Sermon Notes – Guard Your Heart - Part 2

Guard Your Heart - Part 2, Proverbs 4:10-27

J. Josh Smith, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, attended July 25, 2010

We spend a lot of time and money protecting things valuable to us. Advertisers take advantage of this. How much time do we spend guarding our most valuable possession – our heart?

The things of greatest value deserve the greatest protection.

Since the heart is the source of everything we think, feel, do, and desire, and since God sees our heart and judges us according to the condition of our heart, the heart is worthy of the greatest protection.

How do we protect our heart? It involves our attitude and our activity.

The attitude – Proverbs 4:23 encompasses two kinds of guarding. We want to keep the bad things out as well as keep the bad things in. We can think of it as a security guard, keeping things out, and a prison guard, keeping things in. We need to do both. Watch your heart and watch outside your heart.

This should be the priority of our life, “…above all things…” Above all else, value the condition of your heart and actively pursue a heart that is pleasing to the Lord. Choose by faith to believe that it is more important to guard your heart than anything else in life.

The activity – What we must do to guard our hearts.

1. Encounter God through His Word – This is our primary tool. Neglect of the Word is neglect of the heart, it is foundational. This is basic; we can’t look for the “advanced” tools. Be consumed with the Word of God.

Since God alone sees the heart, and since God alone can change the heart, we must seek to be changed by God through the power of His living Word. See the Word as a means to meet with the One who alone can see, discern, and change your heart.

Read it – this is embodied in the word “hear” from Proverbs 4:1, 10, 20. This must be daily, systematic and consistent.

Obey it – the word “hear” doesn’t just mean an external hearing but also an inward applying as seen in Proverbs 4:2 and Proverbs 4:4.

Internalize it – Proverbs 4:4, Proverbs 4:21 and Psalm 119:11 encourage meditation, memorization thus the Word is always available. We need a library in our head and heart.

We are always looking for steps and solutions. The Bible isn’t like that though. The solution to our problem isn’t steps and principles but God! Steps don’t change you, God does, even if we don’t know it or recognize it. When David wrote Psalm 119, at best, he had the Pentateuch. He didn’t find “steps” to solve his problems in Genesis. He found God in Genesis.

The popular technique of “bouncing your eyes” when you see something that may make you lust is an example. Although this is a fine technique, not looking won’t keep us from lust. You can lust without looking, it is your heart that must be changed, by God, through His Word.

When we look for principles or steps we are also assuming that we know our problem. We don’t always know our root problem. We may be looking for a solution to a problem we don’t even have. When we are in His Word God will heal us from within, the Word of God is active (Hebrews 4:12).

2. Encounter God through His ways – This is an active pursuing with everything we have, including our eyes, feet and mouth. If we are not engaging in the work of God we are only partially guarding. The activity is helping to guard your heart. An active pursuit of the way of God protects our heart. It must be a holistic pursuit of Him, His ways and ministry.

Mouth – Proverbs 4:24. The mouth reveals the heart but it also affects the heart. We make things worse by continually talking about our issues or problems. The mouth feeds the heart, and vice versa, they feed off each other. Whenever we are grumbling, complaining, criticizing, and gossiping we feed the condition of our heart, it makes it worse.

Eyes – Proverbs 4:25. What your eyes see affect the way your heart feels. The more we look at things we shouldn’t changes our heart, which will be manifested eventually. There is a figurative meaning also in that we need to focus on His way. If it were just literal we would need to wear a neck brace to keep our eyes looking straight ahead. Our focus determines our direction.

Feet – Proverbs 4:26-27. Don’t let our feet take you where you don’t want your heart to go. At least four times in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 5:32, 17:11, 17:20, 28:14) we find a verse almost exactly like Proverbs 4:26-27, in which Moses says, “Don’t turn to the right or left, turn your foot from evil”. The Promised Land is right there, if you just walk the way I told you to walk you are going to get it but they didn’t do it. Hebrews 12:2 references this as he talks about fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Primary ambition of our life should be to guard our heart and allow, by guarding, the life of Christ to be continually manifested through us. Keep your heart healthy.

NOTE: These are my notes, taken as I listened to the sermon live. Any errors, misunderstandings or misinterpretations are my responsibility entirely and not the fault of the preacher.

Sermon Notes – Guard

Guard, Proverbs 4:10-27

J. Josh Smith, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, attended July 18, 2010

The exterior mess we are dealing with now in the Gulf of Mexico is caused by an internal problem. The exterior can’t be fixed until the interior is. Why clean up the beach when the oil is still coming? The gushing well beneath the surface is your heart.

1. The identity of the heart

The father is usually very explicit in his definitions but here he is not in defining the heart. He assumes the son knows.

The heart is a hidden place – 1 Samuel 16:7. God alone sees and knows the heart thus; He alone is able to fix it. We don’t even know our own hearts.

The heart is the source of emotion – Proverbs 12:25, 15:3

The heart is the source of thoughts – Proverbs 23:7, Proverbs 6:14, 18

The heart is the source of actions – Matthew 12:34, Proverbs 23:7

The heart then is the center of everything we think, feel, do and desire. Therefore, our emotions, thoughts, actions, and desires reveal the condition of our heart. What do these things say about the condition of your heart?

God isn’t looking for our actions but for our heart. (Mark 12:30) We are controlled from the inside out so guarding your heart is paramount. Our problem is the heart but only God can fix the heart.

2. The problem of the heart

Everything you think, feel, and do is all messed up (Jeremiah 17:9).

In Mark 7:1-23 Jesus confronts the Pharisees. They don’t want anything dirty inside of them but Jesus makes what many consider to be the most revolutionary statement in the New Testament when He says that it is what comes out of a person that defiles, i.e. you aren’t dirty because you ate something dirty. Dirty hearts send you to hell, not dirty hands. External reformation cannot fix an internal issue. We might be able to change some of our actions; we are unable to change our hearts.

Before we learn how to guard our hearts we must have a heart worth guarding. Jeremiah 17:9 and Mark 7:1-23 tell us we don’t but the father here is assuming that the son does have a heart worth guarding so something must have happened to his heart. The only way Proverbs 4:23 makes any sense is if we have a new heart. We need regeneration and only the sovereign work of God can accomplish this. Guarding only makes sense if you have received by faith a heart worth guarding.

3. The exchanging of the heart – Ezekiel 36:24-26, John 3:1-21, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:4, Titus 3:1-7

We must be careful to guard our heart after this exchange. It needs to be protected at all costs (Colossians 1:21-23, Romans 8:9-16, 2 Timothy 1:14). The very glory of Christ is in us so guard it!

Proverbs 4:7 is unusual but important here. The New Testament way to say this would be that before you can walk the way of Christ you must first get Christ. Once He is in us we have the desire to walk with Him. It doesn’t work following Him unless you have Him, because we are controlled from inside out and thus couldn’t do it otherwise.

Without new hearts, there is no hope of godly emotions, thoughts, actions, or desires. On the contrary, new hearts produce works of righteousness.

Psalm 24 talks of ascending to the hills. It isn’t saying get yourself clean before worship. The only way to ascend is to have a heart sprinkled with blood. We only ascend by Christ’s grace and by Christ taking us there. Those who have a new heart with Christ ascend.

Without His righteous heart we have no ability to have righteous emotions, thoughts, actions, and desires.

NOTE: These are my notes, taken as I listened to the sermon live. Any errors, misunderstandings or misinterpretations are my responsibility entirely and not the fault of the preacher.

Quote - Seek Wisdom (Proverbs 2:1-4)

"You shall find this to be God's usual course: not to give His children the taste of His delights till they begin to sweat in seeking after them."

Richard Baxter

Sermon Notes – Trust

Trust, Proverbs 3

J. Josh Smith, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, attended July 11, 2010

This is one of the most memorable conversations between father and son. The father is imploring the son to walk in a matter worthy of his calling, and so we are to walk with Jesus.

One of the most familiar verses in the Bible is here in Proverbs 3:5-6. These words are to the Christian disciple what the wedding ceremony is to a newlywed. At the wedding ceremony vows are made, the terms of the relationship are set forth and a statement about what each intend to do for the rest of their lives is made. This text reminds us of our commitment to Christ and the expectations Christ has for us as we walk with Him. As at the wedding, what matters most is what you do with your wedding declaration. A lot of people make the declaration but the demonstration is proof.

Trust is proven by its demonstration, not its declaration.

The father knows this. He also knows that his son has “declared” but now needs to “demonstrate”. The righteous are not those who declare they are but those who demonstrate they are. We must learn to walk moment by moment in faith (Hebrews 11:6). This is a walk, not a one-time declaration. This text tells us how to live our vows.

1. Characteristics of trust – Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust Him entirely – “…with all your heart…” We will see later that “heart” is a reference to all that you are.

We trust Him in the same way we are commanded to love Him, i.e. with all our mind, soul and strength. With our mind means we recognize the truth of what He says and what He has promised. With our soul means we believe what we know with our mind. With our strength means we act on what we believe. You never find an example of faith in scripture that does not have some activity with it. Faith leads to activity. Abel “brought”, Noah “built” and Abraham “went”, their faith lead to action.

Trust Him exclusively – “…in the Lord…” Release our confidence in anything else. He never wants part of our allegiance. We have no confidence in our flesh (Philippians 3:2).

Trust Him exhaustively – “…in all your ways…” In everything you encounter, in every circumstance and in every situation.

Why do we seem to trust Him to save us from Hell but don’t seem to trust Him in our daily life? We can trust Him for our souls but we can’t trust Him for our days? We don’t trust ourselves for our salvation but we do trust ourselves in finances, marriage, work and parenting. You will do salvation His way but you don’t want to do finances, marriage, work and parenting His way? If He is gracious enough to forgive us our sins, He is gracious enough to help you in your finances, marriage, work and parenting. Seek Him in all of your ways.

Perhaps you are struggling in assurance of salvation. You wonder about “the moment” you got saved. You hear those who say if you don’t remember “that moment” then you may not know the Lord. Remember, you can’t base your salvation on something that you did, even if it is a prayer, a walk down an aisle or a talk with a pastor. If your assurance is based on a date then it is based on something you did. We have to be confident in what He did and not what we did! Assurance comes by trusting in the work of Christ, not relying on a date in your Bible or when your Mom told you did.

One of the main messages of the Bible is that you can trust God.

2. Hindrances to trust – Proverbs 3:5-10

There are three hindrances to trust:

Self – Proverbs 3:5, “…do not lean on your own understanding…” and Proverbs 3:7, “…do not be wise in your own eyes…”

If you lean on yourself you are leaning on the very person that needs to lean! You are leaning on a broken leg. Our understanding is broken. We elevate ourselves and lower God when we do this.

Proverbs 3:7 is explained by Proverbs 26:12. A fool never acknowledges His need for God.

Sin – Proverbs 3:7, “…turn from evil…”

Relying upon ourselves is sin, it is pride. The fear of God will kill self-reliance because is causes us to think correctly about God and think correctly about ourselves and living as if that is true.

Stuff – Proverbs 3:9

Stuff can help or hinder your trust in the Lord. Hold stuff loosely. When we release it we increase our faith. When we give our “firsts” we are trusting for more. The things we have often draw away our affections and attention. They distract us from the things of the Lord.

When we have lots of chariots (Psalms 20:7) it is hard to trust the Lord in battle. If you have less chariots than the other then you have to depend on the Lord.

3. Promises of trust – Proverbs 3:5-10

Refreshment – Proverbs 3:8. This is mental, spiritual and physical refreshment.

Provision – Proverbs 3:10. The wisdom of man does not say give first. God is overseeing your finances.

Guidance – Proverbs 3:6. The greatest of all the promises.

We still try the path of folly periodically; it is always a detour, a waste of time. In the path of wisdom God will keep you from the detours and obstacles. There will be pain and difficulty but you will not have to deal with the consequences of sin.

What is that area where you don’t trust the Lord? Give it to Him and trust Him (Psalms 37:5).

NOTE: These are my notes, taken as I listened to the sermon live. Any errors, misunderstandings or misinterpretations are my responsibility entirely and not the fault of the preacher.

Quote - I Will Go With You

"There’s a story told, from Civil War days before America’s slaves were freed, about a northerner who went to a slave auction and purchased a young slave girl. As they walked away from the auction, the man turned to the girl and told her, “You’re free.”

With amazement she responded, “You mean, I’m free to do whatever I want?”

“Yes,” he said. “And to say whatever I want to say?” “Yes, anything.” “And to be whatever I want to be?”

“Yep.” “And even go wherever I want to go?” “Yes,” he answered with a smile.

“You’re free to go wherever you’d like.”

She looked at him intently and replied, “Then I will go with you.”

Jesus has come to the slave market. He came to us there because we could not go to him. He came and purchased us with his blood so we would no longer be a slave to sin but a slave to Christ, which is the essence of freedom.

And now there’s no freer place to be in life than going with him—with the One who is himself our true liberty."

Tullian Tchividjian, Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels

Sermon Notes – The Theology of Doxology

The Theology of Doxology, Galatians 1:4-5
Vern Charette, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, attended July 4, 2010

“The Theology of Doxology”, or “Why We Should Be a Worshipper”, or “Why Baptists Ought to Shout”.

I am a nobody telling everybody about Somebody who will save anybody.

A doxology is an expression of praise to God, especially a hymn or verse in Christian liturgy glorifying God. Literally, “doxo”, meaning "glory", and “logos”, meaning "word", so a doxology is “a glory word”.

God saved you for one reason – to glorify Him. We should erupt in worship as Paul does here in Galatians 1:5. Worship should characterize our lives. We should be constantly praising Him at church, school and play. Unfortunately, we have forgotten His blessings and developed spiritual Alzheimer’s.

1. We should be a worshipper because of the price Christ paid for us – Galatians 1:4

He willingly gave himself up for us. He wasn’t a martyr, He gave freely (John 10:18). He didn’t lose His life, He gave it.

Pilate thought Jesus was standing before Him, but in reality Pilate was standing before Him. Barabbas goes free while Jesus is executed. We go free while Jesus dies. Is it any wonder Paul breaks forth in spontaneous praise in Galatians 1:5?

2. We should be a worshipper because of the purpose of Jesus' death – Galatians 1:4

He died to rescue us, to deliver us. Don’t develop spiritual amnesia and forget where you were before Jesus rescued you. Have you forgotten what it was like to be lost? Your enemies have been destroyed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, just as the Egyptian enemies of Israel were destroyed.

Do you develop indignation at all the sin around you? Don’t forget who you were at one time. You were delivered from this present, evil world.

3. We should be a worshipper because of the plan of the Father– Galatians 1:4

Jesus’ death was according to the will of God. This was not plan B. There was no emergency meeting of the Trinity. He was our Savior before the foundations of the world.

We all worship something. We either worship the Holy Trinity or the unholy trinity – me, myself, and I. Our hearts are idol factories.

Worship is the fuel for missions. We want all the nations to be doxologized.

NOTE: These are my notes, taken as I listened to the sermon live. Any errors, misunderstandings or misinterpretations are my responsibility entirely and not the fault of the preacher.