Heavenly Keepsakes
(All Scripture Quotations Are From The American Standard Version Unless Otherwise Noted)
Most of us at one time or another have had a keepsake. A keepsake is an object that holds for us a special meaning for us. The object could be any number of things. It could be a flower from a funeral, a book or an autograph. Perhaps it is a something that a friend gave to us to by which to remember them. When we think of keepsakes, we think of things that have great sentimental value for us. The reason that we care so much about these things is that they represent something or someone that we have really loved. Therefore, we do all that we can to ensure that these things are well taken care of. In fact, contrary to parting with these things, we put them in a hiding place or sometimes we put them under lock and key. We want to ensure that nothing happens to or damages them so we place them under careful guard. Interestingly enough, God has given us some things which might be described as heavenly keepsakes. They are keepsakes because they are things that God expects us to keep and to guard carefully.
In 1 Timothy 6:20, Paul instructs Timothy to "guard that which is committed unto thee". The KJV says " keep that which is committed to thy trust". The word that is translated as guard or keep is from a word that has a military meaning. It means to protect with a military guard or garrison. Hence, the term in the lexicons is defined as "to keep watch and ward, keep guard or to keep, maintain, cherish". So there are things that God expects us to take the utmost care in preserving and keeping. The keepsakes God has given us are of course far more important than any earthly things we might possess. Let us to look at three of these keepsakes this morning.
The first thing that we are to keep and guard is our hearts. In Proverbs 4:23, the inspired writer says that "23Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life".
We are to keep or guard our hearts. Why? Because out of it are the issues of life. The heart determines our course of actions. It determines if we are going to be righteous or unrighteous. The reason why this is the case is that when the bible refers to the heart it is not referring to the physical organ. Among other things the heart is said to:
Think – Genesis 6:5
Believe – Romans 10:10 Or Disbelieve – Hebrews 3:12
Reason - Luke 9:47
Meditates - Psalms 19:14
Rejoice - Psalms 19:8 Or Be Sorrowful Psalms 13:2
Be Broken - Psalms 34:18
Be Evil – Hebrews 3:12 Or Honest and Good Luke 8:15
In fact if you examine the some 864 references to the heart in the Bible, you will find it usually refers to the different aspects of man's spiritual nature. It can also refer to the seat of emotions or the center of our affections. It is sometimes put as the seat of reason within a man. It often describes the emotional and moral nature of the individual and is often used synonymously with the spirit of man. Therefore, the Lord spent a great amount of teaching in reference to the heart of man.
In Matthew 15:17-20 the Lord says "17Perceive ye not, that whatsoever goeth into the mouth passeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man. 19For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings: 20these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not the man.".
The things that men do are a result of what the heart is. In our society, we want to avoid responsibility. But the fact of the matter sin is a result of what is in our hearts. When murder happens it is because a heart desired it. When a husband commits adultery on his wife, that act has happened because someone’s heart has desired. We sin when we desire it and are carried away by our own lusts (James 1:14). Lust resides in our hearts so we are instructed to be on constant guard as to what the true nature of our heart is.
But God also warns against a particularly fatal kind of heart disease, the hardening of the heart. When hardening of the heart is referred to, it means rendering the heart insensible to righteousness. Those of us who are Christians can testify to the fact that when we first became Christians, there were some sins that were hard to overcome. Many of the sins were almost second nature to us. Bad language is one of these types of sins. Some people are so used to cussing that they just do without thinking. How did we overcome these sins? We overcame them by continual resisting the temptation to commit these sins. That is a hardening of the heart towards Satan. The more we resist the easier and easier it is to not to commit the sin. We become insensitive to that temptation. But what we have to understand is that the opposite is just as true. The more we give into temptation and sin, the easier it becomes. When that happens, we become insensitive to God’s word. I know that sometimes people fall into a trap that we can do maybe a little sin. People say, "I know it’s wrong but it is not really that bad". I would suggest to you that the heart that says that is already in the process of being hardened. What type of attitude is that? That is an attitude that desires to commit a willful sin. It says I know friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4), yet I am still going to proceed. Friends, that shows an insensibility to the wages of sin. If one does not repent of his sins and his sinful attitude, the result of that journey will be a hardened heart. A heart that will never respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. God therefore warns to pay attention to our hearts. That is a central theme of the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews 3:7-12 the inspired writer says "7Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, To-day if ye shall hear his voice, 8Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, 9Where your fathers tried me by proving me, And saw my works forty years. 10Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways; 11As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. 12Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God:".
The type of heart that God wants us to keep and guard is a good and honest heart. That is the only kind of heart that the word of God is able to take hold of with lasting effects (Luke 8:15). This is the kind of heart that one is willing to go to God’s word and do whatever God’s will is on a particular matter, regardless of what others may think, regardless of what maybe we have been always been taught. But God ultimately wants us to have a pure heart, which is developed from the good and honest heart. The Lord in Matthew 5:8 said "8Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Also in Psalms 24:3-4 "3Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; Who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, And hath not sworn deceitfully." Pure suggests a clean heart, free from corruption, evil desires and motivations. We have observed before that when we talk about pure hearts we are talking about pure souls and pure minds. But how do we obtain the pure heart? Well, in Acts 15:9 Peter said in reference to Gentiles that God had "
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..made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.". In 1 Peter 1:22 the same inspired man said "22Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently". One obtains a clean or pure heart by faith,which is to say through obedience to the truth. The truth of course is God’s word (John 17:17). That word is able to do that because it is "quick to discern the thoughts & intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). By obeying the word, we allow the word to work in us, to convert the heart and sanctify it, to separate it from the world. We need to realize that as goes the heart, so goes salvation. As Paul says in Romans 6:17 "17But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered;". Certainly the heart is an important heavenly keepsake.Secondly, we must keep ourselves in the love of God. Jude 21 says "keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." So the Christian is admonished to attend carefully in order to ensure that he remains in God’s love. Why does Jude tell us that? Didn’t Paul in Romans 8:38 say "38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." And what about our Lord? Did he not say in John 10:27-29 "27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand."? But note all of these are referring to outward things. For the faithful child of God, no outward thing can separate us from God’s love. Imprisonment, governments, death, tragedy, or disease cannot remove us from God’s love. But there is a sense in which we must remain in that love, more specifically the benefits of that love. Because God in reality loves the whole world (John 3:16) and he desires all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). Even though He loves the whole world, the majority are going to be lost (Matthew 7:13) because it is only in His son that the benefits of that love (salvation) are to be found (Acts 4:12) .There are going to be few who obey it. So when Jude in verse 21 gives instructions to keep ourselves in God’s love, he is giving instructions to the only ones that affect that separation: us. Christians can deliberately choose a life of sin and depart from Christ. God likens this act to a dog returning to it’s own vomit (2 Peter 2:22). Also they are said to have trodden under the foot the Son of God (Hebrews 10:29). But who is responsible for that departure ultimately? Not Satan though he puts the temptation there and will seduce the Christian to the very best of his ability. Other people or outward circumstance is not responsible, though they may setup the trail or temptation. No, the one who is responsible is ourselves. Listen to inspiration in James 1:14-16 "14but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. 15Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death. 16Be not deceived, my beloved brethren." So we must keep ourselves in the love of God. We do that when we obey Christ from the heart. Hear Christ and make application: John 15:9-10 "9Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you: abide ye in my love. 10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love."
The third heavenly keepsake I want to discuss is that found in Ephesians 4:3 "giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace". We as Christians are to guard carefully the unity of the Spirit. The term unity is misunderstood by many to mean union. The term does not refer to union. In union, though bound together there can be differences in purpose and motivation. There can be a great deal of hostility in a union. Unity refers to the idea of oneness, unanimity or agreement. Christians are to keep the oneness of the Spirit which is to say the unity, which was brought about through the revelation of the Spirit. Unity is emphasized throughout the New Testament, the whole Bible in fact. Consider the following passages:
John 17:20 "20Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on me through their word; 21that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me."
Acts 4:32 "32And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul: and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common."
1 Corinthians 1:10 "10Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment."
What God requires of the church is unity. This requires us to have the same attitude, goals and doctrine. The religious world that calls itself "Christendom" violates these very principles. Within this world, there are the many denominations. A denomination is by it's very nature and meaning of the word a division. Each denomination has it’s own creed or "statement of faith". They teach conflicting plans of salvation and have different organizational structures. Why is this? Because they have added to or taken away from God’s word. They have created human standards, hence disunity and disagreement. But God’s basis for unity is found in Ephesians 4:4-6:
There is one body: the one church, one body of called out people
One Spirit: one revealer of word through
One hope of your calling: the hope of heaven
One Lord: Jesus Christ who has all authority
One faith: one body of doctrine to be believed, the faith once for all delivered (Jude 3)
One baptism: the baptism of the great commission, water baptism
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all:
One Supreme, not just the God of Jews, God of all, above all and supreme
If we conform to that pattern, the unity that we so desire will occur. God's word is our pattern, which is why it was given. It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, completely furnished unto every good work (2 Timothy 3:16). If unity is to every be obtained, it must be on the basis of that word, the standard God has given us.
Yet despite God’s position on this subject, all too often we have bickering and fighting within the church. It seems like we apply Paul’s command to be at peace with all men (Romans 12:18) to only those outside of the church. When it comes to our brothers and sisters inside the church, we can’t wait to get into disagreements and such. I know of a very small town that has two congregations of the Lord’s church as a result of a split that happened many years ago. It was a split, from what I understand, over personalities. These types of things would not happen if the individuals involved would have loved each other the way God tells us to. We are to "follow after peace with all men" (Hebrews 12:14) and we are to " Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8).
We must be on guard to keep unity. Unfortunately there are those who take unity to mean maintain peace at all costs or maintain fellowship not matter what, even at the expense of the truth. God has never commanded unity at the price of truth.
2 Corinthians 6:14 "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?"
Ephesians 5:8-11 "For ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord: walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10proving what is well-pleasing unto the Lord; 11and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them;"
2 Thessalonians 3:14 "And if any man obeyeth not our word by this epistle, note that man, that ye have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed."
The fact of the matter is that if we have unity with unrighteousness, with those who teach false doctrines, then we become joint partakers in their sins (2 John 9-11).
God has given us these heavenly keepsakes; let us guard them with all of our power. Let us keep our hearts and ourselves in the love of God. Let us keep the unity of the Spirit.
If you are here today and outside of Christ, what is holding you back? Your salvation is in the balance right now. The only hope you have is in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:7). To reach the blessings of salvation you have to be in Christ. You must come as a penitent believer, confessing the name of Christ, and be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (Romans 1:16, John 3:16, Luke 13:3, Romans 10:10, Acts 2:38). You will go into the watery grave a condemned sinner and rise up a new creature ready to walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:3-4). If you are a child of God who has drifted away from Christ, we urge to stop doing that which is wrong and start doing that which is right. Repent of that sin and ask for the forgiveness of God and He will forgive you (1 John 1:9, Acts 8:22).