Constant Guarding of Our Hearts

Driving home: The greatest difficulty in conversion is to work. Win the heart to God. And the greatest difficulty after conversion is to keep the heart with God.

Martin quotes John Flavel, stating that the greatest difficulty in conversion is winning the heart to God, and after conversion, keeping the heart with God. This underscores the sermon's central theme of heart-guarding as a lifelong struggle.

Jesus said, they ultimately flow from a good heart. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good. And so the reason asserted for this duty is simply this. The guarding of the heart must be a matter of supreme concern to us because as the heart is, so is the life. Out of it are the springs of life. And Flavel in his masterful exposition of this text and then an extended pastoral exhortation based upon it, almost a hundred pages on this text, Flavel says in his second paragraph introducing his exposition, the greatest difficulty in conversion is to work. Win t...

14:00 - 15:11 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The greatest difficulty in conversion is to work. Win the heart to God. And the greatest difficulty after conversion is to keep the heart with God.

He illustrates the unconverted state by explaining that despite hearing ample gospel truth, individuals remain unconverted because their hearts are 'wedded to sin,' loving self and the world. This highlights the heart's central role in spiritual transformation.

is not converted? You know why? The fundamental reason is your heart is wedded to your sin. That's why you're not converted. You've heard enough gospel to convert half a nation, some of you. You can give back every elementary tenet of the Christian faith. You know enough truth about sin and judgment and hell and grace and the cross and forgiveness to be converted a thousand times over and yet you're still unconverted. Why? Because of the state of your heart. You've got a heart that loves sin, loves self, loves

15:11 - 15:57 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first application exhorts believers to guard their hearts from any weakening of faith in the perfection and sufficiency of Christ's work. He explains that faith and unbelief…

Martin recalls the vigor with which new believers sing hymns like 'Nothing but the Blood of Jesus,' contrasting it with later struggles. This illustrates the initial, simple trust in Christ's work that can wane over time.

And one of the most difficult things is to maintain the strength of that simple trust, that marked our faith, that marked our faith, that marked our faith, that marked our faith, hearts on the threshold. And yet it's absolutely essential in the joy and confidence that Christ's work was sufficient. Many of us can remember in the early days of our Christian experience with what vigor we sang hymns that perhaps lacked the theological depth and precision of the hymns in the Trinity hymn book. But oh, how we sang those hymns! What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make ...

21:53 - 22:50 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first application exhorts believers to guard their hearts from any weakening of faith in the perfection and sufficiency of Christ's work. He explains that faith and unbelief…

He uses the metaphor of running a race with a 'ball and chain of unresolved guilt' to describe the hindering effect of unconfessed or doubted forgiveness on a Christian's progress. This vividly portrays the burden of weakened faith.

remember? Can you remember singing there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains? Can you remember? Well what's happened? Well along the way as you've studied your Bible and you've learned more of your own heart and as you've come to the realism that though a Christian is one in whom the dominion of sin is broken and the love of sin is transformed yet you still do sin you have fallen and stumbled and you find yourself in that terrible position where you say how can I come back again and again and again and a...

23:05 - 24:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if your stumbling and lack of progress in perseverance is due to not guarding your heart from weakening faith in Christ's work.

The analogy of daily eating and drinking for physical sustenance is used to explain the need for continuous, daily 'eating' and 'drinking' of Christ by faith for spiritual life and perseverance. This clarifies the concept of 'abiding in Christ'.

So He who eats Me, present tense, He also shall live because of Me. Do you see what he's saying? He's saying there's a relationship between the true air of eternal life and Jesus Christ crucified that is like the relationship between a living man who continually eats and drinks bread and other forms of the liquid. He eats of Me. He drinks of Me.

27:51 - 28:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Guard your heart from any waning of affection for the person of Christ.

Love to Christ is described as the 'most sensitive, tender, and yet most fruitful plant' that grace places in the human heart. This metaphor emphasizes its preciousness and vulnerability to neglect.

The most sensitive, tender, and yet most fruitful plant which grace places in the human heart is the plant of love to Christ.

32:30 - 32:42 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second application focuses on guarding against a decrease in love for Christ, which is presented as the most sensitive and fruitful plant of grace. He explains that love is…

Extending the plant metaphor, he describes how a 'chilling blast of worldly air' or lack of 'refreshing presence of God' can make the plant of love to Christ 'wither and droop.' This illustrates the fragility of spiritual affection.

There will be this zeal to be like Him and to obey Him. But oh, how quickly does this exotic plant wither and droop. One chance. A chilling blast of worldly air can make its leaves wither.

35:45 - 36:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Put everything you engage in or omit to the test: 'What does it do to the fervor of my love to Christ?'

The church at Ephesus (Revelation 2) is used as an example of a church commended for many virtues but rebuked for having 'left their first love.' This serves as a warning against waning affection for Christ despite other good works.

You remember our Lord's dealings with the church at Ephesus? He wrote to that church, which is recorded in Revelation chapter 2.

36:55 - 37:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Put everything you engage in or omit to the test: 'What does it do to the fervor of my love to Christ?'

He proposes a 'most telling test' for any activity: 'What does it do to the fervor of my love to Christ?' This provides a practical self-examination tool for believers.

Have you not found, as I have found, that when all the smoke of rationalization clears away, and when all efforts itself, justification, are cleared away, one of the most telling tests with respect to any activity we engage in or omit is this. What does it do? To the first. To the fervor of my love to Christ.

38:09 - 38:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Consider the spiritual consequences of omitting secret prayer and devotional exercises.

Martin shares that in 30 years of ministry, he has never heard anyone say that omitting devotions strengthened their love for Christ, but rather the opposite. This highlights the universal experience of spiritual decline from neglecting secret prayer.

Does that strengthen or weaken your love to Christ? Now, be honest. Come on, get honest. I've never had anyone in 30 years of ministry come up to me and say, Pastor, you know the Lord is so precious.

39:23 - 39:36 Read in full sermon

The point: Cut away rationalization and ask if you have paid too dear a price (estrangement from Christ) for indulging appetites, pursuing fleshly desires, cherishing wrong attitudes, or neglecting disciplines.

He quotes a hymn about the world losing its sweetness when Jesus is absent, but December being pleasant as May when happy in Him. This illustrates the profound impact of communion with Christ on a believer's joy and perspective.

Oh, my dear Christian friend, hear the word of God. Guard your heart above all that you guard, for out of it are the issues of life. And when the vigor of your love to Christ is shriveled, how tedious and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer we see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness for me.

41:02 - 41:31 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Because the great burden of a Christian is not that he's too scrupulous in his obedience, but that he is not scrupulous enough.

The relationship of a loving wife meticulously seeking to please her husband is used to illustrate that careful obedience is never a burden when the one obeyed is supremely loved. This clarifies that scrupulous obedience to Christ is a natural outflow of love, not legalism.

He counts Christ's yoke precious. And when Jesus said, My yoke is easy and My burden is light, He knows it to be so. He knows that amidst all of the struggles and the difficulties and the agonies of the Christian life, compared to the terrors of a condemning conscience, compared to the prospect of a dark eternity under the wrath of God in hell, compared to all of the other effects of sin upon Himself, He finds the yoke of Christ is easy and His burden is light. Not only does He welcome the burden of Christ's yoke, because He loves Christ, He longs to be scrupulous in His obedience to Christ. Y...

47:21 - 48:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of the 'fog of worldliness' and life's pressures creating an insidious hardness to Christ's law, leading to neglect of duties and a dull conscience.

The 'fog of worldliness' and life's pressures are used as a metaphor for how insidious hardness to Christ's law can creep in 'unawares.' This vividly portrays the subtle nature of spiritual decline.

And this is his great grief. When the heart is grieved at disobedience, sins of omission as well as commission, that's the evidence of a healthy heart. But, O Christian, guard your heart above all that you guard from an insidious hardness to the law of Christ. A hardness that creeps in almost unawares like a fog that steals in on the shore and the depths of dawn or pre-dawn hours.

50:40 - 51:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of the 'fog of worldliness' and life's pressures creating an insidious hardness to Christ's law, leading to neglect of duties and a dull conscience.

The story of David's heart smiting him for cutting Saul's garment (1 Samuel 24:5) is contrasted with his later sins of adultery and murder. This illustrates how a once sensitive conscience can become hardened if the heart is not guarded.

Oh, how the fog of worldliness and the fog of the pressures of other things and the cares of this life can create an insidious hardness to the law of Christ. So that our Lord would say to us in the language of the prophet, I have written unto them the ten thousand things of my law, but they are accounted a strange thing. And we no longer take seriously the specifics of our Lord's teaching as given to us in the whole of Scripture, but in particular as His own words are recorded in the Gospels, as His own words are given to us in the epistles. What a tragic thing to have an insidious hardness of...

51:14 - 52:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Beware of the 'fog of worldliness' and life's pressures creating an insidious hardness to Christ's law, leading to neglect of duties and a dull conscience.

The picture of the sluggard's field overgrown with thorns and nettles (Proverbs 24) is used as an analogy for the spiritual desolation and loss that results from spiritual slumber and neglect of heart-guarding. This emphasizes the consequences of inaction.

When he failed to guard his heart, tragic sin was the result. You have that picture in the 24th chapter of Proverbs of the field of the sluggard. The writer says, I went by and beheld that field and it was grown over with thorns and nettles and the walls were broken down. There was no fruit.

53:09 - 53:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Guard your name and other legitimate objects, but above all, guard your heart.

He uses the example of guarding one's good name (Proverbs 22:1) as a legitimate object of guarding, but then elevates guarding the heart as paramount. This helps listeners understand the priority of heart-guarding over other important duties.

So we need continually to look to him even as we learn more and more of the complexities of the dynamics of the Christian life and we understand more and more of the many facets of our responsibility and wherein we must engage ourselves in conscious activity in the midst of all of that. There must be no weaning of our hearts away from simple dependence upon the power of Christ by whom alone we are enabled to run the race. Oh, Christian, do you guard your heart now I hope you guard your name that's a legitimate object of guarding the scripture says a good name is to be chosen rather than silver...

55:07 - 56:31 Read in full sermon