Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues (tôwtsâʼâh, pronounced to-tsaw-aw’, the SOURCE) of life.

The most pushed theme on television today is “Follow your heart”. What is interesting is that this is not what God tells us, but what the devil tells us. God tells us to “Guard your heart”.

Humans Are Three Parted

The Bible teaches us that a person is composed of three parts:

Body,
Soul,
and spirit

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Human Spirit: The “spirit” of a person is that which connects them with God. The lost person is spiritually dead or disconnected from God. When Adam sinned (Genesis 3:6) in the Garden of Eden, he brought spiritual death on all his progeny. Spiritual death is evidenced by,

hiding from God (Genesis 3:8)
shifting blame for sin (Genesis 3:12)

Sin came into the world through Adam, and spiritual as well as physical death by sin (Romans 5:12). In Ephesians chapter 2 the Bible tells us that before a person is saved, that person is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13). The “spirit of man” connects us to the Spirit of God, so that we can know the things of God. The Bible says:

Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Our human spirit is made alive the moment we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit of God – also called the Spirit of Christ – indwells us (Romans 8:9). Our God examines the human spirit to see if we are in a relationship with Him or not. Our context continues …

1 Corinthians 2:12-14 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy {Spirit} teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

When you receive Christ as Lord and Savior, God causes you to be “born again”. That is, your human spirit is made alive, and the Holy Spirit of God indwells you. You can now know the things of God because you are attached to God.

The Body: Our “BODY” is the fleshly, outer container of our “SOUL” and our “SPIRIT”. The Body is temporal, being composed of the dust of the earth. God told Adam:

Genesis 3:19 (NKJV) In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.

Adam was formed of “dust” or of the earth before he ever sinned before God (Genesis 2:7). Abraham said “I am but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27). He wasn’t talking about his soul or spirit, but about his body. Our present bodies were never meant to be eternal, but temporal. Those who are saved by faith in Christ can look forward to a body made for all eternity. The Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 15:49 … as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

The Soul: Our “SOUL” is actually who we are. Your soul is the ME of YOU. Every person who is physically alive has a functioning soul. The lost have a human spirit, but it is dead in trespasses and in sins. The lost live their lives focused on pleasing not God, but their own flesh. They are “natural men”, not “supernatural men”. Since their human spirit is dead, they have no connection to God. If they acknowledge God, they rely on religion and ritualism to sensually attach themselves to a god. But they cannot know God.

Back to the “SOUL”. Everyone has a soul. The soul is the living part of you that animates your body. Your soul is made by God. When you die, your soul returns to God. He says:

Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Everyone has a soul, made by God. Each soul is unique, but each soul will eventually return to God for blessing or cursing.

The Heart Is The Control Center Of The Soul

When the Bible speaks of the “Heart”, it isn’t talking about the pump in your chest that keeps your blood circulating. The Heart is the control center of your soul. Satan and the world is constantly trying to take control of your heart. If your heart is influenced for good, then you will produce good. If your heart is influenced for evil, then you will produce evil. It’s like that old saying,

“Whatever is down in the well, comes up in the bucket!”

The first King of Israel, King Saul, did not guard his heart. He followed his heart, and as a result lost the throne. When God chose a King to replace King Saul, a very flesh driven soulish man, God sent Samuel to the home of Jesse. When Samuel saw Eliab, the firstborn son of Jesse, he said:

1 Samuel 16:6 (AP) Surely this is the one the Lord wants me to anoint as King!

But God told Samuel:

1 Samuel 16:7 “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

When God had Samuel anoint the little shepherd David to be the next King of Israel, the Lord said:

Acts 13:22 … (ESV) I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do

As God is Spirit and not flesh, and we see from these words that God Himself has a Heart, the Heart spoken of is not that pump of flesh. It is the control center of who you are. This is why we are warned to:

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy HEART with all diligence

Word Study: The word translated “Keep” is the Hebrew nāṣar {pronounced naw-tsar’} which means “set a watch on, guard, preserve from danger”. Our Lord Jesus said:

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

If the control center of the soul is fouled with sin, the outward actions of the soul reflected through the body will be sinful.

We need to guard our hearts. The guarding of our hearts must be both defensive as well as offensive.

Defensively guard your heart

Understand that there is a war going on all around you, and that you are constantly being bombarded with messages and “truths” that are counter to what God teaches us in His Word. The devil and this lost world wants you to lose hope, to walk away from your faith. The dark world will twist truth and malign scripture. They will do all they can do to erode your faith.

Be careful who you WALK with. It effects your heart.

Proverbs 4:14-19 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. 16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. 17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. 18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

God does not tell us to avoid wicked people. He wants us to witness to the wicked, to those who are fleshly, dead in trespasses and sins. What God tells us is to AVOID WALKING WITH THE WICKED. He says,

Enter not into the path of the wicked

Not the PRESENCE, but the PATH. God says “go not in the way of evil men”. Don’t walk with them. Don’t bind with them in business. Do not partner with them in their enterprises. God says “these people would rather DO WICKEDNESS than sleep” (vs 16), and they so delight in dragging the righteous down that they will lose sleep if they can’t make someone stumble in their faith. They “eat and drink wickedness and violence”. Yes, you should witness to the lost – but you should never walk their paths. In the Scripture God commands us:

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NKJV) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” 17 Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”

When you “yoke” yourself in business, in marriage, in any partnership with a lost person, that lost person will drag your heart away from God.

When King Solomon under the inspiration of God wrote these words, he was writing from experience. The Bible says:

1 Kings 11:1-4 (NKJV) But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— 2 from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 4 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods …

I have seen this played out over and over again in Christ’s Church. A young man, dedicated to God, falls in love with a lovely but lost girl, and binds with her in marriage. What happens? She drags him away from Christ. Or a young lady marries an infidel, believing that she can change him. Does she? No. He drags her away from Christ in most every instance.

The devil is always watching, looking for an opportunity to drag our hearts downward and away from God. Don’t let him do it. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 15:33 (ESV) Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Offensively guard your heart

You should not only guard your heart by protecting yourself from bad characters – but you should “load your spiritual gun”. If you are saved by faith in Christ, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide you into spiritual truth. Do these three things:

Purposely study the Word of God.
Prioritize Scripture Memorization.
Practice that which God tells you to do in His Word.

We are told:

Proverbs 4:20-22 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Feed the control center of your soul – your heart – the Word of God. Read Scripture. Memorize Scripture. Meditate on Scripture. King David wrote:

Psalm 119:9-11 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek You; let me not wander from Your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

The problem with most American Christians is that they spend hours feeding their hearts the bilge that is on network television, but minutes feeding their heart the Word of God. The Bible says:

Colossians 3:1-5 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

The devil watches us, and looks for opportunities to drag us back into darkness. He did this with our Lord Jesus before He started His earthly ministry. Satan came to Jesus and tempted our Lord three times, each time enticing Jesus to betray His mission. With each temptation Jesus replied:

“It is WRITTEN”

Jesus quoted Scripture to the devil, Scripture He had stored in His soul. Satan was defeated because Jesus offensively prepared Himself to do battle with Satan. As Jesus’ ministry progressed, over the next 3 ½ years He was attacked by agents of darkness. Jesus was attacked by Pharisees (the Conservatives), Sadducees (the Liberals), Herodians (the politicians), and Scribes (the lawyers). Each group did their best to trip Jesus up. At one point, even Peter got in on the act, and tried to trip Jesus up. How did Jesus guard His soul? By those very words,

“It is WRITTEN”

Proverbs 4:24-26 Put away from thee a froward (ʿiqqᵊšûṯ, pronounced ik-kesh-ooth’, “crooked”) 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.

We are to put away anything that stands in opposition to what God has written in this Book. Our focus is on Jesus Christ. We follow Him, and heed the word that He has given us. Refuse to dwell on evil things. Do not follow the crowd, but follow Jesus. Heed God’s Word. Guard your control center. That is the way to joy and peace. Amen and amen.