The Importance of Watching Over Our Hearts (Proverbs 4:23)

1. “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge…” (Pro 18:15)

• This tells us that what is meant by the heart is one’s mind. (Ecc 1:16-17, 2:1-3, 23, 7:21-22, 25, 8:16)

2. “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.” (Pro 27:19)

This tells us two things:

2.1. What you think is truly who you are (as opposed to you being what you think you are). (Hence why the words in 1Co 4:5; Pro 24:12; Heb 4:12-13)

2.2. What you think will be “reflected” in what you do and how you feel (mind>will>emotions). (In relation to bad: Psa 36:1; Pro 6:14, 12:20. In relation to good: Pro 6:20-23, 7:1-5; Hence the instruction in 1Co 4:5 and Pro 24:12)

3. The battle for all things (good, bad, eternal) centers on the mind. (Pro 14:14, 17:3, 20; This is why the emphasis is on the mind in 2Co 10:5, Psa 19:14, and Pro 22:11)

4. Apostasy is the result of a stubborn mind that refuses to believe that our decisions/actions in this life are as serious as the Lord claims in His Word. (Deu 29:18; this is the reason for the warnings in Heb 3:12-13 and Rom 12:1-3)

5. God will give His people over to apostasy if they continue to withhold their minds from Him. (Isa 5:11-24 w/ 6:8-10 w/ 29:13-14 w/ Mat 13 and 15; this is the reason for the words in Eph 4:17-24 and 2Ti 2:22)

6. Submission to God, repentance from sin, and resisting the devil all require a pure mind. (Jam 4:7-8; hence David’s words in Psa 7:9-17 and 24:3-4)

7. Having a pure heart/mind requires:

7.1. Filling it with God’s Word.

7.2. Strengthening it through righteous meditation.

7.3. Stopping what is sinful the moment it starts.

Due to a technical error, the audio for this teaching is incomplete.

For more from this Sunday, listen here: Why Has Evil Become so Evil in This Country? and A Biblical Consideration of Honorifics.