HOW ABOUT YOUR HEART?

Text: Prov 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Intro: Consider the heart, the physical organ -
Physician, William Harvey, discovered the heart’s function in the circulation of blood in the year 1628. Solomon knew it all along. It took another 150 years and many deaths from bleeding the sick patient (including George Washington) to learn what God had told to Moses, thousands of years earlier,
Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Encyclopedia: “Life, itself depends upon the circulation of blood in a continuous stream which begins eight months before birth and ends only with death”
Even the dietary laws of Israel were ‘heart smart’. The fat (of offerings) was to be burned, not eaten.
Pro 14:30 A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

The bible also refers to the heart as the seat of man’s emotions and understanding; his very essence.
A. There is emotional stability when God is in control.
Psa 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

B. This is a part of man which doesn’t die.
Psa 22:26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.

C. We must have quietness (Tranquility from within)
2 Thess 3:12; Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
Prov 15:13; A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Prov 17:1 Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.

II Consider the heart of the lost man in his relationship with God
A. It is far from God
Mat 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

B. It is a fountain of evil
Mat 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies

C. Man is impotent to change it
Jer 13:22, And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
Acts 8:22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

III Consider the heart of the child of God
A. It must begin with a broken heart because of sin
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise
God makes the difference
Psa 51:10; Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Ezek 11:19; And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Ezek 36:26; A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

B. Even the saved can have (spiritual ) heart trouble.
1. Consider Paul’s heaviness of heart because of Israel’s lost condition
2. Peter’s denial of the Lord caused him to weep bitterly.

C. God CAN make the backslider rejoice; (After repentance)
Psa 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

D. A right heart is a source of blessing
Deut 5:29 O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

Conclusion: How about YOUR heart?
Does it condemn you?
I John 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

Confidence before God means communing without fear! Can you do this?