Welcome to the preaching ministry of Tri-City Baptist Church in Chandler, Arizona. Our desire is that God would be magnified through the preaching of his word, and that Christians would be challenged, strengthened, and edified in their personal walk with Christ. I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12, book of Hebrews, Twelfth chapter, if you want to use the Bibles there in the chairs, we're going to be on page 836. This evening I will be starting a series from 1 Corinthians chapter 10 on learning from bad examples, but really the man that we're going to consider this morning is also one of those examples that is given by the Holy Spirit to teach us that we would not fall into the same temptations and sins that they did. The man hated his younger brother. He hated him with a passion. And it wasn't really without reason. His brother was manipulative, deceitful, and conniving. He knew how to push the buttons of his older, more impulsive brother. The rivalry had gone on for as long as either of them could remember. In fact, even longer than that. This sibling rivalry began before birth. Does that sound strange? Well, when I say younger brother, I should point out that he was younger, but their age difference could be counted in seconds, minutes at the most. These boys were twins. Sometimes when kids get rough, we tell them, take it outside. These battles began while they were still in the womb. We first read of their struggle in Genesis chapter 25, verse 22. The Hebrew word that's used there for their in utero interactions is a word that's translated elsewhere to oppress, to crush, to break, or destroy. These were not friendly struggles. They had their own full contact cage fight, WWE, womb wrestling encounters. These smackdowns were going on before they were born. In fact, it reached the point where their mother questioned whether these difficulties in her pregnancy, what was going on, and the Lord answered and said this. We read it in Genesis 25, 23. The Lord said, two nations are in your womb. Two peoples shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. And when they were born, in Genesis chapter 25, verse 25, it says, the first came out red, he was like a hairy garment all over, so they called his name Esau. Afterward, his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Esau's name appears to be a play on the word hairy, while Jacob's means heel grabber, or deceiver. And although sharing the same heritage, the same parents, the same birthday, these boys couldn't have been more different. Esau was an outdoorsman. He was skilled in his hunting. He was brawny, he was tough, he was athletic. Jacob was more of a homebody. He was quiet, calculating, kind of a mama's boy. Their differing personalities only accentuated the contention between them. And the rivalry went on throughout their entire life. It reached a climax when one day Esau came in from the field, he was famished, and impulsively he sold his special privileges as the firstborn to his brother for some food. Later, the calculating Jacob, with his mother's guidance, tricked his father into bestowing upon him the blessing that was intended for his older brother Esau. And at this point, Esau was fed up with it. He was sick and tired of his brother's scheming, and he decided that he would murder his own twin brother. That is not a happy home environment. Now why do I share that illustration? Because the New Testament passage that I've had you turn to here in Hebrews is the New Testament commentary on Esau. It's an example of the fruit that develops from the root of bitterness. And what I want us to consider this morning is that when you fail to respond properly to disappointments, you will contaminate not only your own life, but the attitudes of those around you. If you have your Bibles open, follow with me as I begin reading in Hebrews chapter 12. I'm gonna begin in verse 12, we'll read down to verse 17. Hebrews 12, 12. Therefore, strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight the path for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated or rather be healed. Pursue peace. with all people in holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, as we look into your word this morning, we pray that we would not simply be hearers, but that we would examine our own hearts. lest there be the seeds of hurt and roots of bitterness that would spring up and defile. Lord, help us to learn from this example that we would rest upon your grace. And we ask this in Christ's name, amen. What I want us to see from this passage is that when we fail to respond properly to the disappointments and hurts that come, that the seeds of bitterness will find root and grow. The first thing I want us to see about bitterness is that it may result in a failure to run after peace and holiness. This passage began by saying we're to pursue peace. We're to pursue holiness with all people. The immediate context of this passage is the race, the spiritual race. Going back to the first part of this chapter, running the race of faith, that we're to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ. He's the author and completer of our faith. And then there's a section that talks about how God brings discipline into the lives of His children. It talks about the difficulty of living among sinners and struggling with sin. And that God chastens his own so that we would be like Christ. We don't enjoy the chastening. It's not enjoyable for the moment. This is what verses 5 through 11 are telling us. But God has a purpose for it. And then in verse 12, where we began, it tells us there are times we get tired. We get hurt. You know, in running that race, we start, our hands hang down, there's that loss, and it's telling us, continue to strive forward for peace and holiness. That God's discipline is part of the developmental process to bring forth a peaceable fruit of righteousness that's mentioned in verse 11. Somebody said that God will not bestow happiness on those who will not pursue holiness. were to seek after holiness. And the characteristic of a Christian that is growing is a harvest of peace. So in essence, as believers, we're to be peace chasers. Pursue peace. As it says in Romans 12, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with everyone. That this is our desire. So what does it take to pursue peace? How do we do that? Well, you pursue peace by extending forgiveness. And we talked about this last week. We looked at the aspect of forgiveness, that we endeavor to respond biblically to hurts and offenses that come to all of us. That we deal with those and those interpersonal conflicts in a way that will bring honor to the Lord and not allow those seeds of hurt to develop into roots of bitterness. Bitterness is the result of responding improperly to hurt. Bitterness takes root as we replay those hurts over and over in our mind. And what we have to do is we have to take those to the Lord. that His grace is sufficient. We talked last week about the promise of forgiveness that generally is that promise that I will not hold the offense against you to bring it up against you. That I may have to bring it up to help you, but not in a pejorative, negative, holding it, you owe me sense. That I will not bring the offense up to others behind your back. That I don't bring it up to myself to dwell on. And we can do that third thing, even if they don't seek forgiveness, that we take it to the Lord. that we're peace chasers, and understanding that the importance of this, because if we don't run after peace and holiness, bitterness may arrive. Second thing we see is that bitterness arises from a faulty view of God, that we want to see God, we want to have the right view, and sometimes our struggle when hurts come is, why did God allow this unpleasantness in my life? You know, I'm trying to serve Him and this happens, and there are many reasons for that. Sometimes it's the consequences of our sins, sometimes it's the sin of others. We live in a fallen world. Even our world groans because of the fall. But the promise of Romans 8, 39 is that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And there's a list of things that won't separate us, and none of those are pleasant. Tribulation, distress, persecution, lack of personal lack, physical threats. It doesn't separate us from the love of God. But that passage reminds us that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. If you're our child of God, nothing will separate you from His love, and He's working everything for His glory and your good. What is His purpose? That we would be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. that we would be like his son. So the opening verses in verses five and following, part of that discipline process of God is to bring us to that. And understanding that a bitter person does not respond properly to God's discipline in his or her life. We lose sight of the fact that God is in control. It's easy to focus on the violation of our justice system. That's not fair. But the problem is, our justice system is defective. And it's depraved. It's defective because we don't see as God sees. That God is working. And it's depraved that we do have a slanted view that doesn't always bring in all the details. And when this happens, we lose sight that God's perspective is eternal. Do you remember Joseph in Genesis? He's actually Esau's nephew, Jacob's son. His brothers didn't like him, there was family issues there as well. And they talked about killing him, but instead they sell him as a slave, and years later, you know the story, he ends up as second in command in all of Egypt. And his brothers come after their father dies, and they're concerned for their life, and they ask for his forgiveness, and Joseph says to them, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive. Genesis 50, verse 20. They meant evil. Their motives were not good. But God's purpose was bigger. Don't lose sight of the fact that God is in control. We don't always know why the hurts come, what God is doing, but we can trust Him. Do you have a view of God that trusts Him? Do we really believe that God is good and does good all the time? It's easy to say. It's much harder to apply. Because if we believe that, then how can bitterness be cultivated? See, bitter people have a flawed view of God. And the third thing we see is bitterness displays a failure to attain God's grace. It says in verse 15, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God. God's grace does not fail, but we can fail to depend on God's grace. We can fail to apply it to our lives. And it's impossible to become bitter without failing to lay a hold of God's grace. If we become bitter, we are not attaining to His grace. This grace begins at salvation. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, and then it continues to train us in how to live godly lives in a godless age, that we would be sober, righteous, godly in this present age. Often the disappointments of life are what cause us to struggle. And you know, we see a number of those in Esau's family. This really was a dysfunctional home. The first one was there was personal disappointment. I mean, Esau's father, Isaac, was the promised son of Abraham and Sarah. The promise was that God would bless Abraham, make a great nation out of him, and that he would be the father of many nations, and God would multiply his descendants as the stars of the heaven and the sand which is on the seashore. That was Genesis 22, verse 17. Do you think that put any pressure on Isaac? Your dad is going to have all of these descendants. Isaac doesn't get married till he's 40. And he doesn't have the twins until he's 60. 20 years, Isaac and Rebecca struggled with infertility. Do you think that was a stress point in their marriage? How do you think those family gatherings were? I mean, Sarah had already died, but Abraham's still alive, and he's got this promise that he's gonna have descendants like the sand on the seashore. It's like, any news yet? When are you gonna start your family? Well, they started it when they were married. But there's this anticipation. I mean, he wants to be a grandpa. That's the reward for not killing your kids. I mean, and Abraham came really close. And he's waiting. And the years are going by. Abraham celebrates 140th birthday, and Isaac's married, and now 145, and no news, and 150. I mean, how many candles can you put on one cake? Do you think that created any problem in the home? I mean, there are significant personal hurts caused by people in those situations. And they're not going to be shared. But they waited 20 years to have this birth to have these twins and Then what you find a sibling rivalry. We've already talked about that I've already shared with you what the story that we get in the Old Testament and and Understanding these boys that should have been good friends. They should have they should have encouraged one another They should have looked at what God was doing. They became adversaries This was not a there was no harmony in this home. I Imagine the conversations between Jacob and Esau, the cutting words, the sarcastic comments, if they even spoke at all. And it became further incited by parental favoritism. Genesis 25-28 tells us that Isaac loved Esau because he ate his game, he loved the food, he loved the wild game dinners that Esau would prepare, but Rebekah loved Jacob. And this led to a house that was divided. In fact, Rebecca was aggressive and manipulative. And we read this in Genesis 27, when she hears that her husband is planning to bless Esau, and he says, go out and get something, fix a delicious wild game dinner for me, and then I'll give you my blessing. And she tells Jacob how to deceive his father, her husband, and snatch that blessing away. And he says, look, if dad finds out, I'm gonna get cursed instead of blessed. And she said, that curse can come on me. That is not a good marital relationship. And what we see is there was marital discord. When you trick your spouse to do the opposite of what he intended, that's not a good harmony at home. And I wonder if Isaac got to the point where he just, his enjoyment in life was eating. And that's why he liked Esau. He goes out, he goes hunting, I like the fresh game that he brings in. Why do I say this? We have to guard against a gracelessness in our lives and in our homes. The trials and triumphs of life, the faith of Abraham that was their heritage did not minister grace to Esau's heart. What about us? In the hurts, the conflicts of life, do we allow the roots of bitterness to develop when things don't go the way we want? Is our home a place of grace? Or would it be more like this dysfunctional home? Oh, we would probably never acknowledge that we're bitter. But when you consider the evidences that I gave last week, if we're honest, we start to see those. The snide remarks, the sarcastic comments, the withdrawal, not wanting to talk to that person, suspicion, the impatience, the oversensitivity and overreaction, the struggle in resolving conflicts, and then ruminating on those wrongs. All of these would be indications of those roots developing. And if those are present, we're falling short of the grace of God. John Blanchard wrote, for daily need, there is daily grace. For sudden need, there is sudden grace. And for overwhelming need, there is overwhelming grace. God's grace is always sufficient. And that ought to be our encouragement. In fact, in Titus 2, where it talks about the grace of God that brings our salvation and then teaches us, it says in verse 13 that part of that is we look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ. It's that anticipation of the future that encourages us. The fourth thing that we see is that bitterness causes persistent trouble. That bitterness springs up. Bitter people are troubled people. It grows from the seeds of hurt. It might be disappointments, it might be criticisms, it might be unreasonable expectations that we have a perfectionistic view of life and we get frustrated. It might be that you take up an offense for somebody else that isn't yours. Proverbs 26, 17 describes the person that does that to be like a person who grabs a dog by the ears and shakes it. That's not smart. And we can get upset at how somebody else was treated, and God will give them grace, but there's no promise he's gonna give it to you when it's not your offense. And then you wonder why the roots of bitterness continue to foster in your life. It's interesting, the first mention of bitterness in the Bible is the story of Esau. It's after Jacob steals that blessing. In Genesis 27, verse 34, it says, when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great bitter cry. He reveals a whole nother level of bitterness when he now focuses on his brother's sin. He talks about what his brother did instead of looking at what he did. You know, bitter people do a great job at pointing to others while excusing themselves. We can make excuses, oh, I have a reason why I did this, but they, that's what Esau did. My brother did this. We entertain thoughts of resentment and frustration, we blame others, and ultimately the blame is directed at God. Because if we really believe he's in control and have a right view of God, we understand that nothing will separate us from his love, and all things are working together for our good and his glory. And the root of bitterness unchecked becomes wrath, exasperation, it's that harshness, it's an unforgiving spirit. Homes with bitter people become war zones. Bitter teens become angry parents and then wonder why they have bitter and rebellious kids. That we have to realize we don't want those roots to spring up. Bitterness also results in widespread defilement. The root springs up because the hurt is fed. It says this, many become defiled. And if someone sins against us, we need to handle it biblically. If we don't, we're gonna feed that hurt, we're gonna ruminate on it, we're gonna eulogize it, and it's going to cause the roots of bitterness to develop. Maybe we find comfort in not forgiving somebody else. Maybe we think God has failed us. And are we disappointed with a certain decision that didn't go our way, or we didn't get what we expected, something at work, something with people, and all of a sudden, our plans, our relationships aren't where we want them to be. Disappointment fuels defilement. Jacob got the blessing Esau wanted. Yes, deceit was involved. No, that wasn't right. But even before their birth, God had said that the older would serve the younger. God wasn't caught off guard by this. His plan was still going to happen. If we become angry, hurt, critical, suspicious, where is God in our thinking? The root of bitterness does not just stop at a root. It grows into something much bigger. You know, are you angry at a family member? A spouse, a child, an in-law? Don't think you can keep the weeds from spreading. Esau became so filled with jealousy and rage that he now plots to murder his twin brother. He's willing to wait until his father dies because he doesn't want to add grief to his father. He's concerned for his father, but he doesn't care about his mom. The animosity is there, and so the sixth thing that we see is that bitterness leads to selfish behavior. The root of bitterness is revealed in a couple of ways. It may be in moral impurity, it might be disregard for spiritual things, it says, lest there be any fornicator or profane person. There really were two areas that we see in Esau's life and you see when a person is captivated by bitterness. One is sensuality, any fornicator. Esau was a sensualist. I mean, that's really the word, the idea that's being brought out there in this passage. He lived in the realm of his senses. I mean, when you read in the Old Testament about his marriages, and he had several wives, it was not about the covenant promises that were given to his grandfather Abraham. They were about who pleased him. He went after the girls of Canaan, the ones that his father really didn't want him to go after. Marriage was actually to please himself and annoy his parents. That was his thinking. And a person whose soul is hurting will frequently seek those feel-good fixes in sensuality. The physical pleasure of the moment that kind of salves that hurt of the soul, but then just really fosters more problems. And the other is secularism. He was a profane person. He was a secularist. He lived for what he could see. Esau had an earthbound focus. He lived for the moment. His life was focused on hunting, on fun, on food, and on females. I mean, this is really Esau. I mean, he'd be a great character for a beer commercial in our culture today. Lived for the moment. And his choices reflect both his self-interest and his free spirit. He only focused on the temporal, not the eternal. He treats spiritual things very lightly, common. He doesn't pray, he doesn't sing. I mean, that would be his attitude. Because if you're struggling with the seed of hurt and harboring the root of bitterness, you want to ignore that person. Well, if you don't trust God, you want to ignore him too. You're not gonna talk to God, you're not gonna go to Him when you don't trust Him. Esau didn't hate religion, he just had no interest in it. He wasn't aggressively against God, he just didn't acknowledge God's existence. And if we're not careful, professing Christians can live the same way as Esau. Oh, we wouldn't say we hate God, but is He in our thoughts? We seek the pleasures of the world, the profits of this age, and the idea of laying up treasure in heaven is not even on our radar. This past week, I read an interesting article. It had caught my attention. It was about the retirement of former head coach of Alabama's football team, Nick Saban, and it was discussing how he came to this decision to retire. After he lost in the Rose Bowl, he said he went back to Tuscaloosa, and he began meeting with the players. And he thought, and I quote, I clean it up a little bit for Saban, he said, quote, we could have had a great football team next year. But as he talked with the players, what he found, they wanted to know two things. How much playing time do I get, and how much money will you pay me? And his comment was this, he said, our program here has always been built on how much value we create for our future and their personal development. And when I read that article and I read that quote, I thought, you know, it's interesting because sometimes we face the same thing in encouraging people to go into ministry. Well, how much will it pay me? Well, what do I get now? How about the treasure we lay up in heaven? I mean, the joy of seeing people saved, lives changed, marriages salvaged, to send people to the mission field and then to invest there and multiply ministry, when the focus is on momentary prestige and monetary profit. Do we think differently than a secularist? Do we see the joy of serving the Lord? See, the things that are not seen are eternal. And we have to be careful as parents, as teachers, that we don't develop that mindset of an Esau in our young people. We don't want a heritage of Esaus who trade the eternal rewards for the success of the moment. The seventh thing that we see is that bitterness obscures sound judgment. That for one morsel of food, Esau sold his birthright. Bitter people make bad choices. We read the story in the Old Testament. It's an example of Esau selling his birthright. But this didn't happen immediately. Esau comes in from the field and he's hungry, he's famished. And he sees his brother making stew. And it's got this reddish hue to it. And he in essence says, give that red to this red. There's a word play there. The story is recounted in Genesis 25. And that's why he's called Edom. But it's a wordplay. And so Jacob offers a deal. He says, I'll give you this stew if you give me your birthright. Now why would he go there? I don't think this was an immediate, all of a sudden, that Jacob pulled this out of the air. I think Esau must have made comments, maybe jokingly, maybe sarcastically about his birthright. But he didn't value it, and Jacob knew it. It goes back to a secular, short-sighted, sensual approach to life. And so we see Jacob offers him the stew, and Esau says, what good is my birthright? And he sells it. He said, if I die, what good is it? He's not gonna die. It's one meal. I don't think his parents are gonna let him die over that. But bitter people make rash choices. No man sells his birthright on the spot. Why would Jacob think it was an option? Esau must have said things. You know, what's going to happen? Whatever the discussions, when he heard about nations coming, about his grandfather, about offspring of the sea, sands of the sea, it didn't register. He wanted to satisfy his immediate hunger. That was more pressing than a heritage. See, a profane person, and the idea of the word that is used here for profane, has no fences around his life. There's no values bigger than himself. Nothing bigger than his immediate gratification. So bitter people make unwise choices. You know, if you're in sin, if you're bitter, the only wise choice you can make is to repent. Because you're going to be clouded in your view. His marriage choices were selfish. The girls that pleased him displeased his parents. Genesis 28 verses 8 and 9. He didn't marry somebody who would help him serve the Lord. He married girls that would take him away from that. In fact, when he heard that they were going to send Jacob away because they didn't want him marrying somebody in that area, he purposefully took another wife just to spite his parents. He had no thought of what this woman would do to help him stand in the faith. See, the root of bitterness causes us to make poor decisions because we see the world through distorted lens. It's out of focus and we don't even know it. The eighth thing that we see is bitterness results in devastating consequences. It says, and knowing that afterward. Notice that word afterward. We don't get to choose the afterward. Every decision we make, every choice is going to have an afterward. And we don't get to choose it. And it wasn't long before Esau's hungry again. But now he's lost his birthright. It's gone. There's no way to undo the past regardless of the emotional desires and relief. And instead, he continues his sinful responses. His discontent is established, the anger develops, and now he's plotting to destroy and to disobey. In fact, when Rebecca hears of Esau's plot to kill Jacob, she sends him away and she says, quote, why should I be bereaved also of both in one day? In Genesis 27, 45. She says, why should I lose both my sons? You know, we can choose to sin, but we can't choose the consequences. We don't get to choose the afterward. That's why we want to make wise decisions with godly counsel and trust in the Lord with all our heart and don't lean to our own understanding. Allow Him to direct our path. You know, bitter people push people away. We don't really like to be around bitter people. We like to be around sweet people. You know, bitter people are tolerated, sweet people are sought out. And the poison of bitterness leaves a bad taste in the soul. The failure to forgive turned Esau from simply being a victim to being the victimizer. Forgiveness is active, it's not passive. One pastor wrote concerning Esau, he had much that was fine, but he had no holy place. Do we have a holy place in our life? Because the ninth thing that we see is that bitterness keeps a person from the gospel. There was no repentance, no place for repentance, even though he sought it diligently with tears. What does it take to see the Lord? Where we began. strive for peace and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. He wasn't after peace. He wasn't after holiness. He was after revenge. He was after what he wanted, but he was disappointed with the consequences. See, where there's no sanctification, there's no justification. Where there's no justification, there's no regeneration. Without sanctification, there's no salvation, because God's going to work in us to bring about Christlikeness. It would appear that Esau regretted his decisions, he regretted the consequences, but there was no genuine change in his life. So what is the hope of the gospel? Well, this has been very negative. My wife said as she looked over, she said, all the points are negative. Yes, because it's bitterness. But there is hope. There's another story in the Old Testament that highlights the taste of bitterness. Earlier in the message, I mentioned Jacob's son, Joseph, who had been sold into slavery, goes into Egypt, he ends up in second in command, and when his father brings the family down, he saves their lives. And they end up living in Egypt. And by God's grace and his providence, Joseph ends up in a position of authority. But after Joseph dies, there's a king that comes along, and he doesn't remember the legacy of Joseph. And he begins to oppress the people of Israel. You read this in Exodus, the first chapter. It says the Egyptians made their lives bitter through hard bondage. And they cry out to the Lord. And God sends a deliverer by the name of Moses. And uses plagues to show his power and to bring the Pharaoh to his knees that he will let Israel go. And if you're familiar with the story, according to Exodus 12, verse 8, it comes to that final plague where it was the death of all the firstborn in the land, but if you had blood on the doorposts, the death angel would pass over. And so there was the meal called Passover, what we will be celebrating in just a few weeks. with the death of the Lamb of God. But as part of that meal, one of the things that they were to eat were bitter herbs, according to Exodus 12.8. Now, why would they eat bitter herbs? It was to remind them of the bitterness that they had experienced in Egypt. So were the bitter herbs the focal point of that meal? No. What was the focal point? The Lamb. that a lamb would be slain, the blood was put on the doorpost, the lamb was eaten, because the lamb was symbolic of the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world. The lamb was the focal point. The Lamb of God deals with the bitterness of life. That's the message of the gospel. That's the picture of the Passover. Yes, sin brings pain and suffering and seeds of hurt and sometimes it's the sin of others that oppresses us and it comes into our lives. Sometimes it's our own sin because we make foolish choices. Sometimes we're the victims, other times we're the victimizers because we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And Jesus, the sinless Lamb, bore the penalty for my sin and for yours. He who knew no sin became sin for us. So how do we deal with the bitterness of life? We go to the cross. As I mentioned last week, it was Charles Spurgeon who said, we come to the cross that we may know what it is to be forgiven, and we linger at the cross that we would know what it is to forgive. It's when I look to the cross of the Lamb of God, I lay my sin, my guilt on Him and realize He died for my sin. That brings me to the Gospel. The picture of the bitter herbs was to remind them of the bitterness and point them to the Lamb. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to every one of us. Don't fall short of it. And if you have received that saving grace, that grace is also to teach us how to deal with the hurts, the problems, to deny ungodliness and worldly desires that we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this age. Colossians 3.13 says, "...bearing with one another, forgiving one another, if any has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." How do I get the root of bitterness out? Forgive. Look at how God forgave us. You don't know what they did to me. No, but God does. Do you know what you did to His Son? And He forgave us. So let me ask, when dealing with your sin and the sins of others, are you experiencing the grace of God? Is it prevalent? Is it obvious? Is it evident in your life today? Is that the testimony of your home? Say, oh, I think so. Would your spouse agree? Would your children agree? Would your parents agree? Because if we fail to respond properly to disappointments, we'll contaminate not only our lives, but the lives of others. But the grace of God is sufficient. Where sin abounds, God's grace abounds much more. So hang on to the cross, look to the Lamb, and that bitter taste will be removed by His glorious grace. Let's pray.