Proverbs 4:23 NLT [23] Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

The heart is the place in which the process of self-consciousness is carried out, in which the soul is at home with itself, and is conscious of all its doing and suffering as its own”

As the engine in a motor vehicle determines its function, so the heart also determines our function and also our destinies. All we ought to be; is determined by what we are inside. It is our inner being that's demonstrated on the outside.

What price did Christ pay?

He bore our griefs.

He carried our sorrows.

He was pierced, chastened and scourged for us.

Verse 4 is our wrong attitude and Christ died in order that we have the right attitudes.

Verse 5 is our behavior, but Christ paid the price with His life that we have the right behaviors.

Verse 6 is our nature; Christ died that we have the right nature.

Many times as believers when we are saved and have spent weeks, months; years and decades in salvation we tend to shift the focus from the true message of the gospel which is the reason why Christ died, we tend to shift our focus from the price that Christ paid and put all our focus on what is meaningless. We focus on what God can give us and forget the precious gift He gave us.

Christ took the punishment of our sin.

We should have suffered for our sin but Christ took it away. He takes our sin and removes having paid for all.

The price that Christ paid is something every believer must ponder about and make it his foundation of salvation because it's indeed the foundation for salvation.

Christ was reviled and never reviled back. He bore our sins in His body on the cross.

The price Christ paid no many can pay.

He had no stately form or majesty that could attract anybody. Remember I told you that he grew up in a family of a humble background. His peasant upbringing, His poverty, as well as his lack of association with the aristocracy that's the all religious, political, and economic power in Jerusalem.

What price did Christ pay?

He left all glory, all honor in heaven to die

for us. He chose to be called a son of a

carpenter; He was born in a manger.

He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.(lsaiah 53:3, NASB)

And because he was from a family of a humble background with no social status; he was despised. He was rejected and still today many reject him. And why did they reject Christ, because he was pure holiness and they pure corruption.

Today people reject Christ not because

they are forced, but because they are pure

corruption and he is pure holiness. Today

people reject and despise Christ because they are too selfish; deeply rooted in their own unholy practices and actions and immorality to believe the message of life.

People are too evil to turn away from their

sinful lives and lusts. Believers are too eager to adapt the standards of the world deviating from the word of God and thus rejecting Christ.

When God looks at any sinner, he doesn't see his/her sins but sees the fully paid price which is his beloved S

on Jesus Christ.

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother"(this is the first commandment with a promise), (Ephesians 6:1, ESV)

‌Children, does not mean only tinny little children but it means any child under the roof of his or her parents and is not yet married, regardless their age is; they are still children.

‌For any child; Academics, athletics, fashion, sport and all sorts of entertainment and looks are not important, but obedience is the most important amongst all.

For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him (Leviticus 20:9, ESV)

‌The death penalty is to be applied to children who don't obey their parents. Therefore to raise a generation of people who can make a real civilization; children must be obedient to their parents.

Apostasy is characterized by the denial of the truth. It can be a denial of God's reality; a denial of the true nature of God. It can be a denial of the Christian faith at any point.

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,(1 Timothy 4:1, NASB) Apostasy can be put simply as a denial of sound doctrine.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.(2 Peter 2:1, NASB)

Apostasy can an attack on God, an attack on Christ, an attack on the gospel the way of salvation and in this place comes the doctrines of demons.