Heart Issues: Text: (Proverbs 4:20-27)

Intro: The Heart and it’s function -: The human heart beats 100,000 times a day. In the average life of a human (70 years). The heart will beat 2,555,000,00 times (2 billion 555 million times). This marvelous machine will beat and beat and beat regardless of the situations surrounding it. It beats through the storm, through the laughter, through the pain, through joys and triumphs. Through bad choices and good. It beats humbly and faithfully. The physical heart is the engine of the body. If it develops problems then the whole body suffers. If it ceases to beat the body dies.

Just as the physical heart is the engine of the body, so is the spiritual heart the engine of the soul.

John Piper said this of the heart :

““When the Bible uses the term heart, it means the causal core of your personhood. The heart is your directional system. The heart is your steering wheel. Your behavior isn’t caused by the situations and relationships outside of you. This passage teaches that your experiences influence, but do not determine, your behavior. Your behavior is shaped and caused by how your heart reacts to and interacts with the situations and relationships that are outside of you.”

It would do us well to understand the make up of the human heart. Man’s heart, as revealed throughout Scripture, is a composition of all the parts of the soul as well as of the primary part of the spirit, namely the conscience. It may strike the reader as odd to hear that the heart is not a separate and distinct component of man, but rather a composition of several other parts. Nevertheless, the Bible clearly indicates, as outlined below, that all three components of the soul–the mind, will, and emotion–also comprise the heart, together with the leading part of the spirit–the conscience.

In order to see that the mind is a part of the heart, we must read Genesis 6:5:

“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Furthermore, as Matthew 9:4 reports:

“And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?”

Both “thoughts” and “thinking” relate to the mind, evidence that the mind, as a part of the soul, is simultaneously a part of the heart.

To identify the will as pertaining to the heart, we must consult Acts 11:23:

“Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.”

In addition, the second half of Hebrews 4:12 speaks of the Word’s ability to discern, “the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Both “purpose” and “intentions” are functions of the will, indicating that the will, likewise, is part of the heart.

Several other portions of the Word prove that the emotion is part of the heart. In John 16:6, the Lord tells His disciples, “But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.” Later in that same chapter, the Lord continues, “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” Since sorrow and rejoicing, which are human emotions, are so evidently linked here to the heart, we can say that man’s emotional faculty is also part of the heart. The scriptural references cited in the above three paragraphs clearly demonstrate that the soul with its three parts (mind, will, and emotion) is a key component of the heart.

Finally, the Word makes it clear that the leading part of the spirit (the conscience) is also integrally related to the heart. Hebrews 10:22 strongly links these two:

“Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.”

Additionally, 1 John 3:20 warns:

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”

Blame and condemnation are the primary functions of the conscience, further proof that our conscience is part of our heart. In summary, it is the conscience, along with the three parts of the soul that compose man’s heart.

Yet it is not enough to simply know what the heart is and its functions. We must be able to understand and judge the position of our hearts. This can only be done by God. Many people will say well you don't know my heart when they do something that seemingly has no logical explanation. Or they will say things like well no one knows their heart when sin is being practiced by a family member or loved one and they are looking for an excuse for that sin. I must whole heartedly agree I don't know their heart, the Bible tells me only God does. This same Bible tells me not only do I not know their heart but they don't know their own heart.

Jeremiah 17:9-10

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."

This heart can only be discerned through close contact with God and by laying it next to the just measuring stick of God's word.

There has been a false thought that has permeated the church in these last days. It is the thought that feeling determines behavior, however the Bible teaches that belief determines behavior. The Bible mentions feeling only 2 times in the scripture. In Hebrews 4:15 our feelings give us hope for the bible says that our high priest is touched by them. The second reference is in Ephesians 4:19 and it deals with man being past feeling.

(Ephesians 4:17-19)

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness."

The world has confused the order of how God deals with man’s heart. All feeling, all belief, and all behaviors begin with the mind.

Look at how this works:

1.) Mind (information enters in and we grasp and compute, here we decide to believe or disbelieve).

2.) Will (whatever we believe or grasp will dictate what we allow and don’t allow).

3.) Emotion (will be directly dictated by what we lend our minds to).

4.) Conscience (is only as good as what is in your mind, your beliefs when violated send emotions to the conscience that dictate whether you feel clean or whether you feel condemned).

In each of these first three it is possible for one to be stronger than the other. Some are more thought oriented, some are stronger willed, some are more emotional whichever it is they are still all dictated by the way that we think!!!

No wonder the Lord commanded us to keep our hearts with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.

Problems that the heart has:

1.) Coronary Heart disease (This is caused when the heart’s blood vessels - the coronary arteries - become narrowed or blocked and can’t supply enough blood to the heart.)

2.) Angina (Angina is a pain or discomfort in your chest, arm, neck, stomach or jaw that happens when the blood supply to your heart becomes restricted because of your arteries becoming narrowed.)

3.) Unstable Angina (Unstable angina can be undiagnosed chest pain or a sudden worsening of existing angina. It happens when the blood supply to the heart is severely restricted and angina attacks occur more frequently, with less and less activity.)

4.) Heart attack (also known as myocardial infarction or MI - happens when the blood supply to part of your heart muscle becomes completely blocked. This is most commonly caused by a piece of fatty material breaking off and a blood clot forms within a coronary artery. This can cause damage to the part of your heart muscle which that particular coronary artery was supplying.)

5.) Heart failure (If the heart’s pumping action can’t work effectively, your heart muscle can’t meet your body’s demand for blood and oxygen, and your body develops various different symptoms, like fatigue and shortness of breath. This is called heart failure because of the failure of your heart to work efficiently.)

6.) Arrhythmia (The heart muscle has its own electrical system which helps to stimulate the heartbeat. If the electrical signals within your heart are interrupted or disturbed, your heart can beat too quickly (tachycardia), too slowly (bradycardia) and/or in an irregular way. This is called an arrhythmia.)

7.) Valve disease (The valves open and close to regulate the flow of blood through the heart. Problems with the valves can increase the workload of your heart and can put a strain on your heart muscle, leading to a range of symptoms, like:

shortness of breath swollen ankles fatigue chest pain (angina or palpitations)dizziness or fainting.)

These are some of the natural problems with the heart. Yet there are also problems in the spiritual heart that if not dealt with will lead to spiritual death.

1.) The devious heart:

The word devious is not one that is used often today but it’s definition gives us an excellent picture of many hearts today.

Devious “wandering, roundabout a devious path. b : moving without a fixed course : errant devious breezes. 2 : out-of-the-way, remote upon devious coasts. 3: deviating from a right, accepted, or common course devious conduct.”

This pre disposition to be devious is why we cannot trust our hearts.

(Jeremiah 17:9-10)

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

2.) The double heart:

Judas heard the very voice of God, kissed the door of heaven and went to hell.

3.) The dissatisfied heart:

Everything was in the prodigals house but it looked better far away.

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