“More than all guarding, keep your heart.”
Sermon Title: KEEP YOUR HEART
Scripture Text: PROVERBS 4:23
Sermon Notes:
“The heart matters most and defines who we are!”
I. What must we do?
Prescription.
PROVERBS 4:23 ESV
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
“More than all guarding, keep your heart…”
JEREMIAH 17:9 ESV
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
ROMANS 5:5 ESV
5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
ROMANS 6:17-18 ESV
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
HEBREWS 10:22 ESV
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
1 JOHN 3:21 ESV
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
JAMES 3:14 ESV
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
JAMES 4:8 ESV
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
II. Why must we do it?
Reason.
PROVERBS 4:23 ESV
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
LUKE 6:45 ESV
45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
MARK 7:21-23 ESV
21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
“What we allow into our hearts will make its way out of our hearts.”
“God gives a high premium to the condition of our hearts.”
1 THESSALONIANS 2:4 ESV
4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
III. How can we do it?
Direction.
1. HAVE A CONTRITE HEART
PSALMS 51:17 ESV
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23 ESV
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
PSALMS 51:10 ESV
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
2. HAVE AN UNDIVIDED HEART
MATTHEW 5:8 ESV
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
3. HAVE A WAITING HEART
Psalm 27: 13-14 ESV
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
“When you have an undivided heart, you see God in everything, because everything is about him.”
MATTHEW 5:8 MSG
8 You’re blessed when you get your inside world--your mind and heart--put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
PROVERBS 4:23 ESV
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.