hear and the eyes will see.
-Warren Weirsbe
My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: Keep sound wisdom and discretion:
We must guard our eyes and constantly point them back to the path before us. If we look anywhere other than where we are walking, we will be sure to stumble or run into other things.
Illustration: glass door at the ice skating rink
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We see throughout Scripture people who did not guard their eyes and put them on the right thing. Eve looked at the fruit. Samson looked at the honey in the carcase of the lion. Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom. What are you looking at?
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
C. The Heart Guides by an Established Way v. 26-27
C. The Heart Guides by an Established Way v. 26-27
The final portion of the outward evidence of the heart is the path that we choose to walk. We are to ponder the path. Ponder is to make it level or to weigh our options. We are commanded to make it smooth. The path is a well worn track, a wagon track or entrenchment. We can see the ruts in the path and we know the way we take each day of our lives. What is the nature of this path?
The way of the just is uprightness: Thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And he pondereth all his goings.
Proverbs Proverbs 4:23–27
Every godly man has a tendency to moral weakness, some opening in his spiritual armour, some weak part in his moral constitution. Therefore it behoves him to keep guard over, to watch vigilantly, the lawless, rebellious, or diseased elements within him, lest sin have dominion, if only for a time, where grace ought to rule.
When we choose the right path, our ways are established. We have a good way to walk because it is well worn. A well worn path is smooth and easy. It is familiar and satisfying. It is steadfast and sure. That is the path of the righteous.
O that my ways were directed To keep thy statutes!
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Verse 27 address the choices that we may face off of the path of the righteous. These will be side paths that look enticing. They seem to go in the same direction but their end destination is destruction and death.
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
But the path of the just is as the shining light, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Conclusion
Conclusion
From the ears to the heart, from the heart to the mouth, from the mouth to the eyes, from the eyes to the feet, whether righteous or evil, what we put in is what we get out.
5499 Sow an act and you reap a habit.
Sow a habit and you reap a character.
Sow a character and you reap a destiny.
Samuel Smiles
When we choose not to put the right things into our heart, we will not get the right things out of our heart. When we see evidence in our path or choices in life, we must look for the issue in our heart.
750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers (144: Diligence)
According to the Associated Press, on December 14, 1996, a 763-foot grain freighter, the Bright Field, was heading down the Mississippi at New Orleans, Louisiana, when it lost control, veered toward the shore, and crashed into a riverside shopping mall. At the time the Riverwalk Mall was crowded with some 1,000 shoppers, and 116 people were injured. The impact of the freighter demolished parts of the wharf, which is the site of two hundred shops and restaurants as well as the adjoining Hilton Hotel.
The ship had lost control at the stretch in the Mississippi that is considered the most dangerous to navigate. After investigating the accident for a year, the Coast Guard reported that the freighter had lost control because the engine had shut down. The engine had shut down because of low oil pressure. The oil pressure was low because of a clogged oil filter. And the oil filter was clogged because the ship’s crew had failed to maintain the engine properly.
Furthermore, this failure was not out of character. According to the lead Coast Guard investigator, the ship’s owner and crew had failed to test the ship’s equipment and to repair long-standing engine problems.
We saw a similar situation just weeks ago in Baltimore. When we don’t maintain that steady guard on our heart, the equipment begins to break down and the coding is infected. God said,
Therefore also now, saith the Lord, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, And turn unto the Lord your God: For he is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness, And repenteth him of the evil.
By monitoring the input of our heart, we can guard it. Sin that comes in will come out in our speech and will ultimately decide our path. Guarding our heart is to be the central job of the Christian as he follows Christ.
What is the status of your heart? Is is a saved heart or a lost heart? Is is clean and protected or dirty and neglected? Examine your heart today. Christ is ready even now to change your heart and make it clean before Him.
And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
