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.