Proverbs 4:1-27  Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they 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 to 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.

In reading the Proverbs from the book's fourth chapter concerning wisdom and understanding, something hit me about the garden of Eden.

Watch the similarity in the various points mentioned in the proverb about receiving wisdom and the points noted about the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 1:2-3  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Genesis 2:7-10  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.  And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

Genesis 2:15  And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Listen to what the Bible says about the WORD OF GOD.

John 1:1-3  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

• And we read the WORD existed.
• And this WORD created all things.


John 1:4-5  In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

• When God SPOKE to a dead, chaotic world in Genesis 1, LIFE came forth.
• And God led up to a grand point and goal.
• The Garden of Eden with the image of God living in it in the form of a man.

In this Garden, this MAN was to KEEP THE GARDEN AND DRESS IT.

As our congregant Brother Russell pointed out last weekend, the human body is made in a very special manner.

• Like the Garden in Eden, the HEART of a man is in the eastward part of the midst of the body.
• If you take the head as North, and the feet as South, your right side is WEST and your left side is EAST.
• In the east is the human heart.
• People looking at you face on will see your heart situated eastward.

• The margin reads ABOVE ALL KEEPING, KEEP YOUR HEART.

• And that river went into all the world.
• From our hearts is the ISSUES OF LIFE.


Proverbs 4:23  Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. {with...: Heb. above all keeping}

• Let there be light.
• The very first words of God spoken in the Bible!
• The Bible has a pattern wherein the setting of the first mention of thing is very notable to remember whenever it is mentioned again later.
• The later references to that item will somehow flow together with the first mention of it in scripture.
• And so WORD of God is first noted as speaking LIGHT into being.
• And no wonder, therefore, that we read, in speaking of the WORD OF GOD:


John 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

The Proverb speaks of the PATHS OF WISDOM.

We read about the WAY OF THE TREE OF LIFE.

Genesis 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Proverbs 4:11  I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.

Proverbs 4:18-19  But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

• And it said this pathway leads you into brighter and brighter light until there is a perfect day.


2 Corinthians 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

• LIGHT IS KNOWLEDGE OF GOD'S GLORY.
• So whenever we read of LIGHT, let us remember Paul said the LIGHT that we see ("I saw the light") is the knowledge of the glory of God.
• We want to always tell people about the glory of God in this church.
• In other words, we can say we want to give LIGHT to people who come.
• You are the light of the world.
• In other words, you are the means by which the world will know the glory of God, for the LIGHT is the knowledge of the glory of God.

John 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

What was the Acceptable and preferred tree in the Garden of Eden?

• THE TREE OF LIFE.

• THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.

• The tree of LIFE.
• Jesus is a Tree of Life.
• And THIS LIFE IS THE LIGHT OF MEN.
• What did Paul say the LIGHT WAS?
• The KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD.

• You have the Trees of Darkness and Light in the Garden.
• The tree of LIFE is the TREE OF LIGHT.
• The Life was the light of men.

• And since LIFE IS LIGHT, and LIGHT is the KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD, we have the tree of the knowledge of the glory of God in contrast to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Two sets of knowledge.

One is darkness, and the other is LIGHT.

One is LIFE and the other is DEATH.

We know the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is death because we read...

Genesis 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

But look at this knowledge.

John 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

He was the LIFE!

• And the LIFE was the LIGHT.
• Its the LIGHT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY OF GOD.

Genesis 2:10  And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

• Jesus' WORDS to us are LIFE.
• And the Bible says in Romans 10 that with the HEART MEN BELIEVE.


Romans 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

• Our hearts are the GARDENS.
• And Proverbs said we must KEEP OUR HEARTS, FOR OUT OF IT ARE THE ISSUES OF LIFE.
• ISSUES -- plural.
• One River flows into the Garden, and Four rivers flow out of it.
• ISSUES of life flow out of it.
• Like our hearts.

• The reason the Bible uses the HEART as a picture of what we believe, is because the HEART is the most important physical part of the Body.
• And the BREATH OF LIFE in the form of Oxygen must enter the blood stream, and be pumped by the heart to the rest of the Body in the form of OXYGEN ENRICHED BLOOD.
• BLOOD IS CALLED THE LIFE OF THE FLESH.


Leviticus 17:11  For the life of the flesh is in the blood:...

Leviticus 17:14  For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof

• As the physical HEART takes precious oxygen and pumps into to the body that it may live, so you can enjoy life, the spiritual HEART takes the precious BREATH OF LIFE in God's Word and sends forth ISSUES of LIFE to the rest of your soul and spirit and you LIVE FOREVER to enjoy eternal life with Jesus!

• In just the same manner, your spiritual HEART must receive the LIFE OF THE WORDS OF GOD so it can issue life throughout your soul and spirit so you can gain eternal life and go to Heaven!
• And the way your spiritual HEART receives the WORD is by BELIEVING THE WORD.

You need God's word to go to live forever and go to glory one day as much as your body needs oxygen to live.

So you have got to KEEP YOUR HEART.

• Protect YOUR HEART.
• In all the ways and in all the things you wish to keep or protect in your life, the Hebrew language in Proverbs 4:23 literally says KEEP YOUR HEART ABOVE ALL.
• The issues of LIFE are more important to your soul and spirit than a steady income in this world!
• NOTHING supersedes the ISSUES OF ETERNAL LIFE!
• Without blood your body would die!
• And the FAITH that comes from the word of God is like BLOOD to your body!
• BELIEVING THE WORDS WITH YOUR HEART is like saying YOU'RE PUMPING BLOOD THROUGH YOUR BODY WITH YOUR HEART.

Genesis 1:28  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Jesus is in our hearts!

• It even calls Him the LAST ADAM in 1 Cor 15:45.
• And He must rule our hearts!
• If we do not let Him rule our hearts, how is He going to influence the world around us, through us?
• Christians are supposed to be Edens, in whose Gardens Jesus rules and reigns.
• And from the east of Eden, in the Garden, Adam was supposed to rule the world.
• The difference is that Jesus will not rule in our hearts unless we allow Him to.
• He is fully capable of ruling in our hearts.
• However, Israel was said to limit the holy one of Israel.
• And you can limit God, because He only influences your life as much as you will let Him.
• He could have made it so that He domineered us, but that would not be love.
• So He gave us the choice.... let Him rule or don't let Him rule.
• Its up to you.
• And that is one reason why we read we rule and reign together with Him.


Revelation 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

PROTECT YOUR HEART.

• Protect it from what?
• From serpents of distraction that entice you, as the serpent did to Eve, to disobey God's word.
• To neglect God's word.
• Eve was DECEIVED by the serpent.
• That is a scary thought.
• To be deceived is to be duped into actually thinking that what is actually error is truth.

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