Keep Your Heart - Part 11 (final)

The heart is a slippery piece. Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things." In the Hebrew it is "the heart is a Jacob above all things," a supplanter. If we are not very cautious and watchful, our hearts will cheat us. There is deceit in coins, in friends, and in books; but the heart has an art of deceiving beyond all these, it is a desperate impostor, said Augustine. The way of the heart is like a serpent upon a rock. Oh, the pleats and folds, the subtleties and labyrinths of a self-deceiving heart! Let us trace a little the heart in its fallacies and strategies, and see if there is not reason to keep a sentinel continually, and to set a strong guard around it. The heart will deceive us about sinful things, lawful things, and religious things.

First, the heart will deceive us about sinful things. The heart will tell us that sin is but small, and, being small, it is venial. The heart will apologize for sin, masking bad transactions over with golden pretenses. The heart will tell a man that he may keep his sin and yet keep his religion too. 2 Kings 17:33: "They feared the Lord, and served their own gods." The heart will secretly suggest to a man that, as long as he goes to church and gives alms, he may secretly indulge corruption, as if duty gave a man a patent and license to sin.

The heart will even quote Scripture to justify sin. 1 Corinthians 9:20, 22: "To the Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews. I am made all things to all men." The heart will bring this text out for sinful compliance. Oh, subtle heart that can find a Scripture to damn yourself with! Though St. Paul would conform to others in things that were indifferent in order that he might save their souls, yet he would not violate a law or deny an article of his creed to gratify them. And if the heart is so treacherous (being always more ready to excuse sin than examine it), what care and circumspection should we use in keeping our hearts so that they do not decoy us into sin before we are aware of it?

Second, the heart will deceive us about lawful things in two cases. The heart will tell us that it is lawful to endeavor to preserve our reputation. A good name is a precious ointment, but under a pretense of preserving our good name, the heart is ready to tempt a man to self-seeking and make him do all to get such a name. John 12:43: "They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."

The heart will tell us that it is lawful to take comfort in estate and relations (Deuteronomy 26:11). But the heart will be ready here to overshoot. How often the wife and child are put in God's place. The full stream of the affections runs out to the creature and scarcely a drop of love is left for Christ. This is the deceit of the heart: it makes us offend in lawful things. More are killed with wine than poison; they are afraid of poison, but take wine in excess. Gross sins frighten, but how many surfeit upon lawful things? When we overdo, we undo.

Third, the heart will deceive us about religious things, our duties and graces.

With regard to our duties, the heart will tell us that it is enough to come to the Word and the Sacrament, though the affections are not at all wrought upon. This is like the salamander, which lives in the fire but (as naturalists say) is never the hotter. Will it be any plea at God's bar to tell the Lord how many sermons you have heard? Surely it will be like bringing Uriah's letter: it will be evidence against you. How subtle the heart is to plot its own death and bring a man to hell by way of duty!

With regard to our graces, the heart is like a flattering mirror that will make a hypocrite look good. The foolish virgins thought they had oil; many strongly think that they have grace when they have none. The hypocrite's knowledge is no better than ignorance (1 John 2:4). He has illumination, but not assimilation; he has not been made like Christ. He believes, but his heart is not purified. He pretends to trust God in greater matters, but dares not trust Him in lesser ones. He will trust God with his soul, but not with his estate.

Well, if the heart is this deceitful, see what need we have to keep the heart with all keeping! Do with the heart as you would do with a cheater. We will trust a cheater no further than we can see him. The heart is a grand cheater; it will supplant and cozen; try it, but do not trust it. Proverbs 28:26: "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool."

We must keep the heart with watch and ward because it is not only false, but fickle. God complains of Israel that their goodness was as the early dew (Hosea 6:4). The sun rises and the dew vanishes. The heart sometimes seems to be in a good frame, but it soon alters. Set water on a fire and it boils; set it in the open air and it freezes. Those good affections that boil in the church often freeze in the shop. One day a Christian is quick and lively in prayer, another day he is like the disciples, heavy and sleeping (Luke 22:45).

At one time a Christian is like David, when he danced before the ark with all his might (2 Samuel 6:14); at another time he is like Samson when his hair was shaved and his strength left him (Judges 16:19). When the gold has been made pure in the fire, it remains pure; but it is not so with the heart. When the heart has been purified in an ordinance, it does not remain pure, but gathers new soil and dross. The heart is humble one day and proud the next; it is meek one day and passionate the next; it is quick in its motions towards heaven one day and the next the clock is set back. It is with the heart as with a sick man's pulse, which alters almost every quarter of an hour. Since the heart is so full of variation and inconstancy, it is needful to keep the heart with all keeping. Like a violin, the heart will soon be out of order; therefore we must often screw up the strings and keep the instrument in tune so that we may make melody in our heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).

The heart must especially be looked to and watched over because the heart is the fountain of all our actions and purposes. The heart either sweetens or poisons all we do. The heart is the spring which makes the current of our life run either pure or muddy; the heart is the throne of either sin or grace. If the root is sour, no sweet fruit can grow upon it, for if there is a root of bitterness springing up in the heart, it is impossible that our services should give a sweet relish.

In the natural body, the heart is the fountain of life; if the heart lives, the whole body lives; if the heart is tainted and poisoned, the body dies. So it is in a spiritual sense: if the inner man of the heart is holy, then the thoughts and actions are holy; if the soul is earthly and impure, the actions receive a bad tincture. In religion, the heart is all; we judge men's hearts by their actions. God judges men's actions by their hearts. The heart distinguishes actions. 2 Chronicles 25:2: "Amaziah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart." But of Asa it is said, "His heart was perfect all his days" (2 Chronicles 15:17). It is the heart that gives the denomination to a thing. Now if the heart is the spring which makes our actions good or bad, then the heart is chiefly to be watched over and tended. Keep the spring pure; "keep thy heart with all diligence."

Keep Your Heart - Part 10

Keep your heart in times of adversity. The devil makes use of all winds to toss the soul and make it suffer ship-wreck. Adversity has its temptations; no more ships than souls have been cast away in a storm. In adversity the devil tempts to atheism and desperation. Job 2:9: "Dost thou still retain thy integrity?" Satan used Job's wife as a ladder by which he would have scaled the impregnable tower of Job's faith. "Dost thou still retain thy integrity?" was a cutting kind of speech, as if the devil had said, "God has pulled down your hedge. He has smitten you in your children. And are you so sense-less as to still serve and worship God? What have you gotten by His service? Where are your earnings? What have you to show but your boils? Throw off religion. Curse God and die!" Satan's medicines are always poisons. Malachi 3:14: "Ye have said it is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinances?" They have mourned and fasted and almost fasted away all they had; and they would fast no longer. When a man's estate is low and his spirit is troubled, then Satan begins to throw in his angles. And oftentimes Satan makes use of poverty to put a man upon indirect courses. Agur feared for his heart in poverty (Proverbs 30:8-9). Oh, keep your heart in adversity; beware of taking the forbidden fruit. ~Thomas Watson, The Spiritual Watch

Keep Your Heart - Part 9

Keep your heart especially after good duties. When Christ had been praying and fasting, then the devil came and tempted Him (Matthew 4:2-3). When we have been most enlarged in our services, then Satan will tempt us to pride and security. Many Christian's hearts, like bows, stand unbent after shootings; they are apt to grow more remiss, as if duty were a sufficient spell and antidote against temptation. Do we not know that Satan always lies waiting? He is more angry with us after duty; those prayers which appease God incense Satan, and if we lay down our weapons, he will attack us and wound us.

After David's victory over the Assyrians, he grew lustful and defiled Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:4). After we have gotten a victory over Satan in duty, then let us fear lest our hearts give us the slip. When God had driven Adam out of the garden, He placed a flaming sword at the east of it to guard the Tree of Life (Genesis 3). When we have cast out the devil by prayer and fasting, let us set a strong guard about our hearts to keep them so that the enemy does not make a re-entry. ~Thomas Watson, The Spiritual Watch

Keep Your Heart - Part 7

Keep your heart when you are alone. It was Satan's subtlety to set upon Eve when she was alone and less able to resist. He is like a cunning suitor who woos the daughter when her parents are away from home. The devil breaks through the hedge commonly where it is weakest. I confess that privacy and retirement is good—if a Christian had a fruitful heart, what sweet thoughts he might have of God when he is alone (Psalm 139:17)—but, alas, by reason of innate corruption, how many vain, proud, impure thoughts will steal into our hearts when we are most secluded from the world! The fowls will be coming at the sacrifice; the devil will be shooting in his balls of wildfire and, when we least suspect him, will be tempting us to deliver up the castle of our heart to him. ~Thomas Watson, The Spiritual Watch

Keep Your Heart - Part 6

Keep your heart as you would keep a watch. The heart will unwind to the earth; therefore wind it up every morning and evening by prayer. The motion of a watch is not constant: sometimes it goes fast, sometimes slower. And so it is with the heart: sometimes it goes faster in vanity and sometimes it goes slower in duty. Therefore set this spiritual watch by the sundial of the Word. ~Thomas Watson, The Spiritual Watch

Keep Your Heart - Part 5

Keep your heart as you would a prisoner. The heart is guilty, and is ready every now and then to break prison. We need to lay bolts and fetters upon it. A prisoner in the jail may promise that he will not stir, but when he sees an opportunity, if you do not watch him, he will file off his fetters and be gone. So the heart promises that it will keep from such sins, but if you are not careful it will steal out to vanity. Therefore, keep your heart as a prisoner: When you perceive it breaking loose, lay chains and fetters upon it; bind it fast with the terrors of the law; keep it with the flaming sword of a reproof. As John the Baptist said to Herod in Mark 6:18, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife," so say to your heart, "It is not lawful for you to meddle with forbidden fruit. You may not be proud, vain, or earthly." Lay the commands of God upon your heart. A man may be too jealous of his friend, but he cannot be too jealous of his heart. Let it be kept a close prisoner. ~Thomas Watson, The Spiritual Watch

Keep Your Heart - Part 4

Keep your heart as you would keep a garrison. The heart of man is a garrison or a royal fortress. This garrison is besieged; the devil shoots his fiery darts of temptation. So keep your heart as a tower or a castle.

Keep a close sentinel on your heart. Habakkuk 2:1: "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower." Discover where Satan labors to make a breach, what grace he most shoots at, and there set a double guard and fortify that spot.

Make use of all your spiritual ammunition: meditation and prayer. Prayer is the great ordinance; discharge this cannon, and be sure to put the bullet of faith in it (Matthew 21:22; 1 Peter 5:9). If the devil takes the garrison by storm, it will be sad. Remember how he rent and tore that man in whom he was (Matthew 9:18)? It is easier to let Satan in than it is to get him out. If the devil gets the garrison of your heart, you are his slave; and remember, he gives no quarter. ~Thomas Watson, The Spiritual Watch

Keep Your Heart - Part 3

Keep your heart as you would keep a garden. Your heart is a garden (Song of Solomon 4:12); weed sin out of your heart. Among the flowers of the spirit, weeds will be growing, the weeds of pride, malice, and covetousness—these grow without setting. Therefore be weeding your heart daily by prayer, examination, and repentance.

Weeds hinder the herbs and flowers from growing; the weeds of corruption hinder the growth of grace. Where the weed of unbelief grows, it hinders the flower of faith from growing.

Weeds spoil the walkways. Christ will not walk in a heart overgrown with weeds and briars. Christ was sometimes among the lilies (Song of Solomon 6:3), but never among the thistles. Poor sinner, you complain that you have no communion with God. There was a time when God made Himself known to you, but now He has grown strange and never comes near you. This is the reason: Sin has spoiled Christ's walks. Your heart lies like the field of the sluggard (Proverbs 20:4). And will Christ walk there? Indeed, we read that Christ was once in the wilderness when He was tempted (Matthew 4:1), but He did not go there for delight, but so that he might duel and skirmish with Satan. It is the garden Christ delights in. Oh, weed your heart daily; do not let it become a thicket for Satan! ~Thomas Watson, The Spiritual Watch

Keep Your Heart - Part 2

Keep your heart as you would keep a treasure. A man who has a great treasure of money and jewels will keep it with lock and bolt so that it is not stolen. Christian, you carry a precious treasure with you, even all that you are worth, a heart; the devil and the world would rob you of this jewel. Oh, keep your heart as you would keep your life. If you are robbed, you are ruined. Few know the value of their hearts. A farmer can set a price on corn, but not on pearls. Men do not know the worth of that treasure they carry around with them; therefore they prefer other things. Keep your heart like a treasure. ~Thomas Watson, The Spiritual Watch

Keep Your Heart - Part 1

Keep your heart as you would keep a temple. The temple was a hallowed place set apart for God's worship; so the heart is the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). This heart-temple must be kept pure and holy; no filth may lie here; sweep the dust out of the temple. The vessels of the temple were cleansed (2 Chronicles 29:15). Thus the memory, affections, and conscience, these temple vessels, must be cleansed (2 Corinthians 7:1). Christ whipped the buyers and sellers out of the temple in John 2. The cares of the world will be crowding into the heart. Now you must get a whip made of the threatenings of the law and drive these money-changers out of the temple of your heart. Do not let God's temple be turned into an exchange. The temple had a fire burning on the altar; take heed of strange fire. But keep the fire of zeal and devotion flaming upon the altar of your heart; do temple work and offer up the sacrifice of a broken heart. When the heart is a consecrated place, a holy of holies, then God will walk there. Many a man's heart is a pest-house, a bedlam, being polluted with sin. This is to put swine into God's room; this is to let the devil come into God's temple. David's heart was a dedicated temple (Psalm 119:38). ~Thomas Watson, "The Spiritual Watch"