Please join with me in turning to the book of Proverbs chapter 4, if you would please. Proverbs chapter 4. We read this evening beginning with verse 20 and I'll read down to verse 27. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 20. My son, be attentive to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight. Keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance. For from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet. Then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. Turn your foot. away from evil. And though we will consider this entire section tonight, I want us to set our attention in a special way on the 23rd verse, which says, keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. The Bible has a lot to say about the value of wisdom. And based upon what it has to say concerning the value of wisdom, it has a lot to say about what our desire should be for wisdom. I mean, if wisdom is valuable, then those who understand its value should desire it and seek it. Proverbs 16, verse 16 says, how much better to get wisdom than gold? To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. What's more valuable, gold, silver, or wisdom? The Bible says wisdom is. And not by some small margin. The verse says, how much better to get wisdom than gold? Do you hear in that verse both the value of wisdom being exalted, but also the desire for it? being exhorted upon us. Proverbs 8.10 says this, take my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold for wisdom is better than jewels and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. Proverbs 3.13 says, "...Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver, and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a life to those who lay hold of her. Those who hold her fast are called blessed." I want to ask you a question. Does your life demonstrate that you believe those statements? Does your life demonstrate that you believe those statements? Do your prayers demonstrate that you believe those statements? When was the last time that you asked God for wisdom, that you asked God to grant you a wise heart, to teach you wisdom? Does your study of Scripture demonstrate that you believe those statements? I mean, if you're going to gain wisdom, where do you find it? Don't you find it in the Word of God? Does your attendance to the things that make for wisdom demonstrate that you really understand the value of wisdom? I mean, if I have a heart that desires wisdom, where do I go? What means might God use to communicate wisdom to me? If we value wisdom, we seek it. If we value wisdom, we desire it. The Bible is clear that that God is the one who grants wisdom. If we value it, if we seek after it, if we desire it, we seek after Him. We look to Him. I mean, just the disciplines of the Christian life by themselves don't produce wisdom. Wisdom is to be sought but always in a spirit of dependence. upon God, always in the atmosphere of devotion. In fact, remember that. Wisdom is taught, wisdom is learned in an atmosphere of devotion toward God Himself. Knowledge by itself is not wisdom. Experience by itself does not impart wisdom. Training and mentoring by itself will not produce wisdom. You can spend a lot of time around very wise people, but if you don't have the right heart, You're not going to learn from them. An old commentator on the book of Proverbs named Charles Bridges said this, he said, if your ears were bored to the doors of the sanctuary, if the word were never let out of your sight, your religion would still just be an idea and not principles unless you keep them within your heart. What's he saying? He's saying that constant exposure, even constant exposure to the things of God will just be ideas unless those things become a part of the fabric of your life, unless those things become a part of you, unless you really learn those things in your heart. And so wisdom is not attained by simply giving ourselves to spiritual disciplines. Wisdom is the work of God in someone's life. Wisdom is granted by God. I think we can see this in ministry training. We pray for Adam as he goes to London, and we pray for that work, and we pray for the work of the Expository Seminary here at our church, and we thank God for men like Dr. Vlock who was here with us just last week. But the truth of the matter is there are many young men who emerge from seminary who demonstrate that in all of their learning they still haven't learned wisdom. I've known many young men who graduated from seminary, they were very capable intellectually, they were good communicators, but they struggled in churches and in some cases they made wreck of churches because they lacked godly wisdom. They knew a lot of things, they just didn't know what to do with what they knew. They knew a lot of things. They had studied the biblical languages. They studied theology. They passed all their tests. But they still lacked the maturity, the humility, the sanctified common sense that allows someone to shepherd the Lord's sheep well. And what can be said of ministry can be said of everything else that God has tasked us with. We need wisdom for all of life. We need God's wisdom for our marriages. We need God's wisdom for the raising of our children. We need God's wisdom as we conduct business in this world. We need wisdom for everything it is that we do. So when is the last time that you earnestly ask God to grant you a heart of wisdom? Not knowledge, wisdom. Not experience, wisdom. When's the last time? You look at Solomon as he began his reign, as he was following his father David. And there's the Lord coming to him in a dream and basically giving him carte blanche. Solomon, ask me for what you want. What do you want? The Bible tells us that Solomon asked the Lord for wisdom. And God was pleased with it. 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 5 says this, at Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, ask what I shall give you. I wonder if the Lord came to you tonight and said, ask what I shall give you. What would you ask for? And Solomon said, you have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father. Although I am but a little child, I do not know how to go out or come in. Your servant is in the midst of your people whom you've chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this, your great people?" Then verse 10 says this, it pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. I mean, that kind of request pleases God. And God said to him, Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life, or riches, or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days." Solomon asked for wisdom. God was pleased with that request. God granted that request. And I say to you tonight that when we ask for wisdom, God is not stingy with it. In fact, in the book of James, we're told, or are we not, that if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask. God is generous. I think it's especially important to note the thought process there as Solomon prayed that, as he asked for that. Did you notice what he did? First of all, he talked about God's faithfulness in verses 5 and 6. How faithful God had been to David. How faithful God had been with his love, true to his commitments to David and to his offspring. He had now put one of David's sons upon his throne. He celebrates the faithfulness of God. Then in verse 7, he talked about his own smallness. Though I am but a child, he says, I don't know how to go out. I don't know how to come in. And then in verse 8, he talked about the greatness of the task, the greatness of God's people. And then in verse 9, he says, so Lord, I need your help. I need wisdom. That's the same sort of thought process that ought to operate in us. God, I see your faithfulness. I see my smallness. I see the greatness of the task that I've been entrusted with. And so, I need wisdom from you. At that time, Solomon prayed in a way that reflected humility, prayed in a way that reflected he did not feel equal to the task, prayed in a way that placed his dependence to be of any good, to do any good, he placed his dependence for that squarely onto the Lord's shoulders and God was pleased with it and willing to grant it, such a request. When's the last time you asked for wisdom? And what our text here tells us is this, if we value wisdom, if we're seeking after wisdom, if we're learning wisdom, then there's something here in the midst of this text that we will see as vital, as non-negotiable. What we believe that to be is this, we must keep a watch over our hearts. What does wisdom teach us? Here's a father teaching his son wisdom. What does wisdom teach us? It teaches us what we see in verse 23, that we must keep our hearts with all vigilance. For from it flow the springs of life. If you're learning wisdom, then you believe that you need to keep a watch over your heart. Do you believe that tonight? Do you believe you need to keep a watch over your heart? Spurgeon talked about the minister's self-watch when he was addressing his students in lectures to my students. He talks about the minister's self-watch and he uses a particular phrase that stands out to me. He says that we must not neglect the culture of ourselves. We think about all the things that concern us, all the things that we're watchful about. What we must not neglect is the culture of ourselves. Let's never neglect the condition, the atmosphere of our own heart. He said this to his students. He says, it is true that the Lord, like Quentin Mastis in the story of the Antwerp well cover, can work with the faultiest kind of instrumentality. I mean, God doesn't need anything special to work with, right? God can work, he says, with the faultiest kind of instrumentality as he does when he occasionally makes very foolish preaching to be useful in conversion. And he can even work without agents. without agents, as He does when He saves men without a preacher at all, applying the Word directly by His Holy Spirit. But we cannot regard God's absolutely sovereign acts as a rule for our action. He may, in His own absoluteness, do as pleases Him best, but we must act as His plainer dispensations instruct us. And one of the facts which is clear enough is this, that the Lord usually adapts means to ends. From which the plain lesson is that we shall be likely to accomplish most when we are in the best spiritual condition. Or in other words, we shall usually do our Lord's work best when our gifts and graces are in good order. And we shall do our worst when they are most out of trim. This is a practical truth for our guidance. When the Lord makes exceptions, they do but prove the rule. We are, in a certain sense, our own tools. And therefore, we must keep ourselves in order. If I want to preach the gospel, I can only use my own voice. Therefore, I must train my vocal powers. I can only think with my own brains and feel with my own heart and therefore I must educate my intellectual and emotional faculties. I can only weep and agonize for souls in my own renewed nature, therefore I must watchfully maintain the tenderness which was in Christ Jesus." And then listen to this, he says, it will be vain for me to stock my library or organize societies or project schemes if I neglect the culture of myself. For books and agencies and systems are only remotely the instruments of my holy calling. My own spirit, soul, and body are my nearest machinery for sacred service. My spiritual faculties and my inner life are my battle acts and weapons of war." If we are wise, we will guard our hearts. If we are wise, we will not neglect the culture of ourselves. When you come to chapter 4 verses 20 through 27, you come to the seventh parental appeal in the first nine chapters of the book of Proverbs. Do you notice how it begins there in verse 20? My son. My son. This is a parental appeal. The seventh one. There are ten in all in the first nine chapters. And these ten parental appeals belong to what is a unique section in the book of Proverbs. The first nine chapters of Proverbs you find much more instruction in paragraph form. What we usually think of when we think about studying the Proverbs is sort of, you know, one line at a time, one sentence at a time kind of instruction. You have some parallelism and sometimes statements hang together, but not long sections. You have statements of truth that sort of stand on their own. But here, you have a particular verse, like verse 23, being understood in a larger section, verses 20 through 27. And so, there's a theme that belongs to the section and the verse has its meaning in the midst of that section, in the midst of that thematic teaching. It's also important to remember that there's a theological context when you come to the book of Proverbs. These Proverbs are given to God's people. So the people who read these and are called to believe these things and to live out these things are to be a people of faith in the living God, who are living in covenant with the living God, who are the objects of the grace of this living God. In other words, this was never meant to be moralism. This is not just, you know, behavior modification. This is not live a better life. What we have here is the teaching of a father who's teaching God's truth. He's imparting principles that reflect God's wisdom. That's why if you listen to this father, what happens with your life, you, verse 27, turn your foot away from evil. If you listen to this Father, you put away from you, verse 24, crooked speech. You put away devious talk. So the words that you're to give attention to, the words you're to incline your ear to, the words you're to keep within your heart are words that communicate the wisdom of God, the truth of God, the Word of God. That's what this Father is teaching. So this isn't moralism. Now what we have here is a living faith in practical expression. That's what wisdom really is. I mean, there are many nuances that make up what wisdom is. But one thing that wisdom certainly is, is the living out of a God-taught way of applying God's Word. Let me say it again, what is wisdom? It is the living out of a God-taught way of applying God's Word. It's God teaching you how to live out His Word. It's God showing you how His Word fits in your life, how it is lived out, how it is applied. And so we have a father here teaching wisdom to his son. When we pay attention to that fact, that this is parental appeal, we're reminded that this is no passionless appeal. Right? This is no dry recitation of facts. Oh, son, let me just pass on some facts to you. Now, this is a man whose life is wrapped up in the spiritual well-being of his son. Any truly godly parent has that attitude when it comes to his or her children. We live, we die with how they're doing spiritually. So this is an impassioned appeal. This is an urgent exhortation. This is a man... I mean, we're put in a position where we are meant to hear this as the sons, right? This is addressed to his son, but now we sit in the place of the son. And so we listen as a father appeals for our spiritual health, for our spiritual well-being. That's what's going on here. That's how we ought to hear it. For wise will listen as a father wants us to be wise. Now, as I said, we're going to focus on verse 23, but to get there, I want to give you several features of this section that we need to be aware of in no particular order, but a few things I want to point out. First of all, I want you to notice with me that this section is made up of a series of imperatives. I mean, there are commands all through this thing. Be attentive to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Keep them within your heart. Keep your heart with all vigilance. Put away from you, crooked speech. Put far from you, devious talk. Ponder the path of your feet. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. Turn your foot away from evil. Full of imperatives. What does that say to us? This is not being given in the spirit of suggestion. This is not just advice. The things that are being conveyed here represent urgent exhortation. In other words, they are meant to bind our consciences. If we hear these statements the right way, we will understand they impart a responsibility to us. Okay? I'm responsible to hear it. I'm responsible to believe it. I'm responsible to practice it. So I want to exhort us tonight to hear these statements that way. I want you to understand that the Word of God imparts a responsibility to you and to me. We're not to be people who merely hear the Word of God and are self-deceived. We're to be doers of the Word of God. So this imparts responsibility. This is an impassioned plea from a father to a son saying, listen to me. Do the things that will mean your spiritual health. Second observation, this section is unmistakably clear. I love simple, straightforward, unmistakable instruction. And that's what we have in these verses. He tells us in very clear terms what we are to receive. He tells us in very clear terms what we must reject. We must receive His words. We must incline our ears to His sayings. Again, remember the context, God's wisdom, God's truth, so we receive the words of God. We keep them within our hearts. We keep our heart with all vigilance. We ponder the pathway for our feet. We don't swerve to the right or to the left. And so there are certain things we must receive and keep, and there are certain things we must put away. We put away crooked speech. We put away devious talk. We put away evil. We turn our foot away from evil. Not hard to understand, not complicated, not some deep theological lesson that we're given in these verses. It's just straightforward. health talk. It's about spiritual health. This is what you do if you will be spiritually healthy. You'll be wise. So full of imperatives, unmistakably clear. Third, I would observe the section is imminently reasonable. Imminently reasonable. What is he doing? He is reasoning with the son. If the son will learn wisdom, he will embrace the father's arguments. The father is making a series of arguments. He doesn't just give commands, He gives reasons for the commands. We receive His words, we hold on to them. Verse 22, why do we hold on to them? Because they're life to those who find them. Healing to all their flesh, which is the thought of the whole body, the whole life. I mean, you want a life that is health, a life that is healthy, a life that is whole, a life that is well, then you give heed to the Word of God. Hold on to the words of such a wise father because it means life for you. You keep your hearts with all vigilance, verse 23. Why? Because from it flow the springs of life. So we'll talk about more in a moment. It's the control center for your whole life. That's why you watch over it. We ponder the pathway for our feet. We give real thought to the course that we're walking. Why do we do this? Verse 26, because then all your ways will be sure. Stable life, safe life, meaningful life, fulfilling life. Where do you find it? You find it in the pathway of wisdom. What is He doing? He is reasoning with us. The godly life is the reasonable life. I want to say that to you tonight, young people. I want you to hear me. God doesn't give commands just for the sake of giving commands. He gives commands that represent the way of life as opposed to the way of ruin. You neglect the words of God to the ruin of your own soul. So you receive His words. You listen to them. You take them into your heart. You believe them. You practice them because this is the way of life. This is eminently reasonable. Fourth observation about the section as a whole, this section calls for the dedication of my whole person. Calls for the dedication of my whole person. If there's nothing else you would recognize as you read the entire section, you would recognize that he is addressing the whole man. He makes reference to the eyes, to the ears, to the mind, to the heart, to the mouth, to the feet. Mentions the healing of the whole body. What you have is the internalization of wisdom, right? You take it into your heart for the externalization of wisdom. You take wisdom into your heart, that wisdom might then be displayed in how you live. The internalization of wisdom for the externalization of wisdom. That's what he's describing here. And the whole man is involved because what is at stake is my whole life. What is at stake is my whole life. Where can sin work havoc and ruin in a person's life? Literally in any and every area of the life. And therefore what he's saying is the whole person must be marshaled. The whole person must be called to alertness. The whole person must be called to obedience. My whole man must be submitted to God and to His Word. And you'll notice the way that he deals with man in these verses says that we're a unified one, right? We know that we're material and immaterial. There's the body, there's the inner man. Yet, what takes place in the inner man affects what takes place in the outward life. And what takes place in the outward life has an effect on the inner man. And so away, you know, with the bifurcation of the life, away with the thought that what I do in the body doesn't have any effect on my heart, or what is in my heart is not really being reflected by how I'm living. No, we are one as a person. And so the whole man must be brought to bow at the feet of the living God, to bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. My whole man must be marshaled, called to attention and alertness that I would live a life of wisdom. Derek Kidner said this, he said, so a kind of medical inspection follows in which one's state of readiness in the various realms symbolized by heart, mouth, eyes, and feet comes under review. So, made up of a series of imperatives, unmistakably clear, simple, straightforward, he gets right to the points. eminently reasonable. He's providing arguments for his son. Listen to me. This is why you must listen to what I'm saying. And then he calls for the dedication of the whole person. No doubt there is metaphor at work here, but nonetheless, the whole man is involved. Fifth observation about the section, the section represents a spiritual course. The section represents a spiritual course. There's a movement in this section. There's a flow of knowledge. From the outside to the inside and back to the outside. The words of the wise teacher taken into the heart, focused on, concentrated on, so cherished by the son that he won't let them go. And in the heart that has received such knowledge must be seen as so important and so vulnerable at the same time. that it is watched over with utmost care and in the presence of wisdom in that heart and the guarding of that heart will then be demonstrated by what the man dedicates himself to and what he divorces himself from. You'll know someone is keeping wisdom in his or her heart by what he's dedicated to and what he's divorced from. A flow of knowledge from the outside to the inside to the outside. And as you walk through this flow of knowledge, verses 20 through 27, strategically sandwiched right in the middle of the passage is verse 23. So that at the heart of the instruction is the guarding of the heart. At the heart of the instruction is the guarding of the heart, verse 23, keep your heart with all vigilance. If you are wise, son, this is what you will do. Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life. In that verse, he tells us three things. He tells us what we must do. He tells us how we must do it. He tells us why we must do it. What we must do, how we must do it, Why we must do it. Let's begin with the first one. What must we do if we are to be wise sons and daughters? What must we do? He says, keep your heart. Keep your heart. Now what is the heart? Well, I think you know, but let me just briefly state it. The heart in the Word of God, the heart in the book of Proverbs and throughout the Word of God is first the mind, the center of our thinking, our reasoning, but it's also referred to at times and places as the seat of emotions and the will, so it is the entire inner man. The heart is who you are in your inner man. John MacArthur said this, the heart is the depository of all wisdom. and the source of whatever affects speech, verse 24, sight, verse 25, conduct, verses 26 and 27. So the place where wisdom resides and the source from which all our behavior flows and all of our thinking flows. Our Lord told us this in Mark 7 verse 20, Jesus said this, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and they defile a person. Now obviously there is a picture of someone lost and in a natural condition. The heart of man is deceitful above all things. That is certainly true of every lost man. But we must remember that even though we have been saved and now the new nature is a reality in us, the flesh still abides within us. And we still deal with evil thoughts and we still deal with evil motivations that arise from within us. That's why our heart is vulnerable. We must watch over it. Now, there's some ambiguity here. When he says, keep your heart, is he talking about keep it as in restraining it, like you would say, keep your feet from, so keep your heart from. Is the idea, you know, keep your heart from evil, so the idea of restraining your heart, or is the idea of protecting it, watching over it? I think there's an element of both of those thoughts in the entire section. So I don't know that we have to make a heavy distinction there. I think probably the emphasis here would be on protecting the heart. But nonetheless, here's what I want you to weigh with me. We're being called here to keep our hearts, watch over them, restrain them when we recognize evil arising from within them. Can we do that without God? Can you keep your heart without God? Now it is absolutely plain in all of these statements that we're being called to action. As I said, this imparts responsibility. I'm not being asked to keep your heart, I'm being asked to keep my heart. I'm not told here to let God keep my heart, I'm told to keep my heart. So I have responsibility. There is action here, but as we carry out action in the realm of the Christian life, we need to do so always humbly, dependently, looking to the Lord, knowing our own inability apart from Him. So it is, you know, it's like you talk about the dual authorship of the scriptures. Who wrote the book of Romans? Did Paul or did the Holy Spirit? The answer is yes. Right? Paul did, the Holy Spirit was the author at the same time. So, who keeps my heart? Well, I do, but I do so relying on the Lord, looking to the Lord, trusting the Lord. Charles Bridges said, can I guard my own heart? Certainly not. This is God's work, though it is carried out through the agency of man. He works through our efforts. He implants an active principle and sustains the ceaseless exercise. When this is done in His strength and guidance, all the means of our preservation are greatly increased. Watch and pray. Nurture a humble spirit and a dependent spirit. Live in the atmosphere of the Word of God. Resist the evil world even in its most plausible forms. This will be a conflict until the end of our lives. The greatest, this is John Flavel, the greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God and after conversion, to keep it with Him. Above all else, exhorts the wise man, guard your heart. As Satan keeps special watch here, so must we keep special watch as well. If the citadel is taken, the whole town must be surrendered. If the heart is captured, the whole man, affections, desires, motives, pursuits will be handed over. The heart is the vital part of the body. If the heart is wounded, that means instant death spiritually as well as naturally. The heart is the wellspring of life. It is the great vital spring of the soul, the fountain of actions, the center and the seat of both sin and holiness. Bridges is saying we must guard our hearts but do so trusting the Lord, looking to the Lord, relying on the Lord the whole time. You don't leave a bank vault open. When there's money in it and just let anybody go in when they want, you set a guard over it because you realize something valuable is inside the vault. And so it is when you understand your whole life flows out of your inner man, so you will set a guard over your heart. Your heart is valuable. What happens inside of you matters. So what do we do? We keep our hearts. That's what we do. But notice, He doesn't just tell us to keep our hearts. He doesn't just tell us to watch over and to protect our thoughts, our affections, our motives, our commitments. He tells us that we are to do this in a way that surpasses how we guard anything else. In the Hebrew text, it is miko mishmar. The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament says this, more than one is otherwise vigilant. That's what it means. Utmost vigilance. One translator's notes say this, the Hebrew text, more than all guarding. More than all guarding. This idiom means with all vigilance. The construction uses the preposition mean. to express above, beyond, then the word all, and then a noun that speaks of the act of guarding. So the idea is more than all guarding. Just ask us this evening, are we doing that? Are we guarding our hearts more than we guard anything else? You have passwords for your bank account when you access them on the internet because you care to guard your money. If you leave your car in a dangerous part of the city, you make sure it's locked because you desire to guard your automobile. Most of us, I'm guessing, will lock our doors at night when we go to sleep because we care to guard our families. You don't allow your children to play in a busy street because you care to guard them. Out of all the things that you guard in your life, do you consider your heart in need of the utmost vigilance? I mean, guarding it above anything, everything else. We must not neglect the culture of ourselves. And if you ask, how do I guard my heart? I mean, what am I being called to do? The answer is found in the entire section. Look at it as a whole and you see it. You guard your heart, first of all, by what you put into it. And I would just encourage us to stop and let that sink in for a moment. Because I think, at least if you grew up in churches like I did, when someone said, guard your heart, the first thing I thought about was what I keep out of it. Right? I mean, make sure I don't look at things I shouldn't look at. Make sure I don't listen to things I shouldn't listen to. Make sure I shouldn't be in places where I shouldn't be. Make sure I'm not around people I shouldn't be around. So I always thought about keeping things out, but the father here doesn't begin with what you keep out. He begins with what you better keep in. My son, be attentive to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. You see? Take my words. Take these truths. into your heart." In fact, he says, keep them within your heart because they, this instruction represents life to those who find them. It represents healing to all their flesh. First thing we do to watch over our hearts is we put the right things into our hearts. How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to God's Word. Thy Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. What are you putting into your heart? What are you keeping before your spiritual eyes? What are you concentrating on? You know, we learned this morning, concentrate on the gospel. That's how you keep from drifting away. Fix your eyes on Jesus. I'll say it to you again. In the book of Hebrews, it is so instructive that when God, the Holy Spirit, is working through the writer of Hebrews to call these people away from defection, what does He do in the very first chapter? He fixes their gaze on His Son. How do you keep from drifting? You fix your eyes on the Son of God. And so, what do you do to guard your heart? You make sure that you fix your spiritual eyes on truth. Take the truth within your heart and keep it there. As Bridget said earlier, live in the atmosphere of the Word of God. Measure your thoughts by the Word of God. Measure your words by the Word of God. Measure your choices by the Word of God. Measure your companions by the Word of God. Measure your use of time by the Word of God. Measure your priorities by the Word of God. Measure all things in your life by the words of God. You begin by what you put in. But then notice something else he says, then you watch over your heart. You keep it with all vigilance, with utmost watchfulness. By doing something in verse 24, putting away from you crooked speech, putting devious talk far from you. Where does crooked speech, you know, dishonest speech, twisted speech, devious talk, where does it arise from? What did Jesus tell? I mean, when you hear something coming out of your mouth that doesn't align with Scripture, where's that coming from? It's coming out of your heart. Something is going on in your heart that doesn't agree with Scripture. Again, we still deal with abiding sin, even though we've been saved. So here's the second thing you do. If you want to guard your heart, one, you put the Word of God in. Two, whenever sin comes out, and it's often going to manifest itself out of your mouth, when sin comes out, you must kill it. You must recognize it. You must call it what it is. You must understand what it indicates. You must deal with it ruthlessly. You don't give it space. You don't give it excuses. You don't justify. You don't explain it away. You call it what it is. It is sin. So you repent of it. You turn from it. You put it away. Isn't that what he says to do in verse 24? Put away from you crooked speech. Put devious talk far from you. You don't just make some little separation from it. It would be comparable to plucking out an eye, cutting off a hand. Isn't that what Jesus talked about? I mean, put far from you these things that will kill you. So we guard our hearts by what we put in. We guard our hearts by recognizing what's coming out. And whenever sin comes out, often manifested in our speech, we care. And we go before the Lord with His Word and we deal with what's ever going on within our hearts. Listen, when you're dealing with bitterness, it manifests itself. When you're dealing with unforgiveness, it manifests itself. When you're dealing with selfishness, it manifests itself. When you're not loving, it manifests itself. When you're giving way to things that are dishonest, it manifests itself. When you're struggling with lust, it manifests itself. Now, when it manifests itself, what are you going to do with it? God identified his sin and put it to death, mortifying the deeds of the flesh, reckoning yourself dead to those things, but alive to God in Christ Jesus, you must deal with your sin. Dear ones, are we dealing with our sins? Or are we excusing them? You guard your heart by dealing with your sins. But then there's something else that you do if you're going to guard your heart by what you put in, by dealing with sin as it emerges out of the heart and manifests itself. But third, we guard our hearts by setting our focus, our gaze, on the straight, narrow pathway of truth as we are living our lives in this world. So now we're not in our study. You see, now we're out on the pathway that travels its way through this world in the external lives that we live. And calling to us from the right and calling to us from the left are invitations to evil, invitations to sin. And what does he tell us to do in verse 25? He says, let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder where your feet are headed. Ponder the path of your feet. And so as I live my life in this world, I do what verse 27 tells me, I don't swerve to the right or to the left, but I turn my foot away from evil. So clearly, he's not talking about, you know, some middle pathway between two extremes. No, he's representing a straight pathway of God's wisdom, of God's truth, of the Word of God. To my right is evil, to my left is evil, and I don't swerve to the right or to the left, but I fix my gaze forward and I stay on the pathway of truth. And in that way, my heart is guarded. You see, it's not just what goes in or what resides within that affects the outside of my life. What I allow my life to come in contact with on the outside will also affect my inner man. That's why I don't swerve to the right or to the left, but I keep my feet on the pathway of truth. I meet with people sometimes who are full of bitterness, full of anger, full of unforgiveness. I cannot tell you how many times when the person's a professing believer and you're trying to help them deal with that biblically, how many times you find out through sometimes not even trying, they just say it, but they're in friendships where someone is in their ear fueling their anger and bitterness and unforgiveness. Instead of being with wise companions who steer their feet back onto the pathway of truth, they are spending time with companions who are giving them excuses, permission to swerve to the right or to the left. telling them, you're okay. You're okay. Anyone would respond the way you're responding. Anyone would feel the way you're feeling. Dear ones, we must help each other stay on the pathway of truth and measure our counsel to others by the sure words of the wisdom of God. The sure words of the Word of God. What do we do? We keep our hearts. How do we do it? with utmost care, with all vigilance, above anything else we guard, we guard our hearts. That's the wise life. Third thing we see here, the reason why we must do this. Why must we do this? For from it flow the springs of life. Because our hearts are our life centers. My heart is my life center. My whole life flows out of my heart like a river finds its source from a spring. The spiritual condition of my heart is the starting point for all of my activities. I wonder how many people have suffered spiritual shipwreck and ruin because they stopped paying attention to their own spiritual condition. How many have lost their way? How many have brought shame on their families, on the reputation of the gospel, on the reputation of the church because they neglected the culture of themselves? And in some cases, it happened while they were preaching to others. It happened while they were teaching others. It happened where they were serving others. but not paying attention to the atmosphere of their own heart. See, if I say to you tonight, how are you doing spiritually? There's really nothing more important than that question. How are you doing spiritually? What is the condition of your spiritual life? Do we need wisdom, dear ones? Do we need wisdom? Where do I find wisdom? I find it from the Lord. It's learned in the place of devotion. It's learned in the place of devotion. I told the young men in the seminary this past Wednesday something I try to regularly remind myself of and I exhorted them in this way. If I ever start to think of myself more as a pastor than as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I'm in a dangerous place. And I would say to all of us, if you begin to think of yourself first more as anything than as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you're losing your way. Before you're a father, you're a disciple of Jesus Christ. Before you're a husband, you're a disciple of Jesus Christ. Before you're a son or a daughter, you're a disciple of Jesus Christ. Before you're a seminary student, you're a disciple of Jesus Christ. Before you're a pastor, you're a disciple of Jesus Christ. Before you're a businessman, you're a disciple of Jesus Christ. I don't care what you want to plug in there, Jesus must have preeminence in every area of our lives. And that means first and foremost, I am His slave. I am his son. I am his disciple. I am his follower. That's what's most important. That's what's most important. In the eternity to come, I'm not going to be in the pastor section. We're going to all be there worshiping our Lord and Savior. If I ever lose that perspective, I have lost my way. And it's in that place of personal devotion and love for Jesus Christ that a heart of wisdom is imparted. When you say, Lord, teach me wisdom, what you're really saying is, oh Lord, I draw near to you, draw near to me. Teach me these things in a way that I know how to live them. We pray together with Moses as he prayed in Psalm 90 verse 12 when he said, so teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Lord, teach us. The temporary nature of this life as it presently is, the eternal nature of the life that is before us beyond this life. Teach us our smallness and your greatness. Teach us that any task you assign to us is really too great for us. Teach us that we exist for your glory and to find our heart's satisfaction in nothing else, no one else but you. Teach us how to really live so that we might have hearts of wisdom. Oh Lord, how we need wisdom. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we do need wisdom and we cry out to you as we strive to draw near to you that you would draw near to us in a way that you would teach us how to live out these things that we find in Your Word, that, Lord, we would be careful right in the center of the flow of spiritual knowledge and life that we see laid before us in these verses. Lord, as wisdom goes in that it might be externalized, teach us to watch over our hearts, to guard our hearts with the utmost care. By putting truth into our hearts and keeping it, cherishing it, living with our eyes fixed on our Savior, by dealing with sin as it arises out of our hearts, not giving it any room but calling it what it is and dealing with it as You would have us to. And then, Lord, as we walk our way through this world by not swerving to the right or to the left but pondering the pathway of our feet and making sure that our feet remain on the narrow way of the truth of Your Word. Lead us in this way, Lord, for your glory and for our good, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.