We are continuing our points today on why Christians must make keeping their hearts “the great business of their lives.” Last time, we looked at how keeping our hearts is directly correlated with glorifying God, and how living a life of hypocrisy—where there is no evidence of heart change—is its opposite (like the sin of murder or treason). Here are the next two points:
The beauty of our conversation [way of life] arises from the heavenly frame of our spirits. There is a spiritual lustre and beauty in the conversation of saints. “The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor;” saints shine as the lights of the world; but whatever lustre and beauty is in their lives, comes from the excellency of their spirits; as the candle within puts lustre upon the lantern in which it shines. It is impossible that a disordered and neglected heart should ever produce well ordered conversation; and since (as the text observes) the issues or streams of life flow out of the heart as their fountain, it must follow, that such as the heart is, the life will be. Hence 1 Peter 2:12, “Abstain from fleshly lusts—having your conversation honest,” or beautiful, as the Greek word imports. So Isaiah 55:7, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.” His way, denotes the course of his life; his thoughts, the frame of his heart: and therefore since the course of his life flows from his thoughts, or the frame of his heart, both, or neither will be forsaken. The heart is the source of all actions; these actions are virtually and radically contained in our thoughts; these thoughts being once made up into affections [that which influences our will], are quickly made out into suitable actions. If the heart be wicked, then, as Christ says, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,” &c. Mark the order: first, wanton or revengeful thoughts; then unclean, or murderous practices. And if the heart be holy, then it is as with David: “My heart is inditing [dictating/composing] a good matter—I speak of the things which I have made, my tongue is as the pen of a ready writer.” Here is a life richly beautified with good works, some ready made—I will speak of the things which I have made; others making—my heart is inditing; both proceed from the heavenly frame of his heart. Put the heart in frame, and the life will quickly discover that it is so. It is not very difficult to discern, by the performances and converse of Christians, what frames their spirits are in. Take a Christian in a good frame, and how serious, heavenly and profitable will his conversation and religions exercises be! What a lovely companion is he during the continuance of it! It would do any one's heart good to be with him at such a time. “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment; the law of his God is in his heart.” When the heart is up with God, and full of God, how dexterously will he insinuate spiritual discourse, improving every occasion and advantage to some heavenly purpose! Few words then run to waste. And what can be the reason that the discourses and duties of many Christians are become so frothy and unprofitable, their communion both with God and with one another becomes as a dry stalk, but this, their hearts are neglected? Surely this must be the reason of it, and it is an evil greatly to be bewailed. Thus the attracting beauty that was wont to shine, from the conversation of the saints, upon the faces and consciences of the world, (which, if it did not allure and bring them in love with the ways of God, at least left a testimony in their consciences of the excellency of those men and of their ways) is in a great measure lost, to the unspeakable detriment of religion. Time was, when Christians conducted in such a manner that the world stood gazing at them. Their life and language were of a different strain from those of others, their tongues discovered them to be Galileans wherever they came. But now, since vain speculations and fruitless controversies have so much obtained, and heart-work, practical godliness, is so much neglected among professors, the case is sadly altered: their discourse is become like other men’s; if they come among you now, they may “hear every man speak in his own language.” And I have little hope to see this evil redressed, and the credit of religion repaired, till Christians do their first works, till they apply again to heart-work: when the salt of heavenly-mindedness is cast into the spring, the streams will run more clear and more sweet.
Our spirit is reflected to the outside world by the orientation of our heart. In other words, there is a beauty within the person who has their heart fixed upon God: a beauty that cannot be hidden. The world comes to take notice that we are different from them. Because of this, through how we live our lives, the world comes to respond not to the wickedness of our hearts (or recognize us as “of the world”), but to our holy witness to the one true God. The fruit of a heart kept for God manifests itself. Such a heart is reflected increasingly in every decision we make, and is the roots for our thoughts: “The heart is the source of all actions; these actions are virtually and radically contained in our thoughts.” This will be how we live: “‘The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment; the law of his God is in his heart.’ When the heart is up with God, and full of God, how dexterously will he insinuate spiritual discourse, improving every occasion and advantage to some heavenly purpose! Few words then run to waste.” The unsaved, then, will not come to respond to our wickedness of heart, but to our holy living. This, too, brings glory to God. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 speaks of this very truth:
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
So, when we keep our hearts, this cannot help but be manifested in how we live our lives. The result is that people come to respond and react to Christ, rejecting or blessing you on account of Him, and not simply react to the wickedness of our hearts, which brings dishonour to God.
The comfort of our souls much depends upon the keeping of our hearts; for he that is negligent in attending to his own heart, is, ordinarily, a great stranger to assurance, and the comforts following from it. Indeed if the Antinomian [meaning “against the law”] doctrine were true, which teaches you to reject all marks and signs for the trial of your condition, telling you that it is the Spirit that immediately assures you, by witnessing your adoption directly, without them; then you might be careless of your hearts, yea, strangers to them, and yet no strangers to comfort: but since both Scripture and experience confute this, I hope you will never look for comfort in this unscriptural way. I deny not that it is the work and office of the Spirit to assure you; yet I confidently affirm, that if ever you attain assurance in the ordinary way wherein God dispenses it, you must take pains with your own hearts. You may expect your comforts upon easier terms, but I am mistaken if ever you enjoy them upon any other: give all diligence; prove yourselves; this is the scriptural method. A distinguished writer, in his treatise on the covenant, tells us that he knew a Christian who, in the infancy of his Christianity, so vehemently panted after the infallible assurance of God's love, that for a long time together he earnestly desired some voice from heaven; yea, sometimes walking in the solitary fields, earnestly desired some miraculous voice from the trees and stones there: this, after many desires and longings, was denied; but in time a better was afforded in the ordinary way of searching the word and his own heart. An instance of the like nature another learned person gives us of one that was driven by temptation upon the very borders of despair; at last, being sweetly settled and assured, one asked him how he attained it; he answered, “Not by any extraordinary revelation, but by subjecting my understanding to the Scriptures, and comparing my heart with them.” The Spirit, indeed, assures by witnessing our adoption; and he witnesses in two ways. One way is, objectively, that is, by producing those graces in our souls which are the conditions of the promise; and so the Spirit, and his graces in us, are all one: the Spirit of God dwelling in us, is a mark of our adoption. Now the Spirit can be discerned, not in his essence, but in his operations; and to discern these, is to discern the Spirit; and how these can be discerned without serious searching and diligent watching, of the heart I cannot imagine. The other way of the Spirit’s witnessing is effectively, that is, by irradiating the soul with a grace discovering light, shining upon his own work; and this, in order of nature, follows the former work: he first infuses the grace, and then opens the eye of the soul to see it.
Keeping our hearts, then, lead to great assurance. Those who believe that Christians have no obligation to obey the moral laws of the Bible (antinomians) out of love for God lack this assurance, because the law is a mirror for our heart. As the Spirit does His work, our conformity to the moral law from the inside-out stands as a witness that we are His.
We also saw that pursuing mysticism (pursuing secret knowledge and experientialism) is not a way to get assurance. Desire and longing of itself can never get a person assurance. Likewise, lusting after a special word from God (that is, not from the Bible) is always futile, as it leads to disillusionment and being self-deceived. Many fall into the trap of mysticism in our day, and lose their hearts to all sorts of vanity and corruption. Instead of any other false way, we have one way for assurance: “Not by any extraordinary revelation, but by subjecting my understanding to the Scriptures, and comparing my heart with them.” This, and this alone, is what the Spirit uses to create true assurance. Such is the true exercise of the heart. The heart kept for God knows nothing of emptying the mind or any way that is not chiefly built upon the diligent and careful understanding of God’s Word. Search the Scriptures! For in them you find life! Studying God’s Word carefully and working to apply it with all diligence brings assurance, as we come to witness true heart change after God like the Psalmist: “I find my delight in your commandments, which I love” (Ps. 119:47).
Sadly, many professing believers neglect this great work. How can this be changed in the saved? Flavel said that the answer lies in “Sincerity! which is the thing sought, lies in the heart like a small piece of gold on the bottom of a river; he that would find it must stay till the water is clear, and then he will see it sparkling at the bottom. That the heart may be clear and settled, how much pains and watching, care and diligence, are requisite.” Keeping the heart is a constant striving (as Paul in 1 Tim. 4:6-10 and Phil. 3:12-21) and requires the constant testing of ourselves against Scripture. Yes, that is what we are to strive for in the Lord. But what of lazy believers? Can they have assurance? Flavel said,
Those are mistaken who think that assurance may be obtained without labor. Ah! how many solitary hours have the people of God spent in heart-examination I how many times have they looked into the word, and then into their hearts! . . . But suppose it possible for a careless Christian to attain assurance, yet it is impossible for him long to retain it; for it is a thousand to one if those whose hearts are filled with the joys of assurance, long retain those joys, unless extraordinary care be used. A little pride, vanity, or carelessness will dash to pieces all that for which they have been a long time laboring in many a weary duty. Since then the joy of our life, the comfort of our souls, rises and falls with our diligence in this work, keep your heart with all diligence.
Thus we have it that both the witness of our lives and our assurance and comfort are greatly enhanced in our keeping of our hearts. Remember that the unsaved do not show a growth in the keeping of their hearts. The saved alone grow in this keeping. And we would be most miserable and dishonouring to God if we do not keep them! Why grasp at dust and refuse, as if it were an invaluable treasure? Does that not lead to your own destruction? Take hold, rather, of true treasure: keep your hearts fixed on God!
Next time we will be looking at two more reasons to make keeping your heart the highest and chief business of your life. This is not something that we can afford to neglect.