Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew again, chapter 12. We'll continue where we left off. Chapter 12, verses 33 through 37. Matthew chapter 12, verses 33 through 37. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for these truths. even the sobering realities that are revealed to us in these truths. And we pray that we would take them to heart. And we ask, Father, that you would be pleased to grant us your Holy Spirit. As we look into your Word together, we pray that you would fill us with your Spirit, that you would open up these truths to us, that you would help us to apply them, to learn from them. We pray that you would be gracious to all who are here today. And Lord, we pray for those who do not know you, that you would help them to hear these words, to hear what your Word says. And we pray that you would do a great work for the sake of your name and for the glory of Christ. Amen. Last time we saw how the Lord had exposed the great evil committed by the religious leaders who had accused him of casting out demons by Satan. by attributing the power that he used to perform those miracles to the work of Satan, rather than the Holy Spirit, who was actually using them to authenticate the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, they had blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. And in doing so, they had committed a sin that brought them beyond the sphere of God's grace. They had committed an unpardonable sin. This morning we will find our Lord continuing to address what they had done, which will lead him to provide a broader principle showing how our words really do matter as they reveal what is truly in our hearts. It might be tempting to say, what's the big deal? What the Pharisees had merely done was spoke some words. Are words really that important? Aren't our actions more serious? Here our Lord shows that God is very concerned about our speech. And in fact, perhaps unbeknownst to the world at large, our words actually tell the story of the true condition of our hearts. Verses 33 and 34, notice what the Lord says. See, the Pharisees portrayed themselves before all as righteous and good. They were the alleged holy ones among the Israelites. However, what they were seeking to cover over by their outward acts of piety were their ill motives, their pride, and the greed that owned their hearts. As Jesus had said elsewhere, they were whitewashed tombs, which looked beautiful and decorative on the outside, but were filled with dead men's bones. He also described them as filthy cups or filthy vessels, which on the outside looked very shiny and clean, but they were filthy on the inside. And so Jesus saw right through the self-righteous facade which the religious leaders had set up on the outside and looked right into their dark, wicked hearts. And here he highlights that which ultimately served to betray what they were hiding on the inside, namely their words. The mouth has a tendency to reveal what is in the heart. Generally, words don't just pour out of the mouth of their own accord. They're the product of that which has been generated in the heart concerning any given matter. And so when the Pharisees had accused Jesus of casting out demons by Satan, this willful blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, who in fact performed those words through Christ, was especially wicked because they were speaking out of the corrupt foundation of their very hearts. The words were not mere empty breaths pushing out sound. They were indicators of the treasured up evil which existed in the hearts of the religious leaders who hated and were even envious of Jesus, not wanting Him to draw the multitudes to Himself. This is why Jesus points out the inconsistency and the hypocrisy of all that the Pharisees were doing in seeking to show themselves as righteous before the people. He says, either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. The analogy given here by our Lord by this mini parable is very clear. If a tree is properly located in a location, if it's rooted in a good location where it can receive the water and the nutrients that it needs, it will produce good ripe fruit. The tree will be good. However, if it is planted in a location that is dry or arid or lacking proper nutritional quality, it will produce bad fruit. The tree will be bad. Because the tree has its roots underground, you cannot necessarily tell if a tree is bad or good until you see the fruit. Once the fruit comes up, the quality of the tree can be determined. In fact, even here in our own backyard here in the church lot, we've had at times trees, right, that have had to come down. And some of them looked very fine and healthy. And when one fell at one time during a storm, we didn't realize until it was down that the inside of the tree was hollowed out. I don't know if it was eaten out by bugs or whatever it was, but you couldn't tell from the outside that that tree was a bad tree. Once the fruit comes up, though, the quality of the tree can be determined. If the fruit remains undeveloped or comes up rotten or lacking in some sense, then you know that the tree is bad. One other quick example is the tree that we have in the back of our yard at the parsonage here. It's actually a berry tree, raspberries or something tree of some kind. And what would happen every year is when the berries would come up, they would never fully develop. They would stay like a yellowish pale color, and they never became that fruit color because the tree is really bad. In fact, before the next man comes in, we need to think about taking that tree down. It's just a dead tree. Well, likewise, if the tree brings forth nice, ripe, tasty fruit, then you know that the tree is good. We judge the quality of the tree not by the roots, because we can't see the roots, but by the fruit that comes up. And in the same way, we cannot see the hearts of individuals. We can't see what's going on in the inside or the soul of an individual. But what comes out of them, the pattern of their speech, will reveal the quality of their inner man and heart. Words are very telling, and again, they often betray whatever we might be trying to hide within us, or they affirm, in the other case, what is good in us. This is the point that Jesus is making here. And so, in essence, He is saying to the Pharisees, look, stop playing games. Stop acting self-righteous as if you are holy. Your blasphemous words betray you. Just be what you are and stop trying to deceive others and yourselves. Either make the tree good, and then the fruit will be good, or let the tree be bad and the fruit bad. Don't pretend that the tree is good when the fruit is clearly rotten. With this, he follows up then with a sobering universal principle, which we all ought to take heart. So a universal principle comes out of this. He says, Brutal Vipers, how can you being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. See, snakes, being cunning and crafty, best suit those who deceptively try to present themselves as other than what they really are. And so he calls the group of religious leaders a brood of vipers, a den of vipers. And then he pinpoints the main problem with them. They are incapable of sincerely speaking good things because they are evil on the outside. They can't do good because their hearts are evil. And we all live out of our hearts. That's why he says, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. What is it that spills out of the mouth in the form of breathed out words? Formulated expressions that are taken from the thoughts, desires, and motives of the heart. I can remember a situation I was reading in one of Paul Tripp's books about a situation when he and his family had, when he was a kid, him and his brother Ted, they were young, they were children, and their mother used to take them to these events where these were family gatherings, And she hated to do that, but she had to do it to be part of the family. And one time they went there, and there was usually alcohol there, and I think one of their uncles was inebriated. And while he was there, he began to say some things that were very inappropriate and promiscuous, just filthy language. And so Mrs. Tripp took her children and left. And on the way home in the car, she said to them, I want you to understand something, Ted and Paul. She said, what your uncle so-and-so said was really that which was in his heart. And the alcohol only prevented him from holding back or restraining himself from expressing what was really there. And I believe she was right. See, the mouth gives vent to the heart. Verse 35 says, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. It's interesting that the Lord uses the term treasure here, signifying that what is in the heart is something that is stored up there intentionally. And so a good man having a heart that is in tune with God through Christ will bring forth good things out of the treasure of his heart, out of what he has stored up there in his relationship with God. And an evil man having a heart in tune with the world will bring forth evil things out of the treasure of his heart. It is for this reason, it is because our words are actually indicators of the condition of our hearts that the Lord moves on to give the sobering warning that follows in verses 36 and 37. He says, but I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment, for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. Notice here, especially the universal application of what our Lord has stated here. In other words, this is not just about the Pharisees and religious leaders here. Yes, he's dealing with their specific blasphemy and their sin, but he's giving a broader principle here that applies to everyone. He says, but I say to you that every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. What a frightening reality. You see, people tend to be so action-focused, don't we? We tend to think about the actions alone. You can look, but you can't touch. You can have different kinds of thoughts on the inside as long as outwardly you act a certain way before others. But that's not the case. Now, don't get me wrong, our actions are certainly more than enough to condemn us. We would be condemned by our actions alone. But here, the Lord speaks of every idle or careless word spoken. How many words have we spoken in our lifetimes? How many words do we speak in a day? How many words have we spoken over the last year? He says every idle word. Our words, children, young people, our words really matter. Can you imagine as it were, standing before God, and a large transcript of every word you have ever spoken is unraveled before your eyes and used as a basis of God's judgment of you. Words which we tend to think are harmless and unimportant, those are the last things we think about as being wrong. God says that every careless word spoken will be brought into judgment, let alone the well thought out words. Every careless word. How many will stand before God ready to say, well, I'm glad that I'm not Adolf Hitler. Or I'm glad that I never stole anything. I'm glad that I never used drugs in my life. I'm glad that I never killed anyone. I'm glad that I was faithful to my spouse and avoided all kinds of sexual immorality. I'm glad that I was good at my job and I got promoted and got awards and monetary bonuses at my job and was a good worker. How many people say those kinds of things only to be struck by the fact that God has kept a record of our words? And this is the case, this is the case because our words, rather than being mere breathed out sounds, are actually windows that expose what is truly in our hearts. All of those words spoken in private, all of those words spoken that no one else is even aware of, God has them all documented and they will be used to justify and condemn mankind. How many times you hear people say, oh, I didn't mean to say that. Now, I'm not saying there's not a possibility that you slipped and you accidentally said the wrong thing, but more than likely, a lot of times when we say that, we probably meant it, what we were saying. This is the warning which the Lord gave the Pharisees and the religious leaders who were very crafty at hiding what they really were from the general population. Indeed, they got over on the people, didn't they? They got over on the world at large. People thought very highly of them and they loved that. But there were a pair of ears that followed them around everywhere they went, into every private chamber and room of which they were unaware. God knew their hypocrisy, and they never got over on Him for a second. Indeed, He sees the mind, the inner desires, and the very motivations of the heart, for that matter, even before any expression of words come out. And so that is what our Lord is speaking about here in this text. Well, let us apply this, brethren, to us. How do we look at this for application? First, friends, let me say to you, if you are not a Christian this morning, if you have not been joined to Christ by faith, doesn't this frighten you? If you're not in Christ and you're going to stand before God based on your own merits, doesn't this frighten you? Doesn't it terrify you to know that you will be judged by a holy and righteous God who ever scans the very resources of your inner thoughts and heart and who has heard and knows every word that you have ever spoken without forgetting? Will you die and stand before God having to give an account for even every careless word that you have spoken? Will you die and stand before your eternal God who will judge you, not only based on your outward actions, and not only based on your words even, but also on the basis of the motives of your heart? Some people look very good on the outside, Some people from the outward standpoint are very moral and look like angels to the rest of the world. Like the Apostle Paul, perhaps they are blameless with regard to outward observation. But apart from Christ, they will stand before God and give an account for all that has existed on the inside and all that has come out in their words. Now most of us would fail miserably based on our evident actions, right, if we're honest. But even those who have led morally decent lives will collapse under the weight of their words and inner motives when they stand before our holy God. Did not even the prophet Isaiah pronounce woes upon himself when he, who was a good prophet at the time, this is after he was already anointed as a prophet. This is chapter 6. When he had beheld the glory of God in the temple in Isaiah 6, what does Isaiah do? He pronounces woes on himself. Woe is me, he says. He was undone. This was a man of God. And God took a coal from the altar of burnt offering to purge his tongue so that he could indeed continue to serve as God's mouthpiece. He said, I'm a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips. First thing Isaiah thought about when he saw the glory of God was not his actions, it was his words. And this is a prophet of God. And he was absolutely terrified and undone. And God didn't say, you know what Isaiah, your words aren't really that bad, you're my prophet, you're faithful. God took a coal from the altar burnt offering in the vision and touched his lips with it, signifying his need to be atoned for because of his lips so that Isaiah could effectively serve. See, the presence of God has a way of enabling us to see just how wicked we really are, highlighting even the gravity of those sins which we tend to think are little and minimal in God's sight. If we got even a glimpse of the glory of God and a sense of his presence, each and every one of us would fall on our faces, and even the little, so-called little things that we think are little sins would become mountains to us. Friends. I say this to you to plead with you not to die apart from Christ. See here the severity of His holiness and the magnitude of your sins in His presence. For all of your sins can be completely atoned for right now. They can be completely washed away, all of your words and actions and deeds and thoughts, if you would but humble yourself before Christ and repent and take Christ as your own personal Lord and Savior. Call upon the Lord today before it is too late. I would plead with you not to spare another moment. Jesus alone can cleanse you of all of your sins, inner and outer, and He can give you a new heart. And He can uproot and replant the tree in the fertile soil of His righteousness, so that you will now bear good fruit for His glory. We just heard the example of what we just heard in the prayer that Pastor Doug gave a few moments ago about this dear young man, Ethan, who graduated from our school, a very intelligent young man. He spoke at one of the fundraising events. and he was with some friends, and he fell over. It was unexpected. He didn't realize it. He fell over, and now he has got serious brain damage, and they're saying he has 10% chance of living. I don't know his heart. I'm not talking about whether he's a Christian or not, but I do want you to see that that can happen at any moment to any one of us, and we wouldn't even expect it or know about it, and the point is that we need to be ready. Secondly, brethren, to the brethren here who are in Christ, thanks be unto God that our words will never condemn us. Thanks be unto God that our words will never condemn us. Do you ever reflect even on the things that you've said in your lifetime, let alone what you have done? How many of you look back and think about some of the things you've said in your lifetime, and when you hold it up to this standard, you would cringe to think about if God had held you to that standard as to whether or not you would be righteous in his sight? Do you even comprehend even a fraction of the wave of grace that has come to you in Christ even to atone for your words? There are things that we have said which we don't even remember that would condemn us forever. There's a lot of things we don't even remember that would condemn us forever. But we remember plenty of things that we have said also, don't we? That's the thing, we do remember some things, but how much do we not remember that we've said? If our words reveal what is in our hearts, brethren, I ask you as well, what do we find even in the present at times? Give thanks to God that our salvation is whole and complete in Christ. Give thanks to God that ultimately we are judged on the basis of Christ's beautiful words and perfect heart and not our own. For even in the present, there is more than enough to damn us forever in our words. Even in the present, we would be damned by our words if God was holding us to our own account as to whether or not we would be righteous or acceptable in his sight. But that said, brethren, let that also motivate us, not only to be thankful, but to consider how important our words really are in the present. When the Apostle Paul tells the Ephesians not to let any corrupt word proceed out of their mouths, but only that which is good and necessary for edification, do we not see the call to measure our words carefully? Do we not see the call to pray and to think through our responses and what we say and what we post on social media? Can you imagine how many Facebook and Twitter posts will come back to add weight to the condemnation of so many on the day of judgment. And so brethren, I'd encourage you to let your words be measured and tempered with grace. Strive to ensure that what you are saying is edifying. We need to ask ourselves, I need to ask myself that question. Is what I'm saying edifying even when bringing forth opposing views or correction to those who are opposing us? Be a builder and not a destroyer with your words. Think before you speak. Boy, I need to tell myself that. Because God hears, God knows, and you're ultimately putting your heart out there by whatever you're saying. What does your heart look like, brethren, when you gauge the words that you have spoken even over this past week? We might say, well, that seems like a lot of work, having to think more carefully before speaking. There's so many words we speak to have to think about everything that we say first. That seems like a lot of work. And yes, it is. But that is what God calls us to do. And by our words, perhaps more than anything else, we tarnish our testimony to Christ and his gospel. Brethren, your words, even though we are in Christ, even though they will never condemn us, thanks be unto God for that, your words still matter, and they tell quite a story. Let your narrative be God-glorifying and Christ-centered. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you again for your word. And when we think about, Father, that our words matter, we would all confess that we have a lot of work to do, that it would be best even if we speak less at times, because where there's a multitude of words, sin is not far. We ask you, Lord, as your people, to help us to measure our words, to be careful with the things that we say, and when we see ourselves speaking things that are wrong or hurtful in any sense, to be ready to confess and to seek forgiveness. We thank you that we have an abundance of grace in Christ. so that we can be forgiven for our words. Oh, Father, if you held even the words from today against us, we would fall short of your glory. Thank you for Christ, but give us grace to bring glory to you in our words, and change our hearts more and more, make them more like Christ, so that our words, the words that we produce, will be God-glorifying. And Father, we pray for those who do not know you today, that they would consider the severity of their condition right now in the present. That they would consider that at this moment they hang, as it were, over the fires of hell. And should you take them, they would stand before you in judgment and be cast out forever. Lord, help them to see the gravity of their words. Help them to seek you for grace and forgiveness in Christ, that they might find refuge from their own sins, their own words, their own thoughts, their own motives. We thank you for so wonderful a Savior, who has saved many of us here in this room. And Lord, we know that He receives all the honor and the praise and the glory. And may that keep us humble in all that we do. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.