Keeping the Heart With All Diligence (Academy Lecture)

In this part of the sermon: Martin begins by reading Proverbs 4:20-27 and addresses the intense demands on academy students, both academic and personal. He then introduces Proverbs 4:23, 'Keep thy heart with…

Martin uses the analogy of baptism, feeling the waves and billows, to describe the experimental demands and pressures students will soon face, contrasting it with merely looking at it from afar.

And intensive demands that are going to be made upon you in the coming months within the framework of your studies here in the academy. You first year students will soon have your baptism, and will be dripping wet from that baptism. And you also will know something experimentally of the demands that will be made upon you. We've tried to make that plain in our interview and in the prospectus.

1:35 - 2:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that no duty is of greater importance than keeping your heart, especially during intense formal instruction and throughout your ministry.

Martin quotes Bridge to clarify the theological tension between God's ultimate power to guard the heart and man's commanded duty to do so, explaining that man's efforts are God's instrumentality.

Now we grant that ultimately only God who knows the heart can guard the heart, but Bridge's comments bringing together the command, which obviously makes this our duty, and the parallel biblical teaching, which clearly indicates that it's only within the power of God to do this, which clearly indicates that it's only within the power of God to do this, his comments, I think, are very helpful. his comments, I think, are very helpful. Though it be God's work, it is man's agency. Though it be God's work, it is man's agency.

4:11 - 4:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage in consistent devotional interaction with the Word of God, coming as humble disciples to be taught, not merely to fulfill academic assignments.

The word 'keep' is explained as literally meaning 'to hedge them about,' creating a picture of surrounding God's words within the heart to regulate its impulses, like a protective fence.

Now notice the emphasis. Keep them. In the midst of thy heart. And the word keep here literally means to hedge them about.

11:27 - 11:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage in consistent devotional interaction with the Word of God, coming as humble disciples to be taught, not merely to fulfill academic assignments.

Martin shares his personal experience of 27 years in ministry, identifying the greatest battle as maintaining a non-professional relationship with God's Word, a point he believes Pastor Chantry would affirm.

and right on through every passing year of the Bible ministry is right here to maintain a relationship to the word of God that is non-professional. If you ask me where is the greatest point of conflict after 27 years in the ministry, I answer without any reservation it is precisely here. And I'm sure if we were to ask the question of Pastor Chantry, I'm quite sure he would affirm that that's where the battle lies. Keeping the heart means that the commandments, the precepts must be hedged in in the midst of the heart.

14:58 - 15:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Immediately yield to the implications of every truth as its ethical and moral demands become clear, rather than trying to remove the 'arrow' of conviction.

The word of God is described as a 'bent arrow' that must pass through the head (understanding) but always aims for the heart, emphasizing its ultimate target and moral implications.

Then there is no reason why there should not be times when you find yourself as it were moving from the most intense concentration upon the meaning of a given author's sayings and words to bowing your head in worship and adoration and in praise. If you're to guard your heart and guarding the heart means the spiritual assimilation of the word, then there must be given time for devotional assimilation of the scripture. But we must add to that a prayerful approach to our formal studies. And then thirdly, there must be an immediate yielding to the implications of every truth as its ethical and mor...

17:50 - 18:54 Read in full sermon

The point: Immediately yield to the implications of every truth as its ethical and moral demands become clear, rather than trying to remove the 'arrow' of conviction.

Continuing the arrow metaphor, Martin explains that once truth touches the heart, one must either 'bow to the pressure of that truth' or 'try to remove the arrow,' illustrating the choice between obedience and apostasy.

It's got to come through the understanding, but its aim is always the heart. And in touching the heart, there is no truth that does not have moral and spiritual demands and implications. Now, the moment the truth, then, touches the heart with its attendant moral, ethical, and spiritual demands, you've got to do one of two things. You've either got to bow to the pressure of that truth or you've got to try to remove the arrow.

18:55 - 19:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Put away from you a wayward mouth and perverse lips, actively mortifying all speech that is not edifying.

The command 'put away from thee a wayward mouth' is described as 'graphic language,' like physically taking one's mouth and putting it at a distance, to emphasize the decisive action required against sinful speech.

Put away from thee a wayward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee. It's graphic language. It's as though you're actually taking your mouth and putting it at a distance from you. And he says that's precisely what we must do.

22:29 - 22:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Put away from you a wayward mouth and perverse lips, actively mortifying all speech that is not edifying.

Martin references a recent lecture by Mr. Garlington on Ephesians 4 regarding corrupt speech, urging listeners to get the tape for more details, highlighting the practical importance of the topic.

With respect to all speech that does not fit the category of Ephesians chapter 4, let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth but that which is good for edifying as the need may be. Some of us were present a few weeks ago when Mr. Garlington spoke with such blessing of the spirit upon that text. If you were not here, I would urge you to get the tape for more details as to what that means.

22:45 - 23:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Make sure you have 'good, well-working shades' over your eyes, literally letting your eyes look right on to the goal of holiness.

The eye is called the 'inlet to the soul,' and Martin uses the metaphor of 'well-working shades' or 'opaque shades' (not dark glasses) over the eyes to illustrate the need to guard what enters the soul visually.

The eye is the inlet to the soul. The eye is the inlet to the soul. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. So if we're to guard our hearts, we've got to make sure that we've got good, well-working shades over our eyes.

25:44 - 26:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Cry to God for singleness of eye, guarding your spiritual eyes from mixed ambitions and motives that beckon you away from holiness.

Martin prays for a 'vision of the top five cervical vertebrae' so that one 'cannot turn the head to the left or to the right,' a vivid image for maintaining single-minded focus on holiness and avoiding distractions.

Anything that would beckon them to hedonism. Anything that would beckon them to anything contrary to those goals. We pray that God will give us the few, the vision of the top five cervical vertebrae that we cannot turn the head to the left or to the right, but that the eyes will look straight on. But not only is this true with regard to the literal use of the eye, but certainly spiritually, our goals, our ambitions.

26:39 - 27:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Cry to God for singleness of eye, guarding your spiritual eyes from mixed ambitions and motives that beckon you away from holiness.

The act of walking into the room is used as an example to show how the feet are instruments that convey the 'whole man' into a chosen path, illustrating their role in guarding the heart.

Remove thy foot from evil. The foot is the instrument to convey the whole man into his chosen path. When you chose to come to this room, it was your feet that carried you as a whole man or woman into this room.

27:54 - 28:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Regulate your feet with regard to the use of television, especially avoiding excessive sports viewing that can 'get drunk' your time and energy.

Martin uses the example of being a 'sports nut' or 'sports addict' and the temptation to watch NCAA games and Wide World of Sports on Saturdays to illustrate the need for regulated feet regarding television use.

You're sports nuts. You border perhaps on past in being a sports addict.

28:51 - 28:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Be especially vigilant against pornography, recognizing increased vulnerability in intense mental activity and the pervasive presence of temptation.

The area students have come into is described as 'Main Street Sodom' to emphasize the pervasive presence of pornography and the increased vulnerability to temptation.

Now are we being legalistic and saying you should not? No, no, no. Simply placing the warning before you. You've come into an area, brethren, that is Main Street Sodom.

29:27 - 29:38 Read in full sermon