“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” – Proverbs 4:23

In today’s world, people are very concerned about what they eat. We worry about carcinogens, GMOs, preservatives, synthetic trans fats, artificial sweeteners, MSG, gluten and other ingredients to which we could be allergic. The list goes on and on. Just as what you eat can have a tremendous effect on your quality of life, what you are ingesting spiritually is a huge factor in your eternal wellbeing. What is more important than what goes into our stomachs is what comes out of our souls. Jesus said to Peter, “Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man” (Mt. 15:17-20).

The devil has done a good job of sprinkling spiritual toxins into the components that make up our current culture. Just as Israel was to get the leaven out of their houses in Exodus 12:15, we must get corruption out of our lives. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 commands, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Just before this, Paul asked, “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5:6; cf. Gal. 5:9). Even a little bit of a spiritual toxin is too much. Christians are sometimes naïve to the spiritual dangers they are exposed to on a daily basis. A little bit of lust, greed, pride, jealousy, or anger all have the potential to grow. The devil throws fiery darts of all of these trying to get any of them to catch and grow out of control (Eph. 6:16). As Christians who have escaped the harmful pollutants of the world, we must be on guard that we do not turn back to them (2 Pet. 2:20). We must keep our pure diet of God’s word (1 Pet. 2:2).

While any diet is not convenient, it is worth it. Jesus tells us to get serious about sin, guarding our hearts, even when it is not convenient. In Matthew 5:20-26, our Lord shows that murder is the outgrowth of anger. Jesus said anger in the heart for the wrong cause is sin. Jesus grew angry (Mk. 3:5), but it was for a just cause and he did not allow it to cause Him to sin (Eph. 4:26). Just because the Bible condemns murder it does not sanction the anger in the heart that leads to violent acts. In Matthew 5:27-30, the Lord addressed the issue of adultery. Jesus said lust in the heart is sin (Mt. 5:28). Man is made to be visually attracted to his wife (Prov. 5:15-23), and fulfilling that attraction is pure (Heb. 13:4), but lusting after another woman is sin (Job 31:1; Prov. 6:25). Just because the Bible condemns the outward act of fornication (1 Thess. 4:3), it does not sanction a man to lust in his heart (Mt. 5:28). A man must pluck out his eye and cut off his hand, not in physical mutilation, but in drastic spiritual measures, so that his soul is not lost (Mt. 5:29-30). Some members of the church will argue that the Bible condemns getting drunk (Gal. 5:21), but allows moderate social drinking. While much more could be said to refute this teaching, let the present line of argument suffice. Just because the Bible condemns drunkenness (Eph. 5:18), it does not sanction the first drink that would lead to drunkenness (Prov. 23:31). Sin starts small but grows. When the devil is on our doorstep, let’s keep the door closed rather than opening it just a crack.

Are you keeping your heart pure, or are there little ingredients that are poisoning it?

-Mark Day

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isaiah 52:7

Isaiah 52 is a chapter regarding the restoration of Jerusalem. Though the prophets often foretold of the destruction and calamity that was coming on Israel if they did not repent, there are also passages of restoration. These zoom forward to the time when Jerusalem would be reestablished and God’s people would be released from captivity. God would call Zion to “loose thyself from the bands of thy neck” (Isaiah 52:2). Messengers would run over the mountains surrounding Jerusalem to tell of the victory. Though Judah was able to return to rebuild Jerusalem after 70 years of Babylonian captivity, the ultimate salvation of Zion would come later in the person of Jesus Christ.

 
Nahum mentions similar imagery in telling the news of the fall of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Assyria aggressive war atrocities were well known in the ancient world; their cruelty caused a cry to go out to God to take vengeance on such a wicked nation. Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah narrowly escaped destruction from the Assyrian king Sennacherib because of God’s intervention (2 Kings 18:13-19:36). Nineveh fell in 612 BC, and Nahum gives the scene of the spreading message of victory in 1:15 by stating, “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”

 
When we read passages like Isaiah 52:7 and Nahum 1:15 today, we think of a New Testament text that gives the full significance of the good news of salvation. Romans 10:15 uses the image of the beautiful feet of him that brings good news of salvation in regard to the preaching of the gospel of Christ. The salvation in Romans 10 is more significant than deliverance from any physical captivity. It is salvation from sin. Jesus said in John 8:34, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” The word committeth in the KJV reflects the present tense of the original Greek, which indicates a continuous action. If a man is in the continual habit of sin, it ensnares him to its bondage. Sin is a cruel master, yet many do not realize it. If not stopped sin will slay its captives with eternal death (Romans 6:23). The Assyrians who destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and threatened Judah were cruel. The Babylonians who took the southern kingdom of Judah were also cruel, but sin has taken everyone of an accountable age captive (Romans 3:23), and it is the cruelest master of all. Jesus said he came to preach deliverance to the captives (Luke 4:18; cf. Isaiah 61:1-2).

 
Thanks to what Jesus Christ did, we do not have to remain captive to sin, but can be delivered from it to serve righteousness by submitting in baptism to the pattern of teaching concerning His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3-7, 17). 1 Corinthians 15:56-57 proclaims the victory over sin has been given by Jesus Christ, “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We should want to run over the mountains and tell it.

 
Legend has it that in 490 BC, when the Athenian army defeated the Persians, Pheidippides, an Athenian soldier, ran from the battlefield in Marathon, Greece twenty six miles to Athens to proclaim victory. Upon arriving in Athens he proclaimed “Niki!” (Victory!), then collapsed and died. God has given the victory over man’s greatest battle: sin. What is at stake is the eternal wellbeing of our souls. As we run this marathon of life, let us proclaim the most significant message of victory the world has ever known, the good news of Jesus Christ.

 
-Mark Day