For the past four days, we’ve been talking about what we’re calling Matters of the Heart. You know, the heart, in this sense, is called the seat of emotions. It is the seat of will and intellect. The seat of understanding, intent, and thought. Now, if the heart is all these things, it only makes sense that it should be protected. That extreme care needs to be directed to this inner self. The heart, being the center and fountain of our actions, needs to be guarded. It needs to be protected. And to control our thoughts, intentions, and actions, this control needs to be exercised at the source and with more caution and vigilance than we do with our most precious possessions. Our human nature draws us towards our blind impulses and avid desires and thoughts which heed to no law but that of their own satisfaction. And if these untamed tastes and predilections are not curbed and held in place, if they are not subordinated to our second nature, the nature of Christ, then every area of our lives will definitely be thrown into chaos. And this is why the Bible tells us in Proverbs 4:23 to watch over our hearts with diligence. To develop harmony between will and conscience. Our will needs to be governed because this is the only way we can control the tendencies of our nature, which is to seek gratification even against the most obvious prohibitions. The Bible is telling us to guard our hearts. To shield it from the world around it that is constantly appealing to its needs and desires. You see, a believer who does not watch over their heart, who does not rule over his own spirit is like a city without walls. Anything can come in or go out of that heart because it is not guarded. But remember we said yesterday that the heart and the mind of man are weak. It’s frail and wicked in nature. And so, someone might ask, how then are we supposed to watch over the heart of the watcher and the one being watched over are one and the same? You know, putting our carnal mind to stay guard over the heart is no different than putting traitors guard over the fortress. The carnal mind is as weak as the heart itself. And so it needs to be anchored to something with a higher bar. Something that cannot be deflected by the frailty of the nature of man. A stable and fixed light that we can steer towards. A higher standard of right and wrong. A standard that cannot be warped, and perverted, or silenced by the energy flowing from without and within. And this standard is the word and the light of God. This is the standard we need to subscribe to and submit to. This is the only standard, the coercive power strong enough to oblige the heart of man. It is the submission to the will and purpose of God that hands us the reigns over our own hearts. It gives us a new and stronger motive that stirs from within us an effort to tame our wills. And this is what keeps us from yielding to even the strongest charms and appeals of our hearts. Because we have an even mightier appeal, which is to let in and let out only what is pleasing before the eyes of the Lord. It is my prayer today that we may open ourselves to the world of the Lord. That we may let the Holy Spirit take possession of the heart He wills to defend. Because there is no other way by which the heart may be guarded but by that which is incorruptible. There is no other way that the heart of man can be tamed but by submitting fully to the will and the purpose of the Lord. This is how we guard our hearts; by flooding it through and through with the inexpungible light of the word of God; by weighing it against a higher standard. The standard of He in whose name we are called, Jesus Christ. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pastor-lucy-paynter/support