Proverbs - Wisdom For Troubled Times

If you bought a physical bible with you, then do turn to Proverbs chapter 4, and we're going to have our reading now, then we're going to sing another song. And then Pete's gonna come and preach to us. So here's our reading. It's from the end of chapter 4, and we're gonna read from verse 20 of Proverbs chapter 4. Verse 20, my son, pay attention to what I say, turn your ear to my work, Do not let them out of your sight.

Keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them. And health to one's whole body. Above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows from it, Keep your mouth free of perversity. Keep corrupt talk from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead.

Fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left, keep your foot from evil. And turn back to Proverbs chapter 4, and we're looking again. This is the second part of looking at verse 23 in particular.

Which says, above all else guard your hearts for everything you do, flows from it. So if you weren't here last week, then part 1 was last week. This is part 2. Let me pray. Father help us now, please.

Above all else, help us to guard our hearts, For everything we do flows from it, help us, please. Give us ears to hear, not just on the surface, but ears to hear right to our hearts that we may be doers of what we hear, and our hearts would well up to love you. We want to be God lovers. We want to be Christ lovers. We want to be so filled with the spirit that people will know that we love God and we love our neighbor as ourself.

Help us to be those people. In a world that wants to love self, help us to love God in Jesus' name, amen. Now last week, we were looking at the whole bible concept of the heart, as I've already said, And we were thinking about the physical heart to start with, that that's really the center of everything in our in our physical bodies, which is obvious, but also the spiritual heart. And as it says in this verse, verse 23, for everything you do flows from the heart. We saw last week that the heart stands for the mind very often and the affections and the wills.

So we're thinking about the inner workings of us spiritually, our minds, our affections, our wills. I gave 2 illustrations. The first illustration was from John Bunyan, and it was man soul, man soul, he describes as a town called man soul. It's a walled town in the middle of the town, his heart castle. There are 5 gates that go through the wall with roads that direct straight to Hart Castle.

You've got ear gates, and mouth gate, and eye gate, and nose gates, and feel gates, they're gates that let things in into heart castle. We've got to be very careful and I was talking about setting centuries at the gates, guards at the gates to guard what goes through into Hart Castle. The second illustration was a a heart monitor. And I was talking about warning signs that heart monitors have, and lots of people have them on their watch and on their mobile phones and and so forth, heart monitors as they run to, you know, test their heartbeat and stuff. And I was talking about warning signs red lights and buzzers that might go off a really good heart monitor, the sort of heart monitors you get in hospital when you've got heart problems.

That are telling you, hey, beware, beware. You're ready for a heart attack. You know, change change things in your life. And we're to test our hearts against the heart monitor, which is the bible, the Word of God. How are we doing?

Is our heart in beat with Christ. When you're in love, your hearts beat together, and is our heart in beat in beating with Christ? Or what are we lessing into our heart? They were the things we were dealing with last week. This week, I wanna spend a bit more time on the good things that we should let into our heart.

The things we should open our gates too that lead to Hart Castle. The things that are going to make our heartbeat with Christ. That's what I want to spend time on this week if I if I can. It's not a matter, you see, of just stopping bad things coming into the heart. It's more than that.

We should be opening up our gates and our heart to good things that will fill us. It's not just clearing bad stuff from our lives and from our hearts. It's much much more than that. We need our hearts to be the wellspring, full of spring, fresh life water, They need to be filled. Jesus tells a very an incredible little parable in Matthew chapter 12 about this really.

He talks about when a demon, when an impure spirit leaves the heart. And he says it it goes around, it leaves the heart, and it goes around arid places looking for a place that it can rest. And then it comes back to the original house it's been cast out of. And he says that it returns and it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. And because it's unoccupied, it says, well, I might as well re occupy it, and it brings its mates 7 other mates in to the heart.

So it's not just a matter of emptying the heart of bad things, We need to occupy it with good things. That's what's he's saying in that. The heart needs to be full not just empty. Otherwise, we'll never live the Christian life. There's a great illustration.

I have used it, a few times in the past, but it's 1 of my favorite illustrations from Greek mythology. And in Greek mythology, there's a dangerous island that you may know about. Called the island of the sirens. The sirens are half bird and and half woman, and they're really tempting. Because what they do is they sing this alluring lustful song to sailors that are sailing past the island.

And when sailors hear the sirens, they can't help but be drawn in their lust towards these half bird, half women. And they they sailed, they pilot their ship towards the sirens and and of course there are rocks that smash the ship up and the sailors drown and die. That's the site. That's what the sirens are up to. Yeah?

If you know a siren, stay away from them. Now there are 2 famous captains that know about the island of the sirens, and they have different ways of dealing with them as they're going to sail by. They have to sail past Siren Island, and they know the alluring, lustful singing of these women is going to smash and and and drown them, smash the ship up and and cause the sailors to drown. So Odysseus, he has an idea, he puts wax in the ears of his sailors, and he ties his sailors to the mast, so that they can't go. They physically can't go.

They can't hear, and they if they did here, if the wax fell out, they can't they're tied to the mast. So that's 1 way of dealing with the sirens. But Jason of Jason and the argonauts, and I guess most of us have heard of him, he does something completely different. He gets the very famous lute player, like a guitar player called Orpheus. An Orpheus plays more superior music, more beautiful music, more gorgeous music, music that takes the sailor's ears and their imagination and takes them up with a better song, so they have this greatest song in their minds that they don't even listen to the entrancing lustful singing of the sirens.

They sail by because their hearts are filled with better music. Now what I'm saying is that if we're to guard our hearts and we saw last week that we have to and it's important to, if we're to guard our hearts, it's not just stopping stuff from our ears. If you go around, someone's coming. Yeah. It's not just stopping things from our ears, It's listening to a superior song.

Right? Over here? Over here. It's just some people coming, let's all look at them and make them feel embarrassed. Okay?

It's not just it's not just stopping things, it's listening to a superior song. And that's what I'm talking about today. So here's my first point. The heart is a wellspring of life. The heart is what brings life to every part of the body.

Again, we saw that last week. Look at proverbs, look at our verse, proverbs 4 23. Above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. Now, you can interpret that in a in a slightly different way. So the ESV says, from it, flow the springs of life.

The well springs of life. Another version says it's the the source of life to every part of the body. It's a spring. It's fresh water. It's the well spring.

So in order for life to be in you, In all the other parts of the body, your heart needs to be full. It needs to be welling over. It needs to be a wellspring. An empty wellspring is not going to produce life. However, you guard your heart, If you simply guard it, it will dry up.

The heart is meant to be full. Your mind is meant to be full with fresh water, not empty. When we talk about Christian meditation, we don't do what the Buddhist do and empty their mind. That's stupid. That's dry.

We fill the mind. We chew the cud. We pushed into the mind, the very word of God, and think it through, so it's water to the soul. Our affections, our desires, our affections, our imaginations, They're not meant to be dry and empty. They're meant to be full.

So we can imagine the glory of Christ, and our hearts are full of that. Our wills are not meant to be empty where we're passive and sit and do nothing, as I'll show you in a minute. We're meant to be alive, going for it, That's our hearts, full of Christ. We talk about people who gosh, don't we? Do you know the gush?

I mean, there's 1 right in front of me. She's only got to see a baby and you could talk to her about anything. You could say, I'd like to give you a million pounds, she wouldn't hear that. You could say, I'll even heal your eyes for you. She wouldn't hear that.

She wouldn't hear because she sees even though she's got eye difficulty, a little baby and it's gushing. She gushes If you've got a baby, I think you know who I'm talking about, or even a kid. She gushes. We talk about gushing people and they are wonderful. Or someone's seen a film and they're gushing about it, you know, or they've been to the restaurant.

You've got to live this restaurant. You must go to this restaurant. You can't even book up at this restaurant. You have to stand outside for half an hour, but you must go and they gush about whatever is the food and all of that sort of stuff. They're a gushing people.

Jesus said this to a woman, a Samaritan woman, in John chapter 4, I think it might come up. Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty. He's talking about water from a physical well. And his point is that this world, you always have to keep drinking. As you drink the water from that well, tomorrow you have to drink from that well.

Tomorrow you have to drink from that well, and the next day from that well, you have to keep drinking. And he's saying that life in this world never fully satisfies. You always have to keep drinking the water from from a physical well. Yeah? That's why people have to buy more stuff and get more stuff and be more things and change and travel and you've got your bucket list.

That's that's what he's saying there. But listen to what he says. But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up. To eternal life, welling up eternally. There's a spring in the heart When you come to me, when you know Christ, there will be a wellspring in your heart, welling up to eternal life.

Now his definition of eternal life is to know God as father, that that you're going to know God as father. There's a wellspring of relationship with the living God, and he's not just a living God. He's my father, our father. He's There's a wellspring coming out. Look at John again, a Jesus in John again, in chapter 7 this time.

He says, whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. And then John writes this little thing. By this, he meant the spirit, the Holy Spirit, whom those who believe in him will later receive. There's gonna be the spirit in your heart. Christianity is not just a list of things you believe.

It's a heart religion. It's God in the heart. It's the spirit in the heart. It's Jesus in the heart by his spirit. And you are welling up There's life there, the same spirit that said and spoke the world into being and created the world.

In your heart, creation there, in your heart. Now, there are people that are so full of Jesus and so full of the Holy Spirit. You can only say they're gushing. Do you know those people? They are desperate to serve you.

Sometimes, You don't want to be near them and hear their advice because you feel so dirty. So you move away, but if only you would come, they would clean you. They would be like Jesus and wash your feet. They love to gush. They love to wash your feet.

They're refreshing to be with. They're generous. Do you know those people? They're generous. My mom was like this.

You know, up until the last 2 years of her life when, you know, she was very deteriorating, you know, was was completely different person, really. I never went home without her having something oh, there's something in the shed, I don't know what you want. Always so generous. Gushing. These people have the fruit of the spirit because they've They've got water in their hearts and they grow the fruit of the spirit of love and joy and peace and forbearance kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and they have self control.

They're gushing with the spirit. They're lovers, and there are people that are empty. Do you know them? Point them out? No.

No. No. No. Don't. You need a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long rope with a tiny little bucket on the end to lower down into the well of their heart.

To find any water. And when you get down there and pull it up, it's fairly disgusting and smells. Time with them feels like getting lost in the desert. It's never refreshing. When you leave their presence, you need a couple of liters of water and a shower.

They're so dry. An empty well will not produce life. However, you got it. Empty hearts make feeble people. Have you noticed that?

They're weak. They never really accomplish anything. They never grow anything. The fruit is dry and hard and bitter. It's nasty, unripe.

You know? They have no mental force because there's nothing in them in their minds. No thoughts about God. No new thoughts about God. They can give you nothing about God because they've not thought about him.

No fresh meditations, no joys about being in God and having a holy spirit within us. There's no moral power in these people. There's no service in these people. If you gave them a task to do, they'd hardly start. If you employed them, you would really wish you didn't.

They make an easy job really hard and they make you know that it is a hard job when it's easy. No energy, no reliability, always resting. They never drive themselves, and they never drive anyone else. Rather than wash your feet in a gushing way, they would point out how dirty and smelly they are. And they would probably walk you into the muck of gossip and negativity and apathy yourself.

It's interesting, his and myself were in a motorway service station. I mean, they're they're hardly nice places. I got a seat. I did the manly thing and I said, I'll get the seat. Yeah.

You queue up and stand there for half an hour to get the coffee. But I'll get the seats. Alright. I'll keep that warm. So she's getting the coffee.

She came back, thrilled because I'd blessed her by allowing her to get the coffee. And she said, did you know there was a bloke in there just cleaning the floor, and he was such a delight. This was a floor cleaner in the motorway service station. She said he he just did his job with diligence. It's a boring rubbish job, but he did it And he was so friendly.

He's saying, how's your day? What are you doing today? Oh, that's nice. I've been there and chatted away to all kinds of people and she came back utterly refreshed by the floor cleaner. Isn't that wonderful?

I don't know whether you've ever been to chicken beer in New Morden. Go. Today, it's great food. The girl there, the Korean girl there, is just a joy. It's just worth even if you don't like chicken and beer.

Right? Just go. She said delight. Who's been there? Do you know the girl?

She's such a delight. You would employ her for anything. If I was an employer, I'd say, job. And it's and for the blokes sweeping the floor. I don't care.

I want to employ you because you're so positive. They give Compare that to the group of lads that Anna and myself met that was smashing up Chestington Park, you know, playground. They're smashing the place up. As soon as you challenge them and say, why are you smashing that up? Level 5 swear words are pouring out of them.

Nothing refreshing. Only horrible. Even though they're only 13, they think they can beat me up. And and and and all it does for me is say, come on, ever go because I wanna hit you. It just produces anger.

What's your heart like? Are you refreshing to be with even though you're doing a menial task? It's such a joy just to be around you and what you do it. I see, I want that job. I'd like to work at chicken beer.

Such a joy to if it's that good serving chicken and beer, then I wanna serve chicken and beer. If it's that bad smashing up a playground, I don't really want to do it. What's your heart like? Own for a heart full and deep and broad that refreshes others, that sings a song in its own heart, that it spills over and gushes out to other people to stop them going to see the sirens. So how can you have a full heart?

How do you have a full heart? What are you placing in the heart? Well, it's the lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? The spring of life is being full of the Holy Spirit. Look at these verses.

Look at Paul's prayer for these these people in Ephesians chapter 3. He says that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith? Is Christ dwelling in your heart? And then he says, I pray that you be rooted. Yeah?

And established in love may have the power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp our wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. This is fountain of eternal life that surpasses everything that you may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. Oh, man soul. Heart castle, open your gates to Christ. Let Christ flood you.

When you see the rains pouring down and Kingston being flooded because Dave Law hasn't done his job properly, then thank God for Dave laws, because it reminds us, my heart should be flooded with Christ. May the rains come down, I'm dry, I'm weary, I don't gush gush me. Pore the water in. David writes in Psalm 87 verse 7, as they made music they will sing. As they make music, they will sing, and then this is the song.

All my fountains are in you. As they make music, They will sing, and what's their song, all my fountains are in you, draw from the wellspring of Christ. Have a heart o overflowing with Christ. Look at these words in Philippians 4. I know we know these words very well, but look at it.

And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And then he adds to that, Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, Think. There's your heart. Think about such things.

Whatever you have learned and received or heard from me or seen in me. Put it into practice and the peace of God will be with you and that passes all understanding and that will guard your heart. You see the circular argument there? You wanna guard your heart? You think on these glorious things on the Lord Jesus Christ, and your heart's guarded.

It's a circular thing. Above all else, guard your hearts for everything you do flows from it. We don't just empty our hearts of idols and sin, that we were dealing with last week. We fill it. Paul says in in colossians chapter 3 verse 1, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated.

Set your hearts. And the word set means seek by inquiring, seek by inquiring asking. It means investigate. It means get to the bottom of the matter. You're gonna dig, dig, dig, dig, and get to the bottom of the map.

It means obtaining, set your hearts. It's work. Work on your heart. Dig up the whale spring. Get Christ in.

Listen to John FLvel. I'm recommending a little book by him, which I can't remember the name of, but I think it's called keeping your heart. You'll see it in the in the church newsletter. And it's a great little book, and I really re recommend that you read it for for your summer holidays. But he says this, God does not usually indulge lays and negligent souls with the comfort of assurance.

He's not gonna assure you that you're right with him, in other words. If you're lazy and negligent. For he does not patronize sloth and carelessness. God gives assurance, but it will be in his own way. His command has united our care and comfort together, and it is a mistake to think.

That the beautiful child of assurance may be born without pains. Set your heart. Seek it, inquire it, investigate, get to the bottom of it, obtain it. Work hard. I'll come back to that in another minute.

That's my first point, second point. The roads to the heart, the roads to the heart that you see here. Mouthgate. Look at it. Verse 24 of Proverbs 4, Mouthgate.

Keep your mouth free from perversity Keep corrupt talk from your lips. Be careful what you speak to your heart. If you're speaking and opening up your your mouth gait to perversity and corrupt talk, it will affect your heart. I hope you talk to yourself. Again, those of you know me.

You've heard me say this many times, The first sign of madness is not talking to yourself. If you don't talk to yourself, you're mad. You're a loony. You must talk to yourself. You must speak, not corrupt words, not perversity, but truth.

Not crooked, but truth, mouthgate. What's speaking to your heart? The trouble is we live you've got to remember this. We live in a secular age that ignores God and hates God and it will speak all the time preaching to you. You are preach that all the time, all the time.

So what's speaking to you? Doctor Martin Lloyd Jones, who who writes an excellent book called spiritual depression, and it's a book worth reading again, another 1 for your summer holidays says this. And he's talking from Psalm 42, where where the where the David is speaking to his own soul. So why are you downcast my soul? He's asking the soul.

What was up with you? And then Lloyd Jones says this. The main trouble in this whole matter of depression is that we allow ourselves to talk to us. Instead of talking to ourselves. Take the thoughts that come to you, the moment that you wake up in the morning.

You haven't originated them, but they are start they start talking to you and they bring back problems of yesterday. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Now, this man's treatment and that he's talking about Psalm 42. Now, this man's treatment was this, instead of allowing himself to talk to him, he starts talking to himself.

Why are you downcast on my soul? He asks. His soul had led had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, soul. Listen for a moment.

I will speak to you. In other words, you speak through mouthgate, the gospel, the truth. Speak to your heart. Don't let it speak to you. Jesus, you can take that off.

Jesus in Matthew chapter 6 says, look at the birds. And the whole idea is ponder think, talk to yourself about when you see the birds. He also says, look at the flowers, ponder, think about the flowers. Psalm 19 says, the heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day, they purr for speech.

Night after night, they reveal knowledge. Listen if we're to change ourselves, we look and we speak and we allow the sermons even of nature to preach to us. Listen what's going in through mouth gate to your heart. You preach to your heart. Look at this verse.

I love this verse. In deuteronomy, chapter oh, it's not up there. Forget it. Turn it off. In deuteronomy chapter 4, it says this, only be careful and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget.

So don't forget the things your eyes have seen. He's talking to Israel. And the miracles that God had done to Israel and speak to yourself so you don't forget the miracles that God's done in your lives. Yeah? The things your eyes have seen, or let them fade from your heart as long as you live, Keep reminding yourselves of the truths, of the power of God, who saved you from Egypt.

It's talking to Israel. Don't let them fade from your heart. Speak them into your heart again, mouth them in, be mouthy to your heart. And then he says this. I love this.

Teach them to your children and to their children after them. So in other words, Don't forget, count your blessings, name them 1 by 1. Count them. Think of the blessings that God has given you. Name them 1 by 1.

Keep Speaking them into your heart, count your blessings, but also then teach them the children, have a child, get out of a child, borrow a child, or become a Sunday school teacher so that you can teach them to your child. So it's a great opportunity to teach them to the child. And as you teach them, you reinforce them into your mind and heart. Speak. Keep your mouth from perversity and corruption.

Stop being a grumpy old person. Stop it. Stop complaining. Stop your gossip Stop your lies, your unthankfulness. Learn to praise, start to thank God.

Sing his praises, mouthgate straight to the heart, hold it, eye gate, but verse 25. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before him. Your eyes are the windows of your soul, Jesus, says, if if it lets in darkness, then you will be very dark. So what are you letting into your eyes? Is it beautiful?

Is it praiseworthy? Some people walk around as if they're asleep all the time when it comes to Christ. They don't seem to see Christ anywhere. You know, when I first became a Christian, do you know what the end thing to do was for young people? This it's almost I mean, I it's almost amazing saying this.

On Saturday night, we were encouraged to go to bed early. Don't stay up late. Why? Why? Because we're gonna hear the word of God on Sunday.

We're gonna gather together to hear the word of God. We were encouraged to get up earlier on Sunday to pray to come to church. I mean, there are all kinds of rules, and some of them were unhelpful. We were told not to even talk to each other, actually, when you came into the church building, you sit there and ask the lord to speak to you. There's something good in that, isn't there?

If you've been up all night watching films, you'll be bleary eyed. You're not listening to me now. You can't listen to me. It never affects your heart. What have you been watching late at night that would just stop you hearing and seeing Christ?

Some see nothing. They're color blind to the beauty of Christ. They have scales over their eyes. They're dull. Others look down like dumb cattle walking along with their heads low.

Going to the slaughterhouse. They see nothing but the now and themselves. They don't see where their feet are treading. Open your eyes. Look at verse 25.

Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. See where you're going. If you're on the right path, then walk it. If Jesus is the life, then live it.

If Jesus is the way, then walk it with determination. If Jesus is the truth, then learn, it study, it speak, it teach it. Concentrate your gaze on the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's Paul again. Ephesians 1, it came up.

Just look at these words. I keep asking that God that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the glorious father may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you you may know the hope to which he has called you. The riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe. I mean, tearing me. I can hardly read that.

I mean every word is just full, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. The things of the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Put your hand up here. Put your fingers out.

If you if you've got fingers, whichever hand you might have fingers on or toes. Here we are. Look at this is what you do. Thum. Next slide.

Thum. Thum. Looks up. Look up. Everybody?

Look up. Look up and remember how much God has done for you. Look up. Yeah? Finger?

Look back and remember that Christ's death on the cross has freed you from the penalty. Of sin, it should say. Yeah? Look outwards. Third finger.

Look outwards. And remember that Jesus Christ denied himself to save you, so that you could live a life of sacrificial love for others. Look outward. Look forward. Remember that Jesus, death on the cross has achieved for you, the certain hope of a glorious future in heaven.

5, look at others, who have and do live in the light of what God has done for them in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. There, there's a hand. Look at those things. Look out to Christ. See, when you look at your heart, you can be discouraged Therefore, you need to look at those things.

I'm gonna move on. To my last point because I wanna land this now. You're gonna jump some things. I don't know whether you got the verses up. Here's some questions.

You can put these questions up. If they come up somewhere. I'm asking you this, will you commit to learn to love God with all your heart. Will you commit to that? Will you commit to learn to love God with all your heart?

You may not love it with all your heart, but will you commit to learn that? This week, today. Look around. Remember the heavens declare the glory of God. We'll start there then.

Start with what is called as general revelation, the nature that God has made. We're in a world that just says it's evolved. There is no God. It's wrong. That's a lie that's perverse.

That's corrupt. God created this world. Start with that. Have a look. People pay to go I have.

To go to see an artist that's painted a sunflower. The sunflower will sell for if if you could get hold of it, millions and millions, tens of millions of pounds. Vangoth's sunflower. It's fantastic. Do you like van gogh?

I do. My sunflower in my little garden is better than anything he could paint, and it was free. It was in the compost. It's beautiful. For 2 weeks, it's been out and it's got better and it changes every day every day I've looked at it.

Every day, I've tried to praise God for it. Every day, I've tried to see Christ in it. The son of righteousness who gets bigger and better And the seeds in the middle are bulging out and getting more. And 1 day, they'll pop all over the place. And the wonderful seeds of Christ's righteousness, all over the world.

That's a sunflower. Look at the sunflower, gaze at it. See the beauty of it. People page would go up to London to see a gallery of some bloke who's painted a 2 d version of it, and here's the 3 d version of it, and it's far better Learn to look at general natural revelation. People go to Sidsinema, to see a hero give his life for somebody or the world, the planet, And they come away and whew, what a film?

Whom. My heart was beating. Look at Christ, The son of the living God, who gave his life on an excruciating cross to take the very wrath of God upon himself, crying out my God, my God, a bit abandoned. Who's taking hell itself and we're excited about a Marvel series? Take time.

Cultivate the heart. Get some streams of water going through. Unblock the cholesterol. Unblock the stinking festering heart and allow And it takes time, ask questions. Listen, read, push yourself.

Stop being lazy when it comes to God. Listen to the aida's Eds. They're 30 minutes. Go back over the hundreds of Corona Chronicles that we did. They're 10 minutes.

Yet, if you can't read, then do that. All this other material out there, if you don't like us. Fine. Listen. Read.

Push. Give it time. Meditate. So that's the first question. Will you commit to learning to love God with all your heart?

Will you? Relationships take time. That's the trouble with marriages, isn't it? When people just get so used to each other, they forget each other. They they don't give anything anymore.

It's just a take thing and the couple fall apart. Is that with you with God? Here's the next question. Will you commit to learn to sing God's praises. Will you?

The number 1 song in heaven is. What's the number 1 song in heaven? The number 1 song in heaven. It's where you're gonna go. The number 1 song in heaven They love so much.

They sing it over and over again. Chapter 4 is verse 1 of the song. You were worthy, our lord and God to receive glory and honor and power. Why? For you created all things by your will, they were created and have their being.

General revelation. Praise God for the sunflower. Verse 2, the number 1 song in heaven, glory to God for his creation. Verse 2, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and praise. The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, The number 1 song in heaven is all about God, the creator, and God, the Savior.

See it. Learn to sing it. Learn to praise. Be thankful. Say some say thank you to God for something.

Learn that. Will you commit to learn? You may not be there yet. But will you commit to learning that? Here's the third question.

Will you commit to learn to repent? Oh, heart of mine. Heart of mine so desperately wicked. Oh, heart of mine, where have you been today? Where have your thoughts wandered to heart of mine?

Oh heart of mine, have you been disobedient? You've been vain, thinking of yourself. Have you not delighted in the fountain of life? Oh, hard of money? You that hard?

Heart of mine, so malicious and so full of gaal. Given an inch and it will take a mile. I'm so sorry. It was out of beat with you Jesus. And here's the last 1.

Perhaps There is no heart in you. Do you have the law of God written on your heart, or do you have a heart of stone? You're sitting here and you think I don't know what he's talking about. Like a bit of Christianity. Does me good helps me in life.

There's no heart in you. There's no gush. You're a dried up well. You've never really been saved. You've come to church, but you've never really come to Christ.

Because if you'd come to Christ, there'd be water in you. If you'd come to Christ, there'd be something of the Holy Spirit in you. If you'd come to Christ to be something of you wanting to praise him, wanting to repent of your sin. If you'd come to Christ, you'd know something of the conscience. If you come to Christ, you know something of praising his name and understanding how beautiful the Lord Jesus Christ is.

If you come to Christ, you want to tell others about him even if you can't, and you're not very good at it. If you come to Christ surely, the living water will be in you, welling up to eternal life and you have hope in you? I will give them An undivided heart and put a new spirit in them. I will remove from them a heart of stone and give them the heart of flesh, then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. When will they follow his degrees and be careful to keep business when the heart of stone goes?

In all that I'm saying, has God revealed to you a heart of stone? Stony heart to God, A stony heart to God, what a fool. Stoney heart to the 1 that's created you that loves you, that sends the Lord Jesus Christ to die for you, that's created the things in the world. That's going to bring us into a new kingdom, a stony heart, a hard heart, an unpraising heart, an unthankful heart, a selfish heart, Who are you? You're not singing the number 1 song in heaven, Glorry to God, you created the world.

Glory to God for the lamb of God. No heart? Then plead now, plead for him, to make your heart flash plead for him, to put his spirit in you, plead for him, to open your dull eyes to see the Lord Jesus Christ, Use your mouth, not for perverse things, but Jesus save me. Spirit fill me. God enlighten me, and walk in that direction for the rest of your life.

Gard your heart by filling it. Tom will lead us in prayer. Above all else guard your heart for everything you do, flows from it. Heavenly father, we pray that you would help us to keep watch over and to guard our hearts. We pray that you would help us to keep out the things which are harmful, and the things which corrupt us the things which distract us from you and lead us away from your beauty.

We pray that you would help us to keep our mouths free from perversity to keep corrupt talk from our lips, to not gaze upon things which are harmful to not fix our minds upon things which are displeasing to you. We pray that you'd help us to keep out, to god, to keep watch. Stop sinful influences coming in. But, lord, as you've spoken to us about this morning, we pray that as well as keeping out that we would let in the things which nourish our faith, the things which point us to you, We pray that you would help us to be full of love for Jesus Christ, and full of his Holy Spirit, and full of a passion to serve other people that as we look around Kingston this weekend and see how it is flooded, that we would learn a spiritual lesson from that, that we would want our own hearts to be flooded with the good news of Jesus Christ, that we might be bursting, that we might be overflowing, and flooding others with the good news of Christ. Help us not to be like those deserts who might be empty, but are just dry and are barren and do not produce anything or give life to anyone.

Help us instead to be full of this living water these streams of water that flow up and out to other people. And father, we pray that you would help us to make every effort to fill our lives with Christ. We know that the saving grace, the grace which rescues us, is also the grace which puts power and motivation and effort and struggle within us. And as we've been hearing this morning, we know that you do not patronize sloth and carelessness. That you do not reward laziness, that the gifts, the wonderful gifts of Christian assurance, come through the pains of Christian struggle.

And so thank you for pulling us up short in our laziness and help us to be those who are disciplined, who make every effort, to fill our lives, and our minds, and our hearts with Jesus. That we might gain those gifts of assurance and and be a blessing to other people. Lord, as we've been hearing this morning, we don't want to be like those leeches who just sap energy and joy from other people. But we want to be those people who are so full of Jesus that we are a blessing, that we are refreshing to all who we come across. And so help us, Lord.

None of us None of us are guiltless in this area. We are sinners. We need you, but we thank you Jesus that you died for sinners. And that there is hope in the gospel. And so please fill us again with this desire to both keep out things which are harmful and fill ourselves with the things that give life.

Father, we pray for some of the things in the life of the church, and we want to pray for our sister, Philip, McArthur, and for Rebecca, and we pray for her as she deals with the difficulty of her brother's serious illness and and tries to keep contact with him and to minister to him. We thank you that he is in contact with the gospel believing church, which pray that you would help him in his illness to keep looking to Jesus, trusting Jesus, filling his heart with Jesus as he goes through this illness. And we pray for Philipa and Rebecca, and we ask that despite the difficulty of the distance that you would give them fresh hope in Jesus. And that they would keep looking to the 1 who has beaten death and has won an eternity for all of your people. Father, we pray for others in the church who are who are struggling in different ways, both mentally and physically.

We thank you for the things that we've learned this morning and pray that all of us in our battles, would look to you, that we would not listen to ourselves, but that we would say to our soul, soul, wait a moment, I want to speak to you. I want to talk to you. I want to minister to you my soul that we would talk gospel truths to ourselves in our in our different difficulties. We pray for some of the events coming up, and we thank you for the big weekend. And we ask Lord that that would be a great time of fellowship together of just enjoying the love that exists between us.

Help us as we try to plan for that and prepare for that, that you'd give us wisdom in the details, and it would be a great a great blessing to us all. Father, we Think of those questions that we've been considering this morning, and we pray that each 1 of us would would take steps this morning. That we would be committed to learn to love you, that we would be committed to learn to sing your praises, that we would be committed to learn to repent. And that we would want the law of God written upon our hearts and the stony heart to be removed. And, Lord, we just ask all of these things in Jesus' name, amen.