Is My Heart Disciplined?

Introduction

What is the condition of our heart? Is it disciplined? Is it healthy?

Heart is “the very core of life” and as a result, our heart is the truest expression of who we are and what we do—it controls our emotions, our moral character, and our volition.
• So Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Therefore, our heart must be properly guided and it is the heart that matters:
• So God told Prophet Samuel while selecting King David, “the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7).
• Perhaps, the most significant passage describing the importance of the heart is found in Romans 10:9-10, “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
• We are commanded to trust in the Lord with all our heart (Proverbs 3:5).
• Mark 12:30, “You shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”

The Need for a Disciplined Heart (Mark 7:18-23)

A Corrupt Heart—A Heart affected by Sin:
Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

Mark 7:20-23, “And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

A Clean Heart—A Heart Regenerated by the Holy Spirit:
Psalms 51:7-10, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”

How to Keep our Heart Disciplined (Proverbs 4:20-27)

Guard our Heart
• It is avoiding unwanted or unhealthy things.
• It is to stay locked on to God’s will—keeping it holy and pure
• Puritan Isaac Ambrose called it, avoiding “Delilah sins”—specific sin patterns we have cultivated through willful and habitual sin.

Feed our Heart
• It is not just knowing the facts, but keeping the truth in your heart (v 21)
• Keeping the truth produces true transformation of the heart (v 22)
• Psalms 119:9-11, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Holy Spirit Controlled Heart
• Romans 8:1-27—A life being filled by Holy Spirit

Benefit of a Disciplined Heart (1 Chronicles 28:9; Deuteronomy 5:29)

1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, He will be found of you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”

Deuteronomy 5:29 “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!”

Conclusion/Application

Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Psalms 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
• Lord, take my heart and let it be consecrated unto Thee!