It was several months ago on March 17th that we were looking at Proverbs 4.23, those well-known words, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. It was a solemn, earnest charge given by Solomon to his son, And it comes to us as a word from God, and it's a word that we cannot afford to ignore. If everything we do flows from our hearts, that's how the NIV translates it, and it captures the idea, everything we do flows out of our hearts, if that is true, then failures to keep or to guard our hearts with all diligence will have a negative impact on all that we do, our entire lives, right? So this is an urgent duty that is given to us, to all who have had their hearts set right by grace. That must happen first, that God gives us a new heart. But then God says to us, keep your heart with all diligence. Now, my plan, we're in between finish mark, don't know what's next, but my plan here is to do two messages by way of further application of Proverbs 4.23 on keeping the heart. And tonight, the title of my message is How to Keep Your Heart. What does this vital heart work look like? That's what we'll be considering tonight. And before we begin to consider that, let's again ask the Lord for his blessing. God, again, we thank you that we can open your precious word. And we pray that you would give understanding to us, give us ears to hear, give us strength, help us to be attentive. And we pray, Lord, that you would search us tonight, that you would help us to discover the state of our hearts, and by your grace, that we would keep our hearts diligently, and even that some would have new hearts this night, given to them by your grace, having your fear put into their hearts. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, many people appreciate and enjoy and benefit from a good how-to video. So you can look up things online. Read a book, maybe a recipe card, it's a how-to, how to make such and such a dish. These videos, YouTube in particular, are very popular and it's no surprise because people want and they need practical instruction on all kinds of things. Even just recently, things I've looked up, how to fix a toilet that's not working, a siphon, put that in, or a belt on a riding mower, how to make cold brew coffee. We have all kinds of things that we want to look up and say, well, how do I do this? Well, there's videos for just about anything. So how-to instruction is important. People need it. People want it. Now this is true when we come to the Christian life. For example, the disciples asking Jesus, teach us how to pray. They wanted some practical instruction on prayer. So he gave them a model prayer. But when it comes to living the Christian life, Though we might speak of how to do this or that, the Bible gives us direction on how to do this, how to love our spouse, how to raise our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, how to do a variety of things, keep your heart. Rarely, if ever, is it simply a matter of just following some steps in order. And tonight's message is a prime example of this reality. Now, before we get to the how to, how do we keep our hearts, what does this look like? I wanna consider again briefly the what. What is it that we are being told to do here? And we have the duty commanded very simply is keep your heart. That's the duty. Keep it, guard it, protect it, watch over it. Now, what's the heart? The heart is our inner man, the very center of our being. As it's been said, it's the central dynamic core of your personal life. It is the controlling source of all that you do in expression of what you are. He's saying, keep this, guard it and protect it. Now, the duty is ours, it's given to us. And this is true with many things in the Christian life. The duty is ours, but the power is of God, says John Flavel, and I'll quote Flavel a few times. Many of you know him, a Puritan who wrote on keeping the heart. The duty is ours, the power is of God. We can no more keep our hearts with all diligence than we can give ourselves new hearts to begin with. So we trust in God and we look to him for his power and his grace in carrying out this duty. Now that's the duty, what about the manner of performing it? Again, it's very simple, with all diligence. Or more literally, above all watching or guarding, keep your heart. As if the father is saying to his son, whatever you guard, whatever you keep, let it be your hearts. And that is God's message to us. Above all things, we ought to keep our hearts with all diligence. And what is the reason? The text goes on to say, spell it out very plainly, for out of it, out of the heart, spring the issues of life. Bubbling forth out of the heart as water coming out of a spring, every word Every action, every thought, every attitude, every emotion, all of this springs from our hearts. Jesus taught this very clearly and he said, if the heart, the source is bad, then the words and everything else will also be bad. They will be polluted. So keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life. So that's what we're talking about. But now, how do we go about doing this? Keeping our hearts. What does this most vital spiritual work look like? What are some of the particulars? And just some, we could say a lot of things here. Speaking broadly first, there is a positive and a negative focus. So the positive focus of keeping our hearts is to keep our hearts with God. to keep our hearts in close communion with God, and the negative focus of keeping our hearts is to keep our hearts from sin. So those are the two broad categories. We are to keep our hearts with God and to keep our hearts from sin. But using Flavel as our guide, I want us to think about five particulars involved in this. Five things, and I'm taking my headings from Flavel in his book. He has six, but we'll look at just five. And I want to point out that the order, even though it's not arbitrary, I think you'll notice that there is a progression of thought in this. But don't imagine that this is just, okay, step one, step two, step three. Because all of these things are happening simultaneously. They're to happen throughout our lives. We don't put away step one after step two and so on. So don't think of it as a step-by-step how-to guide when you hear these things. And as I say them, you'll understand, I trust what I mean. Firstly, is self-examination. Self-examination. And in Flavel's words, that we should frequently observe the frame or the condition of our hearts, to frequently observe the frame of our hearts. This is not a call to what we would say is navel-gazing, excessive self-absorbed observation and contemplation. That's not what is being referred to. We ask the question, how can our hearts, or really anything, be kept and guarded if they are not watched? If there's not frequent observation of something that you are keeping or guarding. Self-watchfulness is assumed in the duty to keep our hearts with all diligence. He's saying above all watching and above all guarding, keep your heart. So we need to be watching our hearts, observing our hearts. You think of a man with his family, a father, a husband, he's protecting his family. How can he do that? if he is not observant. And I'm not just talking about somebody breaking in, I'm talking about maybe sin in his home, things that are coming into his home. He has to frequently observe his home if he's going to protect it. Same thing, a farmer with his animals, he's gonna make his rounds, he's gonna know his animals so that he can take care of them, he's gonna be observant. A doctor, his patients. Do you want a doctor that's not observant? That's not going to spend time with you and sit down with you and observe and ask questions and listen? We're a pastor, his flock. Proverbs 27, 23 says, be diligent to know the state of your flocks and attend to your herds. And we could say, be diligent to know the state of your soul and attend to your heart. Think of Paul's words to Timothy. He says, Timothy, take heed to yourself. Take heed to yourself. And that's not just a word for pastors. We are to take heed to ourselves, to take heed to our hearts. How often do we really observe the condition of our hearts, of our inner being? How often do we really take time to consider how is it with my heart? Now just practically speaking, how would we even do that? Because it's one thing to say we need to consider what's the state of our heart, but how do we evaluate it? What do we do? Well, we cannot look at the outward forms of religion alone. And what I mean by that is what we're doing here is one of the outward forms. We come together, we gather and worship. We pray, we study the scriptures, the means of grace, public and private means of grace. These are outward forms. These cannot be neglected. So if these are neglected, then you know that there's something wrong with your heart. But let's say you're diligent, and most of you are, to keep these outward forms. Well, you know that we can go through the outward forms we can come here and just go through the motions. We all know what that is like, to feel dull, to feel cold, to feel unengaged in worship, whether it's here or whether it's at home. So it's not enough just to say, well, the outward forms are in place, therefore I am keeping my heart with all diligence. That may not be true. So you have to ask yourself certain questions. Am I really preparing myself for these duties? Am I delighting to come to the house of God and hear the word of God? Am I distracted all the time in these things as I'm drawing near to God? Are there other things on my mind? Am I rushing through these things so that I can get on with my day? Or am I longing to linger with God? And I know we have ups and downs all the time, but these are the kinds of questions that we ask when we're trying to diagnose the state of our hearts. Now, you could also look at the issues of your life. This is going back to the picture of Proverbs. It's issuing up, like bubbling out of the ground, like spring water. What are the issues of your life? We can't infallibly know anybody's heart, but we can look at the issues. So you say, well, what about my speech? Have I become more harsh in my speech? Have I become more critical? How is my spirit towards others? Am I always wanting to talk about others and about what's wrong with them more than I wanna talk about the Lord? What about my patterns of thought? What do I set my mind on regularly? Have I become combative? Have I become more vulgar in my speech? Have I become more worldly? Am I becoming less patient? Am I becoming more volcanic in my temper? Am I more often going off on people? Do I find myself not focusing upon those things by which we may edify one another? You could take Galatians 5, we know Galatians 5 well, where you have the fruits of the spirit, and those are contrasted with works of the flesh. You could look at these carefully and honestly before God, evaluating yourself and saying, are there more fruit of the spirit in my life, or am I seeing works of the flesh? And you go to God on your knees, you say, search me, oh God, and try me. As your word comes before me, let it be like a mirror and show me the true condition of my heart that I might not be deceived so that I can repent, that I might guard my heart more carefully and walk more closely with you. Now perhaps ask somebody who knows you and loves you well. If you're married, ask your spouse. Maybe you have a good friend, your pastor, somebody you trust, and you can ask, what do you see in my life? Do you see issues that are troubling, that might reveal that there's something wrong with the source, with the heart? Now, your regular reading and meditation on the word will help you a great deal in this heart work. of self-evaluation. I'll just give you one example. I've been meditating recently on Psalms 42 and 43, and as I've been reading that and thinking about it, the Lord has searched me, and this is in the context of the psalmist being cut off from the public worship of God and speaking in these terms, as the deer pants for the water brooks. So pants my soul for you, O God. Longing for God, and I have to ask, Lord, is that my heart? And if not, why not? He goes on to say, that was in Psalm 42, but Psalm 43, I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. And I meditate on that. I say, God, can I say that, truly, that you are my exceeding joy? So as you read the scriptures, you have plenty of opportunity to evaluate yourself. So keeping the heart involves this, regular self-examination, frequent observation of the frame of the heart. But of course, that examination and observation is not an end in itself. So that leads us to the second thing. In Flavel's words, deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders. So deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders. So by God's grace, your self-evaluation has been fruitful but painful because God has discovered something to you, you've seen something. He has shown you something of the evils of your heart. Ways in which your heart has not been well kept. Ways in which it's become disordered. Ways in which, as we've sung, your heart has begun to wander away from God. Ways in which your heart has become like an instrument that is out of tune that needs to be put back into tune. And how do you respond to this? How should we respond to this? Should we get angry? Should we give up, wallow in it, despair, and say it's never going to change? Well, the right response is obvious. It's not any of that, but it's to humble ourselves before God, at least that first. When God shows us something of our hearts and the sin and the corruption that is remaining in our hearts, we ought to go before him in prayer and humble ourselves before God. With a broken and contrite spirit, weeping over our sin and remaining corruption but never despairing. Being crushed but not utterly crushed so that we lose all hope. There are many biblical examples to encourage us. We read how Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, 2 Chronicles 32, 26. God spoke to Solomon at the dedication of the temple these words in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, saying, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." We could look at Job's humbling of himself before God in Job chapter 40. or the tax collector who would not raise his eyes to heaven, but he beat his breast and he said, God have mercy on me, a sinner. We have many examples of this deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders for sin in our hearts and lives. But there's one example that I believe deserves our special attention. And we're very familiar with this. And it's the example of King David. That's why I had us reading, or singing rather, Psalm 51. King David, after his horrible backsliding, his sin was the tragic issue, or the outcome, or the overflow of his failure to keep his heart with all diligence. Here is the man after God's own heart, growing careless and becoming tangled in a web of sin, adultery, murder, and deception, and being unrepentant for some time, until God, in mercy, sent Nathan the prophet to him, and convicted him of his sin." And so, you know, Psalm 51 is David's prayer of repentance. Psalm 51. And I've said this many times, and part of the reason it's been so helpful to me in my own walk with the Lord, that Psalm 51 we can use as a guide for our own prayers of repentance. And not just to go through it, but to really make them your own prayer. And let me offer that to you as an application. If you're here, and you've known something, God has shown something of the evils of your heart, that something's not quite right, that you've not been keeping your heart, humble yourself, take Psalm 51, get on your knees, and make it your own prayer. Pray until you have really prayed these words. Listen, you can turn there if you like, because we'll come back to it a few more times. Psalm 51. I'm just going to read the first four verses. in which we especially see the deep humiliation of David once he realized, I am the man, I have sinned against the Lord. He says, have mercy upon me, oh God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight." So David is humbled, and he's able to pray, and he's able to call it what it is. It's evil and sin against his God. Now, when we've done this, by God's grace, examining ourselves, humbling ourselves before God, there is still heart work that needs to be done on our knees in prayer. And that's the third thing I want us to consider, which is earnest prayer, earnest prayer. We keep our hearts by giving ourselves to, in Flavel's words, earnest supplication and instant prayer. And that language of instant prayers from Romans 12, 12 in the King James, rejoicing in hope, patient in trials, continuing instant in prayer. And it means urgent and persistent in prayer. being urgent and persistent in our prayers for purifying and rectifying grace. Rectifying simply meaning to set right. We need God to pour out his grace upon us to purify our hearts, which have been defiled by our sin, but also to set our hearts right. And so we pray for that, and we ought to do it urgently. It's here that we're reminded especially that Though it's our duty, the power is of God, because we come before Him realizing that He must work in us. And if you take nothing else from what I am saying away tonight, take this, that if you are to keep your heart, Prayer is absolutely vital. It is necessary. You cannot be prayerless and also be keeping your heart with all diligence. And if you find yourself not being in prayer, you can be sure that you're not keeping your heart. So again we have David's prayer, Psalm 51, as a model for us because not only did he humble himself, he's confessing his sin, he's pleading with God for mercy, but he also prays this earnestly. Look at verse 10 if you've got it open to Psalm 51. In verse 10 he says, create in me a clean heart. and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. That's exactly what Flavel is saying. So he's humbled himself and then he's saying, here's the problem, it's my heart. Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast, an upright spirit within me. Do that work in me, O God, he is saying. And this is what we are to do. This is hard work to pray like this, to really pray like this, to pray earnestly and urgently and persistently, but we have every encouragement to give ourselves to this kind of prayer. Think about it, who are we praying to? We're praying to God. God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and our Father who is in heaven. And what is he like? What is his character? He's merciful, he's gracious. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and mercy. What kind of access do we have to him? We have a bold access as children to a father through Jesus Christ, our mediator. What promises and assurances have been given to us in the Word of God? We have many assurances and many promises that would encourage us to go to God and be fervent and persistent in prayer. Just two examples, the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, James 5.16. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Matthew chapter 7, Jesus gives these encouraging words that we would keep praying. He says, Matthew 7, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? Is it a good thing to have a pure heart? Is it a good thing to have your heart renewed and restored and to have the fear of God in your heart and to have it growing in your heart? These are good things. So we have every confidence that if we keep seeking and praying to God, give me a better heart, we have confidence that he will hear us and he is ready to give us good things if we would ask him. So maybe God has shown you some things. There's defilement, disorders, dullness in your heart. You shouldn't be discouraged. You should not despair. As long as there is a throne of grace, And as long as we have a mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, none of us should ever, ever despair that God could work in us above all that we ask or think. And that's true of unbelievers and people maybe you've lost hope that they would be saved. Some of you here, if you don't know the Lord, cry out to God. Because I know you know the gospel if you're here and you don't know the Lord, you know it and cry out to God who alone can give you a new heart. And for us who know the Lord, who alone can give us these good things and purify our hearts and make us steadfast. Think about why God has saved you. What does he want for your life? What is the end goal in your salvation? Is it not that you would be made more and more and more like Christ? That you would become more and more holy in heart, speech, and behavior? That's what God wants to do in your life. That's his will for you. So we can pray knowing that it's God's will that these heart evils and disorders be done away with, that we be purified and our hearts be set right. So be encouraged and give yourselves to this. I wish I had an easy application to say, here are some simple steps for you to have a purified heart and again, be walking closely with the Lord. But to really wrestle in prayer and to really go before God and pour out your heart to God, it's difficult. It's flesh withering. Sometimes it's the last thing that we want to do, but it's what we need most. And it's impossible apart from the grace and the power of God at work in us. Apart from Psalm 51, Let me just encourage you to look elsewhere in the Psalms to guide your prayers in these types of things. Cleanse me from secret faults. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. That's from Psalm 19. Or another prayer from Psalm 86. Unite my heart to fear your name. That's a good one to commit to memory, an easy one to commit to memory. but to pray, oh God, unite my heart to fear your name. The label says, oh, for a heart to love God more, to hate sin more, to walk more evenly or consistently with God. Lord, deny not to me such a heart, whatever you deny me, give me a heart to fear you, to love you and delight in you. But now let us consider that we need to join to our fervent prayers what I'm going to call fresh resolve. Fresh resolve. So that's the fourth thing here is we're thinking about how do we keep our hearts fresh resolve. Flavel says impose strong engagements upon yourself to walk more carefully with God. That's the positive side of it. The negative side of it is also to avoid the occasions whereby the heart may be induced to sin. So impose strong engagements upon yourself. This is just a further application of with all diligence. With all diligence, impose these engagements upon yourself. As I was thinking about this, it came to my mind the often repeated command, especially in Deuteronomy, To God's people, be careful to do or be careful to observe all that the Lord has commanded you. Be careful to do this. Watch to do this. Or elsewhere in the Old Testament, we have similar words. Joshua's words to Israel, his farewell address, we might say, he says, take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. Take careful heed. So this is part of what he's talking about. These strong engagements is that we would take more careful heed to ourselves, that we would love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that we wouldn't wander from him and drift from him. So impose strong engagements on yourself. We might say, make solemn resolutions and commitments with yourself that you, God helping you, will keep. Turn with me to Psalm 119 and verse 10, just to give you an example of this. There are so many examples of this kind of resolve, fresh resolve, to follow the Lord more closely. And this is an excellent example. In Psalm 119 verses 10 and 11, we see it here. With my whole heart, I have sought you. Oh, let me not wander from your commandments. And as you skip down to verse 15, I will meditate on your precepts. There's resolve there. and contemplate your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word." There's fresh resolve. There's a solemn commitment there. I won't forget your words. I will meditate on your words, your precepts, on your character, so that I might not drift away from you and sin against you. But perhaps the most striking example of this of this resolve, of this commitment, this holy commitment, I think is King Josiah. You could turn there if you like in 2 Kings 23, or just listen as I read about the reformation, a thorough reformation under King Josiah. The law has been found, the book of the law, and that has led to conviction. God has convicted them. And let me read these words, 2 Kings 23, one to three. Now the king, King Josiah, sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the house of the Lord. And here's the resolve, the commitment. Then the king stood by a pillar. and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant. I would encourage you to meditate on that and consider a holy resolve and commitment like that. Say, God, give me grace that I might be resolved and even more resolved to follow you closely, to keep my heart with all diligence, and to love you with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Now, I'll simply say it's often helpful to have particulars. So it's good to say, I have resolved, like the psalmist, to hide the word of God in my heart that I might not sin against him. Or you might say, like Ezra, I am resolved to prepare my heart to seek the law of the Lord, to study the word of God. I am resolved. But it can be very helpful to have particulars and say, OK, what does this resolve look like? So you might need to say something like, I am resolved to get up 30 minutes earlier, to set my alarm 30 minutes earlier and get to bed earlier, of course. You might say something like, I am resolved to begin my day with the Lord and not to open my phone or email as much as possible, as much as I can before I spend some time with the Lord in secret. Just some examples. So if you say, I'm resolved to do this, maybe you say, I wanna hide the word of God in my heart, say, I am resolved to memorize these scriptures. Maybe you bring somebody else in with you. So it can be helpful, instead of just saying, I resolve to walk more closely with God, to have some particulars. And then there are resolutions or commitments. that are more directly related to the negative focus of keeping the heart from sin. Keeping the heart from sin. Avoiding the occasions whereby you might be tempted to sin. Now, going back to Proverbs. Proverbs 4 you don't have to turn there but listen because in the context not long before Solomon is saying to his son to keep your heart with all diligence we read these words in Proverbs 4 14 and 15. He's saying do not enter the path of the wicked. and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it and pass on." So he's saying you need to resolve not to even go that way. Don't even travel that road. Don't even hang out with those companions because they're going to lead you to ruin that road's going to lead to destruction. And then later on in Proverbs 5 just a little bit again after he's saying to him keep your heart with all diligence. He is saying, son, listen up, pay attention to my wisdom, and he's going to speak about the immoral woman, and he's saying, remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others. Again, stay far away. Avoid even the occasions of your heart being led away into sin. So those kinds of commitments we need to make too. And there's a lot I can say that I'm not going to say, except that you need to know yourself, you need to know your weaknesses, and you need to be honest about it with yourself. You need to know your dangers, and you can say, I'm going to make a commitment. Like Job, for example, who said, I've made a covenant with my eyes. This is Job. who feared God and shunned evil, and yet he said, I still am going to make a covenant with my eyes that I will not lust after a young woman. Covenant with his eyes. You might need to do something like that. Or some other variation of it. Some kind of commitment. Even as we heard this morning, as Jesus is saying, if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It's better for you to enter into life lame or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the everlasting fire. So no one size fits all application here. But really think, is there something in your life that is a stumbling block to you? Whatever it might be, think about it. Go before God. and make a commitment and say, I am going either to just cut this out of my life or I am going to be resolved making a covenant. I've made a covenant with my eyes, with my mouth, with my hands, whatever it is, that I will not sin in this way or that I won't even get close to the opportunities and occasions for temptation. So how do you keep your heart? Well, self-examination is important. Deep humiliation should follow that. Earnest prayer and fresh resolve. And let me just briefly close with one more thing. Fifthly, live your life before the face of God. Live your life before the face of God in the presence of God. I think a lot of you, if you're familiar with Ligonier Ministries, will know the Latin phrase, Coram Deo, meaning in the presence of God before the face of God. That we ought to live our lives like that, in his presence, realizing that he is always with us, that he sees all things, that he knows all things. that when we are tempted to sin, he is with us. And these things we know, these are simple truths, we're trying to teach our own children very early on these truths. Does God know all things? Yes, nothing can be hidden from God. So we know these things from our youth, but do we meditate upon them until they are practically effective in our life, where we have a sense and realization that indeed we live our lives before the face of God. Because if we have that sense and realization of living our lives before the face of God, there's many sins we would not commit. And when we would begin to wander, we would be brought back saying, God, I live before you, and yet I've not been walking with you. And so this is a powerful means in our lives of keeping our hearts with God and keeping our hearts from sin, to live with this realization of God's omniscience. He knows everything. In his omnipresence, he's everywhere. We're not gonna turn here tonight, but meditate on Psalm 139. Meditate on that. And that will help you in this, in living before the face of God. Flabel says, when the eye of our faith is fixed upon the eye of God's omniscience, We dare not let our thoughts and affections to vanity. So when we're really aware that God knows all things, that will hinder us. Holy Job dared not allow his heart to yield to an impure vain thought. And what was it that moved him to so great a circumspection? He tells us, this is Job 31.4, does he not see my ways and count all my steps? Yes, he does. God sees our ways and counts all our steps. Well, may God use these meditations tonight for our good, that we might keep our hearts with all diligence throughout every season of life, through all of the ups and downs, and there will be many ups and downs, where at times our hearts are kept well, and at times we have grown lax, But I wanna end just reminding us with the truth that we heard this morning, and to praise God that what we heard this morning, that Christ and even the Father will hold us fast to the end, is not dependent upon our diligence in this duty, as diligent as we need to be, but that is dependent upon the eternal decree of God and His unchangeable love. Let's pray. God, we thank you that we can spend these moments in your holy word. And we pray you would write it upon our hearts, that you would help us to examine our hearts and bring us back to yourselves if we have wandered. We thank you that you are our shepherd, that you restore our souls and you bring us back on those paths of righteousness for your name's sake. We pray do that tonight for some who might have wandered and revive us. And again we plead give new hearts tonight so that there would be faith in Jesus Christ for the first time and love and obedience. We ask in Jesus name.