Amen, as we humbly go before God's word this morning, turn with me to Ephesians, the fourth chapter, Ephesians chapter four. We're continuing our Building Holy Habits series from verses 25 to 32 of Ephesians four. And this morning, we're talking about from bitter attitudes to be attitudes, from bitter attitudes to be attitudes. Bitterness, I almost think of bitterness like a pizza dough. It is very useful to put all of your various toppings on. Every other sin appears to stick well with bitterness, because bitterness exists in everyone. We all are either contributors to bitterness or we experience acts of bitterness. We're painfully inflicting others with it or we are the painful recipient of seasons of discomfort. But when bitterness takes root in the heart, it becomes a destructive vice. It has roots and branches to shade the wounded heart. And like Jonah, bitterness in the heart knows no boundaries, for it will even lash out against a merciful and a good God. And so bitterness is dangerous, it is deadly, and it is also a divisive a sin. And so we find it as a sin that we must put off, according to our text in Ephesians, the fourth chapter. But of course, the immediate text before us in verses 25 to 30, it urges the church to engage in unifying deeds, to grow up into Christ, to mature into Christ, who is our head. And in doing so, we're no longer associating ourselves with the sins of the past. And so it is worth the review to state, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that it is in the Lord Jesus Christ we receive all of God's blessings and salvation. And we recall that God has elected us in Christ or chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. that God chose us in Christ before we were born, before he created the world, he determined according to his kind intention to adopt sinners. And that was not on our merits, it was not on God foreseeing our deeds, it was an act of God's mercy, his own loving, kind intention that he did so to redeem us based on the work of his Son for us. And so this gospel truth is almost like the wave that we ride on. It is the rock that we cast ourselves upon. It is the anchor that sustains us. It is Christ who unites us, and it is Christ in us the hope of glory. And it is Christ, he's the reason why we can live in holiness. That is progressively becoming more and more like Christ. We call that progressive sanctification. In progressive sanctification, we begin to bear the marks progressively of our Savior's holy character. And so in this passage of Scripture, the church is maturing in Christ, and as they put off these sinful deeds associated with the sinful world, or even their past in sin, they begin to look more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. That means that we no longer associate with the world's way of living, and for that matter, the world's way of thinking. Verse 17 of Ephesians 4 says, Now this I say in testifying the Lord that you must no longer walk. That is, no longer let your pattern of life be like the Gentiles. They are futile in their minds. They have no capacity or ability to reason spiritually and understand spiritual things. It's empty. And then it says in verse 18, they're darkened in their understanding. They're alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. We were once alienated from the life of God and the promises that God had for the people of God. We were once estranged from that as Gentiles, but now that we're in Christ, we're no longer estranged from that. It says that we are a part, fellow heirs, members of the same body. And so this historical past in sin is no longer true of us. And so as we're examining verses 25 to 32, that association with the world in verse 17, 18, and 19, for example, of Ephesians 4, and if you go to Ephesians 2, verses 1 through 3, that way of lifestyle is no longer the way that we're called to live. But now the association in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are putting off those sins and putting on the deeds of righteousness, it is one way to determine if we are really a part of the church, which is the body of Christ. Because Christ, who's the head of the church, who is alive, he infuses his life into the church, and then the church is filled with his presence, the church is filled with his person, and then it fills each believer with his character. You want to know if you're part of the local church, not by way of membership, visible membership, but this church universal where God has called men and women for all nations, tribes, and tongues through the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to know if that is true. One way to determine is to see if there is a change from the old to the new in living and visible ways. Progressively becoming, daily becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the power of Christ filling the church with himself, he also fills it with his power. So progressive sanctification becomes the mark of every blood-bought believer. So now let us see what that looks like, beginning with verse 25, because it is the putting away of sin, putting off of those sins, and putting on the deeds of righteousness. Verse 25, read with me. Ephesians 4. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for a member is one of another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give nor opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 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. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Verses 31 and 32, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Now, as we look at bitterness, we want to see it within the framework of this text of Scripture, because it is saying, let all bitterness, or every form of bitterness, wrath, and anger, and clamor, and slander be put away from you, along with all malice, every form of it. And then the real antidote for this is kindness, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. as God in Christ forgave you. And the reason why we're breaking some of these encouragements and exhortations into smaller bites is because there are often times that these issues become prevalent in our lives. And bitterness is one topic that is not always identified and spoken of much, but it is a very damaging, but it is a popular sin. So we need to see why bitterness needs to be correctly identified and mortified. Now, the bitterness here in view, dear saints, is the bitterness of heart and the bitterness of our deeds. Bitter heart, bitter deeds. It's saying every form of bitterness, which means every form of sinful bitterness, which means your heart's response to bitter words and also those of you who are engaging in bitter speech. All forms of it needs to be put away. Now, a lesson for this morning is the path to putting off the pain and the sin of bitterness, because believers are not to associate themselves as contributors to bitterness, nor should you allow the seed of bitterness to grow and to flourish in your life. Bitterness is synonymous with an attitude of a hurt that is done to you that can lead to resentments and harsh responses. And so the forms of bitterness in words or actions could be harsh words and a very harsh response because of something that was done to you. I do want to examine, though, this meaning of bitterness. I think it's good for us to examine it from the Scriptures, to come up with a very wholesome and helpful meaning of bitterness. The word for bitterness in the Hebrew tongue, for example, one of the words is marah. You have in Exodus 15, verse 23, it was the water in Exodus 15, verse 23, it was bitter. The word was bitter, which means it had an unpleasurable or distasteful taste to it. And then the Greek meaning expands on another Hebrew nuance for the word bitter, and it means that something is extremely sharp. So it is sharp, and it is bitter. For example, the sharpening of an arrow. And in sharpening of the arrow, you wanted to pierce the object, or pierce the animal, or pierce the target. And now you have this unpleasurable taste, the sharpness of the arrow, now you add the odor to it. So then something that smells awful, it tends to penetrate the nose and it leaves a foul odor, sometimes for a long time. There is a city in Florida, the city is called Palatka. And if you ever went to Palatka, Florida, the name is weird, the water is even more weird. And so the first time I came there, I thought we're in a nuclear site. I thought we were dying. It was so foul, it smells like sulfur. And it takes a long time to get used to the water. And so the first time I went to the home, they said, here's some water. And I was like, that's not water, that smells like rotten eggs. And they said, it's all the water you're going to drink. And it was bitter, it was awful, but guess what? I got used to it. I got acclimated to it. And I actually tasted a lot better than the natural water when I returned home. That's bitterness. The more you take it in, the more you enjoy it, the more you allow it to remain, it tastes better than sweetness. And even though it pierces the heart and it hurts and it wounds, it's something that you should be healed of. The bitterness and the bitter act is so painful, so bitter that you dwell on it. You live on it. Like I said, it's really good pizza dough. You can put a lot of sinful toppings on it and justify those sins. Now when you think of bitterness though, when you take that to the soul, sharp piercing words, words that are distasteful, words that are harmful, When you receive that from a brother, sister in Christ, or even a spouse in marriage, a husband or a wife, their evil words or their action, it reaches their heart and it leaves an awfully bad taste. So a very good definition of bitterness would be painful, distasteful, discouraging, or difficult circumstances. And in some cases, sinful words and acts that will cut and hurt deeply. So it'll be painful, it will be distasteful, it will be discouraging, and even difficult. Circumstance. And in some instances, sinful words and acts that cuts and it hurts you deeply. But now, before we get back to applying the exhortation in Ephesians chapter four, I think it is important to realize that God does use bitter circumstances. And that is one lesson that I think you can learn in this path to putting off the pain and the sin of bitterness, and number one, it is see your bitter circumstances as providential. See your bitter circumstances as providential. Now, these bitter circumstances will be the hurtful, harmful, or soul-afflicting words or acts from those especially close to you. especially close to you. And we can observe this from scripture. One of those examples is in the book of Genesis. And I kind of run through the history of that, and we look at chapter 49 of Genesis, but the account begins, this inspired account begins in chapter 37 of Genesis, and you find Joseph and his brothers in this narrative. And also you add to that Jacob, or Israel, his father. And it says in Genesis that Joseph was loved by Jacob more than his other brothers, so the father loved the son more, and he displayed his partiality. It wasn't something secretive, it wasn't something he was battling with, he did it openly, and that partiality was painfully evident to the brothers. And that, of course, is not a part of our sermon today, but that is dear saint's parental failure. In that narrative, the Bible's not encouraging having favorite children, it discourages that. You're supposed to love them impartially, as hard as that may be for the human mind, it is called for by the heart. according to the will and the glory of God. And so Jacob, the father, failed to love the right way. And now, of course, you have Joseph, the son, who did not shy away from exposing his brother's faults, as well as explaining his dreams to them. And you know that account. He told his brothers, I had a dream, brothers. Now here's Joseph, who was already a natural irritant. You have a slightly irritating young brother, and he has the audacity to tell you things about yourself that you don't find pleasurable. For no boastful, prideful family member likes to hear of a younger child exceeding them. So his brothers became angry. He dreamed that they would bow to him, and that made him furious. And in their envy and hatred, they captured their brother and sold him into slavery. Now, what was this? So I go back to show you what God's word says about this particular account. That dear saints, this was a bitter circumstance. This was a bitter providence. And what is so vital for us as saints is that we see these things through the lenses of God's sovereignty, through the lenses of the providence of God, through the lenses of the will of God. And when we do see that, we come to terms on the bitter circumstance so that we don't become bitter as a result of it. So you go to chapter 49 of Genesis. Look at verse 23, and this is really somewhere toward the point of Jacob poetically describing his sons. And then he describes Joseph. But this poetry is also inspired. It is true. It says, Joseph is a fruitful bone, verse 22, a fruitful bow by spring. His branches run over the wall. The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely. So the use of archery and bitterly is almost double compounding the situation. It was a severely bitter attack against Joseph. There is probably a futuristic element to this, but I think this also points back to the beginning of this bitter attack, and the beginning of this bitter attack has to do with his brothers. His brothers attacking him. his brothers attacking him maliciously. And they did so in envy. But this became an opportunity in the providence of God to do great things. In verse 20 of Genesis 50, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. And so Joseph saw this bitter providence within the will of God, and he did not respond bitterly toward his brothers, but he responded in an attitude of mercy and forgiveness. And that is the exhortation at the end of Ephesians chapter 4. There's another element to Joseph's response. that we may do well to look at in a moment, but we want to capture this bitter circumstance, and that the wounds against Joseph were severe, from his brothers, to Potiphar's wife, to the imprisonment, that in all of these scenarios, Joseph had ample reason, more than enough reason, sufficient reason, to be a severely bitter man. But when he saw everything within the providence of God, he had a different frame of mind. Joseph's brothers attack like piercing arrows. It is true. And here is something that you want to consider that bitter acts and words, they're hostile. There's nothing good about them. We expect them from enemies, but not from family and friends. But according to Ephesians 4, they will come from family and friends and fellow believers. It's going to happen. But a very helpful principle, too, along with that, and you see Joseph encounter, it is, do not ignore bitterseeds in life. This is not ignoring them. Joseph was aware of what was done to them, but he was able to frame it the right way and not to live in bitterness, but to live according to the providence and the will of God. Do not ignore them. Because God's word in Ephesians 4 is that you will receive bitter herbs. But as dearly beloved children in Christ, do not let the bitterness drive a stake in your heart. If they pierce your heart, those bitter actions will wound and poison your soul. Not only will they do that to your soul, but they will tarnish your tongue, they will tear your relationships apart, and your bitter heart will betray unity and togetherness. But there's another bitter circumstance, and it is in Exodus, in the children of Israel's account, and we'll do well to look at that in the book of Exodus. But in this bitter account, God also wants them to remember, but to remember the right way. I want you to look at verse 14, first of all. Because in seeing and experiencing this bitterness, you also see this in the backdrop of God's salvation. Because the children of Israel suffered greatly, verse 14, the Egyptians made their lives, what bitter, with hard service, and mortar and brick and in all kinds of work in the field, in all their work, they ruthlessly made them, they ruthlessly made them work as slaves. And so this bitter past is a reminder of their bondage in slavery under the tyranny of the Egyptians. But did God say, look, man, forget about that. Guys, I don't want a reminder of it. That's just going to be too painful for you. It's going to hurt too much. No, actually, it is a part of the Passover. Because during the time of the Passover, verse 8, for example, of Exodus 12, the first institution of this Passover, and it will be an annual event. They shall eat the flesh that night, roast it on the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall eat it, the bitter herbs, they will continue to eat it even after they've departed from Egypt, because the bitter herbs specifically here, the herbs specifically here were Egyptian flavors. God says, you're going to continue to eat these bitter herbs, and we believe that it would be a symbol of their suffering. So God commanded them to eat the bitter herbs to review their painful past on the Egyptian bondage and tyranny, and our God will institute that as a part of their worship. But it was to help them remember his deliverance of them. So there is no deleting of the bitter past. Rather, the bitter past was a moment not to forget that bitter past was a memorial of God's salvation, of God's rescue, of God's mercy. Now for us, dear saints, as a principle, bitter circumstances are best taken in the sweetness of the Savior. Bitter circumstances are best taken in the sweetness of the Savior. If you are rehearsing these bitter circumstances without the Savior, you're missing a crucial gospel element. For in Christ, these hardships, the bitter past, the hurtful past, the painful past, when it is seen in the light of Christ and the gospel is transforming. And you can feast on the bitterness and glory in Christ as you do so because you remember. that you're no longer bound to that bitterness. You're no longer in bondage to sin. You're no longer in bondage to respond to this bitterness with utter hatred and unforgiveness because you have been forgiven. You have been rescued. You have been saved. So now as a general exhortation, God uses bitter circumstances to display his kindness. to display his kindness. An example of that we just read in Exodus, specifically if you read Genesis, I'm sorry, in Genesis, in Genesis 45, one through eight. And then secondly, bear the circumstance to display his salvation. That is the case with the children of Israel in Exodus. And so whether it's bitter words that hurt, that wound the soul, and those words were hurtful, they were hateful, they were destructive. God does not overlook the wrongs done to you. He doesn't overlook the sins done against you. But it is important to see this in light of the sweetness of Christ. The sweetness of God's salvation. There's also a great lesson to learn from Psalm 64. For example, if you read that psalm, the psalmist says that there are bitter words against me like arrows. They're wounding me, they're piercing me. But the psalmist leaves it up to God to resolve the issue and the part of those who are afflicting him. So bitter circumstances are expected, but you do not have to surrender sinfully to them. You can see them in the sweetness of Christ. There's another good and helpful reason for bitter circumstances, and it is this. It drives and draws you to God. It draws you to him in prayer. I recall that occurrence in 1 Samuel and Hannah's struggle and her barrenness. Well, bitter words were hurled toward her, and she took them to the Lord in prayer. She was in such deep anguish of soul, she took it to God in prayer, drove her, drew her to God in prayer. And is that what you're doing when bitter insults are hurled toward you? You say, well, there's someone closest to me, and that's when you'll feel it the most. Do you take it to God in prayer, or do you take it out on the other party? You take it out on your spouse, on your children. It means that you have allowed that bitter circumstance to take root in your heart, and you did not mix that bitter circumstance with the sweetness of the gospel. You must do so. You did not bring in that bitterness and take it to God in prayer, but you must, because these circumstances are used to draw us nearer in prayer to him. And so the first lesson we have said is to see your bitterness or your bitter circumstances providential. See your bitter circumstances providential. And secondly, the second lesson is see why your bitter heart condition must die. See why your bitter heart condition must die. Well, from scripture, one of the reasons why it must die is that bitterness fuels rebellion. Bitterness fuels rebellion. And there's an excellent example of this from the life of Esau. Esau was and lived as a very bitter man. In fact, you look at Hebrews chapter 12, and you see Hebrews chapter 12, it uses Esau as a reference point. His life was lived in deep bitterness of heart. And the scripture does not shy away from illustrating that. That when you get to that place and rooted in your heart is just the seed of bitterness, you no longer respond to spiritual things. In fact, Esau was such a burden to his family that he grieved his father and his mother. It says in verse 35 of Genesis 26 that the ladies that he married, they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. So he took these ungodly women, brought them into the fold, slapped them before his parents, and said, get over it. Be just as bitter as I am. And so you see what bitterness does. Bitter company looks for more bitter company. Share my poisonous pizza with me. You have extra toppings? What do you have? You have animosity, hatred? This pizza sucks in everything. It's the thickest dough in the world. He shares this bitterness, and now that bitterness begins to affect his parents. In another light, it does the same thing in the fellowship. When we entertain bitterness in such a hostile and a sinful way, it affects the congregation. And before you know it, you begin to justify. Your sin justify your unrighteousness. You find company that agrees with you. Someone you feel has hurt you in the church, instead of praying to God and maybe moving on from it and not bring it up, covering a multitude of sin and just trusting the Lord, you have to deal with that so much. You don't go to the person who harmed you, you go to someone else so you can harm the person who's harmed you. That's the Esau of the world. The Esaus of the world, God never saves them because they prefer the bitterness of life than the beauty of the Christ. They prefer the poison bitterness of hatred than the holy sweetness of the Savior. That's Esau, who was willing to despise his birthright because he lived as a bitter man. So when you look at Ephesians 4, dear saints, it's not just that all bitterness go away and it's just something glib and light. If you are living in this and it's gotten to your heart, it fuels rebellion. And then it affects others as it did to Esau's parents. There is another tragic consequence that when you allow bitterness to fester in your heart and you're making this incredible recipe of sinful bitterness, bitterness in the heart distorts the gospel. It distorts the gospel. There's another illustration of this, and we're grateful for the Word of God that helps us. Scripture interprets Scripture, and the best illustration is the Word of God. You go back to Acts chapter 8, and I know you're turning a lot with me. I want you to see the Word of God for yourself. And so this account is the great work of God happening. The gospel is being preached. Sinners are turning to God and are saved. But something has happened here that is tragic. It has to do with Simon. The account begins in verse 9 of Acts 8, but there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria. So this man was an impressionable character in Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. So you think about that and you can understand why Peter attacked him in the power of the Spirit so accurately and precisely because of his reputation to affect others. And you'll know why in a moment. Verse 10, they all paid attention to him from the least to the greatest saying, this man is the power of God that is called great. Verse 11, and they paid attention to him for a long time, because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But now, verse 12, but when they had believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Verse 13, even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized, he continued with Philip and seeing great signs in his and seeing signs and great miracles performed. He was amazed. So the people were amazed at some point. Now, they're no longer as amazed with him, he's amazed. Verse 14, And now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For he had not yet fallen in any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. So he knows this is the receiving of the Holy Spirit. This is something divine. It is not a recurring theme, but he wants it anyway. But Peter said to him, may your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. He says you have neither part nor lot in this matter for your heart is not right before God. What's going on in his heart? Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you, verse 23, for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. There is a very slight parallel in what Peter is saying and what this narrative is conveying to us with Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 18. Now part of what Peter is saying is this, your influence in this city can lead others astray into this idolatry. Or this deep-seated bitterness that you have because you're influential can affect others to live in this sense of bitterness. He was not just bitter, he was doubly bitter. Dear saints, when something draws your heart and entices you, and your heart becomes bitter, it can become doubly bitter, deeply bitter. And Peter is saying, as Holy Spirit opens his eyes to seeing what is happening in Simon's life, at the end of the day, Simon, you are living as an unregenerate man. Your gall of bitterness is so deep, that is totally uncharacteristic of a Christian. This comes from the lips of a man who does not have the Spirit of God in him. So even though his profession was verbal, God reveals this deep sin in his heart that is most prevalent in the unregenerate. Can this trouble those who are saved? Yes, it can. But this seems dangerously close to someone who's living in unbelief and is not saved. There is a warning for the Christian. That bitterness can distort the gospel. That you will begin to see the Christian faith as something that you can acquire. As something that gives you an advantage. It's something that helps you overcome your enemies. It is something that helps you to vindicate yourself. It is almost a reward. It can distort the good gospel. that you stand before the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and recognize that you deserve nothing but damnation and hell. For Simon, it was such a distortion, as this diagnosis of his heart is. We can't read your heart. We don't know what your heart is like. But when you begin to respond to the gospel indifferently because of bitterness, you don't forgive. You begin to think you deserve, but you don't deserve. You become hostile, your lips are hostile, your thoughts are hostile. You're a critic, you're cynical. Your criticisms are meant to harm and not help. You think being cold is a new virtue. Dear saints, those are the toppings on the dough of bitterness. It may taste sweet, but it's deadly. There is even in the gospel, for example, in Colossians chapter 3, bitterness is inconsistent with love. For example, husbands in Colossians 3 verse 19, love your wives, and the ESV says, and do not be harsh with them. Of course, this word harsh, behind the word harsh is the word bitter. Bitter. Which means, if you're bitter towards your spouse, your words will be harsh. They will be mean, they will be indifferent, they'll be cold. They'll be unholy. Bitterness, pizza dough. The spouse is the enemy. The husband, instead of loving her and caring for her and bearing up with her sins, if she says something to you, you give that to the Lord. You wait for the right time to address her. But if you have that unholy whiteout, that unholy whiteout is probably a result or consequence of exchanging love for the gall of bitterness. Because then you begin to demand things from your spouse and your harshness, your meanness. And then she's going to want to change because she doesn't want to see that again. That's not love. that's obtaining someone's affection or submission through the means of an extremely and a sinfully bitter heart. And so it makes sense when you think of bitterness, and when it is rooted in the heart, what can happen, and how it loves to add these toppings to it. So when you have this discomfort, what comes with it is unpleasant thoughts, unpleasant feelings, and then you want someone to share that with you. Someone's gotta feel what I'm feeling. I can't do this alone. Instead of bearing up in this and seeing this in the providence of God, that this brings you to prayer, to see that maybe God is doing something good through this that I'm not seeing. No, it distorts the gospel. And then there's something else that bitterness will do if it takes root in the heart. It despises God's gracious discipline. It despises God's gracious discipline. There is in Hebrews, and I reminded you of that in the twelfth chapter, in Hebrews chapter 12, and I'll give you some time to turn there, because after distinguishing those who are in the hall of faith who are not perfect people but trusted in a perfect God. We're called to do the same thing and our example and the ones that we set our eyes and our thoughts on is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is looking unto Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Encourage as a believer to endure through hardships. Don't be fainthearted. And in your struggle in verse 4 of Hebrews 12, in your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. You're still alive. Pinch yourself. You're still living. But then you have not forgotten in verse 5 the exhortation that addresses you as sons My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be worried when approved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he receives. And this discipline is for your growth. Yes, it is corrective, but it is corrective for your development, for your spiritual growth. And as a father, a loving father, he disciplines us so that we may be trained and pursue holiness. But then there's an exhortation in verse 15. See to it that no one of you fails to obtain the grace of God. Don't depart from this. Don't depart from God's path. Don't depart from God's race. Don't depart from God's will. Don't depart from it. Stay faithful. Embrace the discipline. Learn, grow, pursue righteousness. And then it says, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. Not just you, but many. Then verse 16, and Esau is an example that no one who is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal, for you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. Of course, the broader emphasis in Hebrews is to encourage the believers not to retreat back to the old covenant, but to remain faithful to the new covenant. And another aspect of this faithfulness is that bitterness does not enable faithfulness. It will despise the Word of God, and it will despise God's gracious discipline. So instead of seeing this bitter time, this bitter season, as an opportunity for you to grow, you will think that it is right for you to despise. God. For in despising God, you despise the correction, you despise the growth, you continue to tell them, God, something's wrong with them, look at what they've done to me. You don't examine your own heart, so you don't grow, you don't pursue holiness. That is why in Ephesians chapter 4, this putting off, putting to death, this bitterness, and exercising kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiving one another is so vital to your spiritual life and the unity of the church. So now let us turn. to the third lesson because we've just seen that it is necessary for you to see your bitter circumstances as providential and then see why your bitter heart condition must die, and then thirdly, see your heart's cure for bitterness. See your heart's cure for bitterness. Number one, let me encourage you, do not ignore your bitterness. Do not ignore your bitterness. Whether you are the one to speak bitter words or the recipient of it, do not ignore your bitterness. Identify, know that it is a bitter moment, and determine whether or not you are getting a distasteful, sinfully distasteful response to it, whether or not it's causing you to respond sinfully and impulsively that is uncharacteristic of those in the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you being kind? Are you bearing up with the other party? Are you being patient toward them? Are you speaking to them in love? Here's a clincher. Do you want the glory of God when someone sinfully speaks against you and they hurl bitter insults towards you? As a fellow believer, do you want them to glorify God and what they do? Do you want to feel better? Dear saints, if you want to feel better, then you're using the gospel to purchase as Simon did. Make sure the power of the God spirit that you put away all forms of bitterness and clothe yourself with humility, with gentleness, with patience, you have to incorporate that and also the scripture. So that involves, dear saints, putting the time in to learn the word of God, to examine the scriptures, to make sure responses are fitting and according to the scriptures. That means you will have to put the time in. to identify the source of bitterness, the circumstance. Secondly, identify the depth of that bitterness. How much does it affect you? Are you distracted by it? You know what distractions are like. You spend a lot of time thinking about it. You should be thinking about your job, but you're focused on the bitter herb. You should be concentrating on your assignments in school, but you can't. But what they said, what they did just afflicts you so much that you spend the majority of your time thinking about it. Or you're awake at night trying to plot ways to fix it. You need to identify how deep that is and ask the Lord to help you. And then applying the scripture's remedy, I already gave you those verses Verse 32, for example, the conclusion of this, that is gonna be a very vital component to how you respond to sins you commit and sins against you. Because remember, this bitterness is every form of bitterness, whether you are the ones making someone bitter or someone is making you bitter. Let me just say that the high point of bitterness, you will really know the depth of your bitterness when you cannot forgive. That's it. When someone has done something to you, and you are neither willing to forgive, nor do you want to approach them so that they may repent and you can forgive them, that is like the high point. You're no longer tasting the sweetness of your Savior, but the bitterness of their actions. In fact, that bitter moment is almost in your Messiah. For Christ to reign, we forgive each other as God in Christ forgave us. We're not preoccupied with the person who has caused this embittered moment. We are preoccupied with Christ and what he would do in that moment. Of course, another encouragement, dear saints, in seeing your heart's cure is to pour over the Word of God in prayer. Scripture and prayer. Rehearse, remember the Word of God, because bitter times are coming. They're part of life. We're going to send new things to each other. I know in our modern society we are easy to divorce ourselves from relationships, but dear saints, every relationship in Christ should be kept intact. We should not let bitterness be a reason for our departure from that relationship because once more there's unforgiveness somewhere in the process. pour over the text of scripture. And the reason why I say that is, part of the reason why I say that is, remember that when you have all those toppings on the dough of bitterness, it's gonna taste really good. And if you've given into the bitterness, the word of God is gonna taste bitter in the beginning. Because now the pleasure of the bitterness and the pleasure is no longer the word of God. So there's a fight. There's a spiritual battle. for you now to adapt and to adapt to the sweetness of the Savior once more and have a distaste for this bitterness so that you will repent of it. The last thing you want to say is that this bitterness was caused by someone, my bitter response was caused by someone. No. The response of bitterness has to do with your heart, not someone's actions. Contributions, as we said before when we talked about anger, contributions are true, but they're not the causes. It's not someone's fault if you live an unrepentant life and you go to hell. It's your fault. The same is true when it comes to sin. No one makes you do anything. You're drawn by your own sinful desires. So bitter responses come from the heart. Someone may initiate and contribute, but it is your heart that responds sinfully to it.