“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out 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.” (Matthew 12:33-37 ESV)
This was Jesus speaking to the Pharisees who were hypocritical liars and tricksters and those who did not practice what they preached. They did their deeds to be seen by others, they loved the places of honor, and they loved attention. But they led the people to hell on the promise of heaven, and they professed one thing but did the opposite. They adhered to religious rituals but not to God’s righteousness. They appeared spiritually clean on the outside but inwardly they were evil, full of wicked deeds, greed, hypocrisy, and self-indulgence. And they persecuted those who were righteous (see Matthew 23:1-39).
And they were opposed to Jesus and to his ministry, and they made it their practice to come against him and to set traps for him and to try to trick him into saying something wrong so that they would have cause to accuse him of wrongdoing. So Jesus was attempting to reason with them here that if what he was doing in healing people was a good thing, then the source had to be good, as well. And those who did what is evil, that evil came from them, from what was stored up in their hearts.
For they were accusing Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. So Jesus told them plainly that every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself, and his kingdom will not stand. And then Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (see Matthew 12:22-32).
And then he let them know that they who were evil could not speak what was good (in the eyes of God). “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” And that is so true! So if you ever say something not good, look inside your heart and see what is there and you should see the reason you said what you did, even if it was unintentional and not planned that you should say that. And if you wonder why you do the things that you do, look into your heart and see what is there, too.
For the good person out of his good treasure in his heart brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure in his heart brings forth evil. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (Matthew 15:17-20; Luke 6:45). So, if you are doing any of these things habitually, and especially deliberately and planned out in advance, look at what is in your heart and you will find the source for the bad fruit you bear.
Even if your actions are not planned out in advance, and even if you are not even conscious of why you do some of the things that you do, if you want to know where all this comes from, because you truly want to have a new heart, and you want to change, then let the Lord show you what is stored up in your heart that needs to come out. And then cooperate with his work of grace in getting those things out of your heart and life so that you can serve him with your life in walks of faithful obedience to him.
I will give you a personal example. I grew up with an extremely abusive father who abused me sexually and physically, and then I married a man who was in slavery to sexual sin, although I did not know that when I married him. I didn’t learn that until maybe about 20 years into our marriage (he has made confession of this publicly). And then I had pastors who were abusive towards me in different ways in varied locations. So I kept being treated with disdain and disrespect and abusively over and over again. And eventually I caved to it all and I ran from God and into sin.
Years later I was going through a healing process, and I was going through a book which was helping me with that healing process, and one of the questions was to ask God if there was anyone I had not yet forgiven, so I asked him. His answer to me was “Jesus.” And I had never considered that thought in my mind ever before, but suddenly I understood what he was telling me. All those years I had been abused, when I finally caved to the flesh, it was because I was hurt that Jesus had not rescued me from it all.
So I had to forgive Jesus, even though he did no wrong, but I had to let go of that hurt that was stored up in my heart. Then I had to accept his sovereignty over my life, that he is the one who formed me in the womb of my mother, so he is the one who put me in that home and in that family where he knew I was going to be abused. But he had a plan and a purpose for it all in my life, to make me who I am today, so he could use me as he is in his service in doing his will for my life. And he at least allowed me to marry my husband, knowing the truth that I did not know. But I believe he had a plan and a purpose for that in my life, too.
And then the third thing that I had to do was to understand and to accept that Jesus already won this battle for me. For I had been fighting off Satan’s attacks against me as a child fighting off the abuses of her father against her, with her arms crisscrossed across her face hoping to not get hit, when she knew the hits were coming. So I had to learn to take up the armor of God and to fight Satan offensively, and not just defensively, with the sword of the Spirit (the word of God) in hand, so that I no longer believed his lies.
So this is what the Lord did in my life to show me what was stored up in my heart that I was unaware of so that I could follow the leading of the Lord in surrendering those things over to him and in accepting his sovereignty over my life, and in fighting off Satan offensively and not just defensively. And so I am now proactive in my fights against the enemy of my soul and I am very guarded in heart and mind to keep myself pure and holy and to not allow the temptations to sin to enter into my mind and my heart.
And why is this important? Well, it is important for our own mental health, for one, but for how we respond to other people and to our circumstances, and so that we will not walk in the ways of the flesh, but in the ways of the Spirit. For if sin is what we practice (our habit), and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord and to his commands, then the Scriptures teach that we will not inherit eternal life with God. For we are all going to be judged by the words that we speak and by the things that we do in this life.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Just a Closer Walk with Thee
Hymn lyrics by Anonymous/Unknown
Music by American Melody
“For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you” (2 Co. 13:4 NASB).
I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.
When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.
Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Ks49apflE
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