PROVERBS 12:1-28 TEXT: v25 HEAVINESS IN THE HEART etc.,
Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.
The man who wrote these words was one of the greatest students ever
He studied and wrote extensively on all sorts of different subjects
So much so: the Queen/Sheba came to hear of his wisdom for herself
He seemed to specialise in the study of human nature
It was not all gleaned from books, for in one notable chapter it was
gleaned when he took a look from a window in his house (7:6)
For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, and beheld among the youths…
Sometimes the great books seem far removed from simple reality
Cannot see the wood for the trees
A man who sits with his Bible in hand has a greater insight into human
nature than any student of the so called great philosophers
Men like Skinner and Jung and others with their various humanistic
thoughts cannot possibly know what is in the heart of man, much less
how to cure it and set it free
You ask: What made Solomon such a trustworthy guide then?
Here is a man sitting in a palace with nothing more advanced that the
ancient wisdom of the east and yet he is set forth as a reliable guide?
I reply: Although I initially set him forth as a great teacher of the
ancient world - yet these words/text come from a better/higher source
There is nothing that needs modified in these words
The author of these words is not Solomon (Just the pen man)
Solomon wrote these words because he was one of those holy men of God who was borne along by the Spirit/God (2 Peter 1:21)
These are the words of the Creator of the human heart
The One who declares that He knows and weighs the heart
Who better to speak on the subject than He?
Anyone else is guessing - and generally guessing wrong
We do not ask people to venture their souls upon guesswork
We ask people to trust their Creator and (as we will see) their Saviour
also as He reveals to us the deep needs of our heart
Our text yields us up 4 main thoughts:
1) THE BATTLEGROUND OF SALVATION IS IN THE HEART:
Solomon concerns himself re: the heart/text
A/ Heart in the Bible is always central - everything else is secondary
Yet this is where the Lord looks (1 Samuel 16:7)
Man looks on the outlook and is taken in by the camouflage which the sinner in his deceit often manages to erect
God, for His part, completely strips away the camouflage and exposes the bareness of the heart for what it really is
The sinner may resent this and proceed to reject the verdict
That is pure escapism and a very dangerous game to play
Always better to face truth than to deal in plausible falsehood
Would not go to a doctor/dentist/car mechanic who played to the crowd
What we want and what we need are often poles apart
B/ Therefore we should resist any quick fix solutions
There is no fast way to sort out spiritual matters
Obviously the last thing we want to do is complicate God's salvation
I'm not on for erecting barricades/hurdles for sinners
There is a breath taking simplicity in salvation
But remember that it is only the repentant/believing who partake of it
Someone who loves their sins and has no notion of ever giving them up will not (in that sad state/affairs) ever be saved:
Who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14)
If any man will name the name/Christ: Let Him depart from iniquity
Those who love their sins and seek to spare them will perish in them
That's the starting line in this matter
God has nothing to offer anyone who loves their sins, only His wrath, for He cannot rightly offer anything else
C/ So when we witness for Christ, we need to target the heart/sinner
Satan wants to hold unto the heart/sinner where he already resides
He is reasonably happy for the sinner to take on a veneer of religion
He is happy for the sinner to walk the clean side of the broad way
The clean side/broad way leads to destruction as much as the vile side
As long as Satan can hold unto the heart - then he is happy
Whoever holds the heart wins the battle and Satan is winning by nature
It is for the Lord, through the gospel, to win back that heart for
Himself and to snatch it out of Satan's control ere it be lost forever
2) THE WICKED HEART IS A HEAVY HEART:
A/ Satan is a hard task master to serve - He exacts an awful service
The groaning/COI under the cruel whips of Pharaoh are nothing to the
servitude of the Devil as he visits the soul of the unsaved man/woman
B/ Satan himself is a most malignant being, void of any kindness/love
He is the vilest creature who currently inhabits this universe
All other despots but performed his malignant biding
He is called the god of this present evil world because of his power
He is the one who snatches away the good seed/God's word
He is called the tempter:
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. (Matthew 4:3)
Lest we should think that only the Lord Jesus should be tempted:
For this cause, when I could no
longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the
tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain. (1
Thessalonians 3:5)
C/ It may well be that although the Scripture declares that the way of the transgressor is hard (13:15) that such hardness lies unfelt
The hardness/position is not evident from the vast numbers of folk who
rush on one hand to embrace sin and who on the other flee its remedy
Indeed, we may be excused forth thinking that the gospel offered the hardness/heaviness while sin offered the pleasure/joy
Certainly the evidence as seen by the natural eye points that way
Ans:- We walk by faith and not by sight
We refuse to limit our thoughts to this short season/time and to what alone can be observed
Even if we do so limit it, we observe the following:
[i] That many people get badly bitten by the so called pleasures/world
Drunkards, greedy people who overshoot their spending restraints etc.,
[ii] Others who have not fallen to the extremes have very little, if
any, spiritual joy to speak of - their pleasures are entirely
limited to this present world and the availability of earthly pleasures
The removal of these pleasures would render them totally desolate
You will not hear them say: Although there be no crops or herds/stalls
Yet will I rejoice in the God/my salvation (Habakkuk 3:18)
[iii] Such people harbour a great dread of the forthcoming eternity
Their main solace lies in either denying it altogether or by greatly
compromising the concept/holiness of God to allow any one to be saved
D/ When our Lord addressed sinners, He addressed them as those who were weak and heavy laden (Matthew 11:28)
He viewed them as spiritual lepers - spiritual slaves etc.,
The wicked heart is therefore in real terms a heavy heart
It cannot talk about the joy/Lord being its strength
It has no spiritual life, although it maintains a spiritual existence which will continue its existence beyond the grave
3) THE HEAVY HEART WILL STOOP UNTIL IT FALLS ALTOGETHER:
A/ Text speaks of the heavy heart stooping (Also translated: crouch)
There are several reasons for this:
[i] Stoops because of the guilt which it incurs because of sin
The unsaved man does not take that into account when he sets up his balances to work out the profitableness of sin
He slips but very light weights into the scales to ensure that sin
still remains an attractive option, but such gives him a false reading
However, if he were to read the Bible, he would discover that the price
of sin is very high indeed - for it incurs guilt of an everlasting
nature
Matthew Henry: There are no small sins because there is no small God
The value of a deed is proportional to its relationship of where it is
directed and so sin carries infinite guilt since it is against/infinite
God
Think of the heaviness of the heart/Judas when the extent/guilt came
home with power/his heart: Drove him to a suicide's rope
It is the great suffering of hell that the guilt forever lies on the
awakened and yet unrelieved conscience, aggravated by the fact that the
offer/gospel pardon was neglected or despised and ult. rejected
But those feelings/guilt start here/now and they can make a man/stoop
He cannot face the future with any joy and dreads the day/of his death
[ii] Stoops because of the heavy bondage that sin brings him into
Devil's chains are heavy chains - his yoke is hard and his burden crushes
[iii] Stoops because of the shame that sin brings him to in this life
Many who can hardly lift their head because of their past deeds
Perhaps unknown to others, but known to them and known to God
We
lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have
sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth
even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
(Jeremiah 3:25)
[iv] Stoops with the punishment/sin in hell itself
When people call for the rocks/hills to fall upon etc., - they are stooped
Words like weeping/wailing/gnashing of teeth - they have stooped
I am tormented in this flame - an eternally stooped soul with no relief
And
beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so
that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they
pass to us, that would come from thence. (Luke 16:26)
What a terrible price sin exacts for its temporal pleasures
4) ONLY THE GOSPEL CAN REMOVE THE HEAVY HEART AND MAKE IT GLAD WITH THE JOY OF GOD'S SALVATION:
A good word maketh it glad…
A/
Only thing that can make the heart/man glad is that which removes its
guilt and sorrow and the punishment which it is due for its sin
Anything less is a quick fix and a no fix
B/ Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can provide what is required
[i] It reveals to us the Saviour who took our sins on His body/tree
He particularly made atonement for the guilt/sin: 2 Corinthians 5:21
This means that for God's people: Romans 8:1
Would that not make the heart/condemned man cease to stoop?
[ii]
He breaks the chains which the Devil fastens: A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of
flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
[iii] He has gone to Heaven to prepare a place for us (John 14:2)
[iv] He has provided salvation on the simplest/terms - faith alone
C/ The Gospel is described as a good word:
And
the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is
born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
(Luke 2:10-11)
The word translated good also translated as precious:
How
precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of
them! (Psalm 139:17)
God committed his thoughts: paper and this/the
word by which the gospel/preached
Translated: Beautiful:
And how
shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, (Romans 10:15)
Translated as glad: Again Romans 10:15
and bring glad tidings of good things!
Let the sinner therefore seek the Lord while He is to be found
These things are not told to mock the sinner, but to encourage him
Appeal
