Keep Your Heart With All Diligence — Hans R. Waldvogel

Wisdom, Peace, and the Call to Guard the Heart

But here's something that God definitely desires to do for us. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things that can't desire are not to be compared unto her.

Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are the ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those that lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone that retaineth her.

My son, I am so glad when the Lord calls us his sons. Let not them depart from thine eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion. So shall there be life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thou shalt not stumble.

My son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health unto all their flesh.

Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth and perverse lips. Put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.

Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. Now here's the word I would like to leave with us to ponder over this.

We keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Now that's one thing God's given to every one of us, a heart. On my brother's birthday, one of the boys gave him a card, birthday card.

Or was it Father's Day? And there were pictures of great men of this earth. George Washington, Einstein, Thomas Edison, Alexander the Great, and Goethe, and some of these big names. And then underneath was the word, what have they got that my pa hasn't got?

Now that was a little flattering to my brother, but it was the truth. And I would like to give each one of you a card with all the pictures of all the great saints. You remember they're mentioned in the Bible.

Moses, Elijah, Samuel, Jephthah, Jonah, and Daniel, and David, and all the great men who adorned the history of the church. And then I'd like to say, what have they got that you haven't got? Every one of us has been endowed by God Almighty with a very marvelous gadget.

The Heart as the Seat of Life

I was attending a sick person one time, and a doctor had just made an analysis. And he said to me, you know, right here in the solar plexus, there is a spot about the size of a dollar. And he said, in that little space, all the life lodges.

Didn't use those words, but that's about what he meant. Right in that little spot, the life palsates. And doctors, of course, know how very, very dangerous it is to eat wrong foods and so on. They make a study of preserving your lungs.

For instance, when I was a boy and I was supposed to have had consumption, galloping consumption. I don't look like it now, but in those days I did. And I felt like it. Someone said, you got to go to a clinic.

You have to have a picture taken of your lungs, and they'll tell you how many holes you got in your lungs. Well, I didn't go. I didn't want to know how many holes I had. Praise the Lord. I don't think I had any.

But anyway, that's the way they tried to preserve your health, by guarding with all diligence. And oh, how diligent we are to guard our own health. Yesterday I saw a couple going to the table to eat. And the woman took out a pill box and she put some pills on his table.

Now, he had to swallow those pills in order to digest his food. And oh, what torture people go through. Fat women that want to get slim again. The torture they go through. They read all the advertisement about getting slim and losing weight and so on.

And then they go into an ice cream parlor over a frap and they study that. And we go through all kinds of contortions to keep our health. But here is the source and the seat of life. Out of it are the issues of life.

And by life, God means eternal life. And how little attention is paid to guarding this heart with all diligence. Anyone that is wise unto salvation will pay attention to his heart infinitely more than to his body.

In fact, I believe the less you think of your body, the better you're off. If you will think of your heart, if you'll guard your heart from harm and from sin. The Bible says, if you attend to my words and you let them not depart from thine eyes and keep them in the midst of thine heart, you have all the medicine you need to keep your body well.

He says, they shall be health to your whole body, all your flesh. And we might be surprised if we knew how many sicknesses result directly from sin. From wrong thoughts, evil thoughts, evil feelings. Jealousy will make your kidneys sick.

Worry will put ulcers in your stomach. And all kinds of diseases result from the heart that is not pure, is not clean. But worse than that, the heart becomes hard through the deceitfulness of sin. How very wonderful that God created this heart for his habitation.

Cleansing the Heart Through Christ and the Holy Spirit

He created it to be a fountain. When Jesus Christ says, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, all these things, jealousy, pride, wrath. He shows what a zoo, what a cage of evil beasts. They're lodged in our hearts until God Almighty has renewed them and has cleansed them.

And that's the promise of the gospel. A new heart will I create within you and I will write my laws upon the table of your heart. That heart that is bent on being sinful, out of the heart proceed these evil things.

Jesus says, in vain do you wash yourself on the outside, it's on the inside. The kingdom of God is within you and it's out of the heart that these things come. And they defile the man and until that heart has really been and truly been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Ghost, there will rise these awful odors of death and of sin.

And they're just there and they'll just pour forth and oh what a bottomless pit the human heart can be. There's no end to it, there's no end. Men have sleepless nights over their evil thoughts and over their jealousies and their pride and their lust.

And all these things have the domination of your heart and of your mind. And that's why nobody can be saved unless he's born again. And if any man be in Christ, there's a new creation. That heart that has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ now must be kept clean and spotless through the blood of the Lamb.

And that is the job of the Holy Ghost. That's what God sent the Holy Spirit down from heaven for, to keep us in all our ways, to protect us from being defiled again. And that's why God has such a job with us.

To warn us and to teach us and to reprove us. As many as I love, I rebuke and I chase and be zealous therefore and repent. I have not found thy works perfect before my God. Is it possible to have a heart that is perfect?

A Perfect Heart and the Coming Judgment

Well, God says so. His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth. And what are they looking for? Why they're looking for hearts that are perfect toward Him. Oh, how much does that heart mean to God?

Just think, of all the people in the world, I saw such teeming multitudes this last week. And I stood and I said, God, what are you going to do with all these people? Tell me, my God, are they all going into a Christ-less eternity?

Is it possible that these people that look so happy, that have so much to enjoy in this life, and they look so nice, so pretty, and they paint themselves, they make themselves still prettier. They like to change their faces and they like to please themselves.

I said, God, what are you doing with all these people? Where are they going one by one? I had a vision somehow in my soul of this great crowd of people rushing toward the grave. I looked at them. I said, Oopertal, they're full of people.

And I looked at all these people. They were all in a hurry, rushing back and forth. And I said, my God, I saw somehow how all of them are just being moved by time toward the grave. It is appointed unto man once to die.

People make fun of death. They make fun of eternity. Isn't it a strange thing? When Ruth Snyder was in the death house on the night when she was to be executed, her mother came to see her. And here they were in the cell and next door was the electric chair.

And all at once she shrieks, she says, Mama. That was terrible. That was a fearful moment. But you and I are heading the same way. It may take a little bit longer, but death will close our eyes, take away our breath, and in a moment the blood will cease circulating and this body will corrode and be cast into the grave.

If that was the end. Beloved, that's the beginning of reaping. Whatsoever a man sows in this life, we shall all give an account before God. The things done in this body, whether done good or evil. And oh my Lord, when he says, I've not found your works perfect before my God.

How many tongues go into the grave that are going to be cut out? How many hearts are going into the grave unclean, filled with guilt? How many bodies defiled by sin? It is appalling today what the devil does with the bodies of God's people.

And they don't care. They don't mind. I had talks with people in Germany now, even ministers. I said, my God, Father, is it possible that men and women live like that? And they're satisfied to live like that.

I said, how is it possible? When Jesus Christ had to suffer these things and shed his precious blood to wash you white as in the snow, he did it. You didn't do it. I didn't do it. Nobody can do it. He did it.

He had to suffer these things and God had to spare not his own son. God who created all things. The great mystery of godliness was manifested among us. And men walked by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the cross.

And maybe they hang it on their belly and on their necks and they hate it. And they're enemies of the cross of Christ unless they're crucified with Christ. Unless that blood of Jesus Christ is allowed to cleanse them thoroughly.

That's why God commands all men everywhere to repent because he's opened the door of grace and he's opened the door into his presence. Hallelujah. With confidence, I now draw nigh. And Father, Abba, Father, cry, reconciled to God by the death of his son.

And oh, my Savior did a complete job. And he that hath begun a good work in us will finish it. But he begs me. He asks of me. First of all, come out from among them. He commands all men everywhere to repent.

Repentance, Confession, and the New Life

Repent of what? Well, you didn't murder anybody, did you? You didn't set anybody's house afire. But Paul said, there's no good thing in the old wretched man that I am. That's the thing. Oh, what a privilege.

Glory to God. Not only my face, not only my hands, but my whole being renewed by the power of his resurrection. That's what God's looking for. He's looking for men whose hearts say yes to his will. They're perfect toward God.

They don't fall with the blood of Jesus Christ. They don't tread it on their foot. But they bow before the cross of Christ. And they bring their sins to Jesus with a vengeance. And if we confess our sin, he is faithful.

And just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, that's the wonderful word of God. And that blood of Jesus Christ keeps us clean and pure. If we guard our heart with all diligence, how do I do that?

Guarding the Heart Through the Mind

How does my heart become defiled? Why thoughts? Thoughts are open windows. And as long as your thoughts are in connection with the world, these mosquitoes will come in. When I came home yesterday, they said, now close the door because there are no screens on the windows and the mosquitoes come in.

That's what's the matter. I was up in Lake George one day having, trying to have a vacation. And I had a cottage. Brother Steve's gave me a cottage. And I said to one of the young men that were with me, you know, there's not a mosquito in my cottage.

I'm very careful. I keep the doors and the windows closed. And when the lights are on, I keep those doors closed. But I had to go to worship. And while I was at worship, this very fellow came and turned all lights on and opened all the doors.

And when I came in, I couldn't sleep that night. I killed 38 mosquitoes between 10 o 'clock and 4 o 'clock in the morning. The minute I turned off the lights, it was all around my nose. Then I turned on the light and I caught that mosquito.

I tried to catch him. You know, there were so many rafters where they could hide. Oh, what a night. Four o 'clock in the morning, I get up and pack my suitcase and then home. That's what happens to your heart when your thoughts are not God's thoughts.

Beloved, finally, my brother, watch how things are true. Here's what I watch. God's given me a guard, a Holy Ghost guard. It's the Holy Ghost. My windows are open toward Jerusalem. Thou will keep him in perfect peace.

Oh, it takes God to keep my heart in perfect peace, perfect peace. Not for five minutes, not for Christmas time. But all the time. Thou, God, you Bajirabbi, my heart is a garden dedicated to my bridegroom.

The Heart as God’s Garden

And he watches it. Oh, how carefully he watches that garden. Every flower, every plant has its enemies. And these bugs, they'll come around and they'll eat you. And these little foxes will come in and they'll spoil your vines.

Yesterday, looking out of my room there in Zurich, on my window, they have a beautiful fruit store on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich. The best fruit you ever saw. All kinds of fruit. Oh, what a joy just to look at it.

From Italy, from Greece, it comes there. But I saw behind the scenes, from my room, I saw the back of that store. And I saw one of the clerks. She had a box full of berries. I think they were raspberries.

And she was changing. She was shaking the box and then stepping. Oh, boy, she killed so many bugs. And then they put that box back and sold it. That's what we do with our hearts. Full of vermin, full of lice, full of worms, full of filth, full of death.

We don't recognize, beloved, out of it are the issues of life. And out of it are the issues of death. And someday we'll reap what we sowed, he that sows to his flesh. We do that when we exercise thoughts that are not pure and honest and true and just and lovely and of good report.

Let one of these thoughts in. Doctors know what one germ will do. You can't see these germs. You can't see them. Again, talking about Switzerland because I was there. I saw a whole section in the vineyard roped off.

The police had roped it off. There was one germ. They call it red louse. It is so small you can't see it with your naked eye. But you can see the vine withering. Whole sections of vineyard will wither because one louse got into the roots of one vine.

So very diligently they have a special gang of inspectors that come and they go into your vineyard and they find that louse. They find it and they uproot the whole section of the vineyard in order to save the rest of the vines.

Beloved, you ought to get that louse. If you will guard your heart with all diligence. Oh, we don't know what it does to our hearts when we think thoughts that are not godly and not pure and not true and not honest.

Let some evil thought, some thought of criticism enter your heart and it'll defile your heart and it'll kill it. It'll kill that heart of yours. That heart is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

And beloved, these are true words of life. And if we are very wise, that's why God says, blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, because that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures who are able to make thee wise unto salvation.

Scripture, Divine Examination, and Accountability

Do I need that? Oh, these wonderful holy scriptures, beloved, they bring to you an education that no university in all the world can give you. They can't. They can tell you something about your stomach and they can't tell you something about your brains.

But what they tell you is, is only the shell. They can't dig in. But God Almighty, thou hast searched me and known me, thou knowest my thoughts. Far off thou compassest my path and my lying down, thou art acquainted with all my ways.

There's not a word in my tongue. But lo, O Lord, thou knowest it all together. Beloved, we're finding out things now through the research of science. They'll send a rocket up to the moon and up to Mars.

And then pressing a button here, they'll get a television picture from up there. Or they'll get a message from the moon, the man in the moon, and say, hello. How did they do it? How does it happen? That a tape recorder will bring a message from such a distance.

Why? Because it is so sensitive. And beloved, there's a tape recording made of every thought and every word that we think and every word we speak. And it all goes into eternity. And someday God says it shall be proclaimed from the housetops.

God’s Keeping Power and the Call to Persevere

But how very wonderful that my God will keep in perfect peace that God is the keeper of this vineyard. If I let him, he who washed me with his own precious blood, he is the one that is careful to keep my heart with all diligence.

I must put my heart into his powerful hand. I learned a song in those days, 50 years ago. Wonderful saving power, glorious keeping power. I'm abiding in the fountain that flows so full and free. Wonderful keeping power, glorious keeping power.

His blood now cleanseth me. No power have I my soul to keep within the way I don't. My, that song blessed me. Listen, I had to work many hours in the shop among men that cursed and swore and they were just as vile as anybody could be.

And to know that Jesus Christ covered me with his mantle, kept me, kept me from all defilement. He was able, he was able to save me in the first place. And he was able to keep me. And the men in the shop complained.

They said, you don't talk. They tried to draw me out into some conversation. I keep my mouth shut because I made up my mind that I would open my mouth if I were going to displease my Lord. Beloved, that's what he means.

That's what God is looking for, hearts, hearts. You have a heart and that heart is either defiled and bound or it is kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Do you care?

I know that if I could offer you a pretty face tonight, you'd fly. What would you pay? Somebody could take that old face of yours and and give you a beautiful face or could give you a different head with brains in it.

What would you pay? Listen, here's an offer of Almighty God, the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost to make your heart, their holy shrine, the holiest of all, the temple of the living God and to make your very body a temple of God and a member of the body of Jesus Christ.

But it does take care, carefulness, carefulness. It makes life very interesting because you'll watch your mouth and after a while it becomes the habit. God takes over. He just grips you and he'll just take hold of your mind and those thoughts that formerly defiled you, they don't come near you anymore.

You know where these thoughts, did you ever think, where do thoughts come from? They must come either from God or from the devil. They're not manufactured by the cuckoos that fly around or by the sparrows.

They come from hell or from heaven. Either spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience is influencing your mind and your thoughts or it's the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. O Beloved, let us make the choice.

Readiness for Christ’s Return

We sang, O Lord, haste the day. Beloved, it's hastening. I tell you, it's hastening. And he says that an hour when you think not, the Son of Man cometh. Hallelujah. Oh, let's come out from among them.

Let's get into that secret place of the Most High God, no matter what others do. No matter what your fellow men do, you'll do it. And the eyes of the Lord will rest upon you and his power will come upon you and God will manifest the exceeding greatness of his power in your life.

Oh, how God is looking for hearts that are perfect toward him. But I ought to look for it too. I ought to say, Oh, Jesus, I may never have a pretty face, but I will have a clean heart by thy grace.