Maintaining a Pure and Tender Heart
Proverb 4:23
23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life
Keep – keep watch over, protect, preserve, observe, comply with.
The word is also used to denote a fortified city, stronghold, guard or overseer, a stronghold, secret caverns you want to stay secret.
INTRO
God chooses and uses people based on heart
· Prophet Samuel and Eliab. 1 Samuel 16:7
· David
Matthew 15:8
8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
I. WHY A PURE HEART
1. Necessary to Ascend-
Psalm 24:3-4
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart.
2. We See _____________
Matthew 5:8
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
3. Love from a pure heart is the gospel
1 Peter 1:22
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.
1 Timothy 1:3-5
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.
4. As your heart is so are you-
Proverbs 23:7
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
5. Heart ______________speech
Luke 6:45
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
6. The heart produces action-
Acts 5:3
3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
7. Heart Controls Your Faith
Roman 10:10
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.
Mark 11:23
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
II. WHY A TENDER HEART
The opposite of a tender heart is a hard heart. Hard hearts are very dangerous. Biblically they have been disastrous.
1. A Hard Heart Affects ________________________
Matthew 19:8-10
8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning, it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” 10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.
2. A Hard Heart Grieves God
Mark 3:1-5
And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save a life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he said unto the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
3. A ______________Blocks Revelation
Mark 16:14
14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table, and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
Mark 8:17
17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?
4. A Hard Heart is a Path to Destruction
Exodus 4:21
21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
5. Shuts Down the Promised Land
Psalm 95:7-11
7 He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ “
III. PORTRAIT OF A PURE TENDER HEART
1. Sincere pure devotion to a person
2 Corinthian 11:1-3
Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2. Pure Love for the Brethren
1 Peter 1:22
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart
3. A Heart Free from any pollutants
a. No Bitterness
Ephesian 4:31-32
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Hebrews 12:14-15
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:[1]15 Looking diligently lest any man fails of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up troubles you, and thereby many be defiled.
v Looking Diligently – Being Overseers, Looking over your own soul. The same word is used as Elders and Overseers in (1 Peter 5:2; and Acts 20:28)
v Fail – hustereo to be late so you don’t finish the goal.
v Root of Bitterness. Roots are foundations. All nourishment goes through the root of every aspect of the plant. If the root is corrupt it corrupts everything. Bitterness is a root to the soul that affects every thought, decision, etc. It produces a filter through which every action and thought passes through. It literally changes your disposition.
v Springing up – quick progression, Progress that unfolds and develops over time.
v Many – It affects everything it touches…It’s viral
v Defiled – stained, polluted and corrupted
4. No Wrath
Wrath (Inner Calm) – thumos – a violent aggressive motion like air or wind. Hurricane force wind.
Wrath gives place to the Devil…
Neither gives place to the devil No Anger (Contentment)– desire with grief. Fretting. A
Reaction to disappointments and unmet expectations..
Ephesian 4:26
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 neither give place to the devil.
Ecclesiastes 7:9
Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry: for anger rests in the bosom of fools
Proverbs 16:32
32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
Proverbs 19:11
The discretion of a man deferreth his anger, And it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
Resolve the issue when/if you can
Forget it when you can't resolve it
Use scripture when you are weak
5. No Going Off (No Clamour)– krague – an outcry, a public display (going off on somebody)
6. Affirming Speech (No evil speaking) – blasphemia – verbal abuse, slandering someone behind their back or to their face
7. No Malice (Sincere Motives) (Kakia) Malintent. Doing this from the negative intent
How
1. Seek God-
Psalm 51:10
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
2. Keep it-
Proverb 4:23
23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
3. Purify it-
James 4:8-10
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Answer Key: God, controls, Relationships, Hard Heart,
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