Proverbs 4:23

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Proverbs 4:23

Sermon preached on June 18, 2006 by Laurence W. Veinott. © Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Other sermons can be found at http://www.newlifeop.org/.


Why do people fall into great sin? There are many answers I'm sure. But one of the answers is that they don't guard their hearts. The Bible gives us principles to live by, things to watch out for—one of them is our text, Proverbs 4:23. It reads,

"Above all else,
guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life."

The great lesson the Holy Spirit teaches us here is that

you are to guard your heart.

Charles Bridges says that the heart is,

"the seat of his [man's] dearest treasure."

Schultens says that the heart is,

"the citadel of man."

Growing up in Nova Scotia I was very familiar with citadels and fortresses. Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia and in the middle of Halifax is a place called Citadel Hill. It's a fort. When Halifax was build in the 1700's they build this fort on the hill to protect the city and harbor. They build it in the very best place—any enemy would have to climb a steep hill and fight through fortifications to get in. It was protected with cannons and gun emplacements. If anyone was going to attack Halifax the citadel would be their target.

Charles Bridges writes,

"If the citadel be taken, the whole town must surrender. If the heart be seized, the whole man—the affections, desires, motives, pursuits—all will be yielded up." "the heart—the citadel of man—the seat of his dearest treasure. It is fearful to think of its many watchful and subtle assailants. Let it be closely garrisoned."

You need to guard your heart.

The Hebrew word that Solomon used basically means to 'watch' in order to protect, 'to maintain vigilance, post a strong watch'. It's used in Nehemiah 4:7-9 where we read, (verse 7f)

"when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs,
the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod
heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls
had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed,
they were very angry.
They all plotted together to come
and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.
But we prayed to our God
and posted a guard
day and night to meet this threat."

They posted a guard. They were vigilant in watching the walls. We see the same thing in Jeremiah 51:12 which says,

"Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon!
Reinforce the guard,
station the watchmen,"

We are to guard our hearts and protect them as sentries guard a city, as watchmen watch over it looking for enemies that would do it harm. We are to watch over it so that it is not harmed.

The reason we are to guard our hearts is because

it is the well spring of life.

What does it mean- the wellspring of life? The REB renders it,

"for it is the source of all life."

The NASB,

"For from it flow the springs of life."

Matthew Henry writes,

"A good reason given for this care, because out of it are the issues of life… all the actions of the life flow from the heart,"

Charles Bridges adds,

"It is the great vital spring of the soul, the fountain of actions, the center and the seat of principle, both of sin and holiness."

In Matthew 12:34-35 Jesus said,

"For out of the overflow of the heart
the mouth speaks.
The good man brings good things
out of the good stored up in him,
and the evil man brings evil things
out of the evil stored up in him."

And in Matthew 15 Jesus was criticized because His disciples did not wash their hands before they ate. Jesus rebuked them and said to the crowd, (verse 11)

"What goes into a man's mouth
does not make him 'unclean,'
but what comes out of his mouth,
that is what makes him 'unclean.'"

Later when Peter asked him about it, He said to His disciples, (verse 16f)

"Are you still so dull?
Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth
goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
But the things that come out of the mouth
come from the heart,
and these make a man 'unclean.'
For out of the heart come evil thoughts,
murder, adultery, sexual immorality,
theft, false testimony, slander.
These are what make a man 'unclean';
but eating with unwashed hands
does not make him 'unclean.'"

The point is that our hearts determine our actions. If we guard our hearts, our hearts will then be taught by the Lord, guided by Him and they will lead us in righteousness. If we don't guard our hearts, evil will come in and our hearts will lead us into sin. What's in our hearts determine how we life and behave. Thus it's vitally important that we guard our hearts.

But the great question is:

How do you guard your heart?

The first thing we should note here is that it is not something you can do on your own. Charles Bridges asks,

"Can I keep my heart?"

He answers, "Certainly not," and tells us that it is God's work. This is obvious from John 15:5 as well, where Jesus said to His disciples,

"apart from me you can do nothing"

To keep our hearts we need to abide in Christ, stay close to Him, rely upon His power and grace. That is the main thing. Yet, God has given us instructions on how to stay close to Him and certain actions to take in regard to guarding our hearts.

The first one is that you need to control your senses.

The five senses can lead you into sin. John Bunyan wrote a book called, "The Holy War". In the first part of that book he describes the city of Mansoul. He described it as having five gates- the Eye Gate, Ear Gate, Nose Gate, Mouth Gate, Feel Gate. If Satan was going to enter the city of Mansoul, he needed to gain access through one of those gates. Bunyan told us that we need to prevent Satan from getting into your heart though these means. He was absolutely correct.

We see this principle in Scripture. In Job 31:1 Job said,

"I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look lustfully at a girl."

Job was concerned about controlling his eyes, what they saw and what they dwelt on. He knew that our eyes can lead us into sin.

Jesus also spoke about this. In Mark 9:43f Jesus said,

"If your hand causes you to sin,
cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life maimed
than with two hands to go into hell,
where the fire never goes out.
And if your foot causes you to sin,
cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life crippled
than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.
And if your eye causes you to sin,
pluck it out.
It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God
with one eye than to have two eyes
and be thrown into hell,
where 'their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched'."

We are not to take those statements literally because the Bible tells us that we are to respect the body and not harm it. But what we should understand is that Jesus is emphatically telling us that we are to guard our hearts. We are to be careful that our eyes, ears or other parts of our body do not lead us into sin. He was absolutely emphatic about it. If you don't control your senses—your heart will fall.

Remember how David's eyes led him into sin? In 2 Samuel 11:2 we read,

"One evening David got up from his bed
and walked around on the roof of the palace.
From the roof he saw a woman bathing.
The woman was very beautiful,
and David sent someone to find out about her.
The man said,
'Isn't this Bathsheba,
the daughter of Eliam
and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?'
Then David sent messengers to get her.
She came to him,
and he slept with her."

But it even got worse. What treachery. He had Uriah carry his own death warrant. When Uriah wouldn't go home to his wife, we read, (2 Samuel 11:14f)

"In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab
and sent it with Uriah.
In it he wrote,
'Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest.
Then withdraw from him
so he will be struck down and die.'"

David had Uriah killed.

There was nothing sinful in David not being able to sleep. There was nothing sinful about him walking on the roof of his palace. There was nothing sinful about him inadvertently seeing Bathsheba bathing. It was an accident. But it was sinful for him to continue to look, to allow that look to turn into lust, to find out more about her, to send for her. David's eyes led him into great sin. What tragedy and suffering it brought into his life.

I'm sure that if you asked David later in his life that if there was one thing he could go back and change in his life—it would be that look. Oh, if he had only turned away, asking for God's grace—what suffering, shame and tragedy would have been averted.

But it's not enough to merely control your senses. People that are born blind and deaf are not necessarily better people than others. Helen Keller was born blind and deaf and from what I understand, when she was young she was very unruly, like a wild animal. Being blind and deaf does not prevent one from sinning greatly.

Thus a second aspect of guarding your heart is

having your mind controlled by God's Word.

You can't always prevent your eyes from seeing bad things or your ears from hearing harmful things. But if you have your mind permeated with God's Word, then you have a good defense and be able to beat back Satan's assaults. Psalm 119:9 asks,

"How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word."

Then verse 11 says,

"I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you."

We need to have our minds saturated with the Word of God, or as the apostle Paul puts it in Romans 12:2,

"Do not conform any longer
to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve
what God's will is—his good,
pleasing and perfect will."

Remember how Jesus reacted when Satan tempted Him? He met every temptation with God's Word. He said,

"It is written…"

He knew God's Word and used it as the guiding principle of His life. Satan tried to get Jesus to turn the stones into bread, to stop trusting in His Father. But Jesus knew that He could safely trust the Father to take care of Him. Satan showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and told Him that he would give them to Him if he bowed down and worshiped him. Jesus would have none of it. He knew that Satan was a liar from the beginning. He had lied to Eve and deceived her. Jesus knew that the kingdoms of the world did not rightfully belong to Satan and that they were not his to give. He knew that God alone is to be worshiped. So He said, (Matthew 4:10)

"Away from me, Satan!
For it is written:
'Worship the Lord your God,
and serve him only.'"

Jesus attacked vigorously and skillfully. But Jesus repulsed his attacks with the great weapon that we are all given—the sword of the Spirit—which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:17)

Jesus knew the Scriptures and He trusted their teaching. That's what we are to do. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 the apostle Paul speaks of how we are to,

"take captive every thought
to make it obedient to Christ."

When Eve was confronted by Satan and his lie, she wavered. She didn't believe what God had said. She didn't trust God. We read, (Genesis 3:6)

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree
was good for food and pleasing to the eye,
and also desirable for gaining wisdom,
she took some and ate it."

It was the same way with Adam. I believe it was not his senses that caused Adam to sin, but his love for Eve. He was not deceived when he sinned. He saw that she had disobeyed God and he sinned to join her.

He didn't trust God.

Some of the great truths that we should be assured of and hold close to our hearts are that

God is good, that He is the source of all good, that He will do what is good, that His way is best.

No matter what the circumstance, no matter what the problem, no matter what the danger—love God, love His Word, love obeying His commandments. They're the way to blessing, to happiness, to joy. It is written. It is written. That should be our rallying point.

One of the great lies of Satan is that there are circumstances where we have to sin. He did that with Adam. Eve had sinned. What was Adam going to do? Was he going to trust God and let God take care of the situation or was he going to not trust God. He chose not to trust God.

It was similar with King Saul. In 1 Samuel 13 the Philistines were advancing and Samuel did not arrive—so King Saul felt that he had to take matters into own hands and offer sacrifices to the Lord without a priest present. But he didn't have to. Samuel arrived shortly afterwards and told him that it was all a test. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew better. They didn't fear the fiery furnace. They knew that God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace—but even if He didn't—they were going to trust Him and not sin against him.

Fear led Abraham and Peter into sin. Greed led Achan and Ananias and Sapphira into sin. They thought they would be better off if they sinned. How deluded and wrong they were.

Christians, read the Bible. Let it fill your mind and thoughts. Let it permeate your being. Let it show you what sin is, where it leads and what the end result will be. Let it help you see sin for what it is—that it seeks to destroy you, to put you in the grave, to put you into hell.

Someone who was involved in an adulterous affair tried to justify it to my by saying about the married woman he was having an affair with,

"But I love her."

But he wasn't seeing things correctly. The reply, (based on Proverbs 5 and 7)

"You love her! Do you realize what your sin is leading towards? Your sin with her could put her in hell for all eternity. You say you love her. If you truly love her you have to break it off. Do you want to destroy her? That's where your actions are leading her."

A third aspect of guarding your heart involves

focusing on Christ's kingdom and giving yourself to the work of the kingdom.

In Matthew 6:19f Jesus said,

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moth and rust do not destroy,
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also."

Remember as well how Jesus said it was hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God? In Matthew 19:23-24 He said,

"I tell you the truth,
it is hard for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Again I tell you,
it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Why is that? Where your treasure is—there will be your heart also.

Now there's nothing wrong with being rich. But here's what Paul told Timothy to tell the rich. (1 Timothy 6:17-18)

"Command those who are rich in this present world
not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth,
which is so uncertain,
but to put their hope in God,
who richly provides us
with everything for our enjoyment.
Command them to do good,
to be rich in good deeds,
and to be generous and willing to share."

They are to be rich in good deeds.

That applies to all of us. Lay up treasures for yourself in heaven.

One of the best ways to guard your heart is to love and serve Jesus. Seek first His kingdom and its righteousness. Don't let your primary focus be on this world and its vanity. Give yourself to the work of the kingdom—lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven—for where your treasure is—there will your heart be also.

Lastly, for those of you who are not Christians,

you need to do more than guard your heart.

You need a heart transplant because your heart is evil. In Ezekiel 36:25f God told the people of Israel what they needed. He said,

"I will sprinkle clean water on you,
and you will be clean;
I will cleanse you from all your impurities
and from all your idols.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
I will remove from you your heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit in you
and move you to follow my decrees
and be careful to keep my laws.
You will live in the land I gave your forefathers;
you will be my people,
and I will be your God."

In order to get to heaven, in order to be fit to dwell with God—you need Jesus to give you a new heart. Go to Him today.