Guarding Your Heart - Prov 4:23

Intro: Good morning FE, we are glad you are here worshipping with us today. Last week we started a new series walk wisely. We are looking at the wisdom from the book of Proverbs, which Alfredo did an excellent job of guiding us through how to read this book of Proverbs last week.

Not too far from here, there is the Arkansas Heart Hospital, at the Arkansas Heart Hospital they have a heart health diagnostic called Keep the Beat. Keep the Beat performs various test to check the health of your heart, because the heart is vital for life, we need healthy hearts to keep the beat, so that we can live. To maintain healthy hearts there are things we can do to guard our hearts, like exercise and maintaining a heart healthy diet.

In Proverbs 4:23 says,

Proverbs 4:23 (ESV)

Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life.

Con toda diligencia guarda tu corazón, porque de él brotan los manantiales de la vida.

Just like we need to guard our physical heart, to maintain a healthy heart, the Bible commands us to “keep our heart with all vigilance”. The word keep, is to guard or to maintain watch, like military personnel guarding and protecting to ensure the safety of a city. What guarding our heart implies is that you are at alert position at all times, watching, monitoring, maintaining a watch over our hearts. The question we need to ask is what is the heart and why is it important that we guard our hearts?

What is the Heart?

When the Bible speaks about the heart, it isn’t talking about the physical heart that is pumping blood through our bodies. Biblically the heart is the control center of who we are. When we look through the scriptures, the Bible describes for us the functions of the heart and what the heart does In Hebrews we read,

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Porque la palabra de Dios es viva y eficaz, y más cortante que cualquier espada de dos filos; penetra hasta la división del alma y del espíritu, de las coyunturas y los tuétanos, y es poderosa para discernir los pensamientos y las intenciones del corazón.

Hebrews describes for us that the heart is the place where our thoughts and intentions come from. When Jesus was dealing with the Pharisees, Jesus asked them this question

Matthew 9:4 (ESV)

But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

Y Jesús, conociendo sus pensamientos, dijo: ¿Por qué pensáis mal en vuestros corazones?

Again we see Jesus, asking them why are you thinking evil thoughts, and where did those thoughts come from? Their hearts.The first thing we see from Scripture is that the heart is the center of our thoughts. The heart is the control center of how we think.

What else does the heart control?

When we look at Psalms we read,

Psalm 37:4 (ESV)

Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Pon tu delicia en el Señor, y Él te dará las peticiones de tu corazón.

Where do our desires come from according to the Psalmist? Our hearts. Now before you leave here thinking God will give you everything your heart desires, that is not what this verse is saying. What this verse means is that when we delight in the Lord, what we desire will conform to what God desires, and when our desires conform to what God desires, he gives us the desires of our heart in his timing because they conform with what he desires.

In Romans we read about Paul, speak about Israel, his people and home country and he says,

Romans 10:1 (ESV)

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

Hermanos, el deseo de mi corazón y mi oración a Dios por ellos[a] es para su salvación.

Paul’s desire is for Israel to be saved, where does that desire come from? His heart because the heart is the control center of our desires.

What else can we learn about the heart from the scriptures?

Proverbs 12:25 (ESV)

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down,

but a good word makes him glad.

La ansiedad en el corazón del hombre lo deprime, mas la buena palabra lo alegra.

Proverbs 14:13 (ESV)

Even in laughter the heart may ache,

and the end of joy may be grief.

Aun en la risa, el corazón puede tener dolor, y el final de la alegría puede ser tristeza.

Proverbs 15:13 (ESV)

A glad heart makes a cheerful face,

but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.

El corazón gozoso alegra el rostro, pero en la tristeza del corazón se quebranta el espíritu.

Anxiety, laughter, joy, grief, gladness, sorrow, what are all these? Emotions, the heart is the control center of our emotions. Our heart is where we experience our emotions.

What else?

Proverbs 6:18 (ESV)

a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that make haste to run to evil,

un corazón que maquina planes perversos, pies que corren rápidamente hacia el mal,

Proverbs 16:1 (ESV)

The plans of the heart belong to man,

but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

Del hombre son los propósitos del corazón, mas del Señor es la respuesta de la lengua.

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

The heart of man plans his way,

but the Lord establishes his steps.

La mente del hombre planea su camino, pero el Señor dirige sus pasos.

The heart is where we do our planning and where our intentions are, the heart is the control center of our purposes and motivations. As you can see the heart is the control center of who we are, our thoughts, desires, emotions and our purposes and motivations. We can see that the heart is an important part of who we are. Here is the problem, our hearts are corrupted by sin, Jeremiah says,

Jeremiah 17:9–10 (ESV)

The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately sick;

who can understand it?

“I the Lord search the heart

and test the mind,

to give every man according to his ways,

according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Más engañoso que todo, es el corazón, y sin remedio; ¿quién lo comprenderá? 10 Yo, el Señor, escudriño el corazón, pruebo los pensamientos[f], para dar a cada uno según sus caminos, según el fruto de sus obras.

We are born with our hearts sick, we are born with deceitful hearts which lead us away from the Lord because our heart desires sin. This passage tells us the Lord searches the heart, at this moment, as you sit here, the Lord is searching your heart, what is Lord finding as he searches your heart?

When a person turns away from his sin and puts his trust in Jesus for salvation, the Lord transforms us, we become a new creation, a new person. A few weeks ago Alfredo taught us that because of Christ and the New Covenant Jesus establishes, Jesus transforms his followers from the inside out

Hebrews 8:10 (ESV)

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my laws into their minds,

and write them on their hearts,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

Porque este es el pacto que yo haré[a] con la casa de Israel después de aquellos días, dice el Señor: Pondré mis leyes en la mente de ellos, y las escribiré sobre sus corazones. Y yo seré su Dios, y ellos serán mi pueblo.

Jesus through his Spirit, transforms our hearts by changing our desires and writing his word on our hearts. The problem for the believer is that even though we are transformed in this life, we still live in this sin corrupted body and world and our hearts, our thoughts, our desires, our emotions, our motivations can still be deceived and led astray by temptation to sin. The battle cry of the world is to follow your heart, but the proclamation from the Proverbs which has been broadcasted through the centuries is guard your heart.

Based on what we have discovered so far, do you see why the command to guard our hearts is vital for us?

The heart is transformed by grace and the Spirit empowers us with grace driven effort to guard our hearts. Our hearts are impressionable, our hearts can be influenced, directed and guarded. This why the Proverbs tells us to guard our hearts, for the believer we are empowered by the Spirit to guard our hearts with a grace driven effort. In other words we are strengthened by the Spirit, to guard our hearts, the Spirit gives us the strength we need to strengthen our hearts but it does require effort from us, he requires action, requires disciplines of grace.

It is vital that we guard our heart. But the question we need to answer is how, How can we guard our hearts? What disciplines of grace can help us guard our heart?

Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, but it is also a beautiful chapter about the importance of God’s word in the life of those who follow after him. In verse 11 we read,

Psalm 119:11 (ESV)

I have stored up your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you.

En mi corazón he atesorado tu palabra, para no pecar contra ti.

We can guard our hearts by storing up God’s Word in our hearts. The discipline of grace of Bible knowledge. When we store up God’s word in our hearts, we are training the heart to think about God’s word, God’s commands, to think like God thinks, to desire what God desires. God’s word is the ultimate authority and like Hebrews 4: 12 says God’s word like a sword discerns and cuts out our ungodly thoughts, desires, emotions and motivations. When we store up God’s word in our hearts, we God’s word because the ultimate authority in our life and we submit to God when we obey his word. Which is the goal of storing up God’s word in our heart, too many times we focus and studying the Scripture for knowledge, which is important, but the goal of the knowledge of the Scriptures in our hearts is to keep us from sinning against our God.

In Philippians we read,

Philippians 4:4–7 (ESV)

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

4 Regocijaos en el Señor siempre. Otra vez lo diré: ¡Regocijaos! 5 Vuestra bondad sea conocida de todos los hombres. El Señor está cerca. 6 Por nada estéis afanosos; antes bien, en todo, mediante oración y súplica con acción de gracias, sean dadas a conocer vuestras peticiones delante de Dios. 7 Y la paz de Dios, que sobrepasa todo entendimiento[b], guardarávuestros corazones y vuestras mentes en Cristo Jesús.

We can guard our hearts by trusting God in Prayer. Through the discipline of grace known as prayer, we can come to God and express our worries and fears, we can come and make our requests known to God, because he loves and cares for his children. When Jesus was teaching his disciples, he said how many parents give their children a rock when they ask for bread? If humans being evil can give good gifts, how much more will their Father in heaven give us good things to those who ask!

We can guard our hearts by coming to the Lord and making our needs known. We guard our hearts when we uur struggling in our hearts with what we are thinking, or what we are desiring, our our emotions are leading us to sin, or our motivations are wrong, we come to the Lord and seek for grace to continue and bring our hearts under submission to God rule and we trust God to work in our hearts and lives.

On the sermon on the mount Jesus was teaching his followers what it means to follow Jesus, In Matthew 6 Jesus says this,

Matthew 6:19–24 (ESV)

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures 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.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

19 No os acumuléis tesoros en la tierra, donde la polilla y la herrumbre destruyen, y donde ladrones penetran[k] y roban; 20 sino acumulaos tesoros en el cielo, donde ni la polilla ni la herrumbre destruyen, y donde ladrones no penetran ni roban; 21 porque donde esté tu[l] tesoro, allí estará también tu[m] corazón. 22 La lámpara del cuerpo es el ojo; por eso, si tu ojo está sano[n], todo tu cuerpo estará lleno de luz. 23 Pero si tu ojo está malo, todo tu cuerpo estará lleno de oscuridad. Así que, si la luz que hay en ti es oscuridad, ¡cuán grande será la oscuridad!

Let me ask you a question, that we all need to think about, what do you treasure in your heart? What do you value? Jesus tells a parable to us about the eye, he says the eye is the lamp of the body, if your eye is healthy, then everything healthy but if your eye is bad, then your whole body is in darkness. I find it very interesting this parable comes directly after Jesus talks about our heart will be with what we treasure.

What is Jesus trying to say?

Our eyes wander to what we treasure, and we must guard our heart By guarding what we see. we need to be careful what we are watching, on the TV, on Social Media, while we are surfing the web and while we are on our phones. Jesus tells us why,

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

24 Nadie puede servir a dos señores; porque o aborrecerá a uno y amará al otro, o se apegará a uno y despreciará al otro. No podéis servir a Dios y a las riquezas

We guard our heart with the discipline of grace of self-control and controlling what we allow our eyes to see, by treasuring Christ above all. Which is the prayer of Paul to the Ephesian church. Paul prays the Ephesian church

Ephesians 1:18–19 (ESV)

having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

18 Mi oración es que los ojos de vuestro corazón sean iluminados, para que sepáis cuál es la esperanza de su llamamiento, cuáles son las riquezas de la gloria de su herencia en los santos, 19 y cuál es la extraordinaria grandeza de su poder para con nosotros los que creemos, conforme a la eficacia de la fuerza de su poder,

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church, our prayer for FE, is that the eyes of hearts are open to see the beauty of the the grace of God which is given freely to those who repent and trust in Jesus. That we me know the hope of the calling of God in our lives, that we may know and the riches of the glorious inheritance we have in Christ, that we may experience the greatness of God’s power in our lives by guarding our hearts By treasuring Christ above all.

When we treasure Christ above all, we will stor up God’s word in our hearts, we will trust God in Prayer, we will watch what we see because we treasure Christ above all. When we treasure Christ we will Guard our hearts, for from it flows the spring of life.