The Heart matters
Proverbs 4:1-7, 20-27
Introduction-
This sermon prepared from ideas from fellow ministers on SermonCentral
You have heard the terms Black lives matter, White lives matter, police lives matter, Penn Dot road workers lives matter. Until we get to the point that all lives matter, we are playing favorites.
Until we see that we all fall short of the glory of God, we will not get all that God intended for us to live.
When the lives of animals are put parallel to humans, we have missed the mark.
When common sense is thrown out the window, replaced by personal preference, and no absolutes, we put ourselves in great danger.
When God’s Word is lowered to the point of suggestion, or worse, someone’s opinion, we are in danger of self-destruction.
The heart of man matters.
The Bible tell us and I know that to some that doesn’t mean much, but because I do not look at the Bible as suggestions, but very clearly the Word of God to us, the heart of man tells the story of where we are at.
Proverbs 23:7- “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
Jeremiah 17:9- “The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?”
I am going to tell you who knows the heart of man-God does- He knows my heart and He knows your heart, and He knows the heart of mankind without God.
Without God, our hearts are capable of doing horrific things… we see it everyday in the news.
Psalms 51:10- A broken David said to God
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a right Spirit in me.”
He knew that if there was going to be a heart change in man, it had to come from God. It is not something we can fix ourselves.
God tells us to pay attention to what He says. For us it is a matter of not paying attention
Distractions, that we lose focus.
Pleasures that have us take great risks.
Texting while driving believing that because we are better and smarter that nothing will happen to us- warning are for everyone else. For other people.
Illustration-
A car mechanic received a repair order that read; check for clunking sound when going around corners. So he took the car out on a test drive and sure enough, whenever he went round a corner, he heard a clunk. However he quickly located the problem and returned the repair order to the service manage with the notation “removed bowling ball from trunk.”
I am telling you this morning that before it is too late, remove the bowling ball from the trunk of your life.
Danger, Watch your step, Do not enter, Stop signs, slope signs going down hills fast are warnings designed to prevent you from the danger that is ahead.
Running a stop sign and saying that you did not see it to a policemen is not an acceptable excuse. Because not seeing it is your fault, it was clearly out there.
In the book of Proverbs, there are warning signs. Most have not read them. They are made up of wise saying and warnings designed to prevent you from the danger that would be up ahead. Telling God that you did not know will not be an acceptable excuse because the warning was put out to us.
Proverbs Chapter 1- Purpose and theme- “gaining wisdom and instruction.” “Doing what is right and just and fair.”
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise the wisdom and instruction from the Lord.
The Bible makes no apologies- to get true wisdom and knowledge, it is found in God’s Word.
Education is great, I believe in education, but education is not enough. If it was, there would not be so many smart people making dumb mistakes.
Proverbs 4:1-7, 20-27 Read from Bible
The secret to God’s power in your life is having a heart for God.
Since we cannot have a heart for God without God’s help, there are things we can do.
We can realize like David did that God has to create in us a clean heart because we in ourselves do not have a clean heart.
I. Exchanging our heart
By the world’s standard, believers are hypocrites because they say one thing and do another.
“This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”
They say that they are seeking God, but Christianity is far more than head knowledge of Jesus.
“And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.”
Intentionally giving God that heart that is corrupted and far from Him, and allowing Him to create a new heart that desires to have the things of God working in their lives.
True faith in God is not a head thing, it is a heart thing! Watch this!
Romans 10:9-10
“That if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the month confession is made unto salvation.”
God exchanging our heart far from God with a heart that desires God. We profess with our mouth what is truly in our heart. We believe what God has done for us is our salvation.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish that the outside of them may be clean also.”
When we get it backwards, we try to clean the outside and God doesn’t clean the heart, it is noticed by others and we do not live the lives we were intended to live.
II. Guarding our heart
(23) “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
What heart are we talking about here?
Our original heart is one that we will not let anyone in including God. That heart is deceptive and evil.
The heart Solomon is talking about is the heart that God gives you. Realizing that everything you do flows through that heart, we are to protect it at all costs.
Many people think that they are saved and they are not. Why? Because they believe with their head that a loving God would not let anything happen to anyone. THERE IS NO HEART CHANGE.
Many people who are saved live in fear and never live up to the potential that God intends for them. Why? Because God has done a heart change but their head has never allowed them to move out of the past into the present that is in Christ. NO HEAD CHANGE.
God creates a new clean heart and transforms our mind and we are a new creation in Christ.
The heart that has been changed by God and a mind that is brought under the captivity of Christ will be protected by the believer at all cost by the truths of God working in their lives every day.
III. Sharing your heart
Col 3:23
“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not men.”
There comes a time in a person’s journey (different for all people) that they stop trying to find themselves, they stop trying to settle issues and they begin living the life that God intended. They have found peace with God and they begin sharing the goodness of God to others.
Instead of always being rescued, they become a vessel that God can use to rescue others.
They “Take hold of God’s Word” and it becomes a part of their life instead of words on a page.
What God is showing you, it is not only wisdom and knowledge, it becomes action in your life.
Teddy Roosevelt said “There’s never been a person in history that lead a life of ease, whose name is worth remembering” They have learned and they have shared.
A sharing heart is not a heart that has never been hurt, but a heart that desires others to learn before they make the same mistakes.
Winding this down,
You will have to pay the price- it will cost you something…time, energy, maybe money, and having to lay your heart out there so others can see what God has done with you.
Closing,
The Lord has a lot to say about the heart. It is the window to the soul. Your heart will let you know if things are right between you and the Lord. He will let you know what is needed to make it right if it is not.
We must exchange that hardened heart and let God create in us a clean heart
We have to guard that God given heart with everything we can to preserve what God is doing.
Share that heart, by telling others what God has done and putting our faith into action. Faith without action is dead.
What do you say this morning, because the heart matters.
