The chapter that I'd like to focus on is verses 6 and 10.
But before I get there, though, I just wanted to point out that great part at the end of the chapter.
Wood to God, we had a righteous ruler like Artaxerxes here.
I like what he said, that he was instituting God's laws, that he said,
whatever God's law says the punishment is, whether it's death, banishment, imprisonment,
he said just carry out God's law.
You know, Wood to God, our government would do that.
And I also like the part where he said in verse 24,
also we certify you that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers,
porters, Nethanites, or ministers of this house of God,
it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom upon them.
That would be a great blessing. No taxes for those who work at God's house. I like that.
But anyway, that's not what I'm preaching about this morning.
In verse number 10, the Bible reads,
for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it,
and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
Then look at verse 6.
This Ezra went up from Babylon and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses,
which the Lord God of Israel had given.
And the king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.
And I want to preach this morning about preparing your heart.
Now that's a phrase that's actually used a lot in the Bible.
I'm going to show you a few other places that it's used.
Go to 2 Chronicles chapter 12.
2 Chronicles chapter 12.
It says that Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord,
and then it said that he was a ready scribe.
He had studied the Bible, he knew the Bible, he was ready to preach the Bible,
and he was prepared.
Look at 2 Chronicles 12, 14.
This is spoken of Rehoboam.
It says, and he did evil because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.
That's why he did evil, because he had prepared his heart.
Look at chapter 19.
2 Chronicles 19, verse 1.
The Bible reads,
And Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.
And Jehu the son of Hanani, to see her, went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat,
Shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord?
Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.
Nevertheless there are good things found in thee,
and that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land,
and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.
Go to the next chapter, chapter 20, verse 32.
This is about the same person, Jehoshaphat.
He walked in the way of Asa his father, chapter 20, verse 32,
and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord,
howbeit the high places were not taken away,
for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.
Now go to Luke, chapter 8.
Luke, chapter 8 in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke.
Luke, chapter 8.
So we see right away that if you don't prepare your heart,
you're going to do evil in the sight of the Lord.
In order to do right, you have to prepare your heart.
In Luke, chapter 8, we see that in order to bring forth any fruit,
you need to prepare your heart.
It says in Luke, chapter 8, verse 11.
Of course, this is the famous parable of the sower.
It says in Luke 8, 11,
Now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God.
Those by the wayside are they that hear.
Then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts,
lest they should believe and be saved.
So these people in verse 12, they're not saved.
This is the seed that fell by the wayside.
They heard the word of God, they didn't understand it,
and the devil comes and catches away that which was sown in their heart,
lest they should believe and be saved.
So they did not believe, and they did not get saved.
It says in verse 13,
They on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy.
And these have no root, which for a while believe,
and in time of temptation fall away.
And that which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard
go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life
and bring no fruit to perfection.
So here's another type, or a couple other types of people,
those who are not rooted and grounded,
that are there for a while, they believe,
they're saved, but then in time of temptation,
when persecution or tribulation arises because of the word,
by and by they're offended.
They come to church for a while,
they begin to show signs that they're going to bring forth fruit,
but then they fall away as soon as the going gets tough.
Then we saw those that were among the thorns,
and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
choke the word so that they become unfruitful.
They don't bring any fruit to perfection.
But look at verse 15, it says,
But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart,
having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
Notice the equivalent of the good ground here is an honest and good heart.
That's what the ground represents.
He says, But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart,
having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
And just as a farmer or a gardener has to prepare the ground
and prepare the soil before they plant,
just like all throughout the Bible it talks about tilling up the ground
and breaking up the fowl ground.
We must prepare our hearts to serve God.
We must prepare our hearts to do right,
and we have to prepare our hearts if we're ever going to bring forth fruit.
Just a quick definition, go to 1 Peter 3 at the end of your New Testament.
1 Peter 3, let me define for you bringing forth fruit.
Everything brings forth after its own kind.
In the first book of the Bible we see that over and over again, Genesis 1.
Everything brings forth after its own kind.
The apple brings forth apples, the orange brings forth oranges,
and the Christian brings forth other Christians.
We're to be fruitful and multiply and to win people to Christ, to get people saved.
We're never going to be a fruitful Christian if we don't prepare our heart.
Look at 1 Peter 3, verse 15, it talks about being prepared.
It says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be what?
Ready. Ready is a synonym of being prepared.
He said, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope
that is in you with meekness and fear.
Ephesians 6 15, you don't have to turn there, but it says,
and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
If you're going to go out and preach the gospel to every preacher,
he's saying you've got to be ready to give an answer to every man.
You've got to be prepared to preach the gospel.
Paul said in Romans 1 15, so as much as in me is,
I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also,
for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
God wants us to be ready or to be prepared to preach the gospel.
Now, can you imagine if you had an opportunity to give the gospel
to one of your friends or dear loved ones that's not saved?
And let's say this person is somebody that you've wanted to get saved for a long time,
and all of a sudden the perfect opportunity arose where you're alone with that person,
and you had the perfect chance to give them the gospel.
Or maybe they even asked you about the gospel.
Maybe they even asked you about what you believe about salvation.
And can you imagine if you weren't prepared and you're stuttering,
oh, well, you don't know where to turn.
You don't know where the Bible verses are to show them.
You don't have any of it memorized.
What a waste of that opportunity and how bad you'd feel.
But I guarantee you, I promise you that the people in this church
who are out there every week knocking doors and faithfully winning souls
and preaching the gospel, if they got that same opportunity,
they would be ready.
They would know exactly where to turn in their Bible.
They would have all the right verses memorized,
and they'd be able to seize upon that opportunity.
We've got to be ready to preach the gospel.
We've got to be ready.
And I always think of this, when I'm out knocking doors,
and we knock on the door of somebody and we ask them the same question.
Hey, do you know for sure if you died today, you'd go to heaven?
And a lot of times they'll say yes.
And I say, okay, well, how do you know?
Or what do you think it takes to get there?
Or what Brother Garrett always says, he says,
well, what would you tell someone if they asked you,
what must I do to be saved?
And often it's, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Or other times it'll be like, oh, well, I'm not really prepared to answer.
I don't really have time to discuss that.
The Bible says be ready to always give an answer to every man
that asketh you of a reason of the hope that is in you
with meekness and fear.
A lot of those people just aren't even really saved.
They just throw out that yes, and they don't even know
what it takes to be saved.
But other people are saved, and they still have to stammer and stutter
and try to figure out, oh, oh, oh, you know, because...
Be ready with an answer.
Know what you believe. Know why you believe it.
Be prepared to give the Gospel at any time.
Be prepared if you had that opportunity to preach the Gospel.
Go to Proverbs 4.
And Proverbs 4 talks about preparing your heart also.
Proverbs 4.
You see, there are times when opportunities come up in your life
that you don't expect,
and you want to be prepared for those opportunities.
I remember one time I was sitting in church.
I was a young man.
I was an older teenager, young adult,
somewhere in there, maybe 17, 18 years old.
And I remember I was sitting in church,
and the pastor gave an opportunity.
Just whoever wants to can just come up and preach a short sermon.
You know, and it was just kind of like a popcorn preaching.
And I remember I really wanted to preach so bad,
but I didn't have anything prepared.
I didn't know what to preach.
I wasn't ready, and I missed out on that opportunity.
I was kicking myself.
This is a rare opportunity, years and years apart,
where they would just give an opportunity to get up and preach.
And I thought to myself,
I'm never going to let that happen again.
I'm always going to be prepared to preach.
I'm always going to know what I'm going to preach and have something right.
I mean, think about it.
What if I were to do that right now?
Everybody's getting all nervous.
All these guys are looking scared, turning to each other.
But you know what?
You ought to be ready to preach at any time,
because you don't know when that opportunity is going to present itself.
You ought to be ready to give the Gospel.
You want to be prepared.
As much as in you is, have the Word of God in you,
and have your heart prepared to the point where you are ready to preach,
the Gospel to every preacher, ready to preach in church or wherever else,
just be ready with it.
Here's Proverbs 4.
This tells us a little bit how we're going to be ready.
It says in Proverbs 4, verse 20,
My son, attend to my words.
Or speaking of God's word,
Imply thine ear unto my sayings.
Let them not depart from thine eyes.
Keep them in the midst of thy heart,
for they are life unto those that find them,
and health to all their flesh.
Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life.
God's warning us that our heart
is the source of all the issues of our life.
Everything that has to do with our life comes from our heart,
and so we're to keep our heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life.
How are we going to do that?
Well, one way is found in verse 4.
Jump up to verse 4.
It says, He taught me also and said unto me,
Let thine heart retain my words,
keep my commandments, and live.
And so the first thing I want to talk about is that
in order to prepare your heart,
you've got to memorize God's word and read God's word.
That's how you're going to prepare your heart.
Retaining God's word, attending your ear to God's word,
keeping his sayings, letting them not depart from thine eyes,
keeping them in the midst of thy heart.
He said keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life,
and the best way to prepare your heart,
the best way to be a ready scribe as Ezra was,
the best way to be prepared and ready to preach the gospel
is to memorize the Bible and read the Bible.
We live in a day where far too many people do not know the Bible.
Going to church is not enough to teach you the Bible.
You've got to read this book on your own, cover to cover.
It cannot depart from your eyes.
It needs to be in your heart.
Thou shalt meditate therein all the days of thy life,
the Bible says, and coming to church three times a week
for an hour is not going to let you know the Bible
like you need to know it.
You've got to read it and study it
and meditate upon it on your own.
The first step I'll tell you right now
is reading the Bible once cover to cover.
If you've never read the Bible cover to cover,
that is the first most important step for you to take
because you can't even see the big picture.
Your heart is not prepared at all
until you at least read the book one time.
That's why we just got a bunch of the charts out there in the lobby.
Of course, everything in the lobby is always free.
We don't believe it's selling anything.
There are all kinds of Bibles out there
and Bible reading charts.
Grab one of those charts that will tell you
how to read the Bible in one year.
You can check it off and read through your Bible
at least once a year for crying out loud.
For many, it ought to be more than that.
Reading it, studying it, learning it
so that you'll be prepared to give an answer,
so that you'll be prepared to defend what you believe
and prepared to give the Gospel and prepared to preach
and prepared to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord
by learning God's Word, but not only just reading.
Take it a step further and memorize God's Word.
First of all, if you're going to be ready to preach the Gospel,
the best thing you can do is memorize verses
in regard to salvation.
Now look, every time I go out soloing and knocking doors,
I bring my Bible with me
because I like to show people in the Bible.
I don't like them to just trust what I'm saying.
I like to actually hold up the Bible
and show them the verses when I get somebody the Gospel.
It's more powerful when they can see it
right there for themselves with their own eyes.
But I still have the verses memorized anyway
because if you have to sit there and flip to it
and turn to it and you have to read it yourself,
you're not going to be as effective.
You ought to memorize these verses
and get them in your heart.
If you don't have these verses memorized,
whatever your plan is for salvation,
maybe it's Romans 3.23, Romans 6.23,
Revelation 20.14 and 15,
Revelation 21.8,
Romans 5.8,
Romans 5.12,
Romans 10.9,
Romans 10.13,
John 3.16,
John 3.18,
John 3.36,
John 5.24,
John 6.47,
you know, whatever verses you use,
those are pretty much a rundown of the verses
that I like to use right there.
But whatever verses you use to give the Gospel,
have them memorized.
Be ready with it.
Be ready to preach from your heart,
not just, well, let me read it to you here.
I mean, I show them,
but I'm usually showing them like this
and I'm quoting it from memory.
See, there it is right there.
And oftentimes,
I've tried to give somebody the Gospel
and I go to open my Bible and show them
and they're kind of like,
oh, I don't really have time for that.
So then I just close the Bible
and I'll just quote them the whole thing.
It'll take the same amount of time,
just psychologically,
because I didn't open my Bible.
They thought it wasn't taking as long.
So it's okay.
Well, you know,
it says in Romans 3.3,
it says in Romans 3,
you know, I give them all the verses
and quote it to them
because I had to memorize.
Other times,
I didn't have my Bible with me.
Now, I recommend having the Bible with you all the time,
you know,
at least a New Testament in your pocket
or in your purse or whatever.
But let's face it,
sometimes we just don't have a Bible with us
for whatever reason.
And what if that opportunity comes up
to preach the Gospel
and you don't have your Bible with you?
You see,
that's not going to happen to you
if you have the verses memorized.
You'll always have your Bible with you.
You can always give the Gospel.
And don't be one of these people
that gives the Gospel
without using the Bible.
You know,
a lot of people will just explain
the Gospel in their own words.
No,
it's God's word that has the power.
In that parable of the sower,
he said the sower sows the word.
The good seed is the word
being born again,
not a corruptible seed,
but an incorruptible by the word of God
which liveth and abideth forever
of his own will begat thee us
with the word of truth
that we should be a kind of
firstfruits of his creatures.
Receive with meekness
the engrafted word
which is able to save your soul.
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word
and believeth on him
and sent me has everlasting life
to not come into condemnation,
but has passed from death unto life.
Use the word.
Memorize the word
so that you can preach it
from your heart
so that you can do it
with or without your Bible
in your hand
so that even if your Bible
is in your hand,
you can quote it to them
and recite it to them
and preach it to them.
Learn the verses
in regard to salvation.
If you're going to get up
and preach a sermon,
if you have an opportunity
to preach,
whether it's here
or at a nursing home
or on a camping trip
or at a preaching class,
memorize the verses
in your sermon
and that will help you
be more effective.
It will help you to understand
what you're preaching
and be able to preach
in a more fluid manner
because you have it
coming from the heart,
not just reading it
off a piece of paper.
And so let your heart
retain God's word,
as he said in verse 4.
You know what retain means
to retention,
it means that you have it
memorized,
that you remember it.
He said keep God's word
in your heart.
You've heard the phrase
learning something off by heart?
It has to do with memory.
And so memorize God's word
in order to prepare your heart.
You see, you've got to
picture your heart
like a field of earth
in that parable of the sower
with the gardening
and farming illustration.
And every time you read
God's word,
and every time you memorize
God's word,
that field of your heart
is being plowed up.
And you can picture
you're memorizing God's word,
it's just pouring in
some fertilizer
and putting in plant food.
I don't know anything
about gardening,
so bear with me
on this illustration.
But I do know one thing,
that the earth in Arizona
is not very good for gardening.
Does anybody else realize that?
Yeah, it's not very good
for gardening.
And so my wife,
she's been doing a lot
of gardening lately
and she has all these gardens,
but she had to bring in
special soil
and she has to constantly
put in compost
and constantly put in fertilizer
and constantly deal
with the ground
and break it up
and add nutrients
because the ground
is just not a good ground here.
It's a desert.
It's just not conducive
to gardening a lot of vegetables.
And so you have to do a lot
to make it work.
That's the way our heart is.
It's going to take a lot of work
to break it up
and you say,
what is the point of this earth?
Because every issue of your life
proceeds from your heart.
Everything about the way you live,
everything about the way you think,
everything you're going to do
is going to be based
on what's in your heart.
The Bible says out of the abundance
of the heart,
the mouth's speaking.
So the words that come out
of your mouth
are going to have to do
with how well you
prepared your heart.
The level of sin in your life
has to do with how much
you've prepared your heart.
Whether or not you decide
to go to church
or not go to church,
that's a decision
that you make in your heart.
Whether you decide
to go out and go soul wedding,
that's a decision
made in the heart.
Whether you decide
to watch a bunch of filth
and smut on TV
or whether you decide
to shut the stupid thing off,
throw it out the window
and open the Bible
and read it,
hey, that's a decision
that you make in your heart.
And you've got to prepare your heart
so that you'll make
the right decisions in your life.
You can't just make
at the spur of the moment,
it's too late.
You've got to have
a prepared heart in advance,
already prepared
to just automatically
make the right decisions
because your heart
is filled with God's Word.
And your heart is prepared
that the seeds of God's Word
can grow and germinate
and that you can grow
into a tree of life
and you can bring forth
much fruit.
Go to Psalm 1.
You're in Proverbs 4.
We're going to be back
in Proverbs 4
if you want to keep
that in mind.
But go to Psalm 1
just a few pages
to the left in your Bible.
Psalm 1 says this in verse 1,
Blessed is the man
that walketh not
in the counsel
of the ungodly.
That's why I would never
go to some unsaved
ungodly counselor
or psychiatrist
or life coach.
You know these life coaches
that they have made up?
Is that what they're called?
Counselors, life coach,
psychiatrist, therapist.
You know, I would only go
to somebody who's sick.
You know what?
I'd rather just go
to the Bible.
Because did you know
that God's name is counselor?
Did you know that?
It says in Isaiah 9, 6,
For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given.
His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor,
the mighty God,
the Prince of Peace,
the everlasting Father.
God's name is counselor.
So if you're looking
for a counselor,
just go to God.
Go to the Bible.
He's your counselor.
Don't walk in the counsel
of the ungodly.
Don't go to Oprah and Dr. Phil
and get their counsel
on how to rear your child
or get their counsel
on how to straighten out
your family
or straighten out your marriage
or get their counsel
on your career or your life
or go to the counselor
at the public pool system.
Hey, I'm going to go
to God as my counselor
and I'd rather walk
and get the counsel
of God's word
than with the counsel
of the ungodly.
And look, these TV counselors,
they are the ungodly.
I hate to break with you.
Dr. Phil's not going
to tell you
to thank your kids.
He ought to.
I mean, that's what
the Bible says.
The Bible says,
withhold not correction
from the child,
for if thou beatest him
with the rod,
he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him
with the rod
and shall deliver his soul
from hell.
The Bible says,
he that spareth his rod
hated his son,
but he that loveth him
chasteth him betight.
And you see,
Dr. Phil's going to tell you
to sit down and reason
with the child
and have timeouts
and have pow-wows
or I don't know
what they'd be.
Maybe that's the name.
Sorry, I didn't mean
to get on you there,
Brother Sosa.
You know,
have a little pow-wow
with the child,
a little rap session
with the child
and kind of, you know,
figure out,
you know,
find out where they're coming.
I don't care
where they're coming from.
I'm coming from
the position of authority.
I'm coming with a bell,
my friend.
And so the Bible's clear.
But if you walk
into counsel
of the ungodly,
you're going to do
everything contrary
to the Bible
because they're ungodly.
That's why.
So it says,
Blessed is the man
that walketh not
into counsel
of the ungodly,
nor standeth
in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth
in the seed
of the scornful.
But his delight
is in the law
of the Lord
and in his law
doth he meditate
three times a week.
Sunday morning,
Sunday night,
Wednesday night.
Is that what it says?
And in his law
doth he meditate
every morning for ten minutes
when he wakes up.
No.
It says his law
is he meditate
day and night.
You know,
he's meditating
day and night
by a tree
planted by the rivers
of water
that bringeth
forth fruit
in his season.
Remember we talked
about being fruitful
and multiplying
and being a good grout?
His leaf also
shall not wither
and whatsoever
he doeth
shall prosper.
The Bible's
telling us here,
if we get our heart right,
every other area
of our life
will be right.
If we can meditate
in God's word
day and night
instead of filling
our minds
with the counsel
of our hearts.
Go back to Proverbs 4
where we were.
Proverbs 4
says this.
We saw,
of course,
in verse 4
He taught me also
and said to me
Let thy heart
retain my words
keep my commandments
and live.
Verse 20
My son,
attend to my words.
Incline thine ear
unto my saints.
Let them not
depart from thine eyes.
Keep them in the midst
of thy heart
for they are light
unto those that find them
and health
to all their flesh.
Keep thy heart
with all diligence
in the shoots of light.
Verse 24
Put away from thee
a forward mouth
or a wicked mouth
He's saying there
and perverse lips
put far from thee.
So in order to
keep our heart
with all diligence
we talked a little bit
about the positive
input we need.
God's word.
Reading the Bible.
Memorizing the Bible.
Keeping it
in front of our eyes.
Having it on
three by five cards.
Having the New Testament
in your pocket.
You know,
listening to it
on audio.
You know,
maybe Alexander Scorby
reading the Bible
or whatever you've got
on CD.
Just constantly
getting God's word in.
But he also says
to put away
far from thee
a forward mouth
and perverse lips.
And there are plenty
of forward mouths
and perverse lips
that you can listen
to if you want to.
I mean,
if you want to listen
to a forward mouth
and perverse lips
you don't have
to go far.
All you've got to do
is just call Cox
or whatever
and they'll hook it up
at your house
and they'll call you
evil or else you can get
a satellite dish
and direct TV
or you can get it
through the internet.
You can get it
on YouTube.
You can get it
through whatever
iTunes,
whatever you choose
to download
perverse lips
and forward mouth.
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about
the comedy of today
is perverted
and forward.
You go to that
video store
and get that
comedy section,
you know as well
as I do,
you know what the
jokes are going
to be about?
Perversion.
Sodomy.
What are the jokes
going to be about?
They're going to be
about religion.
Making a mockery
of the Lord Jesus Christ
and God's Word.
That's the
comedy of today.
That's the comedy
and we need to
put that far from us.
That's not helping
your heart.
When you go
and get the latest
Adam Sandler movie
and you know you watch
all the Adam Sandler
and watch the,
what are the big,
Jim Carrey,
and you know his
movies are perverted
by brand new.
Jim Carrey,
Adam Sandler,
I'm sorry,
I don't know that.
Somebody help me out.
Who are the comedy
stars today?
Alright good,
everybody's,
no worldly people
in our church.
Alright.
You know the
Adam Sandler,
the Jim Carrey movie?
You know it's
perverse,
it's wicked,
and you know what
the Bible,
it's just fun,
it's just fun.
The Bible says
fools make a
mock and sin.
Fools make a mock.
There's nothing
funny about sin.
And you know,
I don't appreciate
jokes about
homosexuality either.
I don't think
they're funny.
Okay,
I do think one of them
is funny.
How do you,
how do you
wink at a queer?
You know,
but you know what,
when you're making
fun of what they do
and when you're making
fun of being a queer
and when you think
it's funny,
there's nothing
funny about abomination.
There's nothing
funny about perversion.
You know,
my joke was not
about wickedness.
My joke wasn't about sin.
The Bible said
Leviticus 20, 13.
And so,
the bottom line is
that we need to
get off this thing
where we just think
everything's a big joke
and that it's funny
to be perverted
and to be wicked
and thrower.
We need to put
that stuff far from us.
We need to put that stuff
as far away from us
as we possibly can.
And God says
that's going to help
us keep our heart.
With diligence,
that's going to help
us prepare our heart.
He said in verse 25,
so that has to do
with what's going
into our ears.
You know,
the wicked mouth
and the perverse lips
that are speaking
all these things.
That's what's going
into our ears.
But look at verse 25.
He deals with our eyes.
He says,
let thine eyes
look right on
and let thine eyelids
look straight before thee.
And then look at verse 27.
It says,
turn not to the right hand
nor to thy left.
Remove thy foot from evil.
Now you say,
what is he saying there
when he says
to look straight on,
to look right on,
not to turn left
or right.
You know,
I quote this verse
every time I'm driving
down the freeway,
because think about the stuff
that's on these
billboards today.
There are a lot of
scantily clad women
on the billboards.
There are a lot
of ads for booze
and ads for Las Vegas casinos
and ads for everything
that's wrong.
When you go
to the grocery store,
when you're walking down
the checkout aisle,
you know, to the left
and to the right,
what is there?
A bunch of dirty magazines
that have a lot of dirty texts
and a lot of dirty pictures.
And you walk down there,
and I quote this verse
to myself constantly
to let my eyes look right on,
to look straight ahead,
and to just be like this,
because there's so much
out there,
and the problem
with looking at it
and the problem with seeing it
is that it goes
into your heart.
And there's a battle
going on in our heart today.
The Bible says,
the flesh rusteth
against the spirit,
and the spirit
against the flesh,
and these are contrary,
the one to the other,
so that you cannot do
the things that you would.
So there's a battle
going on,
and when we look
at the billboards
and when we look
at the magazines
and when we reach out
just out of curiosity,
just see what they say,
just see what they're about,
and when we check out
all those images
and when we listen
to the comedy
and we listen to the smut
and perversion that Hollywood
puts out,
we're just fueling
the fire of our flesh,
and we're losing the battle.
And we're not
preparing our heart.
We're actually
preparing our heart
the wrong way.
We're preparing it
to do wrong.
And then every time
we read the Bible,
every time we sing the hymns,
every time we memorize
God's word,
every time we come to church
and listen to Bible preaching,
every time we sing the hymns,
every time we pray,
every time we do
the right things,
we're preparing our heart.
We're putting good things
into our heart.
We're putting good things in,
and good things
are going to come out.
And you see,
you have to ask yourself,
is more good going in
or is more bad going in?
Am I spending more time
around the wicked people
of this world
or am I spending more time
around God's people
in the house of God?
Am I spending more time
listening to a bunch of
worldliness and wickedness
or am I spending more time
listening to God's word
being preached
or being read to be?
Am I spending more time
reading my Bible
and reading the pages
of his word
or am I spending more time
just browsing the magazine rack
and browsing the television show?
But you wonder why
you can't seem
to just get on track
in your life.
You wonder why you just
are constantly
getting into temptation.
You know, you wonder
why is it that I have
such a hard time
dragging myself to church?
Why is it that I have
such a hard time
forcing myself to read
the Bible
and it's just so hard
to stay focused
and I just want to get up
and do everything else?
It's so hard for me
not to lie, you know?
Like you?
No, I'm just kidding.
It's hard for me, brother.
But you know,
it's so hard for me
not to give in
to these temptations
all the time
or it's so hard for me
to do right
and to get out soul winning
and to have the boldness
to get the gospel
to my co-workers
and my friends
because you're in the flesh
because your heart
is not prepared at all.
You're not ready.
That's why
you're not able to do it
because you haven't prepared it.
You haven't exercised it.
Look, if you would,
at 2 Peter 3.
2 Peter 3.
Remember in 1 Peter 3,
we saw that verse
that explained about
being ready always
to give an answer
to every man.
I'm sorry,
2 Peter 2.
Look at verse 14.
Here's the negative side
of the point.
It says in 2 Peter 2.
Having eyes full of adultery.
Translation.
You watch, you know,
Desperate Housewives
and whatever other TV shows.
Having eyes full of adultery
and that cannot cease from sin.
Beguiling,
that doesn't sound
like a good situation,
does it?
Cannot cease from sin.
Look at the next verse.
Beguiling unstable souls
on heart they have what?
Exercised.
On heart they have exercised
with covetous practices.
Cursing children.
So the Bible talks about
those who exercise their heart
in the wrong way.
They exercise it
with covetous practices
and now they can't
even cease from sin.
Their eyes are just
full of adultery.
The opposite of that
is preparing your heart
to do what's right
inside of the body.
Now anybody who knows
anything about exercise
or fitness,
they know that the most
important muscle in your body
is your heart, isn't it?
And they talk about, you know,
well whenever you exercise,
any exercise program
is always going to include
cardio, right?
Like no matter what the,
even if you're lifting weights
or whatever,
it's always that you got
to do your cardio.
And cardio just means heart.
That's all it means.
Like a cardiologist is
somebody who deals with
your heart.
And so you have to
exercise your heart
in order to get it
to function properly
and keep your heart healthy.
And if you keep your heart
healthy, you're going to
live a lot longer.
I'm talking about
your physical heart now.
If you keep your heart healthy,
you're going to live
much longer because, you know,
if your heart rate is too high
and your heart's beating
really hard all the time
because your heart
is out of shape,
well your heart only has
so many beats in it.
So you're going to
have a heart attack eventually.
You're going to die
at a younger age.
But if you keep your heart
healthy, you're going to
live longer, okay?
Exercising your heart
is crucial to the whole body
being right.
And it's the same way
spiritually.
You have to exercise your heart
not with covetous practices,
not with having your eyes
full of adultery.
What does covetousness mean?
It means when you desire
something that belongs
to someone else.
That's covetousness.
Not with covetous practices,
not with constant shopping
and window shopping
and constant TV viewing
and constant billboard viewing.
You've got to exercise your heart
having your eyes
full of God's Word,
having your eyes
full of the right things.
David said this,
I will set no wicked thing
before my eyes.
I hate the work of them
which turn aside
and shall not cleave me.
He said, mine eyes
shall be upon the faithful
of the land.
He said, I want to look
at the right people.
I want to look at godly people.
I want to look at people
that are righteous
and I want to have
God's Word with me all the time.
I want to listen to that
and I want to listen to preaching
and I want to listen to
God's people singing the hymns.
I don't want to listen
to a bunch of ungodly music.
You say, what's wrong with
listening to the world's music?
All the rock and rap
and country and reggae
and folk or whatever other sections
I've seen at the store.
What's wrong with listening
to all that stuff?
Because it's affecting your heart.
It's going into your heart.
You know, when you're
constantly listening to it,
it's going to begin to affect you
and you're constantly
listening to songs
that are just all glorifying
and about just dating
and it's all about the women
and it's all about the men
and it's all about how love
is the greatest thing
in the whole world.
You know, that's going to affect
the way that you think.
You're being brainwashed
right now.
And it's going to affect you
when you're constantly
listening to music that has
nothing to do with God,
nothing to do with the Bible,
well then your thought process
will begin to have
nothing to do with God
and nothing to do with the Bible.
And when you're singing
the hymns constantly,
that's going to affect
your heart too.
The Bible says,
be filled with the Spirit,
speaking to yourselves in songs
and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody
in your heart to the Lord.
Where does your music collection
fall into that category right there?
Songs and hymns
and spiritual songs.
Which of those three is AC Beastie?
Which of those three is Lady Gaga?
Is it songs, is it hymns,
or is it spiritual songs?
You know, which of those three
does your CD tower fall into?
And look, I'm not here
to police your CD tower.
You know, you ought to grow up
and police your own CD tower
and say to yourself,
I'm going to keep my heart
with all diligence
because out of it
are the issues of life
and if you do not,
keep your heart,
you will fail.
You will fall.
You will not continue
in the things of God.
You will not be in church
a year from now
or two years from now
or three years from now.
You will not be out soul-running.
You will slowly fade away.
You will quit reading your Bible.
You will quit serving God.
You will quit doing what's right
because you're exercising
your heart the wrong way.
Day after day,
you're putting garbage in,
garbage in, garbage in, garbage in,
and then you wonder
why you start looking
at garbage life.
It's because you have garbage
in your heart
and we've got to guard it.
We've got to keep our heart
with all diligence
for out of it
are the issues of life.
Everything is going to be affected
by your heart,
your job,
your thought life,
your family,
your friends,
your soul-winning,
your church attendance,
your Bible reading,
your prayer,
everything.
It's all about your heart.
You've got to guard it
and protect it
and keep it safe
from the wrong influences
coming in
because if you don't,
you'll fail.
You'll be destroyed.
Turn, if you would,
to 2 Timothy 2.
2 Timothy 2.
And I would encourage you
to do this.
If you don't believe
what I'm saying right now,
just try it.
Just try for a couple of weeks.
Just literally,
just for like two weeks.
Just completely unplug your TV
and completely put away
your worldly CDs of music
and just all music CDs.
You know,
put away all music CDs,
put away all TV,
put away all magazines,
and just fill a couple weeks
without it.
You say,
what in the world
am I going to do
with my life?
And I remember
when I was a kid,
I used to honestly think,
what did people do
before they had TV?
Whoever had that thought?
Tell the truth.
I had that thought.
I remember,
I would give you
reading about technology
and stuff,
and I used to just picture,
I used to think about,
what did people do
like in the 1800s and stuff,
you know, in the 1900s?
Like, what did they do all day?
And I used to just picture
people like in a cabin
with like a candle
and they're just reading.
You know,
because they just have no TV.
There's just nothing.
But you know what's amazing?
There's so much to do
besides TV and video games.
Like once you get rid
of stuff like that,
you just,
you don't wonder
what people did.
I mean, there's plenty.
There is,
yes, there's reading,
believe it or not.
But I mean,
there's all kinds of things
to do.
I mean, there's tons.
Like, I don't think anybody,
who has ever been
to my house before?
But Brianna is not.
Okay.
Do we,
have you seen us?
Are we just kind of like
sitting around
looking at each other?
Like,
are we just all kind of
sitting in a chair
and seeing cows
just looking at each other
just not knowing what to do?
So,
how's it going?
No.
Because
we just,
we think we need this stuff
and we don't.
It's just an addiction
that you have.
You know,
and it's just a tool
of the devil
to get in your head
every day
and to put the wrong people
in front of you
all day long,
put the wrong philosophy
in front of you,
and just look,
it can't hurt to just try.
Just go a couple weeks
without it
and just read
and read your Bible
and pray
and talk to your family
and, you know,
get to know your family,
meet some people
that live in your house.
Honestly,
it'll dramatically
change your life
because you'll notice
your heart
will start getting stronger.
You'll notice
your spiritual cardio
will begin to increase
and it'll make
a huge difference.
But look at
2 Timothy 2, 19.
It says this,
Nevertheless,
the foundation of God
standeth sure,
having this seal,
the Lord knoweth
them that are His,
and let everyone
that needs Him
be healed.
The Lord knoweth
them that are His
and let everyone
in the name of Christ
depart from iniquity.
Now,
as Christians,
we should depart
from iniquity.
Right?
Now,
does every Christian
depart from iniquity?
Of course not.
That's why God
has to constantly
tell us not to sin
and so forth
and God gives us
free will.
Just as my children
have free will,
whether they'll obey
or disobey.
But He says here,
Let everyone in the name
of Christ depart from iniquity.
But look at verse 20.
But,
the first word there
is important.
But,
it says,
Let everyone in the name
of the name of Christ
depart from iniquity.
But,
in a great house,
there are not only vessels
of gold and of silver,
but also of wood
and of earth,
and some to honor
and some to dishonor.
Now,
God there is talking about
those in the name of Christ.
Those who are His children.
Many of them bring honor
to their father
which is in heaven.
Many of His children
bring dishonor
to their father
which is in heaven.
Many are vessels
of gold and silver.
Others are of wood
and of earth.
He's explaining that
there are different types
of Christians there.
Just like
at the final judgment.
Some of our works
will be gold,
silver,
or precious stones.
The Bible says that
some people's works
will be 100%
wood, hand, stubble.
All their works
will be burned.
They'll suffer a loss
of reward,
but they themselves
will be saved.
Yes,
so is by fire.
And so,
He's explaining here
that some will honor
and some will dishonor.
Just as a parent
and some children
that bring them dishonor.
Verse 21 says this,
If a man therefore
purge himself from these,
he shall be a vessel
unto honor,
sanctified and meet
for the master's use.
And what?
Prepare unto every good work.
So one of the ways
to prepare yourself
and prepare your heart
is sometimes you have to
purge some friends
that are the wrong friends.
That's what He's warning here.
He says,
There are those
in a great house
that are of dishonor.
And if a man therefore
purge himself from these,
because these is a pronoun
referring back to those
vessels of dishonor.
If a man therefore
purge himself from these,
he shall be a vessel
unto honor,
sanctified and meet
for the master's use
and prepared
unto every good work.
Flee also youthful lusts,
but follow righteousness,
faith, charity, peace.
With who?
With them that call
on the Lord
out of a pure heart.
So what's God saying?
If you want to be
a vessel of honor,
hang around with people
that are vessels of honor.
You want to be a vessel
unto honor,
purge yourself
of the vessels of dishonor.
Because if you hang around
the vessels of dishonor
all the time,
you're going to become
a vessel of dishonor.
If you hang around
the vessels of honor,
you're going to be
a vessel of honor.
If you follow righteousness
with them that call on
the Lord out of a pure heart,
then you're going to be
a vessel unto honor.
But if you're hanging around
all the wrong people
all the time,
you're going to be
a vessel unto dishonor.
So first of all,
number one,
to prepare your heart was
to put in the right things.
Reading, memorizing God's word,
especially memorizing
God's word.
And by the way,
do some serious Bible memory.
I'm not talking about
Jesus wept here.
We're not talking about
memorizing John 11.35.
You know, we need to
grow up spiritually here
and do some serious
Bible memory.
There are people
that I've known
that have done
a lot of Bible memory.
Even, I mean,
I knew a guy,
and Scott's out of town,
he's in West Virginia,
but his friend Richie,
actually the guy
who won him to Christ,
Richie had only been saved
for like a year and a half.
Okay, are you listening to me?
He'd been saved
for about a year and a half,
two years.
He had the entire book
of Matthew memorized.
Are you listening?
He'd only been saved
for a year and a half
or two years.
Young college guy.
And he's not some genius
going around memorizing
the phone book.
He's just an average,
who knows Richie?
Remember he was out here
for a couple months?
He's not some kind
of a savant.
He's not, you know,
like some kind of a prodigy.
No, just an average guy,
and he memorized
the book of Matthew.
We're talking
28 large chapters
in just a matter
of a couple of years.
I mean, there's a guy
who's serious about growing
in the Lord, you know?
And I mean,
we need to get to the point
where we get this out of our mind
of being a baby Christian.
Well, as long as I can just read
a couple verses a day,
I can keep my head
above water.
Don't just try to keep
your head above water.
Hey, keep your heart
with all diligence.
Meditating God's word
day and night.
Memorize whole,
and that's why we do this
as a church,
where we memorize whole chapters.
Like right now as a church,
we're memorizing Proverbs 1.
Because it shows people
that they can do it.
Because there are a lot
of people I'll bet you
that have thought to themselves,
I could never memorize
a whole chapter of the Bible.
An entire chapter?
But yet when we do it in church,
they did it with us.
And they succeeded at that,
and it broke through
that barrier in their mind.
Because I remember
the first time I heard people
talk about memorizing
a lot of the Bible,
I didn't even think
it was possible.
It blew me away.
I heard somebody talk about
memorizing the whole Psalm 119,
and that just blew me away.
Like that's not even possible.
It's only 176 verses.
But you know,
when you have this mentality
that's a failed mentality
and a losing mentality,
you don't think beyond boundaries
and realize that if you just
memorize two verses a day,
two verses a day in a year,
you can memorize like
the whole book of Revelation
and the book of Hebrews,
two verses a day,
and retain it all obviously
and remember it all.
It's possible to do a lot more.
Get into some Bible memory.
That was the first thing
to keep your heart.
Read the Bible
and memorize the Bible.
Jump into Proverbs 1
or whatever book
you want to memorize.
Not only that,
number two,
you got to guard your eyes
and your ears
from the wrong input
because those are the doors
into your heart.
He said keep your heart.
He mentioned the ears.
He mentioned the eyes.
But then number three,
the third thing was
you got to guard
who your friends are.
Guard who you're hanging around with
because your friends
will determine what you are.
I heard somebody say this.
You are right now
or you soon shall be
what your friends are.
That's why it's so important
what church you go to by the way
because if you're plugged
into the right church,
if you're hanging around
with people that are excited
about soul winning
and they're fired up about it
and not because somebody's
forcing them to do it
because they want to do it
and they're thrilled about it
and they think it's fun
and they go out
and do a bunch of soul winning,
guess what?
That's how you're going to be.
That will rub off on you.
If you're around people
that are constantly talking
about the Bible
and constantly bringing stuff
up out of the Bible
and that's what they're excited about
and they're excited about church
and they're faithful to church
and they're always in church
and church is a priority,
you're going to begin
to be like those people.
But if you're in some dead
as a doornail church,
some watered down church
where nobody's getting saved,
nobody's getting back
nobody's getting baptized,
nobody's growing in the Lord,
nobody's excited about reaching people,
nobody's new is coming in,
that's how you're going to be.
You're going to be dead
and boring and drab
like that church is
because that's who you're hanging around with.
It's going to rub off on you.
You get in an exciting church,
you're going to get excited
about the things that God.
You get in a dead church,
you're going to begin
to die spiritually
and be a withered up Christian
that's just struggling
to bring forth any fruit
because you're not around
the right people.
And even worse than that,
you start hanging around
with unbelievers,
you're going to begin
to act like an unbeliever.
Yes, you will.
God saved,
that will never happen to me.
Yeah, but the old man
is still there.
The flesh is still there.
And the flesh wants to be
against the Spirit
and the Spirit gets the flesh
and the flesh wants to take over.
And when you start hanging around
with all these unbelievers
and unsaved friends
and that's your main circle
of friends,
you're going to start
talking like them,
dressing like them,
acting like them,
and thinking like them
and your heart will start
to resemble their heart.
And so those are the three
biggest things right there
to prepare your heart
and you've got to
prepare your heart.
He said in Proverbs 16 one,
the preparations of the heart
in man and the answer
of the tongue is from the Lord.
Let God prepare your heart
so that you can do that
which is right in the sight
of the Lord.
If you do not heed
what's being preached this morning
and you don't prepare your heart
and you just say,
well, I'm just going to
keep doing what I'm doing.
Well, you know what?
You're going to be like
those people in Jehoshaphat's day.
They did wrong because
they hadn't prepared their hearts.
So as far as that word of prayer.
Father, please set up
everyone who's here
to let these words
sink down into their ears
and to realize the importance
of what's being preached here, God.
Our hearts are the most
valuable things we have.
Physically, it's the most
important muscle in our body.
And spiritually,
it is the source
of all the issues of life.
So I pray that everyone
who's here would very carefully
guard their eyes,
guard their ears,
guard their mind,
and to constantly
be putting in your word
and psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs
and to get around
the right people there, God.
Help us to grow in grace
and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.