The Heart (Part 1)

[00:00:00] We are going to look in proverbs at a new major theme so we can go ahead and be turning to proverbs. We're going to start in chapter four. [00:00:19] Proverbs, chapter four. [00:00:25] What we might do is wait until the end for our verses because the young bucks are downstairs practicing for the Christmas program. [00:00:36] So we'll just hold off on that. [00:00:39] The subject that we want to look at this morning, to start, to begin, this particular subject is mentioned over 80 times in the Book of Proverbs. So this is far and away way more than the subject of the family, way more than any other subject or most subjects in proverbs. This is a very common subject. So we won't be able to look at every verse, but we want to kind of do an overview of it. And the verse I want to use as kind of a springboard into our study here is verse number 23, proverbs four, verse 23. So let's read that together, and then we'll pray. [00:01:23] The Bible says, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. [00:01:34] That's a good verse. It's a good verse. So what we want to talk about today is the major theme of the heart. [00:01:42] And of course, we think of proverbs as a book that's mainly about wisdom. [00:01:48] But as we've seen, sometimes when you look at the book of Proverbs or maybe any other book in the Bible, you have a major theme. But then when you start diving into it a little bit further, you realize that in actuality, it's connected to other things that are supporting that truth. And, for instance, you cannot understand wisdom without the fear of God, right? And you can't understand wisdom also without dealing with the heart. And so it's not just a matter of wisdom or not just a matter of wisdom, it's a matter of other things that connect to it. And I mentioned this before, but that's part of the issue with using proverbs. Like some people in business and things, they use proverbs as kind of a tool of wisdom in their business transactions and business dealings and stuff like that, is because you can't separate the theology and the truths related to God from proverbs. It just doesn't work. It might work in some small, isolated way if you're talking about maybe debt or something like that. But if you really want to get at the heart of the book of proverbs about wisdom, about the fear of God, about the heart, you're going to have to deal with the Lord, right? You're going to have to deal with the Lord. So let's pray together, and then we'll begin our study here. Our father, thank you for your people. [00:03:23] We thank you for how that the grace of God is continually working. You are continually working in their lives. [00:03:30] Thank you for those that are able to be here today, that just are facing health problems and issues, but yet today you've given them strength to be here. I'm thinking especially of Sister Judy. Thank you that she's able to be here today. And my wife as well. [00:03:45] I thank you for your grace given to those that are unwell. I think of Sister Rita and also of Sharon and as she prepares for this baby, and Angela. And I know Angela's had some trouble. Lord, please bless her and just give her strength as she waits for the time of delivery. [00:04:09] Lord, we also think of Victor, Lord, bless him and help him to get well soon. [00:04:16] And we just. We hate sickness, Lord. We're so tired of it. And it just reminds us on a seasonal basis how this world has just fallen. And, Lord, we look forward to the time that you return and that the wolf and the lamb lie together, and there's no more curse. And we have new bodies. And thank you for the gospel which has made that possible. [00:04:45] Lord, as we look in the book of proverbs today, we ask your blessing upon it, upon our study, as we look at the heart, I pray that, Lord, we would certainly search our hearts and that you would search our hearts and that you would help us to understand these things and to receive them and act upon them. [00:05:01] And, Lord, I pray that we would grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through this study of your word. In Jesus name, amen. I meant to mention. Sister Rita mentioned that near her. I don't know if it's not her hometown, but near where she lived in Clarksville, or if you're from there, it's. Clarksville, Tennessee, is where the tornadoes hit. Actually, the tornadoes yesterday hit near where some people that she knows live. [00:05:34] So she wanted us to pray for those people. [00:05:40] All right. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. So let's look at a quick definition of the word heart. Now, as you might suspect, this definition is not something super simple when you're dealing with something that's immaterial, with something that it's not easy to define. [00:06:05] What is the difference between, for instance, the soul and the spirit? Well, I know we have developed in our theological books, we've developed these nice little definitions and those kinds of things. But the reality is, when you actually look in the Bible and the way things are used, it's not that simple. It's not that simple. And the heart is one of those things. But there are a few things we can nail down. And I want to look at some verses to kind of identify. When we say the heart, what are we talking about? And the reason I want to do this is because the way the word heart is used in our common vernacular is not what the Bible always says. And there is some confusion and people get really messed up on it and sometimes even make decisions based upon their understanding of it and it just leads them astray. And you'll see what I mean in a minute. [00:06:56] So before we look at proverbs four, again, look at chapter eight, if you would. [00:07:01] Chapter eight. [00:07:05] Proverbs eight and verse number five. [00:07:11] Proverbs eight and verse five. [00:07:14] It says, o ye simple, understand wisdom and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. [00:07:23] See that? [00:07:25] Be ye of an understanding heart. So the heart, I have three points as a definition of the heart. And the first one actually has three sub points. Okay. You'll understand what I mean. So the heart, whether it's used in the Old Testament or the New Testament, is you could divide what the human heart is into basically three categories. Number one is what we see here, the intellect, the intellect. Notice what it says in verse number five. [00:07:55] And the opening of my lips. I'm sorry. Be ye of an understanding heart. You see that? So the heart has the capability of understanding. It has the power of intellect. So whenever we're dealing with our heart, whenever any discussion is being made of the heart, it is not only about the emotions. The heart must also perceive things intellectually. In other words, it must understand. And in this way, the heart is similar to and can be synonymous with the mind. [00:08:30] And that's why it's important in our faith. When we look at the word of God, it's important that we just don't find the verses that make us feel good, that we understand what the Bible says. That's what the verse five says. Be of an understanding heart. And that also deals with the heart. Now look at chapter 14, if you would. [00:08:59] Chapter 14, verse 13. [00:09:05] This is probably the most common understanding of what the word heart means. [00:09:11] Verse 13 of chapter 14 says, even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness. See that? So what does this refer to? So the heart is made up of the intellect. That's number one. That's your mind, that's your thinking. [00:09:30] What you can understand. Number two, the heart is made up of. What's the second thing based on this verse? Anyone? To guess? [00:09:38] The emotions. The emotions. And this is the common understanding of what it means to be. [00:09:45] When we talk about someone's heart, we're really talking about emotions. But see, if that's the sole understanding of the word heart, we're going to be led astray. [00:09:57] See, feelings, our feelings, our emotions are not the sum total of our heart, but this is how the world views it. And so if you do anything, basically, if you do anything, and I'll be honest, because I came up in this world just like you did. And some of those things have tainted my mind as well. And sometimes I wonder when I go to do something that I know in my mind that intellect is right and I make a decision, which is the third part we're going to look at in a minute. When I make a decision to do that thing that's right, I don't have any emotion. [00:10:39] How many of you have ever made a decision to do something you know is right and haven't felt it? [00:10:46] Should you do it? Or are you doing it with your heart? If you don't feel it? [00:10:51] Well, remember, that's just part of the matter. [00:10:54] That's just part of the matter. [00:10:56] It is not the sum total of what the heart is. [00:11:01] And on this point, it's important for us to understand that the heart. Well, before I get to that, let's continue on. Look at chapter two. Look at chapter two, if you would. [00:11:16] Chapter two. [00:11:22] Chapter two, verse two. The Bible says this to know wisdom and instruction to perceive. I'm looking at chapter one. I'm having a hard time finding the right chapters today for some reason. Chapter two, verse two. I'm sorry. [00:11:37] Verse one says, my son, if thou wilt, receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding. Yea, if thy criest, if thou criest after knowledge. [00:11:54] And then it says, for seekest her as silver searchest, liftest up thy voice, you see that you know what all those are. Those are acts of the will. [00:12:05] You set your heart to do something. And so this is the third thing, which is so. The heart is the intellect, the heart is the emotion. And the heart is also the volition or the will. [00:12:18] The heart is consisting of all three of those. In other words, in chapter two, verse two, when you incline your ear into wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, you're making a choice to do that. [00:12:32] And here's the thing. [00:12:36] All of those three things blend together. And the reason I wanted to show you those verses is so that you could see how the heart is used in all of those different cases. [00:12:47] And sometimes things appeal to us on an intellectual level, sometimes on an emotional level, and sometimes we make decisions just out of brute force, out of the force of our will. When you go exercising, there are a few people, like James Aguilar, that exercise because it tickles his emotions. He likes it. [00:13:09] For the rest of us, though, in this room, if we exercise, we do it out of sheer will. Right? And you have to make a decision to do it. But that's part of the heart. That's part of the heart. [00:13:22] All right, there's a couple other things I want to mention and show you in the scripture about the heart. So the first definition I want to give you is it is that which is consisting of the intellect, the emotion and the volition, the will. The second is in Matthew, chapter six. So if you look at that real quick, Matthew, chapter six. [00:13:54] And verse number, look at verse 19. Matthew six, verse 19. [00:14:06] On the subject of money, the Lord says this, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. [00:14:33] Now, it's difficult to isolate this verse and dissect it to be, well, the intellect, the emotion, or the will. But the way this is used in this verse reminds us and tells us there's an aspect of what the heart is that deals with the affections and the desires. The affections and the desires. So, in other words, in this case, where your treasure is that thing upon which you lay, your affections, your emotions, or I said emotion violated my own definition, but your desire is tied up in that thing. The Lord says, that's your heart. That's your heart. All right, look at one more. Look at psalm 51. [00:15:13] Psalm 51, verse number ten. Of course, this is the confession, the confession prayer of David after his sin with Bathsheba. Verse number ten of psalm 51 says this, create in me a clean heart, o God, and renew a right spirit within me. Remember we talked about hebrew parallelism? Do you all remember that? When things are restated in the same verse, proverbs does that a lot. Psalms does that a lot. That's what's happening here. Created me a clean heart renew a right spirit. So the word heart and spirit are used in parallel in this verse. So what am I trying to say here? That the heart, we got the three things. The intellect, the emotions, the will, but it's also the seat of the affections and the desires. But the third thing is the heart can just refer to the inner man. [00:16:23] In this case, it's just referring to David has sinned on the outside. He's committed adultery with Bathsheba. He has put her husband to death using the sword of his enemies, right? [00:16:37] But he's asking God not for just cleansing from his hands, although he does talk about that, how he's blood guiltiness, I think, is in this verse, somewhere in this chapter, rather. [00:16:52] I know it's in there, but anyway. But he's asking God not only to cleanse what his hands had done, but what his heart had done, how his heart had gone away from God, how his heart had. Of course, we know that the hands don't do anything until the heart first acts, first moves. That's what makes sin so evil in God's sight. Because God is looking. [00:17:13] He sees past all the front and the outside. He sees right down to the core of the matter. That's why he says, for instance, that he that hateth his brother is a murderer. That's why he says that, because he's looking straight down into the heart. And we think, well, if my hands don't do it, I didn't do it. But God is looking at the heart. He's looking at the inner man. [00:17:40] And because he sees that, he knows that it's not just. [00:17:45] We like to describe sin as an oopsie, something we stumble into as if we're a victim, right? Of someone else laying a trap. That's how we describe it. But see, when you understand. When we understand, and of course, God knows this and he says it, that our sin, and I'll show you this in just a minute, when we understand that our sin comes out of our heart and that's what God sees, then we know that he's not only seeing our actions, but he's seeing how our emotions, our will and our intellect and our affections are all involved. So what does that mean? That means when the Lord sees our sin, he doesn't just see something, a mistake we made, or we're not a victim in the matter. He sees that we are, from top to bottom, inside and out, dirty, right? It's not just what our hands have done, but it's the heart that did it, too. And those various levels of things we've seen in the Bible, that kind of makes me uncomfortable. Right, right. [00:18:54] But that's what God sees. He sees our heart. Now, of course, we can take this to an extreme and we can say, well, God sees our heart. And so it doesn't matter what we do, doesn't matter what we say. God sees our heart. But really, generally speaking, those that say those kinds of things are using that as a cover. [00:19:14] Right. You can't judge me. God sees my know on the face, that's true. On the truth, that's true. But what we do, and this is the part that in that philosophy of thinking that they miss, which is, and this is what Jesus said. It's not like it's hidden knowledge or some mystery. Jesus said, the reason you're doing what you're doing is because of your heart. So they want to know. God's my judge, and he sees my heart. And that's the very thing that should give all of us the most amount of fear and trembling, is that God does see our heart, and he knows not only what we do, but why we do it. [00:19:52] All right? [00:19:54] So I feel like, I hope we got a good kind of basic kind of definition. We've seen it in the Bible and different the way the word heart is used. [00:20:04] So let's kind of move on from that. [00:20:08] Now, let me make a statement, and then I want to show you what I mean. [00:20:14] The heart is neither in its nature, is neither good or evil. In other words, the heart can be both. You'll see what I mean in just a minute. But let's look to show you, let's look in Matthew, chapter twelve. [00:20:35] Matthew twelve and verse 30, 412, verse number 34. We'll look at verse 33 for the context. It says this. Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. That's also a truth in proverbs. We'll get to probably later. [00:21:17] A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. [00:21:24] And an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. [00:21:30] Now, if I'm not mistaken, verse 35 has both good and evil, right? You have good, good treasures. You have evil treasures. The good treasures come out of a good heart. The evil treasures come out of an evil heart. So that's what I mean when I say that in the scripture, the heart can be either good or evil. [00:21:51] In other words, it has the capability. You, as a believer, you have the capability your heart can be good or evil. Just because you're saved doesn't mean our heart is always good. [00:22:03] Just because we're saved doesn't mean our heart is always good. And I don't actually believe that just because someone is unconverted that every thought of their heart is evil. Now, it certainly could be. The capacity is there. But you know what? The capacity for us to do the same is also there. [00:22:19] But here's the thing. That's what I'm saying. With the heart. It can be applied to good and it can be applied to evil, and the result will be found in our life. So let's look at a few verses that deal with the good. Look at psalm 32. [00:22:34] Psalm 32. And you came to church thinking that you were just going to sit here and just listen, didn't you? Psalm 32. I'm just joking. Psalm 32 and verse number eleven. [00:22:56] Psalm 32, verse eleven. Be glad in the lord and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart. [00:23:09] Okay. That tells us that it is possible for one's heart to be upright at a minimum. That's what it says. [00:23:18] I know a number of you are thinking of the same verse that we're going to get to in just a minute. All right. In Jeremiah, we're going to look at that. I promise. I promise. But we have to establish that the heart can be right. It can do right. [00:23:31] Listen, if the heart could never do right, we could never do anything to serve God with sincerity. All of our works would be wrong all the time because it comes out of our heart, you see? So when our heart is right, our works will be right, our life will be right. [00:23:45] I mean, that's just a truth. Let's look at psalm 73. [00:23:52] Psalm 73, verse one. [00:24:07] And I'm just picking and choosing here. There are many other verses we could look at. I'm just trying to give you a sampling to establish these truths. [00:24:18] Says, truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. [00:24:24] So let me ask you a question. [00:24:27] Biblically speaking, is it possible for someone to have a clean heart? [00:24:32] Yes. Okay. That's what we're trying to establish. Now let's look at Jeremiah, chapter 17. [00:24:42] Jeremiah 17. [00:24:49] The famous verse dealing with the heart, and rightfully so. [00:24:59] Verse number nine. [00:25:03] We'll read verse ten as well. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. [00:25:14] Who can know it? [00:25:16] I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins. [00:25:21] That verse kind of bothers me. I'll be honest with you. [00:25:24] It kind of scares me a little bit. [00:25:31] There's a verse in psalms. I think it's psalms. It says, search me, o God. [00:25:38] What's the next phrase? [00:25:41] Try me. [00:25:43] Do you know what that means? [00:25:47] To search is to examine, right? Like, you take a flashlight, you're looking for something. And I'm okay with God searching if I've searched my own heart. And here's the reality. There have been times in my life, and I'm sure it's a painful experience, and there's probably been times in your life where you believed you really did search your heart in a matter, but after the fact, you realized that you thought your heart was right and you meant it sincerely. But after the fact, the Lord came to help you understand that you weren't. Your heart wasn't right in the matter, but you thought it the whole time. [00:26:31] That's this right here. That's 17, verse nine. That is deceptive. [00:26:39] But it says here, I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins. Search me, o God, and try me. It's not the searching so much that bothers me. I'm just speaking from my heart here. No pun intended. I'm just speaking honestly. [00:26:56] It's the try my heart that kind of troubles me a little bit, because trying our heart is different than searching our heart. To try our heart means it's tested. [00:27:08] It means pressure is put upon it, and it's usually unpleasant. [00:27:13] So I'll be honest. [00:27:15] When I want to pray that verse, I have a little bit of a pause because I think to myself, do I really want God to test me, to test my heart and my reins, the inside of me? [00:27:28] Because most of the time when I do that, when I've been through something like that, even though there were benefits on the tail end, it wasn't very pleasant to go through. Right. [00:27:40] But the reality is, whether I pray it or not, God's going to do it, right? He's going to do it because he cares what's in our heart. [00:27:50] All right. Psalm. I'm sorry. Jeremiah 17, verse number ten. I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins even to give every man according to his ways. You notice God searches the heart and the reins, which is the inside, in order to give and reward each person according to their what ways. You see the connection between the ways, what you do, and what's in your heart, and according to the fruit of his doings. [00:28:19] All right. Verse nine. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it? That's quite a statement. You think about everything that we know that's wicked. And God says, the human heart, that's the worst of them. [00:28:34] It's the worst of them. Here's the reality. And this is what this verse is saying. And this verse might seem to be a contradiction to other places that talk about upright heart, good heart, clean heart, and they're numerous throughout the Bible. Is this. This verse is making a statement about man's fallen nature and how it has affected his heart. [00:28:56] Man's fallen nature is not just something that affects the works that he does. It is something that affects down to the innermost part of his being, his heart, in other words. [00:29:11] And again, I always try to contrast the world, because if you have any interaction with people, the reality is this. [00:29:21] Most of people around us in this world get their philosophy of life, get their religious beliefs from media. [00:29:31] They go to church. It's all tainted by the world and by the media. They get it from social media, they get it from tv, and they get it from the Internet, that kind of stuff. It is not just a matter of entertainment. [00:29:44] Value systems and worldviews are pumped into people's minds. And here's one of the things that is, I've heard it my whole life. I've heard it my whole life, and I'm sure you have, too. [00:29:55] Well, they got a good heart. [00:29:59] They got a good heart. They did that. But you've seen people in a jumpsuit. [00:30:06] In a jumpsuit in a courtroom, they're saying, judge, I made a mistake. I've heard them with my ears, but I've got a good heart. [00:30:20] You just flabbergasted. You obviously. Don't. [00:30:24] You see what they've done, though? They have separated the heart from the works. You can't do that. It's not allowed. [00:30:33] And thing is, that is something that has actually been taught in religion, specifically in Catholicism, going back. This idea that you could engage in sin without the involvement of the heart, that is actually a doctrinal belief that has been taught throughout history. [00:30:51] As long as you're not doing it with your heart, you're just doing with your body. What? [00:30:55] That's not a thing. [00:30:59] Sin, our nature, our wicked nature, has affected us down to the very essence of our being. Not only the outside of us, the body, because we think about the flesh when we talk about our sinful nature as a believer. Now, again, you have to differentiate between a believer and an unbeliever. A believer has the flesh the natural part of us, the material part of us that's still fallen is wicked. And one day when the Lord returns, we'll have a new body, and that'll be thankful, lord, be totally eradicated. [00:31:30] But we also have an inner man, and the inner man in us. We would say, right? We would say, the spirit has been renewed, created again. And so that's what we talk about when we say the new man. And so the Lord says, put on the new man, put off the old man. [00:31:45] Okay, but down in of us. So as a believer, we say, well, our flesh is. But there's a part of that flesh that touches the inside, too, our emotions, right? It's all connected. We can't make little, neat little divisions between the human being. [00:32:02] That flesh is there, and it affects our heart and that kind of thing. But you take somebody who's not converted, it's just corrupt inside out, top to bottom, corrupt, just broke, just wholly given to sin. [00:32:23] This is what Jeremiah is saying. Sin has affected to that man and to the human being, that fallen human being. It has affected sin, has affected his emotions, it has affected his intellect, and it has affected his will. What does that mean? That means he's going to feel wrong, he's going to think wrong, and he's going to choose wrong. You see? In other words, he's going to make choices that are wrong based upon believing, wrong information, wrong understanding, because his mind and heart is oriented away from God, against God in his very nature, and then he's going to enjoy doing it. [00:33:06] You say, well, that's pretty dark way to view mankind. Well, I didn't write Jeremiah 17 nine, but that's human nature. This is why the Lord has told us to guard and to keep our hearts. [00:33:23] The reality is our heart will naturally, very naturally go astray from God. It will very naturally be deceived. It will very naturally believe lies, and it will very naturally deceive us. [00:33:39] Not only will it be deceived by others, but it'll very naturally deceive ourselves. [00:33:46] And also this shows us that our heart, because of this fallen nature, we got to be careful. That's what proverbs says. You need to keep your heart, because our heart is easily manipulated. [00:33:59] Easily. You look at politics just as an example, is not a lot of politics, emotional manipulation. [00:34:07] And that's the heart. That's an aspect of the heart. And people tinker with it. Tinker with it. [00:34:19] This is what it means to live in this world as a fallen human being. So ideas like, follow your heart, let your heart be your guide, it's so nice. It's like hallmark makes you want to give a nice, warm hug to everybody. [00:34:35] And even Hallmark. Hallmark is if you examine, if you compare all the forms of media, Hallmark's going to be as benign as it gets. Okay? It's not always clean, but is it going to be as benign as it gets? But you know what you see in Hallmark, the philosophy, being pumped in this philosophy, being pumped in. It is pumped in all the time. [00:35:00] Follow your heart. Let your heart be your guide. It sounds nice, but you know what that means? It presumes that your heart, number one, it presumes that your heart is nothing more than your emotions. And it also assumes that if you follow your heart, you're always going to do the right thing. [00:35:19] How many of you are extremely familiar with this kind of thinking, that everywhere you see it, everything, every media, all of it is everywhere. But here's the thing. If it was just on the media, that'd be one thing. But that has entered into people's minds, and this is the way they think of themselves. [00:35:37] If I just follow my heart. Listen, how many divorces have happened? [00:35:44] Because most of the time, in this particular case, the woman being a very emotional person, women are more emotional than men generally, has been told. Listen, if you and your husband aren't getting along, you need to follow your heart. [00:36:02] That's wicked. [00:36:04] That's wicked. [00:36:08] And decisions are made based upon that. [00:36:12] What it is is it's a fundamental misunderstanding of what man's nature is. And God. Here's the thing. God explicitly warns us against this. He plainly tells us to guard our heart. [00:36:27] To guard you. Anything about guarding a city, right? That's the idea. Here. Keep thy heart with all diligence. Guard your heart because you need to set sentinels, watchmen, be careful, because others from the outside are going to try to manipulate our heart and lead us into error. [00:36:47] There's, our own nature is going to lead us away. Our heart likes to do its own thing by itself. We're fallen. [00:36:57] Another thing that is commonly misunderstood, and we'll look at a couple more verses to close, is this idea. And again, this goes back to this idea that the heart is nothing but your emotions, the way you feel. Well, I feel that way. I don't care how you feel. [00:37:13] Who is it? Ben Shapiro would say, feelings don't care about the facts. Don't care about your feelings. [00:37:18] That's a good statement. [00:37:22] The idea is, here we've seen follow your heart. Let your heart be your guide. But a lot of times, one thing people live by is this. If I feel it, it is so. [00:37:32] If I feel it, it is so. [00:37:35] That's what's behind a whole lot of what we see going around it. Well, I feel that way. That's the way it is. No, that's actually not the way it is. [00:37:44] And see, it's important for us to understand the error in this kind of thinking. Now hear me, especially in our ever increasingly feminist society, feminine society. Hey, listen, I'm for women. [00:38:00] I'm for women. But a society that is highly emotional, where the emotional aspect of the heart, without the intellect, without the will, where everything is about emotion, is not going to make good decisions, and yet that is what is happening. It happens in politics, it happens in social. [00:38:25] Know, like brother David deals a lot with the abortion issue. I mean, one of the, know, even though brother David, what's the percentage of women who are raped and seek abortions? I mean, it's very small. But see, the minute a law is passed that bans, a total ban of abortions, the minute a law is passed, what do they say? What about that lady who was raped? Do you expect her to bear that child? [00:38:55] That's an emotional argument, and it's a wrong argument. That child didn't do anything. But you see, what happens is when society makes decisions based upon just the emotion, without regard to the intellect. [00:39:13] In other words, embracing that which is true, right? And the will, being able to say no to your emotions, that's all involved in the heart. So men, as an example, men might look at a subject and don't feel the same emotion, but that doesn't mean their heart is not involved. [00:39:33] It just means it's a different aspect now between the husbands and the wives. We have to be cognizant of these differences, right? And men have to be cognizant that women are more emotional. And the reverse is true for women, wives toward their husbands. But bottom line is, just because we feel it doesn't mean it's true. [00:39:56] And yet, this idea and philosophy that emotions, feeling a certain thing makes it true, is one of the largest drivers of philosophies and movements we see in our world. If you can make somebody feel something, you're right. [00:40:17] That's kind of the way it goes. [00:40:19] So let's look at, we've already seen proverbs 423, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are issues of life. Look at chapter 23, proverbs 23, and verse 19. And this will give us one little more tidbit of information on this subject that hopefully will be a help to you. Proverbs 23, verse 19. [00:40:44] You see, the heart is always described as something that happens upon you like it's its own entity. [00:40:52] It's just kind of doing its own thing. And if you're wise or you just let it guide you and you just kind of follow along, you don't have any control in the matter. Well, that ignores the fact that the heart is intellect and the heart is the will, too. Sometimes we got to tell our heart no, right? And this verse tells us that. Proverbs 23, verse 19. This would be a good verse to memorize if you want to memorize it. [00:41:20] Hear thou, my son, and be wise and guide thine heart in the way. That's a good verse. [00:41:32] Your heart is not the leader. God's word is the leader. You know, what we have to do, whether we're men or women, whether we're emotional or not, is we have to tell our heart what to do. [00:41:46] And when something's off limits and God is not in favor of it, you say, no, I like it. Too bad, right? And when something is right, even if we don't feel it, we say, this is what we're doing. [00:42:05] This is what we're doing. [00:42:08] And then when something is conversely, when something is right and we know we should do it and we don't feel it, we go to the Lord and we say, lord, I not only want to obey, but I want to obey and feel that I'm doing. And that's okay. It's okay to have emotion. That's the way God made us. He made us with a heart, and so it's okay to have that part of our heart active in our lives. I mean, I want to have a marriage where my heart is active. Don't you? Right? I'm not just like, well, I have to be married to this lady, and I can't do anything about it. [00:42:45] No, I want to like my wife. My anniversary is coming up soon, so I got to like my wife. All right, let's pray.