GUARD YOUR HEART
PROVERBS 4:20-27
I used to watch Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter on TV whenever I got a chance. So many times I thought for sure he would be fatally bitten by a snake, crushed and killed by a crocodile, or mauled to death by some wild beast. It was a shock and surprise to learn how he died. Steve Irwin though facing dangers daily made it a point to be extremely alert and guard his body from any surprise attacks by the animals and things he encountered. The one area that he thought would not be vulnerable turned out to be the most vulnerable. It was not his limbs or head but his heart that was unprotected. The 44-year-old Irwin’s heart was pierced by the serrated, poisonous spine of a stingray. The Word of God instructs us to “Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it spring the issues of life.” In other words, guard your heart above all else for it impacts everything you do.” It is not talking about the physical organ of the heart but is referring to the core of an individual his intellect, emotions, and will.
I. The Significance of the Heart
A. Guarding your heart is more important than anything else you do.
B. Your physical heart determines how and what your body can or cannot do. Likewise your spiritual heart will determine what you will or can do spiritually and eternally.
C. Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as “the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity,” “the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will,” and “the center of a person. The place to which God turns.” - Fan The Flame, J. Stowell, Moody, 1986, p. 13
D. You are what your heart is.
• Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
• Proverbs 27:19 As in water face reflects face, so a man’s heart reveals the man.
E. That is why God says he looks at the heart not the external appearance.
• 1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
F. It is out of our hearts that sin emanates.
• Matthew 15:17 – 19 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies.
• Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
G. It is by believing with the heart that one receives God’s gracious salvation.
• Romans 10:9 - 10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart (believing with the very core of your being) that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
II. The Attack of the Heart
A. Acts 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
B. John 13:2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,
C. There is a war being fought in the world today. – it is a supernatural war fought between God and the devil, between heaven and hell, being fought for your heart.
D. Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
III. The Conditions of the Heart
A. Hardening of the Arteries (Cold Indifference)
1. Hebrews 4:7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
2. Ken Crockett says that when he first enrolled in seminary, he found an apartment room next to a railroad crossing. He wondered why the apartment rent was so cheap—and found out the first night. A train came through in the middle of the night, blasting its horn. It didn’t just wake him up, but also nearly gave him a heart attack! Every night when the train came through, it blew the horn. At first he thought about changing apartments, but then he started getting used to the nightly awakenings. He would wake up for a few seconds, then go right back to sleep. Eventually he got where the train horn didn’t even wake him up. He hardened his heart to the train and couldn’t hear it any more. The same hardening process occurs when God speaks to our hearts and we don’t respond. Eventually, we stop hearing His voice because our hearts have become hard.
3. Proverbs 28:14 Happy is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
B. Heart Murmur (Complaining)
1. Philippians 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings
2. A typical American family was driving home from church one Sunday. Dad was fussing about the sermon being too long and sort of boring. Mom said she thought the organist played too loudly during the second hymn they sang. Sis, who was a Music major in college, said she thought the soloist sang about a half note off key during most of her song. Grandma said she couldn’t hear very well -- since they were sitting toward the back. As they pulled in the driveway, little Willie, who had listened to all of this, started to fuss about the woman who sat in front of him with that big hat. Then he paused, nudged his dad, and said, "But, Dad, you gotta admit, it was a pretty good show for a nickel."
3. John 6:43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves.
4. In Exodus 16 the children of Israel murmured against God. Realize that their grumbling was the result of selective memory (Exodus 16:3). Did they forget that they were also slaves? Grumbling was the result of a lack of vision and faith - they saw only death as the prospect (v.3) Grumbling against God’s appointed leaders was grumbling against God (v.2+8) - copied
5. 1 Corinthians 10:6 – 10 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
C. Congestive Heart Failure (Lethargy)
1. Congestive heart failure is a life-threatening condition in which the heart loses its ability to pump enough blood to the rest of the body. With heart failure, many organs don’t receive enough oxygen and nutrients, which damages them and reduces their ability to function properly.
2. Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
3. 1 Corinthians 12:26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
D. Hypertension (Anger, Super Sensitivity)
1. There are times anger can be justified. Consider the following. A “Do it yourself” catalog firm received the following letter from one of its customers: “I built a birdhouse according to your stupid plans, and not only is it much too big; it keeps blowing out of the tree. Signed, Unhappy. The firm replied: “Dear Unhappy, We’re sorry about the mix-up. We accidentally sent you a sailboat blueprint. But if you think you are unhappy, you should read the letter from the guy who came in last in the yacht club regatta.”
2. Of the 7 deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.
3. Ephesians 4:31 – 32 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
E. Heart Blockage (Stubbornness and Resistance to Holy Spirit)
1. In 1937 architect Frank Lloyd Wright built a house for industrialist Hibbard Johnson. One rainy evening Johnson was entertaining distinguished guests for dinner when the roof began to leak. The water seeped through directly above Johnson himself, dripping steadily onto his bald head. Irate, he called Wright in Phoenix, Arizona. “Frank,” he said, “you built this beautiful house for me and we enjoy it very much. But I have told you the roof leaks, and right now I am with some friends and distinguished guests and it is leaking right on top of my head.” Wright’s reply was heard by all of the guests. “Well, Hib, why don’t you move your chair?”
2. Psalms 81:11 – 12 “But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels.”
3. 2 Timothy 3:8 – 9 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
F. Enlarged Heart (Inflated Egos)
1. Proverbs 28:25 He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the LORD will be prospered.
2. "He is impossible to get along with, because he thinks he’s impossible to get along without,"
3. Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
4. A minister, a Boy Scout, and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot came back to the cabin and said that the plane was going down but there were only three parachutes and four people. The pilot added, "I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wife and three small children." So he took one and jumped. The computer whiz said, "I should have one of the parachutes because I am the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me." So he took one and jumped. The minister turned to the Boy Scout and with a sad smile said, You are young and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, an I’ll go down with the plane." The Boy Scout said, "Relaz, Reverend, the smartest man in the world just picked up my knapsack and jumped out!"
5. Proverbs 16:5 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord…
6. James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Philippians 4:6 – 7 Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus.
Draw close to God through Christ and give Him your heart for safekeeping. Make Him the Supreme object of your hearts affection and He will keep you. Give Him your heart.
Disclaimer: Source material for this sermon has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources whenever possible. Please feel free to use this message as God’s Holy Spirit directs your heart.
