Got your Bibles, go ahead and turn to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. We will eventually get through with the book of Ephesians. But until that time, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. But, you know, it's good to, we're training up soldiers, right? There we go. Last time we started on the whole armor of God, we talked about the belt of truth. Or girdle, if you will. We talked about truth being our foundation, our core. It was the need of, It's what helps maintain us keep us upright and keep us going Let's pick it up thing here in Ephesians chapter 6 We're gonna start in verse 10 Bible says finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Alright, I had to... hide my board a little bit, because I tried my best to do a little bit of my own little artwork there. So I didn't want everybody chuckling and laughing before the beginning of the service. All my artists were not here yet this morning, because usually I can boss around some creative women and see if they can draw these things for me. I didn't have that opportunity this morning. And besides, I was up here giggling while I was drawing my own little pictures. Because I don't often get to draw in church, but I got to this morning. So it worked out pretty well. But I want you to remember this is important that we remember who our enemies are. Verse 12, that's something I cannot stress it enough, I'm gonna read it about every time I imagine. But verse 12 says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, our enemies not flesh and blood, okay? For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Our enemies not the brethren, Our enemies are not lost people. Our enemies are not anyone who disagrees with you. Those are not our enemies. Our enemies are not flesh and blood. To battle our spiritual enemies, though, God has given us spiritual armor and weapons. We're not to be like some religions. We don't declare jihad on anybody, okay? We don't fight holy wars, and we especially don't take part in any crusades led by a religious leader like the Pope, okay? Our battle is not physical. We're not fighting a war here. God hasn't called us to do that. But we have the truth. We have our King James Bible here as our core and our foundation. The next piece of armor mentioned is the breastplate of righteousness. Now a breastplate, you know what that is? It goes across your chest here. It's armor. It should be pretty thick armor. Help protect all your vital organs and everything. And it protects most of your vital organs. But most importantly, it protects your heart. This is always dangerous. There we go. We're close to Valentine's Day. That's supposed to be a heart, in case you didn't pick that up. I have to explain my drawings, because if you didn't draw it, you don't know for sure exactly what it is. But to understand the significance of our breastplate of righteousness, we need to understand some things about the heart. That is, and why it's there to protect it. I mean, so we need to first off, start off talking about some things about the heart. Why do we need to have a breastplate of righteousness to protect, among other things, our heart? We'll turn to Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17, some of this is gonna sound familiar. But bear with me, I do have a point here and a purpose for this. I like it whenever the Lord takes a bunch of the old ingredients that you already know of the Bible and mixes it up a little different way and you come up with a whole new, different entree there, you know? I mean, it's like Mexican food, you know? You got the same basic five ingredients and it depends on how you compile it as to what the thing's called and what people like. That's what we're trying to do here this morning. First thing I want you to understand from the Bible about your heart, Jeremiah 17, nine, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. First thing you need to know about the human heart is it starts off wicked. Okay? Everybody's heart, we start off wicked. The world believes that people are naturally good, but some of them have fallen away and have become evil. You know? I mean, why is someone a murderer or a serial killer or a rapist or whatever? They say, oh, well, see, if something happened because he was such an innocent, sweet little child, and then something happened and turned him evil. No, no, no. We start off with a wicked heart. And we have to have God to make us good. Okay? Even the sweetest, most precious little baby that you ever saw, they have a wicked heart. How do you know that? You say, oh no, not my nephew or not my niece or not my grandchild or whatever. They're perfect. They're beautiful and they're sweet. They got a tender heart. Oh yeah, just don't feed them for a little bit. Wait until they want something. Wait until they're a little uncomfortable, or they're hungry, or they're wet, or they're lonely, or they're bored. What do they do? They scream and wail and cry because they have a wicked heart. Because they're full of pride, they're self-centered, they just care about themselves, they want to please their own flesh. They're wicked. That little baby's wicked. There you go. But it doesn't matter. That's how we start off. We start off with a wicked heart. You don't have to be taught how to be selfish. You don't have to be taught how to be covetous or greedy or malicious or proud. It comes naturally from our natural heart. That's how we start off. The Bible tells us that we start off with a wicked heart. The world says it's the other way. I believe the Bible. That and I know how I was whenever I was a kid. Turn to Matthew chapter 15. So the first thing you need to understand about your heart is it starts off wicked. Matthew chapter 15, and we're gonna start in verse 15. We have a lot of turning to do this morning. Grateful for all the markers in my Bible. We got them pre-marked, and I think we got several on the Sunday morning message too. I'm gonna have to move markers around. Second thing you need to understand about the human heart is the heart defiles you. It defiles people. Matthew chapter 15, starting in verse 15. The Pharisees and all of them were coming after Jesus saying in verse 2, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread? But he answered and said unto them, why do ye also transgress the commandments of God by your tradition? So they're coming to Jesus saying, why don't your disciples do what's traditional and wash your hands before you eat? I mean, isn't that spiritual? Doesn't that make you spiritual? Verse 15. Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us the parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. So where's this defilement coming from? It's coming from the heart. What's the defilement? Verse 19, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man. Okay, so we got a list of wickedness that comes from the heart. Okay, evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. So anyone that has a problem with any one of these sins has a heart problem. There's something that has happened to their heart. Well, if they're not saved, it's already there in their heart, okay? I mean, you start off with a wicked heart, so you're already capable. Any lost person's capable of all these things. Any saved person that is a murderer or an adulterer or a fornicator or a thief or a false witness or a blasphemer or has evil thoughts, what happened there is something happened to their heart And now their heart is defiling them by their actions, okay? It's coming out of their heart is why they're doing these things. They have a heart problem. Anyone that has a problem with any of these sins has a heart problem. Their heart has been defiled. It has been defiling their actions or their thoughts. What it causes a man to kill another man, a wicked heart. What causes a wife to cheat on her husband, that's a wicked heart. You know what causes that teen to use God's name in vain? It's a wicked heart, okay? It's a heart problem. So you need to understand this. We're gonna dive more into this a little later. I'm just trying to give you this list here. So we know that the heart starts off wicked, the heart defiles people. Number three, a heart can be changed. Okay, a heart can be changed. Ezekiel chapter 11. Ezekiel chapter 11. The heart is not concrete, okay? It does change. There's flexibility in the heart. There's a way to change a heart. Ezekiel chapter 11, starting in verse 17. Ezekiel 11 and 17, therefore say, thus saith the Lord God, I will even gather you from the people and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. He's talking about re-getting all the Jews back to the land of Israel. Verse 18, and they shall come thither, and they shall take away all their detestable things thereof, and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I, will give them one heart. And I, this is God speaking right, and 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." Verse 21, but as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God. So here we have Israel here at this time, they have a hardened heart, they've turned to idolatry, they've forgotten the things of God, they've disobeyed the word of God, and their heart has become very hard, it's become very calloused. Can't do anything with it. God says whenever I gather you back together, whenever I'm gonna give you a new heart, I'm gonna give you a new spirit, I'm gonna take your stony heart away, I'm gonna give you a heart of flesh. Because if our heart becomes hard enough, long enough, it will turn into a heart of stone, and it can't be changed. We need to seek God to be able to change our heart. But the heart can be changed. Man is born with a deceitful, wicked heart, but God can change that. Okay? I like what David said in Psalms 51 verse 10. He says, created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Okay? Even David, a man after God's own heart there in Psalms 51 10, So he's asking the Lord, create a new heart in me, okay? When someone seeks to have a pure and clean heart and they seek God for it, he will give it to them. That's a great stipulation. You can have a heart of stone and it can stay that way for your entire life. until you seek the Lord and ask Him to change it or ask Him to help you in changing your heart. Give me back a heart of flesh, Lord. I'm tired of my hard heart. Then He will change it. But if you don't ask Him, He's not going to change it. God answered David's prayer, and the Bible calls David a man after God's own heart. So number three, God can change your heart. A heart can be changed. Number four, this one's important, turn to Proverbs chapter four. Proverbs chapter four. We'll expound on these a little more as we go, but I'm trying to lay the groundwork here. Proverbs chapter four. Number four is it is your job to let God clean up your heart, then keep it clean. It's your job to keep your heart clean. Proverbs 4, verse 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Whose job is it to keep your heart clean? It's your job. It's your responsibility. Whenever you got saved, the Bible says you're a new creature, okay? Old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new. That includes your heart. Your wicked heart has been made clean. You might defile it pretty shortly thereafter, but it gives you a new heart. It gives you a clean start, a fresh start, okay? You got a clean slate going. But it's your job to keep it clean. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. You know what that's called, keeping your heart clean? I like to call it preventative maintenance, okay? I'm a mechanic, I know the importance of preventative maintenance. Why do most trucks come into the shop? Because they don't take care of their trucks. You know, even, I don't know, my wife knows a lot more expensive car brands than I do. I know Fords, but perhaps even greater than Mercedes or BMW or something like that, even a Bentley, okay? Even a Bentley, if you don't change the oil, that engine's gonna lock up. without maintenance I don't care how nice and how expensive how fancy that car is if you don't perform any maintenance that thing will seize up and be a boat anchor okay it's gonna be worthless over after amount of time and I've got plenty of stories to go with that but my favorite one is I was working at Sears and my service manager at the time told me about this He said, I think he used to work at Dodge or somewhere, but he said they had a vehicle that come in and everything, the motor was locked up, it was just blown up, the motor was destroyed. The car wasn't all that old, it was just a year or two old, but it had about 40,000 miles on it, maybe 50,000 miles on it and stuff like that. And so they're working out, it's still under warranty, you know, it's under the 100,000 mile mark, and they say, okay, you know, and they're working out the paperwork and stuff like that and say, oh, by the way, when's the last time you changed the oil? And the lady says, the what? The engine oil, when's the last time you changed the engine oil? Why would I need to change the oil? She goes, won't the new motor come with oil? Yes, you still got to change it. It doesn't matter how nice it is. If you don't keep up with it, it's going to break down. That's what we have to do with our heart, and it's our job to keep our heart clean. Keep thy heart with all diligence. That means we've got to be diligent about it. Okay, we've got to be on guard. Why? Because our spiritual enemy over here is waging a battle against our heart. The devil's trying to defile your heart. He's trying to find something in here to get after your heart because if he can get your heart, your heart will defile you. The evil thoughts, The fornication the adulteries the murders everything that the heart can do to defile a man whoever controls your heart Controls your body controls your actions controls your thoughts controls your mouth It's dangerous We'll go over how exactly how to keep your heart clean here in just a little bit but I want you to understand there is a battle for the Christians heart and If you're saved, there's spiritual war going on, and the primary battlefield is for control of your heart. Why is that? Because out of it are the issues of life, right? 423, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. If the devil can sway your heart, Your heart will defile you. Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, faultlessness, blasphemies, all those mentioned in Matthew 15. So I wanna give you here some signs of a wicked heart. How do I know if my heart is a heart of flesh or a heart of stone? There's signs that there's bad influence around your heart. There's evidences that somebody is swaying your heart and it's not the Holy Spirit. Okay, signs of a wicked heart number one rejection of the Word of God. I Don't want to hear what God says. I don't care what God says I mean, I don't care what the Bible says I don't I know what the Bible says, but I just choose to do something else I you either don't know what God says you don't care to know what God says and you're just gonna live your life. Anyway You reject the Word of God. Let me give you a great example. How about Pharaoh? I It talks in Genesis, Pharaoh hardened his heart. Sometimes it says God hardened Pharaoh's heart. It's about half and half. Sometimes God hardened his heart, sometimes Pharaoh hardened his heart. What happened to Pharaoh's heart? It was hardened. Why? Because he wouldn't do what God said to do. God says, let my people go. Speaking through Moses, let my people go. Pharaoh's like, hmm. Well, who hardened his heart? Well, sometimes Pharaoh just didn't want to hear what God said. Sometimes God said things that Pharaoh didn't want to do. So sometimes it's God hardened in his heart. Sometimes it's Pharaoh hardened his own heart. What was his issue? He didn't want to do what God said. It's not that he didn't know what God wanted. It's not that God didn't send a prophet to him and say, Hey, there's what God said. It's that Pharaoh said, Here's what I want. I want the plague to go away. So yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll let the people go this time and everything. I'll do it tomorrow. You know what? That's a hard heart. You reject the word of God. We went over Wednesday night, talked about Josiah. The Bible said Josiah was tender-hearted, right? He humbled himself. He was tender-hearted. Why? Because he found the word of God in the house of God and he said, uh-oh, And he softened his heart because he knew, he respected, he obeyed, he honored the Word of God. If you have a tender heart, you care about the things of God and you're willing to be changed by the Word of God. You can get reproof and get rebuked and change because of it. But if you have a hard heart, you say, I don't care what God says. People who no doubt know what God says and don't obey either because they don't like it or they don't care anymore, that's somebody with a heart problem. That's somebody with a hard heart. Apathy in a Christian is a sure sign of a hard heart. Well, I know what the Bible says, but. I know that I should be in church, but. I know I should read my Bible, but. I know it was preached last week, but. What is it? I don't, but I don't care. That's the problem, it's apathy. What happened? It's a heart problem. It's a heart problem. They don't care anymore. Their heart's not in it. We sing this song, is thy heart right with God? It's something we have to check up on. It's something we have to see. So the signs of a wicked heart, number one, rejection of the word of God. Number two, being surrounded by wickedness. Do you realize something surrounds your heart? There's something that encompasses your heart. There's something that's going to surround your heart. And it's based on what you are around. If your movies are wicked, and your music is wicked, and your books are wicked, and your friends are wicked, it's only a matter of time before your heart is wicked. Because your heart is exposed to what you expose to it, what you're around. What you see goes to your heart. What you hear goes to your heart. The people you're around go to your heart, your experiences, your behavior, your environment. It goes towards your heart. Okay? And principalities, powers, the rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness attack your heart by what you hear and what you see and what environment you hang around in. Okay, turn back to Ezekiel chapter 11. Guess I should have told you to keep a marker there. Sometimes I remember, sometimes I don't. So see, Satan's on the battlefield and he says, if I can get their heart, I can get them defiled. I can get them to commit adultery and fornication and murder and wicked thoughts and all these different things. All I've got to do is get to that heart. And so we have two options, we can surround ourselves with things that are going to help the devil attack our heart or we can surround ourselves with things that are going to keep the devil from attacking our heart. Ezekiel 11 verse 20, well let's do 19. And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and I will give them a heart of flesh. Okay, that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances and do them. That's if they have the heart of flesh, right? God's given them a new heart, a clean heart, and the whole purpose of that clean heart is 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. That's what happens if your heart's right with God. You accept the Word of God, you're obeying the Word of God, God is your God, and I'll be His people. Verse 21, but as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God. So see, if they don't let God renew their heart, if they don't let God clean up their heart, they still have the old stony heart, they're walking after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, their heart's open to the enemy. They're against the word of God. They're not following the word of God anymore. They've chosen the wrong path. See, what you are exposed to influences your heart. If you're watching violent movies and playing violent video games and just surrounded by violence, there's a good chance you're gonna be a very violent person because it affects your heart. If you are subject to a lot of foul language, your mouth is going to become pretty foul. Same with sex or anything else. And you know what happens is it desensitizes you towards that sin and towards that behavior. Why? Because your heart's gotten hard. Somehow the devil's come through and found little openings here and say, I'm trying to get that heart. I'm trying to attack that heart. So I've found that through your music, I can get to your heart. Well, I just like the rock music. You know, that's OK. I can listen to it. I can listen to my spiritual stuff on Sunday, and I can listen to my rock on the other times, or my rap, or whatever, even my country music, or whatever it is. The devil's going to use that music to find a way to influence your heart and desensitize you to the things that your music is all about, sensuality, sexuality, rebellion, Anything like that, or it could be your TV shows, or the movies that you watch, okay? The devil's looking for a way to get to your heart. He's looking for an open gate to defile your heart, and it's what you allow, and what you expose your heart to is what's gonna get you. But it desensitizes you to those things. He starts off with something small. He's gonna start off with a small artillery, okay, and then work his way up. I put them out of order, but I didn't think about this whenever I was drawing it. which helps, I'm all about excuses here. But see, he starts off with the little things. Well, I know it's not pleasing to God, but is it displeasing to God? Well, okay, you know, there might be some gray area there. Well, I know that it's a little displeasing to God, but it's not that bad. Okay, well, I know God's against this, but it's mostly good. It's mostly clean and everything, and then it's like, well, I don't care. It should really be a separate issue because, I mean, it's not affecting me, and since it's not affecting me, it must be okay. You know what's happening? The devil's finding a doorway, and he's getting to your heart. The little crack in the armor has become a gaping hole because that's what the devil's looking for. I used to go over to a friend's house, not too often, because of the environment it was, because you get desensitized to things like this, and I was over at his house, and I never talked back to my parents, just a couple of times, and then I learned real quickly, you don't talk back to mom and dad. It didn't take too long, when you can't sit down for a little while, you remember, every time you go to sit down, I'm not going to talk back to them again, you know, and you learn these lessons. I was over at my buddy's house, his name was Tyson, and we'd be over at his house and they would just yell at each other. Mom would yell at the kids, the dad would yell at the mom, the mom would yell at the dad, the kids would yell at the parents, and the parents would yell at the kids, and they were just yelling at everybody. I'm just sitting there going, I don't like confrontation. You know, and I just be nervous. I'm like, what's going on? What happened? They were, they were desensitized to the yelling because they'd been around it too much. Too often we get desensitized to the things regarding our heart because we expose ourselves to it too much. You become desensitized. So signs of a wicked heart. Number two, you're surrounded by wickedness. Because once your heart gets hard enough, those things don't bother you. The language doesn't bother you anymore. The bad TV shows don't bother you anymore. The world of music doesn't bother you anymore. The cursing, the pornography, anything. It doesn't bother you anymore because you've been around it too much. Your heart's hard. Then number three, signs of a wicked heart. You produce the fruit of a defiled heart. That's when you have the evil thoughts. That's when you commit the murders or the adulteries or the fornication or the thefts, the false witness or the blasphemies. It's the fruit of what's been going on in your heart for so long. The devil's been winning the battle. He has been finding the cracks. He's been getting through to your heart. And now you're producing fruit of your defiled heart. You commit the adultery. You commit the fornication. You start stealing. You're bearing the false witness. You're blaspheming. and the like. It makes me wonder, do your TV shows, books, music, or social media promote any of these evil things? The evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Then you know what it is. If your shows, books, music, or social media produces those things, then that's a tool of the devil attempting to defile your heart. So how do we win the battle for your heart? See what God's given us. He's given us the breastplate of righteousness. What is that? That is something in here to protect our heart because the devil is still fighting. The devil still wants to get in. And God says, if you put on righteousness, that's going to protect your heart from the artillery of the devil. There's a protective layer that we can put on, some armor, spiritual armor that we can put on that's going to protect our heart. How do we win the battle for your heart? Number one, protect it. You need the defense. You need the armor. Use the breastplate of righteousness. What is righteousness? That's purity of heart and rectitude of life, conformity of heart and life to the divine law. You know what righteousness is? It's accepting God's word and will and doing what's right. I know what the Bible says. The Bible's against this, therefore I'm against it. That's righteousness. The Bible is for the God's for this. He wants me to do this. That's righteousness. I'm going to do it. It's doing what's right according to God, not according to society. Righteousness, you need to understand this, is not just positivity. Okay? Righteousness is not just positivity. Just because someone is positive, that does not mean they're righteous. Because you can support all sorts of abominations, wickedness, and blasphemies, and do it in a very positive way. Oh, we're not judgmental here, we're very accepting, you know, you're sodomy, that's okay, you know, you can be a sodomite if you want to, that's fantastic, you know, to each his own. That's very positive, that's not righteous. Why? It goes against the word of God. Okay, righteousness is not just positivity. I've heard so many of, dealt with someone for a while, and they thought that. They said, well, my problem is I'm just not thinking positive enough. If I could just think more positively, because they were reading books by people like Beth Moore and different people that say, well, if you're just positive enough, if you put enough positivity in there, the answer is not positivity. The answer is righteousness. God didn't give us a breastplate of positivity. He gave us the breastplate of righteousness. To protect your heart from wickedness, you need to set up a strong walled barrier of righteousness. Turn back to Proverbs chapter four. I should have told you to put a marker there too. Maybe you just remember whenever I turn somewhere, you just stick a bookmark in there and say, there's no telling if he's gonna be back or not. We're gonna run short on tithing envelopes because they're all gonna be slotted in your Bible, right? There's 32 markers in my Bible. Proverbs chapter 4, because we read verse 23, but the following verses tell us how to keep thy heart with all diligence. Proverbs 4, 23, keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. 24, put away from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee. 25, let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 26, ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. 27, turn not to the right hand nor to the left, remove thy foot from evil. So how do you keep your heart with all diligence? Well, number one, you watch your mouth. That's verse 24. You watch what you say. Okay, you gotta keep your mouth shut. That's a big Christian problem right there, just knowing when to keep your mouth shut. My mouth gets me in more trouble than anything else. Verse 25, watch your eyes. Don't put anything wicked in front of your eyes. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. That means wicked words in a book, wicked TV shows, wicked movies, wicked social media, whatever you're putting your eyes on, don't put anything wicked in front of your eyes. Number three, watch out where you go. Verse 26, that's your environment, what you're around. Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. I'm thinking of where I'm going, is that a safe place for me or is that a bad place for me? Is that a place that has righteousness or wickedness? You can narrow down a lot of decisions there. Is that place a wicked place or is it a righteous place? Is it gonna line up with the word of God or does it go against the word of God? Is there righteousness present? Watch out where you go. Verse 27, don't deviate from what you know is right. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left, remove thy feet from evil. This is a bad situation, I'm out of here. This conversation with my coworkers, it just turned to dirty jokes, I'm gone. You have to do that. If you want to be protected by a breastplate of righteousness, you've got to instill, that righteousness has got to be all the way around. You make cracks in that righteousness, And before long, the devil finds that crack and says, ha ha ha, you might be righteous in all these other areas, but lookie here. Oh, if I got to you, he finds a way. He's looking. I like David's advice on how to have a right heart with God. Turn to Psalms 101. I like this. This is right heart 101 is what this is, Psalms 101. It's all about getting your heart right. Psalms 101, we'll start in verse two. What does David say, a man after God's own heart, what does he say about having your heart right with God? Psalms 101, starting in verse two. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when wilt thou come unto me, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. Notice it happens, it starts at home. Because home is where you, You're the real you. You put on the faces whenever you come to church. You put on the mask whenever you go to work. But whenever you're at home, that's who you really are. Okay, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. How are you gonna have a perfect heart at home? Verse three, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I will hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. So I'm gonna watch my eyes. I'm not gonna look on wicked things. And I'll hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me. I'm not going to hang around those that do the wrong things, that go against the word of God. Verse 4, a froward heart shall depart from me, I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off. Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. So they're talking wrong, they're speaking wrong, they're slandering, they're blaspheming, I'm not going to be around them. If they're proud, they've got a high look, they've got a proud heart, and they're arrogant, I'm not going to be around them. I will not suffer. Will not I suffer? Verse 6, mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. Oh, I found the righteous people. I found people that love God. I'm going to be around them. They're going to dwell with me. We're going to go fellowship with each other. We're going to hang around. What am I doing? I'm completing that righteousness around my heart. I'm surrounding myself with righteousness so wickedness can't come in and defile my heart. Verse 7, he that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I'm not gonna be around liars and I'm not gonna let wicked things into my house. Verse eight, I will early destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. So David's advice on how to get your heart right with God is number one, he's watching your eyes, that was verse three. And then verse four through eight talk all about keeping from the wrong crowd and being around the right crowd. He's surrounding himself with righteousness. Remember Philippians 4, 8, I know you know the verse. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue or there be any praise, think on these things. Why do we need to think on those things? We're protecting our heart. Something is going to be around your heart. It needs to be protected. We need that breastplate of righteousness whenever you're surrounding yourself with the right music and the right TV and the right books and the right friends and the right environments. You're protecting your heart with righteousness because you're around people that love the Lord, love his book, and you're keeping it clean. So you're protecting your heart. Turn to Psalms 139. So how to win the battle for your heart, number one, you protect it with the armor, the breastplate of righteousness. Sometimes the best offense is a good defense, right? Psalms 139. So you need to protect your heart, number one. Number two, you need to check your heart regularly. Check your heart regularly. You might have it protected up, but are you protecting a wicked heart? and just masking it in righteousness? Or is your heart clean? Is your heart right with God? Psalms 139 starting verse 23, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Here David, a man after God's own heart is sitting there and asking God, he's saying, I don't know how my heart is. I don't know my heart's condition. I want you to search my heart and you let me know if there's some uncleanness in there. Lord, let me know if there's a blemish hiding in the corner that I don't know about. Let me know if there's, there's a problem over here with my heart. Lord, I, I want to know if there's an issue with my heart. Could you tell me because I want a clean heart. Ask the Lord. God wants your heart clean and He has given you the responsibility with keeping it clean. Don't you think that He'd be more than happy to show you when it's dirty? All you got to do is ask Him. When reading your Bible, don't just focus on what you're doing right, but what you need to improve on. Sometimes when we'll be reading, we'll be like, doing pretty good with that. You know, heck, God's giving me victory there. Don't just look for success stories about yourself when you read the Bible. Read it and say, God, is this something I need to work on? God, am I living up to this standard right here? Is this something that I need to focus more attention on? Check your heart regularly. Take preaching personally. See how it applies to you. You know, don't just sit there and be like, glad they're here. They need to hear it. Man, I wish they were here. They could really use it. No, no, no. Take it personally. What are you doing? You're searching your heart, saying, God, show me. He shows you through preaching. He shows you through reading your Bible. He shows you through prayer. Don't neglect these things. You've got to check your heart regularly. If you're going to, if you're supposed to keep it with all diligence, check it. And number three, clean it when necessary. Okay, so number one, protect it. Number two, check it. And number three, clean it. How do you clean it? You pray, you pray, you pray. Okay, number one, pray for God to protect your heart from the attack of the enemies. Number two, pray for God to show you problems in your heart. Be humble and willing to accept his correction. Don't just ask him to show you and then shrug it off and be like, oh well. Be humble enough and be hopeful that he will show you something and be willing to change when he does. Obey the word of God. Come across scripture that beats you between the eyes, pay attention to it, humble yourself, obey it. Number three, pray for the hearts of those around you. Pray for the hearts of other people. We're all in the same battle together. We all face the same enemy here. What we need to do is we need to pray for one another. Lord, please protect their heart. Lord, help my pastor. He's got problems. Lord, I know he's got attacks from the devil. Could you please protect his heart? Keep it from defiling him. Pray for each other. Pray for one another. I'll give you the reference there. We ran out of time this morning, but First Chronicles 29, 17 through 20. First Chronicles 29, 17 through 20, that's David, a man after God's own heart, praying and asking God to help the heart of Israel and to help the heart of Solomon, his son. He's praying for someone else, praying for the heart health of someone else. We'll pray whenever they have physical infirmities, but we don't pray for them whenever they're under spiritual attacks, whenever their heart is under pressure and under attack of the devil. We need to pray for one another then. Your heart is important, it's worth protecting. The breastplate of righteousness is vital. The more righteousness that you surround yourself with, the better off you will be. But the more wickedness that you choose to be around, the videos, the movies, the books, the games, the music, the thinner your armor is and the more cracks there are for a fiery dart to find its way through and pierce your heart. Okay, Christian separation is a Bible doctrine for a reason. It's to protect your heart. It's not because God doesn't want you to do anything fun. It's not because God wants you to be miserable being a Christian. It's because he's trying to protect your heart because he knows what it can do to you. It can destroy your testimony. It can destroy your life. It can get so hardened and so calloused that God can't use you until you let him give you a new heart. It's important. We'll stop there this morning and get ready for the morning message.