Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 4:23 (Out of the Heart) (Part 14)

Please turn with me to Proverbs, the fourth chapter. This morning we continue the exposition of the book of Proverbs by looking at the 23rd verse of Proverbs 4, which will be our text for the exhortation. But I'd like to read from God's word for you the entire chapter this morning. Proverbs, chapter 4. Hear now God's word. Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father. And attend to no understanding, for I give you good doctrine. Forsake ye not my law. For I was a son unto my father, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. And he taught me and said unto me, let thy heart retain my words, keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding. Forget not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she will preserve thee. Love her, and she will keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom, yea, with all thy getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote thee, and she will bring thee to honor. When thou dost embrace her, she will give to thy head a chaplet of grace. A crown of beauty will she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings. And the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom. I have led thee in paths of uprightness. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened. And if thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass on. For they sleep not except they do evil. And their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But they the path of the righteous is as the dawning light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness. They know not at what they stumble. My son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thy heart, for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a wayward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look straight on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Make level the path of thy feet, and let all thy Ways be established, Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil, and thus far the reading of God's word. This is a good weekend to be preaching about hearts, isn't it? Having enjoyed Valentine's Day on Friday, this will be on a lot of people's minds. We think about hearts at this time because it's a romantic thing. And we tend to think of emotion and romance and feeling and intensity arising from the heart. And so when we want somebody to be truly dedicated to us and to give their life to us and to show love to us, we say, give me your heart. Or if we want to express that to someone else, we want to. We give a Valentine's card that has a heart on it, says, my heart is yours. We see the importance of the heart when it comes to matters of romance. But, you know, in a very real sense, our culture doesn't understand the heart. Our culture does not pay attention to the heart. And even through its Valentine celebration, our culture tends just in that, to demonstrate a very pitiably small and shallow understanding of the heart. This morning, we turn to God's holy word to get a better perspective on the heart, a fuller perspective on the heart, indeed a crucial perspective on the heart, where we Read in Proverbs 4:23, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. In order to understand this verse, it's going to be important for us to understand the biblical concept of the heart. If you read this verse with your 20th century American eyeglasses, you're going to understand this verse in a way that is really quite different than what the author intended. Because our common understanding of the heart and in our culture, we tend to view the heart as set over against the head. We have a head, heart conflict, or at least the contrast. We tend to speak of doing things with all of our heart meaning emotionally, or loving people from the heart meaning emotionally, and setting that against our better reason, which we engage with our heads or our minds. And so someone might say from time to time, stop thinking with your mind and start feeling with your heart. And that would be an understandable expression in American 20th century culture. It would not have been understood by the ancient Hebrews. It would not have been understood by the hearers of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In the ancient world, the contrast was not really between mind and heart. In fact, if you want to find something parallel to that, you really have to look at the contrasts between heart and bowels. The common figure then was a Man thinks in his heart and feels with his bowels, with his inner guts, really is the way the Bible puts it. And as far as contrasts are put, if you want to see a conflict, it is usually between the mouth and the lips, not between the heart and the mind. And so that's why it's crucial that we begin this morning by looking at the concept of the heart in the Bible and then go back to Proverbs 4 and see what it's getting at when it says, out of the heart are the issues of life. And so we're going to do a Bible study here, and it's going to be something of a whirlwind one. I want you to get some practice using the pages of your Bibles and going back and forth. We're going to be doing this for a few minutes. Take your Bibles with me, and let's just study this concept of the heart and see what we find. I have a few notes here. First of all, the heart in the Bible stands for man's vitality, for his life itself. Genesis 18:5. Genesis18:5 we read, and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye, excuse me, and strengthen ye your heart. And after that ye shall pass on, that is, I will feed you. And in so doing your heart will be strengthened. Quite clearly does not refer to the heart as a physical organ being strengthened by the eating of food, nor by emotions being strengthened. But generally, the vitality, the liveliness of the person, is represented by the heart. The heart, moreover, is the locus of a person's inner thoughts and a person's deepest reflections. Turn to Deuteronomy, the seventh chapter. We see an example of this in verse 17 of Deuteronomy 7. Here in the Law of God, we read these. If thou shalt say in thy heart, these nations are more than I, how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them, etc. Here God represents his people as ruminating in their hearts. But these people are so mighty, they are so great, they are so numerous. God says, don't be afraid. But they're thinking this, going over this, meditating on this in their heart. It's the center of their reflection. So Deuteronomy 8:5 we see another example. Thou shalt consider in thy heart that as a man chasteneth his son, so Jehovah thy God chasteneth thee. God says, reflect on that in the same way that a good father chastens his son. So I, as your father, chasten you. And where do we think about this. Where do we meditate on it? Where do we reflect on these things? Not in our mind, in our heart. And so the heart is the vitality of man. It's the locus of his inner thoughts and his reflections. Indeed, the heart refers to man's mind, as we understand that word mind, as the center of thought and the center of belief. You would think just about any biblical Christian would know that if we remember our memory verses right. Romans 10:10. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Where does man believe? With the heart. The heart is what thinks and reflects and believes things. Moreover, the heart determines our outlook and determines our attitudes. I have a couple of examples here. Think of courage. Psalm 27, verse 14. Psalm 27:14. Are you keeping up in turning to these passages? Wait for Jehovah. Be strong and let thy heart take courage. Yea, wait thou for Jehovah. Not only does the heart determine courage in matters of attitude and outlook like that, the heart also determines what we hate. Leviticus 19:17, this important portion of the law that Jesus quoted from to summarize our duty toward our fellow man. He says, thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart. Thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbor and not bear sin because of him. Don't hate your brother in your heart. So what does the heart do? Don't think in American 20th century terms, from a biblical perspective, what does the heart do? Well, the heart vitalizes us. The heart is where we think and where we reflect. The heart is the center of our beliefs and our knowledge. The heart determines our outlook. The heart determines our attitudes. Moreover, the heart functions as our conscience. It speaks to us and indicts us. Look at Job 27:6 Job 27, the sixth verse, the way in which Job refers to conscience. He says, my righteousness, I hold fast and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. My heart is not going to bring an indictment against me. 1st Samuel 24:5, 1st Samuel, the 24th chapter and the 5th book verse. And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt. David now is feeling guilty about what he did. And the Bible says his heart smote him in Romans 2:15. Hopefully you'll remember that Paul tells us that the law of God is written upon every man's heart. Even the unbeliever knows the requirements of God in his inner being. And Paul says in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith their thoughts one with another, accusing, or else excusing them. And so the heart then works as a conscience, excusing or accusing us, because God's law is found there. The heart is also the seat of emotions. This is what you would have taken for granted. This is in the Bible as well. Turn to the Psalms. Psalm 4, 7 shows the heart as the source of joy, center of joy, wisdom. Excuse me, we better get to the psalms. Proverbs. Psalm 47. David says, thou hast put gladness in my heart more than they when their grain and their new wine are increased. Gladness is seated in the heart. Sorrow is as well. Psalm 13:2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart? All the day. And then finally, one more reference. Deuteronomy 6:5 shows that the heart is also the center of volition, the source of action for man. Because God says to Israel, thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might. If you love God with all your heart, then you'll keep his commandments. Well, I told you this was going to be a whirlwind tour of what scripture has to say about the heart. But it's really necessary. So now we understand what the heart is in the Bible. The heart is the inner life of man. It's where he thinks, where he reflects, where he comes to belief in knowledge. It's what determines his outlook and his attitudes. It represents his conscience. It's the seat of his emotions. It's the source of his volition and action. What is the heart? Well, it's the whole inner life of man. It stands for the private center of his moral, his intellectual and his spiritual existence. It's nothing short of the controlling center, the controlling factor of life. Everything that we are that distinguishes us from the animals, everything that we are that distinguishes us from machines, everything that we are that distinguishes us from. From the rocks and everything else in the world external to us is symbolized by our heart. A heart shows that man is a spiritual being, that man is an inner life, a soul and direction. It's the center of his intellect. It's the center of his understanding, his feelings and his whole spiritual existence. So let's go back to Proverbs 4:23 with a biblical understanding of what the heart is, and hear God tell us that out of the heart are the issues of life. The word issues in Hebrew is a beautiful one. The idea is One of springs or outgoings. Out of the heart are all the springs, all the things that issue in life. The heart determines the character of a person's life. We tend, as evangelicals today, to be a little bit sensitive to this talk of quality of life. And the reason why we are is good because it's usually used in polemics where the attempt is to justify putting an end to human life, say some unborn child or some senile elderly person, some comatose pro person. We'll be told that their quality of life is such that it's all right to take it away. And so we. We tend to get a little sensitive. We don't like that talk of quality of life. Well, of course we don't like the application of that talk. But there is something to a discussion of the quality of life. And Proverbs calls us to think about that. It says, out of the heart are the issues of life. So you better think about what kind of life do you have? What kind of life do you want to have? What kind of life should you have? Your heart's going to determine it. The first place we learn from this, that beliefs and attitudes have consequences. You have not risen to a very high point of spiritual maturity if you don't realize that yet. You cannot go through life harboring in your heart certain bad attitudes and think that it will not affect your life. You say, well, what I have is. It's kind of like, I don't know. We imagine we have an inner Tupperware container, I guess that we put some garbage and then we seal it real tight and stick it way back, you see, in some kind of cupboard. And then it's okay because it won't affect anything way back there. Attitudes are like that. We sometimes naively believe we think, I can have a bad attitude toward someone or a bad attitude toward, say, persistent sin in my life, or a bad attitude toward prayer, a bad attitude toward my neighbor, whatever it may be. I can harbor bad attitudes, but no one will ever know. They won't affect anything. They're just kind of tucked away in the recesses of my dark heart, like in some cupboard in your kitchen. The book of Proverbs says that's foolish. Out of the heart are the issues of life. That Tupperware container is not going to stay closed. It's going to issue out in something, and all of the pollution and foulness and garbage that you put back there is going to become manifest. Out of the heart are the issues of life. Don't think you can tuck away your Private little beliefs and private little thoughts and private attitudes, and they're just going to be unaffected of anything. They'll have no impact. The Bible says that's not true. Your attitudes will have consequences. Ideas have consequences, too. We in our church sometimes have a reputation. Sometimes it's favorable. Sometimes I think it's something that people are putting down. We have a reputation for emphasizing good doctrine, healthy doctrine, biblical doctrine, fidelity to the Scriptures, truthfulness in what we profess as our beliefs as Christians. And what I want to tell you today is that is good. I wouldn't have you take that away for anything. Because if you do not think right, you will not live right. Now. How often have I heard people tell others or myself that doctrine makes no difference whatsoever? Forget what people believe just as long as their lives are all right, just as long as they are, in outward way doing good things well, I have news for you. The Bible says that's impossible. You can't think poorly and live correctly. You can't have the wrong idea of who Jesus Christ is and pray properly. You cannot understand the work of the Holy Spirit in an unfaithful and unbiblical way and expect to live your life under his influence in a way that pleases Him. Doctrine affects life because out of the heart are the issues of life. You have poor doctrine, you have poor ideas, you have untrue thoughts, you have bad attitudes. They're going to affect you. On the other hand, this passage teaches us that our external words and actions are a revelation of our inner character. Jesus said, by their fruits you shall know them. See, we have another problem. Not only do we think we have little secret things that we hide away that won't ever affect the quality of our life, things that we need to get corrected, but we also tend to think the way we come across to others. And what is the outward manifestation of our life need not be a reflection of our true inner character. And the Bible says you are deceived if you think you can get away with that thinking. Are you someone who cannot control his or her temper? You someone who fights constantly with lustful thoughts? You're someone who is angry with your neighbor, who's someone who is not kind. Do you go many days without prayer? Do you pass up every opportunity to witness to people about Jesus Christ? When these sorts of things. And you know, there are dozens more questions like that that I could ask you as your pastor when those sorts of questions are asked and you say, well, yeah, I know the outward manifestation is not good, but the tree inside is Fine. Well, you'd better come back to Proverbs 4:13. Out of the heart are the issues of life. And what is issuing out is going to tell us about the nature of the source or spring that's down there. This week I preached in chapel at the high school, and I told the students there that they mustn't think that they can go around claiming to be apple trees when what everybody sees is bananas growing on them. You see, a tree is known by its fruit. And when you say, well, my life is apple treeish, and everybody says, yeah, but all we see is these long, slender, gooey things called bananas, that's not convincing. And you need to look at that fruit too and say, well, what kind of heart do I have? What is the nature of my inner spiritual existence when I have this kind of outward display, this kind of performance, this kind of fruit? Out of the heart are the issues of life. It works both ways. Don't think you can have a polluted spring and have good water come forth. And don't think if you have polluted water coming forth, it doesn't reflect on something wrong inside you. If out of the heart are the issues of life, we learn then of the necessity of the utter and complete transformation of life on the one hand, and as well of the necessity of a complete antithesis between Christianity and that which is not Christianity on the other. First of all, the need for complete transformation. If out of the heart are the issues of life, then the Bible tells us that everything a Christian does is determined by his or her inner character. Everything a Christian does is determined by that new heart which has been given by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. There is no such thing as a neutral approach to family life if you're a Christian, because out of the heart are the issues of life. If you have a redeemed heart, you have redeemed family life. There's no such thing as a neutral approach to politics because out of the heart are the issues of life. If you have a regenerated heart, your approach to politics is that of a regenerated person. There's no such thing as a neutral approach to economics. Out of the heart are the issues of life. If your heart is right with God, you'll spend your money in a way that is right with God. There's no such thing as a neutral approach to art and culture. If your heart is changed, then what you enjoy in terms of entertainment and the productions of your life, be it poetry or painting or music, are going to be affected. There is no neutrality and Every time someone suggests that to you, just drive them right back here and say no. The issues of life are determined by the heart. And no one has a neutral heart. No one has an uncommitted heart. You're either committed for the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, or you're against them. Jesus said, that's true. There's no middle ground. Out of the heart are the issues of life. So there must be a Christian culture, there must be a Christian politics, there must be a Christian family life. It's imperative. We must be distinctively Christian in all that we do. There's going to be a restoration, there's going to be the completion of the cultural mandate the Bible teaches us. But not by the original humanity, not by Adam in the garden, but now by a new humanity that comes under the second Adam, Jesus Christ. And the day will come when we do see all things put under his feet and all things subdued and all of creation glorifying God. And it's going to come through people with regenerated hearts who live under the Savior, Jesus Christ. Out of the heart are the issues of life. And by contrast, those who have hard hearts, those who, according to the Bible, hate God and suppress his revelation in unrighteousness, are going to develop a completely different kind of culture. They cannot do other than that of necessity. Those who do not love the Lord, who do not honor His Word, who do not seek to serve him in all that they are, they cannot develop anything but a culture set diametrically at odds with Christian culture. It is a culture that is self serving, a culture that is unloving, a culture that is violent, a culture that is materialistic and greedy. A culture that is secular and humanistic in its philosophies, in its family life, in its government, its economics, in its art. Because out of the heart are the issues of life. The unsaved heart, according to the Bible, is uncircumcised and unclean. The unsaved heart, according to the Bible, is stony and hard. Listen to Jeremiah 17:9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. And when people who have desperately wicked hearts develop their lives, be it in such mundane matter as how they go shopping or how they discipline their children to such a grand and obvious thing as how they write poetry, or how they develop their philosophies of life and govern their nations, when people with hard hearts do these things, it's going to show up in the outer issues, what they do. So this morning, let's listen to the importance of the heart according to Scripture. Turn with me in Matthew 15:18, 20, where Jesus, I think, reflecting on the teaching of Proverbs 4, tells the Pharisees they've really misunderstood the nature of life and what defiles it. Matthew 15 I'm going to read only from verse 18, but it's a longer passage in that if you wish to study it on your own. Verse 18. But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness railings. These are the things which defile the man. But to eat with unwashen hands defile the man, not the man. Jesus says, the quality of life is not determined by external matters. Whether you follow certain traditions, whether you wash your hands in just the ritual right way. Jesus says, that's not what defiles a man. What defiles a man is what comes out of his heart. Because out of the heart are the issues of life. And when you have an uncircumcised, a wicked and stony heart, what you see is murder and railing and fornication and every polluted thing. Matthew 12:34, 35. Jesus teaches likewise when he says, you offspring of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. The good man out of his good treasure bringeth forth good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. How can you expect people who don't know the Savior, Jesus Christ, how can you expect people who have hearts that are still in the flesh, that are still unregenerate, how can you expect them to speak good things? Jesus says, you, offspring of snakes, don't expect otherwise, because out of the heart a man speaks. And a good man, if he has a good heart, brings forth good treasure, and an evil man with his evil heart brings forth evil treasure. And you can't break that connection. So what's going to be done if the issue of our life isn't right with God? What needs to be done this morning if what you see springing up out of your life is foul and unpleasing to God? The Bible says you need to be renewed by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says there's nothing you can do, nothing external, no ritual you can go through, no works of goodness that you can perform that will possibly touch the inner being. You see? And there's the abomination of all moral rearmament programs that Say, what we need to do is teach people to clean up their lives and to have some kind of outward decency and civil morality about them. The Bible says no, only, only a change of heart will do. Ezekiel 11:19, 20 God promises, I will put a new spirit within you, and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God. You want to belong to the people of God? You want God to say, you're mine, my heart's for you. And God says your heart must be for me. But you can't do that. You can't accomplish that. Indeed, the heart that you have is stony. Now try getting a response from a hard hearted person. If I could put it in 20th century idiom, you just don't do it. The hard heart can't respond, it's just dull. But Jesus says God will give us a pumping, moving, vibrant, alive and warm heart of flesh. No longer stone, but now a real heart, a real spirit within us that can keep God's word and do it. Jeremiah 31:33 the prophet promised that in the days of the new covenant, God will write his law within his people and upon their heart will I put my step statutes. Because why? Because out of the heart are the issues of life. If the law is written on the heart in this redeemed, regenerated sense, then people will do the law. They'll be able to, they'll be interested in doing it and empowered to do so. David prayed in Psalm 51:10, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. This is the not just the perspective of the Old Testament, it's exactly what we see fulfilled in the new. Think of Galatians 3:14 where Paul says God sends forth the Spirit of his Son to dwell in our hearts, that we might cry, abba, Father. And so the Spirit of God now floods our hearts. Ephesians 3:17 says that Christ dwells in your hearts through faith. You have different hearts because the Savior himself, by the power of his Spirit now lives within you. And in this way Paul puts in this glorious language of Romans 5:5 the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. Ashley the Greek says, the love of God has flooded our hearts. You see the importance of the heart. Then you see the importance of a heart change. The importance of a new character and spirit within you. Well then Proverbs 4:23 tells us very simply, keep thy heart with all diligence. If the heart is this important, you better pay attention to it. You know why this verse speaks so dramatically and effectively and vividly to Dr. Bonson? Because I hear that sort of thing all the time. Ever since the days of my open heart surgery. That's what I'm being told by doctors, by my wife, my friends, my elders. Take care of yourself, Greg. Watch out for your heart. Keep it. Keep your heart with all diligence. And far more important than that counsel to me and my physical health and well being is the counsel of God's word to you regarding your inner spirit. When it says, keep your heart with all diligence, how do we cultivate a heart pleasing to God? A heart that's productive of holy fruit before him? How do we do that? You know, we don't even ask that question. We're so far from caring about the character of our hearts. We say, as long as the, the externals are taken care of, as long as I'm going to church and I carry my Bible and I've said a few prayers, as long as I'm cleaning up some outward matters in my life, then I'm alright as a Christian. But the Bible says no, go to the heart of the matter. The pun's intended. Go right to the heart. Look at your heart. What kind of person are you? What kind of character do you have? What is it that's inside you, that is the source of everything else that comes out? The Bible says pay attention to that. Guard it, keep it with diligence. And so how do you cultivate a heart pleasing to God? I'm going to give you very briefly here some help in understanding what you must do. If you're going to now listen to God's word and guard your heart, then note first of all the need for regeneration, the need for conversion and repentance. You cannot guard your heart of its death, dead if it's stony hard. So if you know that you're not right with God, the Bible would tell you, come before him and ask him to turn you around, to give you a new heart. Pray to God that you will no longer have that inner pollution, that attitude of hatred and rebellion against him, but that God will in fact change you. And of course we'll give God all the praise because we know that very prayer will be an indication that he is changing you. Pray that God will turn you around. Secondly, look at the need for daily humility and joy and prayer. Are you guarding your heart? Doing your heart Exercises every day. Well, if you are, then first of all you chasten your heart every day. When you get up, you know that you need to humble yourself before God because you are not fact pleasing to him in your sin. That you have not loved him with all of your heart, soul strength and mind. That you have not been perfectly dedicated and consistently obedient to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So you humble yourself. And you also know, if you're a Christian, the joy of salvation. You don't have downcast look all day in the dumps because you've had to confess your sins. You also know the forgiveness of your sins and the joy of salvation that God grant graciously and mercifully forgives you and that throughout your day gives you a prayerful spirit. Guard your heart. See the need for daily humility and joy in prayer. Thirdly, look at the need for thinking the right thoughts. Are you guarding your heart if you're not thinking about the right things? If you're not studying the right things? If you're not meditating on the right things? And what's the best thing to be reading and meditating? Obviously it's the word of God. Do you guard your heart if you neglect reading the Bible every day? You're not guarding your heart. You're saying, hey, I don't care. What's the character of my life? I can get by without it. The Bible says, guard your heart. Think about what you are reflecting on. Have the right thoughts that please God. Fourthly, you need to cultivate proper habits. If you're going to guard your heart. You need not simply to change one or two outward things in your life momentarily, but you need to develop the habit of responding in a Christian biblical and faithful way to the circumstances in life. And that means you need to be asking God day by day, how am I doing? What am I doing? Do we see change here? You also need the discipline of godly fellowship and interaction. If you're guarding your heart, you won't miss church. If you're guarding your heart, you won't miss prayer meetings. If you're guarding your heart, you won't miss contact with your Christian friends who can operate as something of a referee and as a coach and as an encourager to you in your Christian walk. If you're guarding your heart, you see the need to see search for increased sensitivity. Do you do that? Do you engage in self examination? Do you say, God, am I more sensitive to righteousness this year than I was last year? Do I care more for the poor? This Year. Am I trying to control my temper better? Don't become insensitive to these things, friends. Guard your hearts. And finally you will see the need for the same sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. There's nothing that you can do, nothing in yourself that you can bring to change your life. Not only does your life begin with regeneration in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Bible says it's going to be confirmed in righteousness, with the work of the Spirit in your life as well. And so it's crucial that day by day you recognize yourself as living in the spirit of God, by his power, by the grace of his Son, Jesus Christ. Keep your heart with all diligence. Because, you see, Dr. Bonson may not do a real great job of listening to the doctors or his wife or others about taking care of his heart. But I mean it from my inner heart. As your pastor, you must diligently keep your hearts if you want to give them to God. Let's pray. Lord, we want to say from our hearts and with all of our hearts that we love you. We know that our hearts need to be changed, and we pray to you for that. We thank you for the change that you have brought. We ask that you would help us to see today the importance of guarding our hearts, conditioning our hearts and reflecting on the quality of our lives before you. We pray you would help us to go through these daily exercises to depend on you as we should, to strive in the way we should, to do all those things that are pleasing to you, so that we will be different people, that our hearts will be changed and strengthened, that our hearts will grow in love for you and holy obedience to your word. We do wish at the conclusion of our lives to have hearts that have been guarded and protected, hearts that have developed a character that we are willing to turn over to you to say, take my heart. I belong to you. We thank you for the goodness you show us, that you have such a loving heart for us. We pray in Jesus name, amen.