Our Surroundings, Culture & Circumstances Are Not the Problem – Part II 

Proverbs 4:20-23 (ESV) 20 My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

The start to guarding our heart is to have heart surgery performed by God. 

Ezekiel 36:23-27 (ESV) 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Guarding our hearts requires keeping the wrong things out….. and putting the right things in. 

Unforgiveness 

• Forgiveness from God is tied to our forgiving others.

Matthew 6:14-15 (ESV) 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

• The parable of the unforgiving servant (10k talents versus 100 denarii).

Matthew 18:32-35 (ESV) 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

• Be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32 (ESV) 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

• Bear with one another and forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Colossians 3:12-13 (ESV) 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Bitterness

• Believers must get rid of bitterness, wrath, anger, slander, etc.

Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV) 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

• Do not let a “root of bitterness” spring up and cause trouble.

Hebrews 12:15 (ESV) 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;

• Husbands are told not to be harsh or bitter toward their wives.

1 Peter 3:7 (ESV) 7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Jealousy / Envy

• Jealousy is listed among the works of the flesh.

Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV) 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

• Bitter jealousy and rivalry lead to disorder and every vile practice.

James 3:14-16 (ESV) 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

• Love does not envy.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV) 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

• Envy rots the bones.

Proverbs 14:30 (ESV) 30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.

• Believers are to put away envy and malice.

1 Peter 2:1-3 (ESV) 1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Hatred

• Claiming to be in the light while hating a brother means walking in darkness.

1 John 2:9-11 (ESV) 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

• Hating a brother is compared to murder.

1 John 3:15 (ESV) 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

• Jesus links hatred and anger to the heart behind murder.

Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV) 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

• Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

Proverbs 10:12 (ESV) 12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

• Even the Law stated that you shall not hate your brother in your heart.

Leviticus 19:17-18 (ESV) 17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

Love of Money

• The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 6:10 (ESV) 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

• You cannot serve both God and money.

Matthew 6:24 (ESV) 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

• Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have.

Hebrews 13:5 (ESV) 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

• Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

Luke 12:15 (ESV) 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

Lust

• Desire (lust), when it conceives, gives birth to sin; sin leads to death.

James 1:14-15 (ESV) 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

• John names "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" as not from the Father.

1 John 2:15-17 (ESV) 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

• Jesus teaches that looking at someone with lustful intent is already adultery in the heart.

Matthew 5:27-29 (ESV) 27 “You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

• Believers are called to sexual self-control, not in "passion of lust" like those who don't know God.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 (ESV) 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;

• Job describes making a covenant with his eyes not to look with lust.

Job 31:1-4 (ESV) 1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? 2 What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? 4 Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?