Guard Your Heart

Text: Proverbs 4:23

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23, KJV 1900)

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23, NIV)

Introduction:

Newsmax a few years ago reported that;

Federal regulators say at least 465,000 Americans have pacemakers that are vulnerable to cyber hackers. A pacemaker is a small device doctors surgically implant in a patient’s chest to control abnormal heart rhythms. To avoid repeated surgeries for maintenance, many pacemakers rely on radio frequency technology to make needed adjustments. This is the same technology that opens your garage door when you use a remote. The concern among officials at the FDA is that security loopholes could let hackers gain access to pacemakers, possibly allowing them to change the settings, or worse, turn the devices off altogether.

This began a campaign to find a way to solve the problem. To protect and secure these pacemakers.

While this is extremely important as the pacemakers support and aid the heart - your spiritual heart is just as vulnerable to hack attacks from Satan and temptation.

What do you have in place to guard and keep your heart?

This little fifteen word proverb holds the key.

It is the route to godliness.

The heart is the location of a persons thoughts (their mind) volition (will), and knowledge of right and wrong (conscience). All of these aspects of the heart are extremely sensitive and open to corruption and subject to whatever we allow to influence them.

But its even more than that.

This word heart is used more than 800 times in the Old Testament, but more than 200 times it deals with the thought life, not merely the intelligence, but the emotion, the thought life, the well springs of life, the thing that motivates us and moves us and molds us and makes us. Adrian Rogers, Sermons, (North Palm Beach, FL: Adrian Rogers Foundation, 2011), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Guard Your Thought Life".

The “heart” is used to convey the importance of our thought life.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: ... (Proverbs 23:7, KJV 1900)

I believe it was Thackery who said something like this: "If you sow a thought,... You'll reap a deed. ... if you sow a deed, ...You'll reap a habit. ... if you sow a habit, ... You reap a character. And if you sow a character, you reap a destiny, .... And it all begins…with the thought life. "Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Adrian Rogers, Sermons, (North Palm Beach, FL: Adrian Rogers Foundation, 2011), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Guard Your Thought Life".

Notice that this whole chapter (Prov. 4) is an anatomy of righteousness. The heart is more it is a sum of who we are.

Proverbs 4:1-20 = Ears

Proverbs 4:21-22,25 = Eyes

Proverbs 4:23 = Heart

Proverbs 4:24 = Mouth

Proverbs 4:26-27 = Feet

Michael Hyatt, church leadership coach, wrote in his blog three reasons to guard your heart:

1. Your heart is extremely valuable. We don’t guard worthless things. Every Thursday, I make sure my garbage can is set out on the curb to be emptied out. I don’t worry about it until I notice that it’s empty. I don’t watch to make sure no one messes with it. Why? Because it’s garbage, it’s rubbish, it’s trash. But your heart is the very essence of who you are, the core of your being, where you hold your dreams, desires, and passions.

2. Your heart is the source of everything you do. King Solomon says the springs of life flow from the heart. If you plug a spring, the water stops. If you poison the spring, the water becomes toxic. Not only is the spring impacted, but all of life downstream is affected. It’s the same way with your heart. If your heart’s not healthy, it impacts everything around you- your family, friends, ministry, career, even your legacy.

3. Your heart is under constant attack. King Solomon tells us to guard our hearts because we’re in the middle of a combat zone. Our enemy is bent on our destruction, not only opposed to God, but anything aligned with him, including us.

Two phrases jump off the page when reading this passage, "above all else" and "wellspring of life." To experience the fullness of our faith and partake of the blessings of God, we must recognize the treasure of the heart. "Above all else" communicates priority, and "wellspring of life" communicates a glorious promise. The text identifies guarding your heart as more important than anything else.

So we talked about the importance of guarding your heart. Now I want to talk about how we do that.

The metaphor in our passage tonight is military one. It speaks of two main ways we “keep” or “guard” our heart.

To keep something is to make sure that it doesn't get away Edwin Blum and Jeremy Howard, ed., Holman Study Bible: KJV Edition, (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2012), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Proverbs 4".

So to keep or guard our heart requires:

1. Protection

2. Preparation

1. Protection:

One of the major meanings of the word “keep” or “guard” is to watch over something to have custody of to lookout for. The ESV uses the term “vigilance”

We need to have defense mechanism’s in place to guard our hearts.

As mentioned earlier in electronics we try to use security software -

In homes and cars we use security alarms

We try to find ways to protect things we hold valuable.

Our hearts are extremely valuable as I mentioned earlier.

We must have protection in place to guard or watch over our hearts.

We must be careful what enters through our eyes, thoughts, where we go (either in person or virtually) I love an article Bro. Stephen Height wrote years ago in the Missionary Herald it was entitled, As for Me and My Mouse we Will Serve The Lord.

Some ways:

Commitment - I’m going to do whatever it takes to please God. Taking the proper steps addiction recovery, counseling, added prayer and Bible reading, whatever it takes.

Camaraderie - It is good to have an accountability partner - someone who will walk with you through some of this process.

I was saddened some time ago to learn that a man who had made most of his living off the phrase, “Check your heart” hadn’t been doing that. When the truth came out about the celebrity “Christian” comedian it was a life that had done anything but guard and protect and keep his heart.

Thankfully they have sense said to have repented and made ammends and I praise God that we can do that - But if we will “keep” “guard” protect our hearts - it will save us a great deal of heartache and grief.

This is what the writer of Proverbs is trying to get across.

Your life houses the issues or the fountain of life - and if you poison the source the rest is going to suffer.

Guard and keep your heart by protecting it.

We need to guard against:

critical attitude

Racial and prejudices - especially in light of the recent goings on.

unbiblical and worldly philosophies and behaviors

Whatever would encourage our weaknesses

But its not only by protecting, putting defense mechanism’s in place to protect your heart but it is also in being selective in what you allow in and keep in your heart. In how you prepare your heart.

2. Preparation:

One of the first things the military does when you step onto the boot camp grounds for the first time is to initiate an intensive training program.

My Dad who was drafted during the Vietnam war tells that their training would break them down. He used to tell us that all he had ever been taught was attacked and stripped away so they could rebuild him into what they wanted him to become.

In a sense when we become a Christian we have to unlearn many things - This is a life-long process.

Our personal Bible Study ought to do more than inform us and give us interesting insights - it should be transforming us into Christlikeness. We will have to at times unlearn somethings.

We will have to learn some new things

God made you where you can't think two things at one time. And if you're thinking what's right, you cannot be thinking what's wrong. Isn't that wonderful? So how do you keep from thinking what's wrong? Just think what's right. Now, when he says, "Guard your heart," he says, "Just load up on my Word. Get my Word in here. Keep it in the midst of your heart." Adrian Rogers, Sermons, (North Palm Beach, FL: Adrian Rogers Foundation, 2011), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Guard Your Thought Life".

We will have to take truth in -

A Readers Digest article offered an amusing analysis of some of the dieting trends affecting our culture. The Japanese eat little fat and suffer fewer heart problems than Americans or the British. The French eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the U.S. or Britain. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and have a lower risk of heart problems than their western neighbors. What can we conclude from these facts? You can eat whatever you want, but speaking English will kill you!

Guarding your heart is more about feeding your soul than avoiding sin. When our heart is strong, we are able to resist the temptations that cause many saints to stumble. The book of Proverbs identifies some things to avoid, but it also contains numerous instructions to pursue wisdom, grace, discipline, and life.Guarding our heart means putting wise teachings in and keeping them there. Buying the truth and selling it not.

We should have a steady diet of truth and God’s Word.

What is in there will come out - Jesus understood and taught this:

“A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” (Matthew 12:35, KJV 1900)

We must not allow anything to come into or flow out of our hearts that is not pleasing to God and helpful for spiritual growth. So we guard what we watch, listen to, read, think about and talk about. Donald C. Stamps and J. Wesley Adams, ed., Fire Bible, (Springfield, MO: Life Publishers International, 2009), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Study Notes".

Conclusion:

Nuclear submarines consist of some of the most amazing technology on the planet. These incredible military vessels can stay underwater for ninety days, but every ninety days the submarine must resurface to maintain proper alignment with the North Star. While underwater, the submarine's navigational system is affected by the earth's magnetic forces. Because these submarines carry missiles of mass destruction, they must pay close attention to keeping the navigational equipment aligned to the true reference point of the North Star (Chip Ingram, I Am With You Always, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2002, p.217).

The nuclear submarine provides an excellent picture of our heart. Just as the submarine may have enough physical provisions like food, water, or fuel to survive, it cannot perform at its highest level or complete its mission without maintaining proper alignment with the true reference point. Your heart is the navigational equipment of your life. It must stay aligned with God. By guarding your heart, you stay locked on to God's will and the "wellsprings of life."

Guard and Keep your heart - protect it - prepare it