Text: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."
WHO IT IS THAT IS HERE ADDRESSED: Since the verse is a command, the subject "you" is understood.
WHAT IT IS YOU ARE TO DO: "Keep thine heart". The term "heart" is used in Scripture to mean the "understanding", as in Romans 1:21; the "memory", as in Psalm 119:11; and "conscience", as in I John 3:20. Here, it refers not so much to one of these functions of the soul as to the whole soul, for what the heart is to the body; the soul is to the man.
You are to "keep" it. You are entrusted with it as the steward of God. But the power to keep it is from God and is made possible for His people by the resurrection and ascension of Christ. The Responsibility to keep it, however, lodges with you. Hence the command to "keep thine heart."
"Keep" it as you would any treasure committed to your care. Guard all inroads made by the world, the flesh and the devil. In the Dark Ages, castles were often constructed with a stone tower within the walls where the king and his nobles could flee as a last place of refuge should the walls be stormed in time of battle. The tower, known as the "Keep", was virtually impregnable, but if it ever fell, so did the entire castle. So it is with the heart --if it is over seized, the whole man with his affections, his desires, his purposes, and his pursuits will all be yielded up.
The Greeks of old depicted Chastity as being armed with a lance to symbolize there being no purity retained without a constant struggle. So it is with the heart which must be kept from those things that would defile it. Beware, therefore, of "Rock and Roll" music, the name of which is itself suggestive, and the themes of which are often themes of seduction. Beware of "Country-Western" music with its themes of drunkenness, adultery and brawling. Beware of your television set because its programs are often lewd, and are more often the violent themes of rape and murder. Beware of licentious literature that may creep into your heart by way of movie magazines, novels that are morally cheap, and the weekly gossip and muckraker newspapers.
"Awake to righteousness and sin not:" not at all!
HOW YOU ARE TO DO IT: "with all diligence." The picture diffused here by our text is that of a besieged garrison that is in danger of being betrayed by those within.
Watch, therefore, upon pain of death.
The word "keep" is doubled: "keep, keep." As if it were to say, "Set double guards;" "Keep with all keeping."
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WHY YOU ARE TO DO IT: "because out of it are the issues of life." The metaphor used here in illustrating the soul in man is that of the heart in the physical body. As in a physical sense arteries carry life-giving blood from the heart to all parts of the body, so in a spiritual sense, from the heart flows the life of all our conduct. (See: verses 24-27)
For this reason the heart is represented by Scripture as being a "fountain", a "root", as well is a "treasury". "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." (Luke 6:45)
IF YOU ARE TO "KEEP YOUR HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE FOR OUT OF IT ARE THE ISSUES OF LIFE", WHEN ARE YOU TO DO IT? Answer: Continuously, because if the heart must be kept because out of it are the issues of life, then so long as the issues of life flow out of it, we are commanded to keep it.
You must keep out bad thoughts while you keep up good thoughts. You must keep your heart with more care and diligence than you keep anything else because all the actions of life flow from it to the good or evil of others, and to the glory or to the contempt of God. Your life will be comfortable or uncomfortable according as you keep or neglect your heart.
"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, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (Philippians 4:8)
Nowhere is deceit so profoundly apparent as in the nature of sin, for under the guise of "education", or of being "fashionable" it worms its way into unsuspecting hearts.
Lewdness, for instance, may be peddled under the cover of "education", a good example being William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. When it was produced by the motion picture industry, it was immediately classified "R" --that is, "Restricted." When movie producers rate a production "Restricted", "No one under 17 years admitted unless accompanied by an adult," it is obvious; it can be good only for the city dump.
Romeo and Juliet held this "R" rating until this year when our progressively degenerating society uprated it to "PG" --that is, "parental guidance suggested." But is it any less a sin to view it this year than it was last year?
Approximately five years ago, an Augusta College English professor required his students to go to the theatre and view this same movie. Two students refused to soil their conscience choosing rather to receive an "F" for the grade. The Christian community was incensed. Now, nearly five years later, some Christian schools take their students to see the movie.
Has Hollywood repented of her sins and dedicated her motion picture industry to God? or have Christian convictions ALARMINGLY eroded?
March 8, 1740-- Pennsylvania. At Nottingham, Gilbert Tennent preaches -- "As a faithful ministry is a great ornament, Blessing and Comfort to the Church of God: even the feet of such messengers are beautiful: so on the contrary, an ungodly ministry is a great curse and judgment: These Catepillars labor to devour every green thing....
"Isn’t it a principal part of the ordinary call of God to the ministerial work to aim at the glory of God, and in subordination thereto, the good of souls, as their chief marks in their understanding that work? And can any natural man on earth do this? ...
"Is a blind man fit to be a Guide in a very dangerous way? Is a dead man fit to bring others to life? --a mad man fit to give counsel in a matter of life and death? a possessed man to cast out devils? a rebel, an enemy to God, fit to be sent on an Embassy of Peace to bring rebels into a state, a friendship with God? a captive bound in the massy chains of darkness and guilt a proper person to set others at liberty? a leper, fit to be a good physician? Is an ignorant rustic that has never been at sea in his life fit to be a pilot to keep vessels from being dashed to pieces upon rocks and sandbanks? Isn’t an unconverted minister like a man who would teach others to swim before he has learned it himself? ..."