Open the Bible

Colin Smith: The heart very simply is the command and control center of your life. Your heart is the deepest thing about you. Where your heart is, is always the central question. Where your heart is today will be a predictor of where your life will be tomorrow.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller, glad you're with us today. And Colin, for the person who will honestly answer that question, "Where is your heart?" and they come up with an answer that they're not happy about, how can they change that?

Colin Smith: Oh, well, it is the work of God to transform the human heart, and that is the great promise of the gospel, that He is able to take away a heart of stone and give a heart of flesh.

And where we're going in the message today is really, the heart is the most important thing about you. At the end of the day, it's not how much you know. It's not even a matter of your behavior that's the ultimate thing about you. It's what's in your heart. That's why the scripture says, "Guard your heart. It's the fountain of life."

And we're looking at the words of Solomon today where he says to his son, "Give me your heart," because even if his son's well-behaved, even if his son's super well-educated, if the heart is in the wrong place, it doesn't matter how much the boy knows. He's going to end up in the wrong place if his heart isn't in the right place. So that's where the action is. The gospel speaks to the heart.

Steve Hiller: Well, we are in Proverbs chapter 23, so if you can, grab a Bible and join us there as we begin a message called "The Heart Gone Wrong." Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Now what we have in this verse that's before us today then is obviously a father speaking to his son. "My son, give me your heart." It could, of course, equally well be a father speaking to his daughter, or it could be a mother speaking to a daughter or a mother speaking to a son. So we can hear these words in all of these ways in their different applications to each of us.

But in this case that is before us today in Proverbs chapter 23, it is a father who is speaking to his son, and he says, "My son, give me your heart." And I want over these two weeks then for us to hear these words first in the voice of a father speaking to his son or to his daughter, and then I want us to hear these words in the voice of God, our Heavenly Father, speaking to us.

Now let's begin here with the question, who then is the father? Most of the Proverbs, as many of you know, are credited to Solomon, the son of King David, who was given a very special gift of wisdom from the Lord. There are a few Proverbs towards the end of the book that are by other authors, a King Lemuel and a man by the name of Agur, but most of the Proverbs were either written by or collected by King Solomon. And how appropriate that he should be the one to do this because he was given particular wisdom, and this book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom for our lives.

So if Solomon was the father, who is the son? Now Solomon, of course, was infamous for having had many wives, and so we must assume that over the course of his life, he had many sons and daughters as well. But here's a kind of Bible trivia question. How many children of Solomon are named in the Bible?

You see, the sons of David, many sons of David are mentioned, and in the genealogies, you know how often multiple offspring are mentioned. But in the case of Solomon, only one son is mentioned. No daughters mentioned, only one offspring, and his name was Rehoboam. You can read about him in 1 Kings chapter 11 through chapter 14. He was the successor to Solomon, of course, and reigned for 17 years after his father's death.

And so I think it is very reasonable therefore for us to hear these verses that are before us today first as the passionate plea of King Solomon to his own son, Rehoboam, the only one to be named in the Bible. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king when his father died, so we are to picture then that the father was speaking to the son at an earlier stage, maybe in his teenage years, maybe in his 20s or maybe in his 30s.

And he sits down with his son and bringing collected wisdom to bear that we have preserved for us by the Holy Spirit in the verses that have been read, he says in Proverbs 23 and verse 26, "My son, give me your heart." So these are the words of a wise father. That's the first thing to know. A good father who loves his son. These are not the words of an emotionally needy dad who's saying, "Oh, love me, love me, please. I need you to love me." It's nothing like that at all. These are the words of a good father, and he is seeking the good of his son. And what he says is, "My son, give me your heart." That's the focus of his concern.

Now I want to focus on three things today. We'll spend most of our time on the first two. Let's begin here. Why the heart matters. Why does he say, "Give me your heart"? Why is the heart so important in the Bible as indeed it is? Well, the heart very simply is the command and control center of your life. Your heart is the deepest thing about you. Where your heart is, is always the central question. Where your heart is today will be a predictor of where your life will be tomorrow.

Let me give you just very briefly six scriptures that point in different ways to the importance of the heart. First, the Bible makes clear that your heart directs your life. Proverbs 4 and verse 23, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." Notice, keep your heart. You have, brother, sister, a responsibility for your own heart. God says to you, you've got to guard your heart.

You've got to keep your heart. If your heart is cold, there's a reason why your heart is cold. If your heart is all over the place today, there's a reason why it's become distracted and why it's all over the place. Why is your heart like that and someone else's is in a different place? You have a responsibility for your own heart. And here's why it matters, because from your heart flow the springs of your life. The whole trajectory of your life, where you will be tomorrow, springs from where your heart is today.

Second, the heart is a mystery. Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick." We'll come back to that in a moment, but notice the last part of the verse. "Who can understand it?" Who can understand it? Can you explain your own heart? Can you explain why you are as you are? Why you feel what you feel? Why you're drawn to what you are drawn to?

Someone may say, "Well, Pastor, if you knew what had happened to me in my life, that would explain why I am." But here's the thing. Other people have experienced something very similar to what you have experienced in your life, and they may be in a very different place. So how are you going to explain that? The heart is a mystery. And that's why Paul speaks in Romans in chapter 7 about his own heart. He says, "I don't understand it. What I want to do, I end up not doing. And what I don't want to do, I end up going there. Why is that? It's a mystery to me. I seem to be a mass of contradictions."

Third, the heart is sinful. We already saw that from Jeremiah, but look at it in the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 15 and verse 19. He says this, "From out of the heart come evil thoughts and murder and adultery and sexual immorality and theft and false witness and slander." Now, of course, we like to think that bad things are all out there and come to us from outside. But the Bible won't let us get away with that. No, the Lord Jesus says very clearly that it comes from inside. It's out of the heart that these sins and these evils flow.

Now, of course, as parents, we rightly feel a responsibility to do whatever we can to protect our children from the many, many evils that are indeed in the world out there. But of course, when we take to heart what we learn in the Bible, we understand that the greatest danger, not only to our children but indeed to all of us, is not in fact the evil that is out there but the evil that is in here, in our own hearts.

Now this actually is very important for parents to grasp, particularly parents who grieve over a rebel son or a rebel daughter. Let me quote to you from John White, a Christian psychologist and counselor and speaker who wrote a very helpful book called "Parents in Pain." And he talks in that book about the theories of raising children that are widespread in our culture that simply assume that children are the product of their upbringing, period.

And he says this, that these theories assume that children come into the world, and I quote, "as clean slates for their parents to write on." If the parents write properly, says John White, describing these theories, if the parents write properly, that is if they rear their children properly, they will then produce well-adjusted, outgoing, morally upright and self-reliant children. And therefore, any defects in the final product must reflect parental mismanagement. Now that's his description of widespread child-rearing theory in our world, that we're simply the product of our environment and so forth and so on, and therefore that anything that is amiss in a child is to be blamed at the mismanagement of the parents.

Now here's what John White is saying. He's making this point. Child-rearing theories may say that children come into the world as a clean slate for parents to write on. But the Bible, if we understand it, is saying to us something very different. The Bible is saying children do not come into the world as a clean slate for parents to write on. Children come into the world with sin written on their hearts already. The slate is already graffitied. And that is how it has been down through the generations since Adam and Eve were ejected from the Garden of Eden. Sin is already scrolled on the slate. The heart is sinful. And that is something very fundamental we need to understand about. That's why it's a mystery to us, that's why we don't even understand ourselves.

Fourth, God looks at the heart. 1 Samuel chapter 16 and verse 7, "The Lord sees not as man sees, because man looks on the outward appearance, but God, the Lord, looks on the heart." Here's what this means. That God looks into your life more deeply than anyone else ever can or ever will. God looks into your life more deeply. Other people just see you on the outside. They hear your words and they see your expressions. They look on the outward appearance. But God alone is able to look on the heart. He sees into you and what is going on inside you right now more deeply than any other person ever can or ever will. And you may not understand your own heart. Why do you love what you love? Why do you think and feel as you do? But you can be sure of this, that while you may not understand your own heart, God surely and certainly does.

Fifth, the heart is very important for this reason, that the heart actually often contradicts the mouth. Jesus says in Matthew 15, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Now, of course, it is true that what we say is often the overflow of our heart. That's why what we say is often very revealing about us. Our Lord Jesus makes this clear, doesn't He? He says, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." That's Luke 6 and verse 45. But here Jesus is making clear that that is not always the case, and it is possible for the heart to become disconnected from the mouth. In other words, it is possible to be in church and to say the right things and so forth, but actually for your heart to be in another place and very far from God indeed. Which is why Jesus says, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you don't do what I command you?"

Remember Jesus told a story about two sons, not the prodigal son. This is another story that was making this point. A certain man had two sons and he said to both of these sons, "Go work in my vineyard." And the first one said, "Yes, I will," but he didn't go. And the second one said, "No, I'm not going to do that," but then he changed his mind and he did go. Now think about this. In both cases, the heart was in a different place from the mouth, in both cases.

Sixth, the roots of unbelief actually lie not in the head but in the heart. Psalm 14 and verse 1 where God says what only God can say, "The fool says in his heart there is no God." Now, the person who does not believe may also say in their head there is no God, but you see the point that is being made here. Unbelief has a deeper root than in the intellect. The fool says in his heart there is no God.

Now, it is a very simple fact, is it not, that there are people who are of great intellect who are Christians, and there are people of great intellect who are not Christians. Because faith and unbelief both have a deeper root than the intellect. It does not depend upon knowledge or upon intelligence. Here we're being told in fact that unbelief is visceral at its root rather than intellectual. That it arises at its root from a hidden resistance towards God that lies deep in the human heart that the person who does not believe may not even recognize or fully understand themselves. It's in the heart it comes out of, this "there is no God."

Why is it that two people can go through exactly the same experience, and one comes out praising God and the other comes out blaming God? Two people experience a terrible loss, and one comes out with a testimony to God's help in the trouble, and another comes out with another reason not to believe. It was the same experience. Why the difference? Well, the difference, you see, lies in the heart that's taking a person in a different direction.

Why the heart matters. Once you ponder the command and control center of your own life and the mystery that it is, you will see why the Bible again and again and again comes back to speak about your heart and why God says to you today, "My son, my daughter, give me your heart."

Now let's turn to a second thing, because I want us to see in these verses here where the heart goes wrong. When Solomon says to Rehoboam, "My son, give me your heart," it seems very clear just from that statement that this is a father who has some anxiety over where his son's heart is. Now remember as we think about this that Solomon was famed for his wisdom. And so here is a wise father who is discerning his son's heart.

Now remember especially in the early years when Solomon would have collected and spoken these words of wisdom, that Solomon followed the best of his father David's example. But remember also that Solomon, see these are real-life stories, Solomon had a brother whose path went in a very different direction. The brother's name was Absalom. And Absalom raised a rebellion against his father David, and that rebellion led his life on a sorry path that had a very miserable end indeed. And so here's Solomon who at this point in his life is following in the path of the best example of his own father David, and he's looking at his son and saying, "I wonder where your heart is. Will my son be like my rebel brother?" That's the question here.

And so here's Solomon's fear. He has a son who professes faith. He professes to believe the faith that was handed down from his grandfather David and now his father Solomon. But there seems to be in this son a secret longing, an attraction of his heart, a drawing of his heart to move in a different direction.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and such a practical message. It's the reality of where a lot of fathers and sons find themselves today, this look at Solomon and his son Rehoboam. Our message is called "The Heart Gone Wrong." It's part of a larger series called "The Father's Wisdom." And if you want more information about this series or to get a copy for yourself on CD, ask about "A Father's Wisdom" when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365. Or you'll find ordering information online at openthebible.org.

Well, Open the Bible is able to be on this station, make the podcast, the app, and all the ministry tools available because of your generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we'd love to send you a copy of Martyn Lloyd-Jones's book called "Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Its Cure." And Colin, who is Martyn Lloyd-Jones and why should we read this book?

Colin Smith: Well, Martyn Lloyd-Jones is one of my favorite preachers and writers of all time. By wide consensus, he was one of the greatest preachers in the 20th century. He's with the Lord now, but we have the legacy of his writings that are certainly among my treasured possessions. "Spiritual Depression" is his best book. It's my favorite book of all the many that he wrote. I'm actually on my third copy of this now, Steve. I bought my first copy in 1976, the year I went to college, and I'm on my third copy now because the first two are just about falling apart. And so I'm delighted that we're able to offer a new edition of "Spiritual Depression."

It really is a spiritual classic. Lloyd-Jones was a medical doctor in London, and a prestigious medical doctor, very successful in London before he became a pastor. But he felt the calling of God into Christian ministry and became an expositor of the word of God. But you can see the way in which he uses his background as a medical doctor, applying skills of diagnosis and prescription. So the subtitle here, "The Causes and Cure of Spiritual Depression." And chapter after chapter, he just goes through one cause after another for darkness and discouragement that comes into the experience of a Christian believer.

So I think folks will find as you read through this that sometimes you'll say, "Well, that's something I recognize but it's not where I'm at now." You keep reading, and then you get to a place where you say, "Oh, that's exactly where I am now. And he has diagnosed that precisely. Now what's he going to say about the cure?" It's a wonderfully, wonderfully encouraging book, and there's a reason why I've been going back to it for more than 40 years and will continue to do so.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you a copy of this book, "Spiritual Depression," as our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or you can call 1-877-673-6365. That might be easier to remember as 1-877-OPEN-365. Or visit the website, openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time.

This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: This is Pastor Colin, and I love the story of the thief on the cross because it's the best story we have to help people understand grace. You know, many people have the idea that if a person was to get into heaven, they'd get there by living a good enough life. Well, the thief on the cross hadn't lived a good life and he wasn't in a position to start living a good life either. But Jesus said to him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Well, if the thief could get into heaven, so can everyone you know and will ever meet.

"Heaven: How I Got Here" is a compelling 60-minute film in which Stephen Baldwin portrays the thief on the cross in a one-person play. We've seen God use this film to help many trust in Jesus as the thief did. So who is there in your life who needs to understand grace? For more information or to watch this film for free, visit openthebible.org/heaven. That's openthebible.org/heaven.