Matthew pt 43 - The Overflow of the Heart

So we're in Matthew chapter 12 and we're continuing where we

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

really interrupted. We had to stop and we

interrupted what was already happening.

Jesus and his conversation. I don't know if you call it a

conversation, Jesus just bringing Thunder down on to the

Pharisees at this point, but we're going to, we're going to

read in verses 33 through 37. And before we do that, we're

going to consider our whole context.

So we're continuing in the same event.

We're continuing in the same moment.

Remember what's happened here? The demon possessed man was

delivered by the Lord. So this is the context of what's

been taking place. Then the enemies of Christ said

that Jesus did his miracle miracle and did this work

through the power of the devil. And they even use the insulting

name. They said he did this with the

power of the Lord of the Flies through Beelzebel.

And then Jesus points out that that's nonsensical, it's broken

logic. It doesn't make any sense.

He says if Satan is working against Satan, then his Kingdom

would fall. So we know this is true of

Satan's Kingdom. We know this is true of the

kingdoms on earth. We said this is true for a

country. It's inevitable.

If a country keeps dividing, it's not a negative thing to

say. It's just an inevitable thing to

say. It's just the obvious necessary

outcome when there's a lack of unity.

We said the same things true for households.

We need to go farther and say another thing.

That's true. It's also true of God's Kingdom,

right? The principle applies

universally. If God's Kingdom was divided

against God's Kingdom, then God's Kingdom couldn't stand.

If God was working against God, his Kingdom would also be

divided in full. So let's let's be real clear on

this then. If God was making people get

possessed with demons, and then God was driving out demons, He's

also working against himself, right?

I haven't pulled out any tricks. I'm being real simple and plain.

So let's take it another step further and say another plain

and obvious thing. If God has given somebody

sickness and disease, and then God has also coming to heal that

sickness and disease. Did I do anything sneaky there?

That was pretty straightforward, right?

Like Satan doesn't give the demon and then pull the demon

away. Jesus says that's division in

his Kingdom. That's brokenness.

So it's also nonsensical and broken whenever we would say,

well, God gave you that sickness, but the Lord also,

which does he do? Which is it?

Well, he, he's not divided, is he?

Of course he's not. He's not divided against himself

and he doesn't work against himself.

So logical stuff here. If God was given sickness to

people and then healing people, then he would plainly be working

against himself. But if we ever as we've gone

through the Gospel of Matthew so far, how many people when we

counted them all up, how many people did Jesus give demons to

zero so far. We'll have to wait and see how

it ends. How many people has Jesus given

sickness and disease to so far in Matthew, so far, it's zero.

We're going to keep we're going to keep a close eye on it and

we're going to make sure as we go through the book Spoiler 0

all the way through Jesus after all this, after all that he

makes the point about a Kingdom divided.

He then makes the point that the Kingdom of God is upon them.

And how does Jesus prove that the Kingdom of God has come to

men? Jesus always connects the

Kingdom of God to powerful works like healing the sick and

driving out demons. So you can be sure that these

two things aren't a part of God's Kingdom.

Basic powers of deduction here. Simple, simple things.

We're just observing and reading out loud.

We know. We think about Luke where Jesus

sends out the disciples and he says go heal the sick, cast out

demons, raise the dead, and then what are you going to say?

The Kingdom of God has come upon you.

So these behaviors reveal the Kingdom of God.

You go do these things and here's the what I want you to

tell people as you do those things.

So the Kingdom of God bears these witnesses.

The these are the things that witness to the Kingdom of God.

Sickness and demons just obviously can't be a part of the

Kingdom of God, which is why Jesus drives them out, which is

why Jesus is in opposition to these things.

From there, the Lord brought us this terrifying truth.

It was the reality that people can harden their hearts so much

so that they get to the place that they will never repent and

therefore they can never be forgiven.

Well, why would they never repent?

Because the Holy Spirit would never again bring them the

conviction needed to repent. You don't bring repentance and

conviction out of yourself. You don't do that.

Even the conviction and the guilt, the, the healthy guilt

that we would feel from the Lord, that's from the Lord,

that's not from you. That is a grace of God.

So I feel bad. The Lord loves you.

That's good news. If you feel nothing and you go,

I don't even care anymore, who that's super scary.

That's super, super, super, super scary.

That's not a good sign. What you should you should feel

something. You should feel the conviction

of the Lord. And if you don't, it's because

he hasn't provided it any longer.

And if he hasn't provided it any longer, that means he provided

it so often, so graciously in such abundance, and you hardened

so many times to it that he said, now because you have

rejected and rejected and rejected and rejected and

rejected, you can't be forgiven. It's not that Christ didn't pay

a price for you, He most certainly did.

It's that you'll never repent. This is the grace of God coming

to the humble, but it's also the fear of God coming upon the

prideful. So the Lord brings us that

terrifying reality and he really is going nuclear on the

Pharisees through all of this. He is bringing harsh, harsh

rebuke because they've just, they've just revealed themselves

fully and completely. He's seen it, He's seen it, He's

seen it, but he's never done this to them.

He's rebuked them, He called them wolves, He's done some

other things, but he's never gone this far.

And now he is putting them fully on blast and it gets real ugly

as we get into the passage here today.

So in verse 33 he continues, he just said whoever sins against

the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or

in the age to come. He continues here, either make

the tree good and it's fruit good or make the tree bad and

it's fruit bad for the tree is known by its fruit.

Why are you raising your voice, pastor?

Because I doubt he was whispering at this point.

I doubt it. He didn't have the bracelet yet.

What would Jesus do? So he didn't know.

Jesus is just being full Jesus, the right thing at the right

time. And now what does he say in

verse 34? You brood of Vipers, How can you

speak good when you're evil? Proud of the abundance of the

heart, the mouth speaks, The good person out of his good

treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil

treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of

judgment, people will give account for every careless word

they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by

your words you will be condemned.

God, we pray that you will bring us revelation and light on Your

word today. Holy Spirit, minister it to us

in just the right way. Help us to see first of all

ourselves and then also give us wisdom to be as wise as a

serpent and to be as innocent as a dove.

That we will get the log out of our own eyes so that when we so

that we could then see clearly to be a blessing with a heart

and motive of love for others. In Jesus name we thank you,

Amen. Verse 33.

How do you know if a tree is healthy?

It gives healthy fruit the the fruits healthy.

We say that's a healthy tree because this fruit is perfect

and delicious and healthy. What's an unhealthy tree going

to give unhealthy fruit? Jesus still here just going

through logical stuff, just pointing out obvious things that

even nature teaches. Did you know that nature reveals

the Kingdom of God? It's not a it's not a separate

thing. It's not a lesser thing.

It is part of the testimony to the Creator.

Often times as believers, we have downplayed.

This has been a thing that's happened over the past recent

generations. A lot.

Christians have downplayed the physical world and minimized it

to an unhealthy degree. The physical world matters.

And part of the consequence of that has been the confusion and

the chaos and the perversion that has come around gender in

our culture because Christians couldn't even give plain and

honest answers around the goodness of masculinity and the

goodness of femininity. And we just said, well, you

know, it's just the plumbing down there.

That's incorrect. It does include the plumbing

down there, but that's not all it is.

And we made just the physical things not preach anymore.

We said that they didn't preach to a greater reality.

We said, oh, men just happen to be taller, Men just happen to be

stronger. That preaches something, that

preaches to their responsibility to be a protector.

It means something. Well, women are softer,

literally softer, scientifically softer and more sensitive in

their skin. But that also preaches something

about the softness of femininity, and it communicates

something. But the church forever is just

going. I mean, it's all just.

We're all just interchangeable. No, we're not.

And the church wasn't clear on that.

So what hope was there for the world when we couldn't even

articulate masculine and feminine?

And now the world's gone. Yeah, they're all the same.

And we're going, no, they're not.

The world's gone. I thought you used to say they

were like, well, sorry we were dumb, we were cowardly.

Whatever it was, we missed it for sure.

So creation is preaching, creation is communicating, Jesus

is showing that look. Nature shows you what human

nature is also like. Nature shows you what the

Kingdom is also like. Everything is preaching.

Why am I not always see it? Agreed.

I don't always see it either. And yet God has built his

universe to bring him glory. And not just, this isn't cheap,

not just the wow, that's beautiful, that's good, that's

not cheap, the sunset is not cheap.

And it's not just another pretty sunset.

Beauty in itself is meaningful. Beauty in itself matters.

But that's not all there is. The more we study, the more we

look into it, the more God would would receive glory for it.

So Jesus is pointing out something that everyone was

familiar with. Guys, you know what a healthy

tree does? He is healthy fruit and he's

gone. You see these Pharisees over

here, they can't help what's coming out of their mouth is the

full reality. And Jesus having to point this

out because sometimes fruit can be deceiving.

You can deceive for a temporary season.

I can deceive you whenever. Our interactions are limited,

but the more time we spend together, it's inevitable if we

keep spending time together. You know, you just hang out with

me a little bit here and a little bit There you go, manager

Michael's awesome. Love that guy, like everything

just super squared away in his life and everything's wholesome

and holy maybe. But you know what really tell

the truth is being in my living room, seeing me with my wife,

seeing me with my children again and again and again, getting

reps in and at the picnic and at the breakfast and in our living

room and at the baseball game. And you see like you're getting

the fuller picture. And that's where you can really

start to go, man. Now we're now the whole thing's

telling the whole tale because the Pharisees were very focused

on the outward projection. What's the outward image look

like? How can I present to the people?

And the people had been misled by their shepherds, by their bad

shepherds. The people thought the Pharisees

are amazing. And Jesus said, these guys make

me sick. The people, what I thought they

were like the prototype. And Jesus says, no, I'm the

prototype. This is disgusting pride because

it's focused on the outward sign and it doesn't have the inward

change. It focuses exclusively on how

can I project the right thing? Jesus says, I'll tell you how to

project the right thing, actually be the right thing

inside, and then you don't have to project.

An apple tree doesn't sit there and go, how did I make an apple?

Apples flow out of an apple tree.

It's the most natural thing in the world, the fruit of the

spirit. It's the most natural thing in

the world to flow out of a St. who walks with the Lord.

I got to get better at this fruit of the spirit.

That's not how the Saint walks. The one who's filled with the

spirits going. This is the natural flow of the

one who's in communion with the Lord, the one who's in the

fellowship with the Saints, the the goodness, the the Lovejoy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness and self-control. Those things come out of us like

apples out of the apple tree. So Jesus is pointing out healthy

fruit comes from a healthy tree. Jesus is telling that that

what's true in nature, in creation is also true in human

nature, and we should be fruit inspectors.

He's teaching the people what to look for in the Pharisees as

he's rebuking the Pharisees in front of everybody.

This is an object lesson for everybody.

And the Pharisees are standing there with the dunce cap on in

front of everybody as Jesus is putting them on blast.

And he's just saying, look, here's the problem, here's

what's going on with these guys, and he's showing the inside is

coming out. So we should be fruit

inspectors. And who do you think we should

begin with? Should we begin with Chris or

Bailey or Matt or Hudson? I say we start with Hudson.

We should start with us. Me.

Be a fruit inspector. Be a judge.

Judge yourself first. Judge yourself honestly.

Judge yourself humbly. Even Paul, Paul said.

My conscience is clear, he said. But that doesn't clear me before

the Lord because I might even be deceiving myself.

All the more reason for the need for Christian fellowship.

Who will love you through anything?

Who'll go, Hey brother, I see this thing and you go.

I don't see that in me. Like I don't know, can we walk

through it some? Can we, can we maybe walk down

that path a little bit? I could be wrong, but let's,

let's trust one another. Let's love one another through

this. So when you see, when you

recognize fruit, the first fruit you should recognize is in

yourself, but you should also then recognize fruit in others.

You don't need to condemn them. That's not the purpose, that's

not the motive. We don't have to go full nuclear

Jesus on them, but we need to be as wise as serpents.

And the reason for that is if you're as wise as serpent, you

probably, if you're as wise as a serpent, you probably won't be

bitten by 1. So that's an important need for

the Saints to be as wise as a serpent.

Why? So you can recognize a serpent

be as wise as serpent. He didn't say be serpents.

Why? Because serpents have venom.

And the Saints, we got none of that.

None of that could be in us, but I need to be able to recognize

it. And the people of God who Jesus

loved, he said they were like sheep without a shepherd.

He hated that they were following the Pharisees.

And he's going, these are snakes and these people are biting them

and putting venom into the people.

And he wants the people to be as wise as serpents.

He wants his disciples to be as wise as serpents so so they can

recognize because people were were easily deceived.

We're sheep and we can be misled and we can go, man, this guy

says all the right things. He looks good, he sounds good.

Look at his we'll talk about ministers.

Look at his ministry. Look how big it is.

The size of it clearly implies the blessing of the Lord on it,

right? Bigger has to equal better.

It has to bigger doesn't equal. It doesn't equal evil either.

But we just have to judge fruit, and we have to know which fruit

to judge and how many listeners on the radio show.

Isn't the fruit that should be judged the fruit in this

individual's life? We talked about this before.

How do we identify a false teacher?

Sometimes their teaching can be a bit tricky to pin down.

A snake's hard to hit, remember? But the fruit in their life, the

fruit of their character, is the thing that reveals everything.

And Jesus is saying the character is what's going to

speak. You give it time, it's going to

show up. So when you see a red flag, you

don't dismiss it and you also don't need to build a bigger

case out of it than is warranted, but don't ignore it.

So a red flag, it might not mean everything, but it don't mean

nothing. You see a red flag and a brother

or a sister in in the church, That's good.

The Lord wants you to pray for them.

You're going to see red flags in each other.

You should. You should see red flags in

yourself and in your family. You go.

You don't have to go defcon one on somebody.

You can just go man. I want to pray for them.

Lord. Thank you God, I pray that you

would bring revelation to them. I pray that you would bring

whatever it is, whatever it is that you think the Lord has

shown you, whatever it is you think you need.

Well, the purpose is for ministry.

The purpose is to care for them. The Lord wants you to pray for

them. And when you're praying for

them, your heart is going to be kept pure and protected.

And then the Lord might even have you go speak with them.

Hey brother, I want to bring some up to you man.

This might be an awkward conversation, but can you bear

with me? Hey, sister, I want to talk to

you about something, something I noticed.

Can you bear with me on this? OK, what's up?

So. So then we move forward and we

begin to care for one another. If we're not wise as serpents,

we can be misled like the people were by the Pharisees because we

can get caught up in how people present themselves.

You ever been there? Man, this guy's so great.

I've been there. I've seen that before.

Like this guy is like, I like him.

I like his personality. I mean, I just get along with

him. He knows the word, but his wife

and kids, like, something's off. Things don't add up.

You ever just seen that in life? You're like, I love this.

And I can't reconcile something that I'm seeing.

Well, when we're younger, when we're more mature, when we're

less wise, we just go. That must mean nothing.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. And you also don't have to say

it means everything. You just have to say give me

wisdom, Lord, and help me to pray, help me to proceed with

wisdom because it it don't mean everything, but it don't mean

nothing. Well, I really like this and

like this and like this. Agreed.

And yet that doesn't mean that we should proceed.

So you know, we're thinking about right now, we're praying

through. I don't know if you saw the

announcement. I've, I've talked to you about

it in here, but I put it on Facebook this week how Salt

Church is seeking another pastor to join me in the work.

I said from day one, I told you all who were here in the very

beginning, it was always my intention to pastor with other

pastors. You'll hear me use the term

pastor and elder totally interchangeably, by the way.

And, and what I have in mind in that role is not the, the

structure of associate pastors like Joe Michael is the lead guy

and there's a bunch of other guys who do my bidding, but the

sense where we, where we really are peers and we really do

shepherd the flock together. So I put on Facebook this week

just to begin to publicize that that news and that conversation.

I've had multiple people reach out.

I had a little application, a simple system to try and rule

people out. I don't waste anybody's time.

And I want to be as open with them as possible so that they

can be repulsed by me as soon as possible, sooner rather than

later, right? It's better to find out that you

hate Joe Michael early on. Like I, I never want to trick

anybody. Like, hey, I'll give you both

barrels right now. So now you can cast your vote.

So had a few guys reach out. But in that process, you know,

it's, it's the kind of thing where you have to be very, very,

very thorough. So if there, if there were to

emerge a candidate, we'll call them who I thought, this seems

promising. I'm going to go so, so, so

thorough. I'm going to go so slowly and

there's going to be so much living room time with his family

and my family and references and time and time and time.

I don't want to belabor it longer than is necessary, but

I'm certainly going to err on that side instead of the faster

side. Why?

Because I love the flock of God and because the stakes are very

high and we can't be, we can't, we don't want to go in blind.

Are you looking for somebody perfect?

No, you don't have a perfect pastor now.

But I am looking to know the whole truth.

I want to be able to make a decision knowing the whole

truth. That's my right in this context.

I should be able to know everything and then I can make

decisions with it. So we want to, we want to

appoint men when God wants to appoint men and all we have to

pick from is men. There's not, there's nobody.

There's no angels and Jesus isn't going to come and serve in

these roles. So we have to deal with humans

and we're going to deal with a lot of people.

So we're not we're not putting up barriers like the Pharisees

did for things. We want to honor the calling of

God on people's lives. And yet there's a big difference

between a wise and godly process compared to the immaturity,

responsible process that would say Bob thinks he has a call on

his life. Oh, praise the Lord.

Let's all celebrate. And Bob wants to preach next

week. We'll give him the pulpit like

that's. Those that would be obscene.

That would be ridiculous. That would be unwise and

unhealthy. So we want to move forward wise

as serpent and serpents is everything that we do.

And we've got to give time to identify fruit.

I wouldn't know what an apple tree look like if it was the

offseason. I wouldn't if it didn't have

apples on it or apples on in summertime.

Anybody apple fall. OK, so if it's not fall, if it's

like spring, I don't know that that's an apple tree.

Personally, I'd be like, get, let me give it some time and by

next fall, I can tell you with absolute certainty I'll be like

a master gardener. When it comes time for the fall,

I'll say that's an apple tree. But in the meantime, I'd say I'm

not so sure about that. So it takes time.

Fruit and trees don't disagree. I came up with that.

I'm a real preacher now. I make stuff rhyme.

I've never had a little rhyming phrase.

That one's not perfect, but it's kind of close.

Fruit and trees don't disagree. We can't always immediately

identify a wolf or a snake by their teaching.

Not right away, but give the fruit some time.

Let's keep going. Verse 34.

Y'all listening too slow. You brood of Vipers.

Not you, you brood of Vipers. How can you speak good when you

are evil? For out of the abundance of the

heart, the mouth speaks. Jesus just raining down bombs at

this point in front of everybody.

Brood means offspring. So Jesus is saying you offspring

of snakes. That means Jesus is saying your

mama's a snake and you're a snake.

Not nice stuff, is it? That was not very nice of Jesus,

but it was very good of Jesus. Why?

Because Jesus is judging harsh hearts, hard hearts, cold

hearts, hearts that hate God. I wish, I think if he had gone

about it a little differently. Nope.

This is what's called for at this time and in this moment.

This is the right thing at the right time.

And it's also a protection for all the onlookers who still

might in some degree say those Pharisees are where it's at.

I know Jesus kind of corrected him a little bit, but I think

so. Jesus removes all doubt.

Now, you sons of snakes, your mama's a snake, your daddy's a

snake, and you're a snake and you're full of venom, there's no

longer any doubt of whether or not we should be trusting or

following these men. You have to choose in this

moment between Jesus and the Pharisees.

If you're one of the disciples and you like Rabbi so and so, or

you're one of the just the random Jewish people who's

following around, you have to pick in this moment, Jesus is

gone. You have to make a judgment,

right? Jesus does that all the time.

He's always dividing, He's always clarifying.

He's always his motive is to gather his flock to himself.

You get to pick whether or not you're going to be a part of his

flock. So he comes on strong with the

whole truth that's needed in this context.

These guys are so far gone in their hearts.

This rebuke is appropriate. This wouldn't be appropriate for

your brother or sister in the church who you see one red flag

with, Right. Hey, I noticed something with

you. Can we talk?

Yeah. You brood of snakes.

Your mama's a snake. Your daddy's.

I'm just being like Christ right now.

I can't help that. You can't receive this, brother.

No. So this was a this was a context

we're going to consider that everything that had happened

leading up to this, right? So a lot of times when we're

dealing with one another, this is not where we have to go with

it. We could escalate to here, but

we don't ever start here. And Jesus didn't start here with

them either. Jesus calls them evil.

And then he gives this gem verse 34.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

He's saying the same thing in a different way.

Out of the nature of the tree, the apple grows out of the

abundance of the heart. So your heart is overflowing

with something. You ever been told you're full

of it, you're full of it. You're full of something, you're

full of it, or you're full of the Holy Spirit.

The mouth in particular, though, Jesus is pointing out the mouth

reveals the heart. Scripture has a lot to say about

our mouths, a lot to say about our words.

The mouth reveals the heart. The mouth is a key piece of

fruit that reveals what's going on deeper inside of us.

What comes out of your mouth reveals more about your heart

than it does about anyone or anything that you're talking

about. Sometimes we intend to reveal

something about someone or something.

And really, your words are always revealing what's in you.

No matter what happened, your response to it is always

revealing your your view of it, your perspective of it.

It's always telling us more about you, for better or worse.

So whatever it is you're full of, it is going to come out.

If it's the Holy Spirit, then the fruit of the Spirit is going

to come gushing out. It's going to be the beautiful,

wholesome thing that's needed. If your heart's overflowing with

something else, then that will come out.

And sometimes it feels like a mixture, doesn't it?

But if it's a mixture, it's not a mixture.

If it's a mixture, it's no longer pure.

So it's pure or it's a mixture. You go, well, it's kind of a

little bit of both, right? Meaning it's not the pure thing.

So This is why it's so important that we protect and guard our

heart, not that we just protect and guard our mouth.

I've got to do better with my mouth.

Really. My heart is what needs more and

more and more help. Verse 35, he continues, the good

person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil

person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

So another analogy here, another comparison.

He's saying we got trees, we got hearts, and now we also have

treasures. So think about your treasure

box. Your treasure chest is your

heart and he's saying you open it up and that's what you that's

the only thing you have to offer out of you got nowhere else to

go get anything for your mouth. Everything that comes out of

your mouth came out of your treasure chest.

Do you have a good treasure chest?

Good. We're all going to be blessed by

it. Do you have a bad treasure

chest? That's all you got to offer

eventually. You can, you can hide

temporarily as the Pharisees attempted to do, but Jesus

exposed that fully. So your treasure chest always

reveals what's in you. It's all you have to offer.

And you can't possibly offer something else, not forever

anyway. But we're not going to make this

mistake. Say I won't make this mistake.

I don't want you to just think that I need to fix my mouth.

No, you, you don't need to just fix your mouth.

You need to fix your heart because out of your heart come

the words. This is not an issue of mouth

muscles, breath, vocal cords and the sound waves that they create

through the air that then hit eardrums.

There's the physical details of it and the physical world is

beautiful and good. It preaches and yet this isn't.

That's not the issue. It's not just the the phonetical

sounds that people hear. You don't need to just grit your

teeth, right? Because that's trying to.

That's trying. That's another mouth solution.

I'm going to control this problem with my mouth.

No, that's only delaying the inevitable.

You talk to your wife that way because of what's in your heart.

You talk to your husband that way because of what's in your

heart. You talk to your kids that way

because of what's in your heart. You talk to your parents that

way because of what's in your heart.

You talk to your parents that way because of what's in your

heart. Was it good or bad as I was

saying of those things? Are you feeling convicted or are

you feeling? Yeah, I do talk to my wife that

way because of what's in my heart.

I do talk to my husband that way and I'm what a blessing either

way. Someone days, it might be one

thing, one day it might be another thing, but you don't

need to just sew your mouth shut.

What you need to do is give more of yourself to the Lord, take

more of yourself to him in humility and go, Lord, I'm

talking that way. I'm talking to my coworker that

way. I'm talking about whoever that

way because of what's in my heart, That's where the issue

is. Oh, I need to watch my mind.

I better not say anything else. Well, brother, sister, first of

all, I agree you probably shouldn't.

So that's a good thing. By all means, zip it.

And at the same time, go to the Lord with what?

With what's bubbling up, Go to the Lord with what's both.

So by all means, do shut up. That would be better for you.

That would be better for me. That would be a blessing to all

of us. And tell me when I need to shut

up as well, by the way. But that's not the final

solution. We haven't fixed it.

All we did was cut off one bad apple.

In that moment, we go. That Apple's rotten.

Ha, ha. Nothing to see here.

Look at my beautiful tree. Well, where'd that apple come

from? He didn't just come from

nowhere. He came from somewhere.

Well, I don't want to deal with that.

But you should take it to the Lord.

He's going to heal it. He'll take that rod out.

There's something going on in the roots.

There's something wrong deeper in the tree.

But the Lord will heal that. But don't just keep snipping off

apples when you see spots on them.

Go just going to deal with that. Don't don't be a Pharisee

because eventually you keep doing that and you just got

nothing on your tree. So let's make the tree healthy.

You need to get your heart before the Lord in that

particular area and then actually submit to him.

Confess your sin to the Lord. Confession of sin is so

important, and I would encourage you also to confess your sin to

others. That's a that's a command that's

given in Scripture. Confess your sins to one another

that you may be healed. Confess your sins to one

another. So the way I look at confession

of sin is I confess to somebody so that it hurts.

And I believe if you don't, when you confess sin, if it doesn't

hurt, then it's probably not going to help.

So I confess sin up the chain of command is the way I look at it.

I confess sin to Pastor Ken because it stings more that way.

There's other people that I could confess to.

There's other people that I can talk to, but there's certain

people that you like. Oh, who would that?

Who would that sting more if he had to tell?

Not not because they're going to go nuclear on you, because

they're going to give you grace. I'm talking about a Christian is

going to go, hey, Yep, you're right.

Your sin is so bad, Jesus had to die for it.

Let's take it to the Lord right now and let's get cleansed right

now that that's who you take it to, by the way, that it needs to

be a person who loves the gospel and loves you and wants to see

you restored, not to go. I got some Intel that's going to

be useful later. No, no, no.

This is a trusted, loving, mature St.

But it needs to sting. Why do you say that, Joe

Michael? I don't feel like I should feel

bad. Well, Jesus said that it would

be better to cut off your hand. If your hand causes you to sin,

he said cut it off. Isn't that exactly the opposite

of what you're just saying, pastor?

That we're not supposed to just cut off the thing?

But Jesus's point wasn't literal, it was hyperbole.

So he wasn't actually saying cut off your hand.

How do you know? Well, all the disciples, as far

as we know, kept all their hands throughout the three years they

were they were with Christ. So he said gouge out your eye.

Does he really want them to gouge out their eye?

No, he's saying though your actions should be so extreme

that it should hurt. No, I got to get get this sin

out of my life. Are you willing to hurt for it?

No. Then you're not going to get it

out of your life. You're just not because you just

don't want it bad enough. You hear about that hiker who

got trapped years ago hiking by himself.

The boulder came down and he was pinned against the wall.

It was like 5 days. He was stuck.

I won't go too graphic here, but he decided he wanted to live

instead of keep his arm. So he lived, but he didn't keep

his arm. Well.

But I love my arm. Well, you can love your arm, but

you're staying with it and you're running out of time.

So he eventually found a way to be free of his arm and he's

still alive today because of it. So that was a very literal sense

of getting rid of your arm. So my point about confession of

sin is referencing Jesus's point of being willing to do whatever

it takes. The point is, are you willing to

do whatever it takes? But it wasn't Jesus's point was

not a physical focus of if your mouth causes you to sin, rip

your tongue out. But he also has already taught

us that a mouth doesn't cause us to sin If your eye causes you to

sin, she said. But he's also taught us that an

eye doesn't cause you to sin. A heart causes you to sin.

He says, you know, if your hand calls you, but a hand doesn't

cause you to sin. I caused my hand actually to

cause me to say it's me, though it comes out of me.

It's it came out of my heart. It was out of the overflow of

the heart that the hand touched. It was out of the overflow of

the heart that the mouth spoke. It was out of the overflow of

the heart that the eye looked. It was the heart that all these

places came from. So the point of confession of

sin is confess sin. And if it never hurts, then it's

probably not helping. And you probably can confirm

that yourself. You go, man, you're right.

I just kind of want to like keep that under wraps, like, but

maybe maybe the thing that's going to be confess your sin to

one another that you may be healed.

Maybe your healing would actually come from this thing.

Deliverance comes from this thing.

When you actually bring it into the light.

Well, I don't want to do that. But but why?

I already know you have sin in your life.

You already know I have sin in my life.

Like you're not the hero. I'm not the hero.

We go together to the hero. You say, oh, I've done this

thing. Well, let's go to the hero.

I can't do anything with that, but I know who can.

The Lord can. This is what a culture of race

looks like. It brings correction because

that's what grace is. That's what the Holy Spirit

does. And with the Holy Spirit, stop

showing you grace. Remember, that's unforgivable.

So now all that focus on the heart, all that focus on the

heart, it's important, it's good.

But the New Testament does have quite a bit to say about our

specific words. Ephesians 429 Let no corrupting

talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for

building up as fits the occasion, that it may give grace

to those who hear. So how do I let no corrupting

talk come out of my mouth? Do I just do a better job of

shutting my mouth? Well, yeah, for starters, you

know, if if tomorrow you go, oh, that is not, that is not going

to be building up. So first of all, do shut up, do

clamp down in that moment. But more importantly, take that

thing to the Lord and go, Lord, this is so a part of who I am.

And I hate to even say that because that's a scary thing to

realize, but it's already true. So Lord, get it out of me.

Grow this out of me, Build this out of me, heal this out of me.

So clamp down when you need to clamp down.

But know that that is a momentary and temporary solution

just while we actually pray and go, Lord, heal this tree.

Make this tree healthy. Make this treasure box full of

your treasure. God, fill me with your spirit.

Because when I'm filled with your spirit, then what comes out

of my mouth will be good for building up.

It will fit the occasion, and it will give grace to those who

hear Matthew 1511. Jesus, we'll see in a few

chapters. Jesus is going to say, it's not

what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes

out of the mouth that defiles a person.

This isn't him contradicting himself.

Again, how do we know what Jesus is saying?

We look at all of Scripture. We don't just say, do you got a

verse for that? We say, what does the word of

God teach? What does the word of God

reveal? And we got to consider

everything we say, ah, I see what he's saying.

It's out of the heart that things come.

And yes, by your words you will be justified, praise God, or by

your words, you will be condemned.

So words matter. Why?

Because they reveal the heart. Words don't matter because of

words. Words matter because they reveal

what's already going on. Actions matter.

It's called fruit. And then I want to read to you

and James. We're going to start closing.

Start closing in James chapter 3.

James 3 · chapter mention

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you

know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness,

for we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble

in what he says, he's a perfect man, able to bridle his whole

body. If we put bits into mouths of

horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as

well. Look at the ships also.

Though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they're

guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot

directs. So also the tongue is a small

member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire, and the

tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.

The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole

body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire

by hell. For every kind of beast and

bird, of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has

been tamed by mankind. But no human being can tame the

tongue. It is a restless evil, full of

deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and

Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the

likeness of God. From the same mouth come

blessing and cursing, my brothers.

These things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from

the same opening? Both fresh and salt water?

Can a fig tree, my brother's bare olives, or a Grapevine

produce figs? No, neither can a salt pond

yield fresh water. So you see James go in both

directions. He addresses the the the shut up

and clamp down, get control of your tongue.

And then he finishes with the root in the heart of the thing.

What? What?

What kind of can can a fig tree give you olives?

Of course not. Can a Grapevine give you figs?

Of course not. Can a salt pond give you fresh

water? Of course not.

So control your tongue. How do I do it?

By taking your heart to the Lord, confessing your sin to the

Lord, staying humble before the Lord, being willing to have the

Lord walk you back and come back and say, hey, you know what,

brother, I just want to, I just want to reach out.

And I've had to do this many times in my life as somebody who

talks for a living, for my work and as a pastor.

Not many of you should become teachers, you know, you'll be

judged with greater strictness. These are things I take

seriously. And many times I've had to call

somebody and follow up somebody. Hey, man, I went too far earlier

when I said XYZ. Oh brother, man, it's all good.

I appreciate you being gracious, man, but my I'm, I'm convicted

right now and I don't even have all the details.

I just know it was wrong and and would you forget?

Yeah, man, I forgive you. I give you grace.

Thank you. I appreciate that, brother.

Sometimes it's it's that simple. Maybe sometimes it's a lot more,

but not just the confession of the moment, but also the Lord

who or protect me, protect me from that.

Get that out of me and help me to be willing to really kill

that thing. We're going to finish up back in

chapter 12 with verses 36 and 37.

So yes, get your heart purified by the Lord, and yes, control

your mouth. Verse 36 I tell you, on the day

of judgement, people will give account for every careless word

they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by

your words you will be condemned.

I want to clarify, I don't think that when Jesus talks about

careless words, I don't think this applies to every innocent

careless word. But instead, I think it applies

to every guilty, careless word because again, we could become

really, really, really regimented and you could go to

absurd places. You say silly things when you're

playing with your children. You say goofy.

Like there's all kinds of there's a, there's a big area

where we have to just go, What is Jesus actually talking about?

Well, let's rewind and figure out where we were, what had just

happened. The demon comes out and these

people go, that's of the devil and Jesus goes.

So let's consider the context. So this this wouldn't imply I'm

teasing with a friend. I don't think now wickedness,

guilty words are a different category altogether.

But but carefree is not the careless that I think Christ has

in mind here. Why do you say that pastor?

He said what he said. I say that because we're looking

at everything the full context of the nuclear bombs he's

dropping on the Pharisees, the people who he just said you're

doomed and you can never be forgiven.

That's the context. What words is he referencing?

He's referencing evil words that were just spoken about Christ.

The careless evil word that's spoken, that's a dangerous word

to speak. I'm so callous.

I'm so casual with the things of God.

I'll speak evil about the things of God.

Jesus said every careless word. That's the context.

The careless word that was just spoken was he's casting out

demons by the power of the devil.

So that was the example. It wasn't a father playing with

his child saying I'm going to get you and I'm going to eat all

your fingers, ha ha, ha, ha. And you said that was a careless

word. You'll be judged for it.

Like, I don't think that's a fair or genuine reading of all

that's happened here. So we look at the context, we

see that Jesus is dropping bombs on a particular group of people,

literally accusing them of saying they've committed the

important, unforgivable sin. And still by your words, you

will be justified. And still, by your words you

will be condemned. Everything Jesus says is true.

We just have to fully understand what He means by what He says.

Everything he said is true. On the day of Judgement, people

will give an account for every careless word they speak.

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you

will be condemned. And for the Saints, this is good

news. Again, this is an assuring word.

Why? Well, because if you confess

your sins, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord

and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the

dead, you will be saved. Is it just the mouth that didn't

know? It was the heart that believed

and then the mount was the obvious fruit that followed.

We don't get the cart before the horse.

This is the horse. The heart is the horse that

pulls. Put whatever you want in the

wagon. There's going to be a lot of

good things or bad things depending on the horse and where

he's walking. But it is your confession that

will make all the difference. When we stand before the Lord,

we get there and he says, why should I let you in?

Jesus, the cross, the blood, your Son, that's it.

I confess, Jesus is Lord me. There's nothing I have to offer

apart from his righteousness that you imputed to me.

He is the propitiation for my sin, if you want to use the

fancy word. So Jesus is the answer.

He is our assurance. So again, God's people should be

comforted in reading this passage.

Many Saints, as we talked about last week, have been overwhelmed

and intimidated, saying, have I committed the unpardonable sin?

Your humility and fear of the Lord reveals that you haven't.

Well, I'm worried about my words.

Well, you should be. Our words are to be taken

seriously. The New Testament has a lot to

say about them. But the way to deal with your

words is not just getting better control of the mouth.

The the way to get better control of the mouth is to

humble the heart and actually take yourself before the Lord

more and continue to renew your mind.

Get the word of God in your heart.

Get the word of God in your head.

Let the Lord change you. Let the Lord shake you.

Let the Lord bless you and heal you.

It's an assurance for the people of God to know that their inside

has already been changed. You've been made a new creation.

If you're in Christ, that work has already been done.

And yet because of our unrenewed mind, we do allow things into

our heart. We do allow things in there that

shouldn't be there. And this is the purpose of

Saints continuing to confess their sin, which the New

Testament teaches. Christians do sin.

We no longer have the identity of a Sinner.

And yet Christians still sin. We still confess sin.

We still grow in maturity and we still point to the one who

rescues us from sin and we confess that Jesus is Lord God.

It is a joy and a blessing to have hearts that have been

changed. And now we confess that Jesus is

Lord. We confess that He has saved us,

that He has cleansed us is by His blood Lord.

We do want to control our mouths. self-control is one of

the fruits of the Spirit. We do want to have control over

this rudder that steers our whole life.

We don't want our tongue to set our life on fire.

Small fires are big fires and we don't want our tongue to be set

on fire by hell. God, we pray that you would set

our tongues on fire with the Holy Spirit.

We pray that you would fill us up again with your spirit.

God guide us into confession of sin that we would be healed that

we would be a humble people. Confession of sin is a a mark, a

healthy marker in the life of the believer that we would

continually come before the throne of grace with boldness,

knowing that will be received because of Jesus that mature us

as your church give us humble hearts.

Holy Spirit, we thank you so much for the grace of your

correction. Father, we thank you that you

discipline us. We are not illegitimate

children, but we really are loved by our Father.

We receive your correction, we receive your, your grace.

They are one in the same. Thank you for the love and the

forgiveness. Thank you for being the Father

who really loves us. And now the Lord bless you and

keep you. The Lord make his face shine

down upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen.