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But while men slept, his enemy came … Matt. 13:25
Sin works
that way. It never comes in the front door while everyone is watching
and waiting for it. Sin works like a cancerous disease in that it’s
seeds sprout and take root in the heart long before there is any outward
evidence. We lose the battle too often because we sleep until the
full-blown fruit of sin breaks forth. We then try to take action against
it but it is too late. Parents with their children, pastors with their
flocks, husbands and wives, they always look back with regret that they
did not pay closer attention before it was too late.
Part of the reason we have this weakness is the fact that sin is a
matter of the heart, or soul of man. Its roots are not found in the
physical flesh of man, as so many are blindly teaching, but in the
affections of the heart. We cannot see what is happening in the heart of
someone else. Parents can’t know what is going on in the hearts of their
children unless they put forth a strong effort to maintain a close
heart-relationship with those children. A pastor can’t know what is
going on in the hearts of his people unless he does the same. One
Christian can’t know for sure what is going on in the heart of a brother
or sister. They may stand and testify, give sacrificially, be active in
all the church functions, and be secretly living in deep sin in their
heart. In any relationship there must be complete trust before they will
share their hearts with one another. I would submit to you that such
relationships are a rare thing, especially in these days of apostasy and
sin. Most folks go through the motions, do their duties, speak the
language, and do whatever else it takes to make everyone else think they
are walking with God. But many have that secret place where things are
different. That secret place is where sin finds its beginnings.
Judas was not a suspect at all, as far as the other disciples were
concerned. The first inkling they had of evil in Judas was when he came
with the soldiers to betray the Lord. If they had known his heart they
could have picked up on where his affections really lay. He gave some
evidence of it when he complained about the very precious ointment being
poured out on Jesus. But they were asleep, as far as that was concerned.
They were busy with their own concerns, and occupied with their own
problems, desires, and ambitions. That is exactly how parents lose their
children, husbands lose their wives, or vice versa, and pastors lose
their flocks. We are not close enough to one another and there aren’t
very many who can really share their heart with someone else. One lady,
whose missionary husband had abandoned her and their three children,
confessed that she had known something was wrong, but she couldn’t bring
herself to seek counsel with a pastor because she didn’t want to end up
as an illustration in someone’s sermon. In other words, there is no
confidence because we are too loose with our tongues. Pastors talk too
much. Husbands and wives talk too much to others about what should be kept
only between the two of them. Parents also talk too much about their
children to others. It would be a great spiritual advantage for all of
us if we really knew each other’s souls. Our relationships are too
shallow and based on carnal, outward things, and therefore we are open
to this secret attack by the world, the flesh, and the devil himself.
The watchman better be looking farther down the road than the other side
of the gate. If he sleeps until the enemy is at the gate his warning
will be too late, if he is even able to sound an alarm. If a parent
sleeps until their child has transferred the affections of his heart to
his peers and the things of the world, he has lost his child. If we
expect to have any hope of not losing our child to the world and the
devil we surely better keep an open line to his heart. We better know
what is going on in that mind and in that heart. We need to know what he
is thinking about and how he is thinking. His philosophy will begin to
change long before his actions do. Before he begins to participate in
sin he will be thinking about it. It is a fairly long process from
purity to pollution, especially if he has been reared in a Christian
home and under true preaching of the Word of God. There are many
obstacles in his heart and mind that he has to rationalize and reason
out of the way. If we aren’t asleep we will be able to pick up on the
fact that the devil is lying to his heart. There is a chance of victory
if we deal with it then. But if we are too busy, or if are looking the
other way while this is going on, we will turn around one day and find
the door to his heart has closed and we aren’t allowed in any more.
Many homes would be saved if husband and wife would do likewise. Two
become one, and that should be a reality in every marriage. The two
better share more than the same bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. They
better share their hearts. They better be of the same mind. They better
be all they need to be to each other. They better not get so busy with
careers, children, or even church activities that they lose touch with
what is going on in the heart of their mate. If they do their marriage
is in peril. There will be an opportunity for the affections of their
heart to be stolen away by another. This is what happens almost 100
percent of the time before a home is broken up – and everyone is
sleeping until one or the other walks out the door for the final time.
Then everyone is wondering how this could have possibly happened. In
their mind they treat it as if it is just something that suddenly
occurred, but the truth is, it started a long time ago and everyone was
simply asleep and didn’t see it coming. It is very, very rarely a harlot
appealing to the flesh that breaks up a home. Through repeated contact
at work or some other place the heart is slowly enticed away until the
affection that belongs to their mate is transferred to someone else. It
isn’t the lust of the flesh, but the heart is where the battlefield is.
While we are focusing on other things we totally miss it most of the
time.
We watch the young people at church do exactly the same thing. As long
as they don’t wear earrings and tattoos, and if they will simply come to
church and act halfway like Christians, we go to sleep and think
everything will work out fine. But while we are busy with all our cares
of life and “working for the Lord” the devil himself is stealing their
hearts away with his lies and deceit right under our noses. We are
aiming way off the target with the young people. Most people don’t even
expect them to be spiritual. Just as long as they attend church most
adults count that as a successful ministry and the best to be hoped for.
That is why many churches are now using contemporary (Baal) music to
draw the young people. “Hey, they are in church!” they say. Oh, but what
about their hearts? Where does the affection of their hearts lie? Most
churches are focusing on trying to entertain them and have “youth
activities” that will keep them coming, but what they really need is a
godly example of Christ-loving older folks. They need someone who is
concerned about their heart They can be sitting in a real
Bible-believing, fundamental church, with standards of separation and
holiness, and good holy music, and still have the affections of their
heart set on the world and wickedness.
Maybe you are one who just cannot understand how people could be hooked
on drugs or pornography, or whatever other sin of the flesh you might
mention. You might have trouble understanding how a person could sit in
a Bible-believing church for years and then turn and leave to live just
like the rest of the world. If that is the case then you have failed to
understand these very important facts of life:
1. Man is made in the image of God.
2. God is love.
3. The heart of man is so constituted that it is going to love.
4. The destiny of the person depends upon what the affection of the
heart is set on.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of
life. Prov. 4:23
It is all about the heart and we pay far too little attention to that
fact. We are much too easily pacified and put to sleep by simple outward
compliance with our ideas of righteousness. Churches, ministries, homes,
marriages are all counted as successes if they simply have the outward
appearance of conformity to the standards of whatever group they are
associated with. There are others who have so much “security” that they
think they are not vulnerable to the deceit of the devil or the world.
That is a very foolish way to think. Jesus never told us to kick back
and relax after we are saved because we are untouchable. He warned us
over and over, “WATCH!” “WATCH AND PRAY, THAT YE ENTER NOT INTO
TEMPTATION!” “WATCH!” Watch for what? Watch that your heart be not
deceived, or enticed away from God. The first and greatest commandment
is that we are to love the Lord our God with all our HEART, SOUL, MIND,
and STRENGTH. Naturally then, the primary goal of the devil would be to
stop us from doing that. The only way he can steal our heart is to
entice it into setting its affections on something or someone else.
WATCH your heart so that doesn’t happen. You shouldn’t only watch your
own heart, but you should watch the hearts of those you love, and those
you are responsible for before God. Don’t sit around asleep until sin
has broken out and produced its fruit in physical action. Do what the
doctors always say to do – look for the early warning signs. Check up on
things often and regularly. You might find something in your children or
your spouse, or your brother that you wouldn’t have found had you not
had a check up. Just like a cancerous disease, the earlier you find it,
the better chance you have for a cure.
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be
sober. 1 Thess. 5:6
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