WEBVTT 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:07.759 I want you to think through uh an all-too common scenario with me. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:09.519 We've got two people. 00:00:10.240 --> 00:00:18.000 They are both in traffic on their way to a destination of some sort of urgency. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:20.719 I mean, every destination that we go to we feel is urgent, right? 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:22.320 When we're in traffic. 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:35.200 So they're on their way towards a destination with a sense of urgency, but they're in traffic, and both of them somehow simultaneously get cut off right in the middle of traffic. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:40.719 Someone pulls up right in front of them, cuts them off, makes them slam on the brakes. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:46.240 We have two people with two different responses. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:56.000 One response is by someone, the first person who lays on the horn to let that person know that they've been wronged. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:05.200 They lay on the horn, they scream inside the car, and an hour later, they're still fuming. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:06.799 They're angry. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:13.519 And everyone with an ear is told all about their pain from being cut off in traffic. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.079 Now, the second person, same thing's happened. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:33.040 Someone cuts them off, but instead of laying on the horn, instead of crying out and being angry and being frustrated hours later, they stop, they gather themselves, and quietly they say out loud, Lord, help me. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:37.920 And they let it go by the very next light. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:45.200 Two people, same situation, two very different outcomes. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:48.799 The question is, what is the difference? 00:01:49.120 --> 00:02:04.560 Or perhaps better, better asked, why does one person respond with such anger and vitriol when another person responds with such patience and even extending forgiveness to some person they don't know that cut them off in traffic? 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:15.520 Well, here's how Jesus answers that question in Luke 6 45, Jesus says, Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:35.680 So as Jesus kind of gives us some clues to understanding why there's two different responses to the very same situation, he tells us that whatever comes out of us, whatever comes out of our hearts under pressure, in fact was always there before the pressure ever arrived. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:45.520 Jesus tells us that the heart is the reason why person A responded so poorly and person B responded so well. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:49.039 Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:57.439 And what we're gonna see today in scripture, as we start in Proverbs, is that the heart isn't a bystander that things happen to. 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:11.039 The heart isn't a bystander, it's always active, it's always interpreting, it's always producing and leading towards something, which means the real question is what happens to you? 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:13.520 That's often what we think about. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:19.520 The question is, what does your response reveal about the condition of your heart? 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:32.000 What does your response reveal about what you love, what you believe, and ultimately what you want, what you consider valuable, and what you dedicate yourself towards pursuing. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:35.759 Because here's what Proverbs 20, verse 5 tells us. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:41.520 Oftentimes, as we think about what's going on in our own hearts, there's a sense of ambiguity that we can feel. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:43.520 There's a sense of maybe even feeling lost. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:45.520 I don't know what's going on in my own heart. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:47.680 I don't know why I feel the way that I feel. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:49.680 I don't know why I responded that way. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:51.280 I don't know why I was so angry. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:54.400 I recognize that was unreasonable, but I don't know why. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:01.039 Well, Proverbs 20, verse 5 tells us the purpose in a man's heart is like deep water. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:05.039 It's deep, it's a lot to wade into. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:11.919 It can feel dark, it can feel mysterious, it can feel unknown, uncertain, unexplored, even. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:13.439 Proverbs 20, verse 5. 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:21.360 The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:25.040 And that's my hope for you today as we look at Proverbs 423. 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:37.199 My hope is that we can get a biblical theology on what your heart is and equip you to be the person that has understanding to draw out the purposes of your heart. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:54.000 And when you find yourself responding to certain situations or circumstances, I want you to be able to evaluate that biblically and critically through the lens of scripture to know what's going on in your heart that's leading to the overflow that's coming out of your mouth or your action. 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:56.480 So if you got your Bibles, go to Proverbs 4. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:10.800 We're really keying in on one specific verse, but I want us to see, even just broader from the scriptures, what the heart is and why it's important for us to do what Proverbs 4.23 is telling us and encouraging us to do. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:17.839 So here's what it says our verse, Proverbs 4.23, keep your heart with all vigilance. 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:24.319 For from it, from your heart flow the springs of life. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:25.759 Now that's just one verse. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:30.560 So let's kind of back up and zoom out to the context of chapter four as a whole. 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:39.920 Proverbs chapter four is a father giving his son instructions, a bunch of reminders, a bunch of things for him to remember, uh, to keep, to hold fast to. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.160 So if you're in your Bibles, Proverbs 4, back up to verse 4. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:48.879 This is the first occasion in this chapter where we see the heart referenced. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:56.160 The father says to the son, verse 4, let your heart hold fast my words. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:00.639 Son, keep my commandments and live. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:05.439 So in this pleading with his son, he's appealing to his heart. 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:11.279 Keep your heart, let your heart hold fast, my son, is what he says. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:12.800 Let's skip down to verse 21. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:15.519 Here's the second occurrence of this word heart. 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:22.800 It says, Let them, these teachings, this wisdom that's being passed down, let them not escape from your sight. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:29.279 Hold on to them, keep them close, keep them within your heart. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:38.160 Then, of course, in our verse, verse 23, keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:42.399 Now you think about what we talked about last week, Proverbs 3, verses 5, 6, 7, and 8. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.720 We talked about we are to trust in the Lord with all our what? 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:48.480 With all of our heart. 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:54.000 All throughout the scriptures, all throughout the Proverbs, the heart is mentioned again and again and again. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:56.879 My son, let your heart hold fast my words. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:58.160 Let them not escape you. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:06:59.279 Keep them within your heart. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:03.759 Verse 23, keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:06.720 Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:09.439 Now, today's gonna be a little bit different of a sermon. 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:13.439 It's you know, sometimes you've heard you hear people say learmans, where it's a lecture and a sermon. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:23.040 That's kind of what we're doing today, because I want to give you a biblical theology of what your heart is and help you understand how to do Proverbs 423. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:26.319 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:34.959 So, to do that, we're gonna walk through three different questions that I believe are gonna help us to think through this biblically and hopefully clearly. 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:38.079 Question number one: what is your heart? 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:42.560 Now that may seem like a basic, maybe even foolish question, but we need to start. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:47.360 If we're gonna guard it, if we're gonna keep it, if we're gonna treasure things in our heart, we gotta know what it is. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:52.240 We gotta understand what our hearts are, biblically speaking. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:56.720 Okay, of course, I'm not saying uh the thing in your chest that's pumping the blood through your body right now. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:07:57.920 We know what that is, right? 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.639 We got the chambers and the aortic valve and all that kind of stuff. 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:01.199 You know that. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.839 But what is your spiritual heart, biblically speaking? 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:07.519 Well, there's a definition for you on the screen that I think will be helpful. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:09.759 This is by a professor of mine from seminary. 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:10.879 His name is Robert Jones. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:14.160 He's uh helpful and influential in the biblical counseling world. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:19.920 He's written books like uh uprooting anger, he's written books like pursuing peace, uh, things like that. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:23.360 And he talks often, teaches often on the heart. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:25.120 So here's his definition that I think is helpful. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.519 There's a lot of things in here, so buckle up. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:42.240 In scripture, the heart is now notice is the intellectual, moral, spiritual, and emotional seat and control center of the entire inner person. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:43.759 Now, just those categories. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:45.360 We have inner man, outer man. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:47.120 Those are categories in the scripture. 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:52.000 Uh, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:53.200 That's a biblical category. 00:08:53.360 --> 00:09:01.279 Your outer self, I think your physical body that does waste away, that does break down, that does get sick, that does fail. 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:08.320 Your outer self may be wasting away, but if you are in Christ, you can have hope that your inner self can be renewed day by day. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:11.519 So this is an inner person, an inner man category. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:16.480 We're talking about the heart, which is not again the organ, that would be the outer man, the physical. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:17.600 This is the spiritual. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:38.639 So it's the the heart is the intellectual, moral, spiritual, and emotional seat and control center of the entire inner person, what rules, drives, and controls us, and includes our beliefs, motives, desires, emotions, affections, feelings, memories, will, intentions, and more, especially in relationship to God. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:40.399 Now that's a lot of things. 00:09:40.639 --> 00:09:44.480 But biblically speaking, this is what is attributed to the heart. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:55.120 All of these things feelings, memories, your will, your intentions, and all of this, of course, aimed at and in relation to your relationship to God. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:10:05.519 Now, to kind of break this down, I want to give you three categories to think through what's going on in your heart, or at least how your heart functions, so that you can have a better idea of how to guard it. 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:07.919 Because that's where we're going from Proverbs 4:23. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:11.919 So, three categories of what your heart does and how it functions. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:16.559 The first one is very simple is you your heart thinks. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:18.399 You have a thinking heart. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.879 So you could put this in one word cognition. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:30.799 Your heart includes within it cognition, your heart thinks, the heart knows, believes, reasons, interprets, and remembers. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:40.639 Now, I'm gonna show you some scripture in a second, but you need to recognize that there's multiple things, this sort of threefold diagram, as it were, of your heart from the scriptures that we're gonna see. 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:48.960 And the first one is a thinking heart, your heart thinks, which by the way, doesn't that uh make sense of what the father is saying to the son in Proverbs 4? 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:55.679 Let your heart hold fast, keep the teachings that I'm giving you, my son, within your heart. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:57.279 How do you do that if you can't think? 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:03.919 If there's no cognitive component to your heart, so we see that there is a thinking aspect. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:08.000 Now, this is what Jesus says in Matthew 9, verse 4. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:15.039 So this is the story where Jesus heals the paralytic, and the Pharisees are not happy about it, they're upset with him. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:21.840 Now, before they even have a chance to say anything, Jesus knows what's in their heart, and he knows what they're thinking. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:22.960 So that's what we're picking up. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:34.159 Matthew 9, verse 4 says, But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, Why do you notice this, why do you think evil in your hearts? 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:35.759 is what Jesus says. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:37.279 Why do you think evil? 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:43.120 Now we often associate thinking with our minds, which sometimes mind and heart in the scriptures are actually used interchangeably. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:48.799 But Jesus locates that spiritually speaking, the inner person, the inner man, in our hearts. 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:54.159 Why do you think evil in your hearts, Jesus says? 00:11:54.320 --> 00:12:02.480 Even in Matthew 15, verse 19, this is when the Pharisees are upset with Jesus' disciples because they did not wash their hands before they ate. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:04.240 Very familiar with that story. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:08.240 So they're basically like, Why do they not follow the traditions of the elders? 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:15.200 And that's where Jesus tells them, you have a fine way of ignoring the commandments of God to establish the traditions of men. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:17.519 But here's what he says in Matthew 15, verse 19. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:23.440 For out of the heart come evil thoughts. 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:32.080 Again, Jesus in Matthew 9 and Matthew 15 locates thoughts within the heart, within the framework of the heart. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:34.480 He says, For out of the heart come evil thoughts. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:40.960 Then he goes on and gives other categories murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:44.639 Now we'll come back to those other categories in a little bit, but I want you to succeed. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:46.799 We're just doing a brief survey here. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:53.279 But Jesus himself teaches that within your heart, spiritually speaking, the inner man, there is a thinking component. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:59.759 You have a heart that thinks, you have a heart that is capable of evil thoughts and evil thinking, according to Jesus. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:01.840 Why do you think evil in your hearts? 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:05.200 For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, Jesus says. 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:11.120 And that gets us again going in this direction of this threefold kind of functioning heart, which the first is thinking. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:14.799 We have a cog cognitive aspect to our hearts. 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:15.759 Here's the second one. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:16.960 We have a feeling heart. 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:18.480 Now, this is kind of what we think of. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:24.240 We think of the movies, we think of the songs, we think of uh romance and date nights. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:24.639 I don't know. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:28.080 We we think of feelings when it when it comes to our hearts. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:32.799 We've got songs like Don't Break My Achy Breaking Heart, like things like that. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:33.600 Right? 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:35.120 The feeling heart. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:38.399 You could, if you want to summarize that in one word, it's affection. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:41.279 So the first word was cognition, the second is affection. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:48.960 We have a heart that feels, we have a heart that desires, that values, and that feels across the full emotional spectrum. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:14:00.000 Which is why, by the way, when we're talking about the two people that are getting cut off in traffic, the first person is feeling big feelings, and they are yelling and they're frustrated, and they're all in their heart, right? 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:05.200 Their heart desires, their heart values, and they feel across the full emotional spectrum. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:06.399 Now, again, don't take my word for this. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:10.639 I want you to see from Jesus' mouth himself, this is how he categorizes the heart. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:14.639 In Matthew 5, verse 28, Jesus is talking about different commands. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:18.480 He's teaching about how he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.799 Here's what he says in Matthew 5, 28. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:22.320 He's talking about adultery. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:32.960 He says, But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:45.840 So Jesus connects a certain kind of desire, a certain kind of feeling, if it were, if you will, uh, to the heart, and ultimately to a sinful response of lust. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:51.440 But he says, if you look at a woman with lustful intent in your heart, he has already committed adultery with her heart. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:54.639 So there's a there's an affection, there's a longing. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:58.799 Of course, in this case, it's sinful, but nevertheless, it's it's a sort of feeling. 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:01.440 It's more than that, uh, but it's included within that. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:10.720 Even Jesus in John chapter 14, verse 1, you remember when he tells the disciples that he's gonna leave and he's gonna send the helper, and it's gonna be better that he leaves. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:12.559 And the disciples are like, Why? 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:13.840 Why would that be better? 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:15.919 Uh we want you here, and they're all upset. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:17.600 And so Jesus is trying to comfort them. 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:22.399 John 14, 1 says, Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:31.440 So he locates anxiety, fear, uncertainty, those emotions that we can worry, those emotions that we often feel, he locates them within the heart. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:34.480 Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:38.960 Believe in God, believe also in me. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:44.320 So we have a cognitive heart, a thinking heart, we have an affective heart, a feeling heart. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:16:01.679 Here's the third category we have a volitional heart, or to put it another way, we have a heart that has intentions, a heart that's aimed at certain things, that has a will that decides and commits. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:04.159 In a sense, this is the seat of the will. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:09.440 Now, I want you to just, if you get nothing else, because there's a long definition, and you know, we've been talking about a lot of things. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:14.000 I want you to understand that your heart is the seat of your will. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:18.720 It's the center of your affections, it's the control center of who you are. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:20.080 Think of it that way. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:23.679 The heart is the control center of who you are, biblically speaking. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:29.440 It's cognitive, thinking, it's affective, it's feeling, it's volitional, it there's intentions, there's a will. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.840 The heart intends, it decides, it commits. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:33.120 It's the seat of the will. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:41.120 Now, hopefully, this is familiar to some of you who have been with us in our study of the book of Hebrews, because Hebrews 4 12 says this exact thing. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:55.440 It says the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:17:00.480 So, biblically speaking, your heart has intentions, it has a will, it makes decisions. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:03.919 Of course, it's it's you, and it's not some separate thing, but it's you. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:08.240 But within your heart, the inner person, there is a volitional aspect. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:28.799 You decide, you pursue, you commit, which is why the author of Hebrews in Hebrews 4:12 says, the word of God is so central in the life of believers because it cuts through all the noise and it discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart, which is why, by the way, that David can pray, Lord, search me and know my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:34.480 Because David understood that the feelings, the thinking, and the willing were located in his heart. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:38.559 And so he prayed for the Lord to help him, the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:51.359 Even Paul in Ephesians 6, verse 5, when he's giving instructions to bondservants and how they are to interact with their masters, he says, Obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:55.920 So they are to commit to a certain kind of work in a certain kind of way, and how are they to do it? 00:17:56.079 --> 00:17:57.200 With a sincere heart. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:00.000 Their commitment is located according to Paul in their heart. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:01.839 So there's a volitional aspect to it. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:02.480 There's a will. 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:07.759 So we have thinking, a cognition, feeling, uh, affection, and willing, volition. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:13.839 All of those three things make up the totality of your heart, which is the control center of who you are. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:15.519 This is what we see. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:21.519 Now, all of these three things, they're not separate, they're not three different categories that are loosely kind of floating out there. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.240 They're all uh interdependent on one another. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:25.519 You can't really separate them. 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:28.799 Uh, and and when they're integrated, they're they're typically aimed. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:31.920 This is how you're designed towards worship. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:38.000 You were designed and created to worship, which, even if people don't worship God, they're worshiping something. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:51.039 And your heart, cognition, affection, involition is always aimed, it's integrated and aimed towards worshiping something, whether it's yourself, whether it's false idols, false gods, or it's the one true God, you're aimed at worshiping something. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:53.519 So that's kind of the purpose of this threefold heart. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:55.759 Think about it in your relationship with God. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:02.799 Cognitively, you are commanded by scripture to believe in God's word, to know God's truth. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:05.200 We talked about that in Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:09.440 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and instruction. 00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:17.359 So when you in when it comes to your relationship with God, cognitively, thinking, you believe God's word, you hold it as truth. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:24.480 Now, effectively, you value, you grow in loving what God loves. 00:19:24.640 --> 00:19:26.640 You grow in valuing what God values. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:33.200 That's if you're worshiping Him, if you're being conformed greater into the image of Christ, you love what God loves, you hate what God hates. 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:34.880 That's what we have talked about before. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:40.079 So we have a thinking, we believe God's word, we have a feeling, we value what God values, we love what he loves. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:46.559 Even the the great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.599 That's the affective part of who you are. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.640 And you are to value and love what God values and loves. 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:58.240 Now, volitionally, you are to submit to choices that are in accordance to God's will. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:03.440 If you're worshiping God, you are to submit to God's will for your life. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:04.480 God is in charge. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:06.160 Like that's how we even defined wisdom. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:08.240 It's skilled living in God's created order. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.119 God has an order, He has a purpose, He has a design. 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:14.400 You in your hearts are to submit to that. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:15.519 That's volition. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:18.160 You submit to it, you commit to it. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:28.160 So in your worship of God, cognitively, you believe what God's word says, affectively, you value what God values, and volitionally, you submit choices to God's will. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:29.519 That is your heart. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:33.519 It is the control center of who you are. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:41.839 And we'll get into this in the second question, uh, which is this question number two Why should you guard your heart? 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:48.640 Of course, Proverbs 4.23 tells us to keep our heart with all vigilance. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:50.480 But why should you do that? 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:52.559 Why is that so important? 00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:57.519 Why would that be a command, an explicit command there in Proverbs 4 23? 00:20:57.680 --> 00:20:59.839 Well, the answer is in the second part of the verse. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:01.920 If you got your Bibles, look there. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:04.240 It says, keep your heart. 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:05.279 That's the command. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:08.160 Here's the by the way, the manner in which you are to do this. 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:12.000 Keep your heart with all vigilance. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:13.680 So you do it in a specific way. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:20.000 Do you hear the sort of uh you're on guard, you're alert, you're the watchman on the wall, as it were. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:22.480 Keep your heart with all vigilance. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:28.319 This is important, this is something you ought to think about, commit time to, keep your heart with all vigilance. 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:29.039 Why? 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:37.359 Because from it flow the springs of life, or some translations say it is the wellspring of life. 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:46.640 Keep your heart, guard it with all vigilance, with attention, with a sense of commitment, because from it flow the springs of life. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:48.400 It's the wellspring of life. 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:49.839 Now, what does that mean? 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.359 Well, springs of life. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:58.079 Think about it this way it's the source or the fount of which everything else flows. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:59.759 That's that's the picture that probably. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:00.960 Is giving us. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:08.079 So who you are, according to the scriptures, Proverbs 423 and other places, flows from your heart. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.559 Who you are flows from your heart. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.640 That's why we've defined it as the control center of who you are, the inner man. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:16.319 So who you are flows from your heart. 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:37.519 So that's why Proverbs 423 says, keep it, guard it, be mindful of it, because it's the source, it's the founts of who you are, what you do, the fruit, the the external things that you do, the external ways that you speak, even the internal thoughts that you have, all of it flows downstream from your heart. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:38.720 That's important. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:47.359 If it affects everything that you are, and everything that you do, which is what scripture says, you ought to keep it, you ought to guard it with all the vigilance. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:50.400 This is what Proverbs 27:19 says. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:51.680 This is how it defines it. 00:22:51.759 --> 00:22:52.319 Write that verse down. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:54.079 Proverbs 27, 19. 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:56.319 That's a helpful verse to think about. 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:01.599 Because it says, as in water, face reflects face. 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:06.400 So the heart of man reflects the man. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:08.720 You hear that analogy? 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.279 As in water, face reflects face. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:13.680 I look in the water, I see my face. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:15.759 I see what I look like, I see who I am. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.640 I look in the mirror, I see what I look like. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:20.720 As in water, face reflects face. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:23.359 So the heart of man reflects the man. 00:23:23.519 --> 00:23:27.599 Your heart shows who you are, it reveals who you are. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:36.319 And according to the Bible, the answer to who you really are and why you really do, what you do, can be found in your heart. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:39.039 That's the answer that scripture gives us. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:43.920 Now we can struggle with this because we often blame our environment. 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:46.720 We often blame our upbringing. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:52.240 We often blame the things that have happened to us in our lives, the circumstances that we find ourselves in. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.480 We blame other people for their frustrating roles in our lives. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:59.279 We blame the people who cut us off in traffic. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:04.559 We blame everyone for why we do what we do, why we say what we say. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:07.200 The Bible will have none of it. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:15.200 The Bible says, Proverbs 27, 19, the heart of a man reflects the man. 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:21.759 So what you see, what you say, what you do is a reflection of who you are in your heart. 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:25.920 That threefold aspect of your heart, thinking, feeling, doing, volition. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:29.039 That is who you are according to the scriptures. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:31.599 Now, Jesus Himself teaches this. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:35.440 Matthew 15, 18 through 19. 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:37.680 Again, we often like to blame our environment. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:45.039 We like to bring our up, we like to blame our upbringing, the circumstances of our childhood, the hardships that we've endured. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:47.200 Now, I'm not being dismissive of those things. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:48.880 They have their place, they matter. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:52.799 You should think about them, you should prayerfully think biblically about them. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:56.160 But according to the scriptures, those are not who you are. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:01.599 They can certainly have an influence on who you are, but who you are is located in your heart. 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:03.039 That's what Jesus tells us. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:07.920 Matthew 15, 18 through 19, Jesus says, and he's rebuking the Pharisees. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:17.519 You have a fine way of establishing the traditions of men, and he teaches them, but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from where? 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:19.119 The heart. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:20.319 This is Jesus. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:20.960 This is our Lord. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:26.400 He says, What comes out of your mouth has a direct connection to what's in your heart. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:28.079 That's the reality of it. 00:25:28.319 --> 00:25:31.039 What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:34.640 And this, what comes out, defiles a person. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:37.839 Even later on, I'm thinking of the gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 7. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.920 Same situation, different gospel. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:47.920 But he talks about food and food being unclean, and he says it's not what goes into a person that defiles them, it's what comes out of a person. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:52.880 Because out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:54.559 Even in verse 19. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:58.319 For out of the heart comes, this is what we already read, evil thoughts. 00:25:58.400 --> 00:25:59.279 There's the thinking. 00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:01.519 Out of the heart comes evil thoughts. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:09.519 Murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:17.279 All of those things, all of those categories of sins and thoughts and feelings and pursuits, wronging of others. 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:20.240 Flow from your heart, Jesus says. 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:22.559 Because your heart is who you are. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:25.519 Your heart reveals what's truly inside. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:27.759 What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.000 And this defiles a person. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:38.720 For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:41.440 So why should you guard your heart? 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:46.880 Because out of the heart or out of the mouth comes what's in the heart. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:49.039 You should keep your heart. 00:26:49.279 --> 00:26:50.640 You should think about it. 00:26:50.799 --> 00:27:03.119 You should cultivate it by God's grace, by God's Spirit, through God's word, because you recognize that your heart will lead to words and actions that reveal who you really are. 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:05.119 And you can't avoid that. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:06.720 And you can't blame your circumstances. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:08.079 You can't blame your environment. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:17.680 Person one in the car that yells and is angry and responds frustratingly to being cut off in traffic can't blame the person who cut them off in traffic for responding in a sinful way. 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:19.440 The Bible says, no, no, no, no. 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:30.960 Certainly they they had a role that that provoked you or tempted you towards anger, but there was something in your heart that made its way out of your mouth, not externally, but internally. 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:36.880 Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:40.960 And this is why Proverbs 4.23 says, keep it guarded. 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:43.200 It's the wellspring of life. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:45.279 It's the springs of life. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:52.079 Your heart is the central governing control center of who you are. 00:27:52.240 --> 00:28:02.480 And downstream, you see your thoughts, you see your words, you see your actions, because it all of that flows from who you are, which is located in your heart. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:04.400 So I guess this is the third question. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:07.920 That's what our heart is, the control center, the governing center of who we are. 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:16.480 If we were to keep it, because it reveals that and it shows us truly what's in our heart, and it's not what goes in, but it's what comes out that defiles us. 00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:19.440 Well, here's the third question: How do you do that? 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:23.920 How do you guard your heart with vigilance? 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:25.680 This is an important question. 00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:28.640 This is really the the crux of the sermon. 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:32.160 How do you do Proverbs 423? 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:35.519 Because again, our perspective is Proverbs 25. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:40.000 The heart of a man is or the purpose in man's heart is deep waters. 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:43.839 It feels mysterious, it feels unknown, it feels unknowable. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:44.960 It's hard. 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:46.000 You've said that. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:46.799 I know you have. 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:48.400 I don't know why I feel the way that I feel. 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:50.319 I don't know why I did what I did. 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:55.119 Well, we want to know, and we can know a man of understanding will draw it out. 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:56.400 So we got to know how to guard it. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:57.599 We got to know how to keep it. 00:28:57.680 --> 00:28:59.440 How do you guard your heart with vigilance? 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:02.480 Let me give you a couple things to think through when it comes to this. 00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:13.519 If you're going to do this successfully, if you're going to obey Proverbs 4, verse 23, I would say first, you need to humbly accept the Bible's diagnosis of your heart. 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:15.920 Because some of you might be struggling right now. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.359 When I'm saying it's not the circumstances, it's not the pain that you've experienced, it's not the hurt that you've endured. 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:25.599 Uh, you probably have a hard time with that reality. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:27.359 And again, I'm not dismissing those. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:29.039 Those we we can we need to talk about those. 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:30.480 We need to think about those biblically. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:37.920 But Jesus doesn't say, because of the circumstances that you were brought in it, brought uh brought up in, you speak. 00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:39.279 He doesn't say that. 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:43.359 He says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:53.039 And so the first step in keeping and guarding our heart, we gotta accept what the Bible says about our hearts and humbly accept the Bible's diagnosis. 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:54.400 And that's hard. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:30:01.519 We don't want to accept that our heart uh is, as Jeremiah 17.9 says, is desperately wicked. 00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:02.880 Who can know? 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:10.319 This is what Jeremiah 17.9 says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. 00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:12.000 Who can understand it? 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:30.480 Now, of course, I think categorically this verse fits uh more properly with an unbeliever, but certainly as a believer, we continue to see the ramifications of sin corrupting our hearts, even after we're given a new heart, which is why we we have to rely on God's grace, rely on God's Spirit and God's word in order to overcome that. 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:36.319 But Jeremiah 17, 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, who can understand it? 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:46.240 So if you're gonna keep your heart, you gotta look at what Jeremiah says and what Jesus says and what Paul says and what the Bible says and say, That's true. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:31:02.640 My heart is where the decisions that I make, the things that I value, the pursuits that I give my time to, the sinful ways that I treat people, the sinful ways that I response, they come from me, from inside my heart. 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:10.079 So if I was gonna say that not pastorally, I would say it, you're the problem, biblically speaking. 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:12.720 But I won't say that. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:17.119 Jeremiah 17.9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:18.720 Who can understand it? 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:29.839 So, as an unbeliever in the room, if you're someone that's not a follower of Christ, you need to recognize that what the Bible has to say to you in this pursuit, everything I've said so far applies. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:46.079 But when it comes to your heart being sick, the Bible would say that you need a new heart, you need a transplant, because that stone of a heart that you have as an unbeliever is not going to produce godly fruit. 00:31:46.400 --> 00:31:51.119