I want you to turn with me in
your Bible to Matthew chapter 15, verse 18. Our text would be verse 19. Matthew
15, 18. The character of a man or a woman
is often decided by others by what comes out of their mouth. And the Lord said that in rebuke
to those that He called vipers. In Matthew chapter 12, you don't
have to turn there, verse 34, our Lord said, O generation of
vipers, snakes, how can you, being evil, speak good things? Now He proposes the question,
you can't speak good. because of what you are. For
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." You know,
sometimes you fly off and say something and you say, I didn't
mean that. Well, most of the time you did.
And then the Lord asks here in Matthew chapter 15 verse 18,
He adds here, Where do the things that fall
from our mouth come from? Have you ever thought about that?
Where do they come from? Do they just come out of the
air and enter our head and out our mouth? No. Verse 18, But
those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from
the heart. And they do what? They defile
the man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defiles not a man. You know, the Pharisees thought,
and because the law required it, But Christ is here now. The law has been put away as
far as a means to be saved. They thought you had to wash
your hands after everything. He's going to hell. He didn't
wash his hands. And here the Lord says, no, that's
not what will send you to hell. This is what will. Those things which proceed out
of your mouths come forth from your hearts. And those things
that come forth from our hearts, they're bad. They're bad. And they defile. That word means
profane. They profane us. The Lord was very plain in saying
that. But that's not all that He said.
He was very true in what He said. After all, He's not a man that
He should lie. You know that the Lord was not...
He was a God-man. He was all God and He was all
man. He's not a man that He should lie. We saw in the first hour
that that's what every man is. Let God be true and every man
a liar. Men, by nature, are liars. He's not the Son of Man that
He should repent. The word repent simply means
change His mind. We change our mind like the weather,
don't we? But not the Lord. Not the Lord. And He's got the
power to back it up. He doesn't have to change. We
have to change because of providence and other things. Plan a vacation and something
comes up and we can't go. But the Lord purposes, and He
accomplishes it always. As the God-man, He had no reason
to lie, repent, or change His mind about what He said. Do you
agree? Are we on the same page about
who God is? Do you remember what an idiom
is? Idiom? I think that's the way
you say it. An idiom is an expression. It's a phrase that has a figurative
meaning, but it's different from the literal meaning. Let me give
you an example. If I was to say to you, it's
raining cats and dogs outside. Well, you know it's not raining
cats and dogs. But you would know what I meant,
and you'd say, it must really be raining. That's an idiom. There's an old idiom that's often
used concerning a particular group of people, and it's called
a den of thieves. Do these thieves, these criminals,
live in a den? No. Do they live in a lion's
den or a bear cave? No. It's called a den because
it's a gathering spot for such who are engaged in illegal and
unethical behavior. And did you know, and I'd forgotten
this, didn't even think about it, but did you know that the
phrase, den of thieves, originates from the Bible? It sure does. From the book of Matthew where
the Lord runs those money changers out of the temple? He said that
my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made
it a den of thieves. It's found in three out of the
four Gospels. And friends, by nature, that's
exactly what we are. A den of thieves. And it is a
place defined as immoral or grossly unfair behavior. That's a pretty
good definition. It's pretty applicable to us. It's a horrific iniquity that
is under scrutiny. Well, who's it under scrutiny
by? It's under scrutiny, under critical observation and examination
by God Almighty. He's the judge of all things.
Only a holy and a just God can deal with this iniquity. And
He does so either in judgment or in mercy. One of two ways. Now, we can't deal with it. We cannot deal with it. We think
we can, but we can't. We have no innocence to deal
with sin in order to condemn it. And we can't even condemn
it in ourselves. Because we make excuses for ourselves. We find some way, yeah, but you
know, I thought, or whatever. our silly, pathetic excuses about
sin. We have no innocence to deal
with sin in order to condemn it, and we don't have any innocence
to deal with it even in mercy. Just too guilty. We're unqualified. Not only to deal with one another's
sin, but also our own. And if all of us would be honest
with ourselves and with the Lord, we all know where such a den
of iniquity can be found. Right here. Right here. It's found in our hearts. Our
own hearts. Again, Matthew 15 verse 19, For
out of the heart Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These
are the things which defile a man. Now let me talk to you just for
a minute. I've endeavored and strived to
preach to you the last 12 years and tell you the truth from the
Word of God. Now if I was standing up here
week after week telling you what I think, that wouldn't do you
a bit of good. But I'm trying to tell you the
truth from this Word. It's worthy of being believed. Matter of fact, condemnation
waits for those who don't. And I learned early on, even after
I became pastor here, that I have a lot to learn myself. And I'm
going to learn it the same way you do, by the divine revelation
of God. God's got to teach us these things. I don't care how smart you are,
how bright you are, how educated you are, it doesn't matter. God
has to divinely reveal it to you. In preparing to preach each week,
I can honestly say that I've been taught the gospel the same
way you have, by God. What a good teacher. Oh, he's
a good teacher. He's got a way of getting your
attention, doesn't he? That's the only way he can be
taught to us. And this morning I have not only
a subject that was revealed to me, but I also have a subject
that I've experienced. And that's the subject of my
heart. Not very pleasant to talk about. So what you have experienced,
preacher, what have you experienced concerning your heart? The same
thing God's taught me about it, and the same thing He's taught
you about yours. So we ought to be on common ground.
You ought to know what I'm talking about. Ain't a nickel's difference
between any of us when it comes to sin. The first thing that God tells
us about our hearts in His Word is found in Genesis chapter 6.
You don't have to turn there. You know the passage. You know
it well. After the sin of Adam, Jehovah,
God Almighty, God, the Sovereign God, the God that does what He
wills with His own, The God who has mercy on whom He will have
mercy, and grace upon whom He will have grace, compassion on
whom He will have compassion, and whom He will, He hardens.
The God of all grace saw that the wickedness of man, after
the fall, that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every single imagination of the thoughts of the heart, were only evil continually."
Now listen, that's three bad words right in a row. Only evil
continually. That's your heart. That's my
heart. That's every heart. When was man's wickedness great
in the earth? After man sinned against God.
Sin then was great in the earth because it was great in the man.
Listen, there wouldn't have been great sin in the earth if there
hadn't been great sin in the man. How do we know that? God tells
us. Are we paying any attention to what God says? I'm serious. Why was sin great in the earth?
Because it was great in the man. How do I know that sin was great
in the man? Because every imagination He
didn't have a few good ones and then a few, you know, in-between
ones and then a few bad ones, a few bad ones over here, way
over here. No, every imagination of the
thoughts of his and her hearts, ladies, you don't get exempt
from that, were only evil. Nothing good in them. Not only
evil, but only evil continually. Have you ever seen a bumper sticker,
window sign, decal, billboard, sign on the side of the road
that said, my heart is only evil, caused and proven by every continual
evil imagination that comes out of my heart, Genesis 6-5? I bet
you ain't ever seen that bumper sticker at your road sign. I bet you hadn't seen this one
either. You could follow it up with this one. It goes right
along with the other. God is sorry. God is repentant that
He ever created me because it grieves Him at His heart that
He did because I am evil. Genesis 6. You ever seen that
one? Well, there's a whole bunch of
them. that you have seen. Jesus loves you, doesn't He?
Christ died for me, did He? I'm a child of the King, are
you? With God, all things are possible.
Do you mean if you let Him? Is God your co-pilot? Boy, I'll
never forget that one. Listen, do you think that statement
brings glory to God? God is my co-palate. God ain't
co-anything. I told you about the young lady
at a local business establishment that told me that, I said, how
are you? You know, and she says, I am
blessed and highly favored. Are you sure about that? I'm
serious now, I'm not trying to be cute. Are you sure about that? Better make your calling and
election sure. Not trying to be ugly. According to the Word
of God, most who claim that they're saved are not. I saw a Windows sticker a few
weeks ago that said, I am on an adventure with Jesus. Seriously? I kind of doubt it. You know
why? Because His adventures begin
with dying to self. Still a whole lot of you in that
statement. Now folks trying to mess up a
song that I love. They've got signs that say, it's
well with my soul. Are you certain? Are you really
certain? Everyone that goes through a
funeral home anymore is supposedly saved, but in the end it doesn't
turn out to be well with their souls at all. How about that old bumper sticker?
This is not a message about bumper stickers. How about that old
bumper sticker that says, Smile, God Loves You? God wrote for all to see in this
book. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. Have you ever seen that bumper
sticker? How about this one? Hello, my
name is Judas and the Lord told me it would have been better
for me if I had never been born. How about this one? I'm so glad
you declare to have a good and kind heart. God said mine is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. If we're going to do bumper stickers,
let's do true ones! Everybody likes the Hallmark
kind of bumper sticker and billboards, but nobody likes the one that
God has in His Word. The one on the billboard says
God is good, and the one in the Bible says God is holy. So how about the truth? What
about the humiliating, unadulterated, godly truth? Is it too much to
ask? Well, you seem like you're a
little fired up about it. People going to hell every minute,
every day, believing this thing. It's what this book, God's Word,
is full of. The truth of nothing but the
truth. Just like our hearts are full of iniquity, the Word of
God is full of truth because this is His Word. And God is
full of truth. You can count on what this says.
We may not understand it all. We may need guidance along the
way. What does this mean? We may need
to study. We don't learn it all overnight. So who are we going to believe?
Men and women with deceitful hearts? Hearts that are desperately
wicked? Or are we going to believe the
God of the Bible? The God of truth? If you ask someone... I hope you don't get tired of hearing
this. If you ask someone if their righteousness is filthy rags,
they deny it. They'll say, I'm not perfect,
but I'm not filthy. But that's exactly what God calls
us. You tell someone their righteousness is as filthy rags, and you watch
that vein in their neck pop out like a garden hose. They get
mad. Then you tell them what the word
filthy means, and then this one on this side pops out. They don't like it. Psalm 14
verse 3, it says that all are gone aside, they are all together
become filthy. In the margin there, the word
means stinking. All together stinking. There's
none that doeth good, no not one. Tell somebody they stink.
And they'll fly high. In Psalm 53, it says basically
the same thing. That word filthy means corrupt.
Stinking means dead. You remember when the Lord went
to raise Lazarus from the dead? And He said, open the grave. And his sister said, oh no, Lord,
he's been four days dead. He stinks! You don't think the
Lord knew that? He stunk before he ever died.
We all do. We're filthy! And then you go to Isaiah chapter
64 verse 6, but we are all as an unclean, polluted, that's
what the word means, thing, and our righteousnesses, plural,
righteousnesses, are as filthy rags, and we all do fate as a
leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.
You know what that filthy there means. I've told you many times. It's compared to menstrual flux. A soiling. And folks say, well
that's just disgusting. That's just gross. You may think so. But this is how God describes
our filthiness. That's how God describes our
righteousness. And I'm sorry that it disgusts
you, but I'm telling you, it doesn't disgust God any less
than your filthy righteousness does. The accusation laid against human
nature by the Lord Jesus in our text doesn't beat around the
bush. We've got too much beating around
the bush today in preaching. We sure do. The Lord doesn't start here with
minor crimes and work His way up, you know, trying to prepare
us. Get us used to the idea that we're not all that bad. No, sir. He starts with what men would
consider the worst of the worst. Murderer! You're a murderer! Adulterer! A fornicator! You're a liar! You're a blasphemer. Do you think these listed offenses
were accidents? Well, officer, I saw the guy
walking down the street, and I don't know. I mean, I just
decided to kill him. It wasn't an accident. It came. That's how men and women excuse
them. They're the worst accusations of the grossest shapes of human
sin that they are, and they're all true. I've never murdered
anybody. Have you hated anybody in your
heart unjustly? I've never committed adultery.
I've never cheated on my wife. Have you looked at a woman in
love? It says we fade as we leave.
Our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. Sounds to
me like we're capable of doing it. Murder doesn't come just from
an impatient hand. So-and-so didn't wait on me fast
enough. I've had enough. It comes from
an ungovernable heart. So how do we make our calling
and election sure? We don't. We don't. God does. We can't work out what
God hasn't worked in. Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure, for if you do these things, you shall never
fall. Now that word election, in that
verse there, 2 Peter 1.10, where Peter says that, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. Listen, calling is God's
calling. Election is God's choosing. You didn't have anything to do
with either one of them. Well, I have decided to follow Jesus.
Well, no, you didn't. No, you didn't. I chose the Lord
Jesus. The Lord Jesus said, you've not
chosen me, but I've chosen you. We don't call ourselves or choose
ourselves. So how do we make our calling
and election sure? We trust in Christ to do it for
us. Isn't that what you're doing? And we're right back to where
we always say salvation is of the Lord. Period. We cannot work
out what God has not worked in. Impossible. Death is not simply
an outflow of covetous desire. Well, I just wanted what I had
so much, I just had to take it. The heart is from where this
covetousness springs. That's where the true man is.
Like a great and skilled physician, the one who has successfully
treated this horrific disease many times, our Lord put His
finger on the core of the human nature and problem, and He reveals
it to be, here's the evil right here. Here's the evil right here.
It's found in the heart. The heart is the affections and
the affections of a man are the sources of his crimes. When the
great physician is asked the real cause of the problem, he
says, I just told you what it is. It's because man doesn't
love his maker. Man doesn't love his God. His
heart's all messed up. He's got heart trouble. Man does not love what's right
and good. Man delights in what is false
and evil. Man is defiled. Man is corrupt. Man doesn't work right. Defective. His heart's deceitful above all
things. He's defective. What do you do, you parents,
what do you do with a broken toy that can't be fixed? Throw
it away. It's of no worth unless it's
given to someone who can fix it. I know someone who can fix it. And he doesn't just fix it, he
makes it new. We just got Paul some headphones
refurbished. That means somebody had them
and sent them back and they put them back just like new. Well,
guess what? They didn't work. But when the Lord refurbishes
something, it's refurbished. Aren't you glad that God could
fix you? Well, I sure am. Better than
that, He makes us new in Christ. Every imagination of the heart
of man is evil from his youth up. God fixed some of them. The
whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. God made some
of them new. Someone once said, you can't
be hung for your thoughts. You can't be executed because
of your thoughts. Well, I beg your pardon. If you
don't repent of your thoughts, you will. Without repentance,
you will be damned for your thoughts. And if my thoughts never took
the form of action, if I never acted upon what my thoughts told
me, There's no punishment in just thinking something, is there?
Well, hey, with God there is. Your guilt remains. Our Lord
said, you've heard it said of them of old time, thou shalt
not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the
judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
The Lord said very plainly, You've heard it said of them of old
that I shall not commit adultery, but I say unto you that whosoever
looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery
with her already in his heart. So your thoughts, apart from
actions, can kill you and kill you justly. You better believe
they can. Our Lord went on to say, If thy
right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.
For it is more profitable for you that one of your members
should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into
hell. If thy right hand offend thee,
cut it off, and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy
whole body should be cast into hell. Get rid of it. I'm not telling you to go out
and cut your hand off today or pluck your eye out or anything
else. Evil, what I'm trying to show you, evil thoughts flow
from the heart. Evil thoughts flow toward God.
Evil thoughts flow towards men. There are evil thoughts. Some men boast, I've never done
that. Well, they ought to be sorry for what they have done.
They might not have done that, but they've a thousand times
thought it. I heard a man say, I've never been
unfaithful to my wife. No, but a thousand times you've
played the part of lust in your mind. Men both have never committed
adultery, no, but you've sure wield the knife and shot the
gun and your feet have fled swiftly to shed innocent blood in the
actions of your heart. There are multitudes, including
you and I, who have not committed outward sensual acts, lustful
imaginations, foul and corrupt desires, but we have all, sure
enough, have plenty that we can be guilty, that we're guilty
of. Salvation is a matter of the heart. Those who have not
blasphemed God with their lips sure have cursed them in their
hearts. That's our clue of what's in
our hearts. They'd never come to mind if
we did not feel as though they were essential to our soul. We cannot not sing it. And the inventory that the Lord
gives here mentions the acts of unchasteness. It's not talking
about marriage relations between a husband and wife. That bed
is undefiled. Men and women who never fall
into such evil lusts, if these were not sweet to the heart,
they wouldn't even think about it. But they are, and therefore
we follow after them. Injuring others by theft is from
the heart. And when our list closes with
bearing false witness and blasphemy, I'm telling you, it's nothing
less than one setting his own heart higher than God. What all that really matters
is that I give my way. I give what I want. It doesn't
matter what God wants. There would be no murder, no
fornication, no adultery, no false witness or blasphemy if
the heart was pure and right. It just wouldn't be. I'll tell you this much. Don't
any of us need any training to excel in sin? There may be schools
for virtue, But there's no necessity to open a school for bison singing.
We learned that pretty well on our own. We never taught our
children to lie. Never taught my children to lie. I may have
set too good of an example, but I never taught them to lie. They
excelled quite well on their own. And so did I, and so did
my dad, and so did his father, and every other father before
us, and every other father after us. Is it due to a lack of education? No. What's it due to? Depravity. The Lord told us which it was. Out of the heart proceeds. That word proceeds means just
what you think it does. It means begins. It means starts.
It means move forward. It means to take action. What
proceeds? We've got the list. right in
front of us. You know, I remember one time
Brother Jack Shanks was headmaster. He was the principal of a private
school in Texas many years ago. He told me this himself. I've
heard other people tell it too. And Brother, it was the day I
think before school started and he was getting everything to
open up for the school day. And a lady called him on the
phone and she said, Brother Jack, She said, would you keep an eye
on my son, little Johnny, and keep him away from the wrong
crowd? And Jack said, well, lady, ma'am, he said, that's going
to be hard to do. And she, well, what do you mean
it's going to be hard to do? He said, ma'am, your son is the
wrong crowd. We are all the wrong crowd, aren't
we? I'm the wrong crowd. You're the wrong crowd. You can
take a sinner out of the world, but you can't take the sin out
of the sinner. You can't take the world out
of the sinner. Only God can and only God will. There's been a
class in school on how to sin. That is a class I would have
made an A in. Just like a crocodile bites its
way through a shell, It begins to act like its parents. How's
that? They begin to act just like a
crocodile. They start eating up things in their way. That's
you. That's me. Just like a serpent,
when it breaks its shell, it begins to hiss. Well, why does
that snake hiss at me? Because that's what snakes do.
That's the nature of a snake. And that's our nature. What is our nature? a sin nature. No guessing what it is. It's
a sin nature. And that's what we do as soon
as we're born. Why should it surprise us? A
tiger soon develops a thirst for blood. So do we. So do we. So with all these things, you
may be asking yourself, He's got just a few minutes left.
How in the world can all this, how is it going to help me? What's
the good news in this? Everything you've told me so
far is not good news. What's the good news in this?
Well, I wanted to give you the bad news before I give you any
good news. You may say, well, Brother Dean,
you've crushed my hope. You've depleted my assurance. And you've caused me to doubt. How have you helped me? Well,
I thought you'd never ask. Knowing these things about yourself
from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the God and Savior of sinners. Knowing that they're true. Knowing
that the Lord Himself said them. Knowing that they will lead you to what you must have. I like that. What must I have? I must have a need for Him. What we need is to have a need
of Christ. We've got to see that we're sick.
Those that are well have no need of a physician. A man that's
doing quite well on his own, he don't need anybody or any
help. We must see that we're diseased
We must see that we need healing. We must see that spiritually
speaking, we need a new heart. Not a heart valve cleared or
maybe even replaced. That's serious, I know. Not blood
pressure lowered. I know a little about that. Not
an inconsistent beat called a-fib. But a new heart. A heart transplant. Not a physical heart plant, but
a spiritual one. And I think of David, the psalmist. He said, Lord, create in me a
clean heart. A new heart. Clean. And as we've
seen, ours is anything but clean. All of us need for God to renew
a right, a constant spirit within us. Our heart is anything but
constant. Consistent. It's all over the
place. We need the Almighty to restore
unto each of us the joy of His salvation. That joy of salvation
that we lost in Adam and were born without. That's what we desperately need.
We don't need to be made better. Better is still short of the
glory of God, is it not? Oh, I'm thankful if I'm better,
but that's not going to save me because I've got to be perfect.
We need to be made perfect. We don't simply need to be made
accepted. We need to be made perfect in
Christ. No, not accepted as man thinks. Doesn't get the job done. but
perfectly accepted as God demands. That's what we've got to have. I want to finish by turning
you to the Old Testament book of Leviticus. Leviticus 22. Turn there with me and I'll finish. Leviticus 22. I quote parts of this verse often,
but not today. I'm going to read a few verses
here together. Leviticus 22 verse 17. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons and to all the children
of Israel, and say unto them, whatsoever he be of the house
of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his
oblation, or his offering, for all his vows, and for all his
freewill offerings, which they will offer unto the Lord for
a burnt offering, you shall offer at your own will a male without
blemish of the beaves, of the sheep, or of the goats. Now look
at verse 20. But whatsoever hath a blemish,
that shall ye not offer, for it shall not be acceptable for
you. Verse 21 And whosoever offereth
a sacrifice of peace offerings before the Lord to accomplish
his vow, or a freewill offering in beefs or sheep, It shall be
perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein. Blind, or broken, or maimed,
or having a wind, a sore, that's what that means, or scurvy, or
scabbed, scabbed over, Ye shall not offer these unto the Lord,
nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the
Lord. Either a bullock or a lamb that
hath any thing superfluous or lacking in its parts, that mayest
thou offer for a freewill offering, but for a vow, a promise to God,
it shall not be accepted. Ye shall not offer unto the Lord
that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut, neither shall
you make any offering thereof in your land, neither from a
stranger's hand shall you offer the bread of your God of any
of these things, because their corruption is in them, and blemishes
be in them, and they shall not be accepted for you. Now do you
know what God is saying? You and I have nothing in and
of ourselves to offer God a promise or a vow. Nothing. What are you
going to offer Him? What are you going to offer Him
that's not bruised or crushed or broken or blemished or cut?
Everything is. Everything we have is. Nothing
we have will be accepted at the end. Absolutely nothing. Why? Because it's not perfect. It's
got to be perfect. It must be perfect to be accepted. That's what our Lord is telling
us in Matthew 15, verse 19, you don't have anything perfect.
You have nothing to offer God. You have nothing by which God
will accept you. We're anything and everything
but perfect. But here's the good news. Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ is. He's perfect. if we're accepted in Him. He's
God's elect. He's God's beloved. He's the
perfect Lamb. He's the perfect substitute.
He's the perfect surety. And God chooses sinners in Him. That's your only hope. That's
your only hope. Not every sinner, but every sinner
that believes in Him being every sinner that the Lord reveals
His Son to. And as I said, we've got to hear
the bad news in order to need the good news. And since we've
heard the bad news, since we've heard the good news, we don't ever hear anything but
good news. We never hear bad news ever again. I got bad news
for you. You gave me no bad news. Yeah,
but you've got cancer, eh? That's not bad news. That just means that my departure's
at hand. That just means that to die is
gain. It's not bad news. No sir, not
at all. You know, immediately after the
Lord, this is a message for another time, but immediately after the
Lord gives us what He gives us in Matthew 15, verse 19 there,
it goes to the story of the woman of Canaan, the one who the Lord
called a dog. Isn't that... that's just the
way God's Word is. That's just the way God is. She knew what she was. She knew
she was a murderer. She knew she was a blasphemer. She knew she was
a false witness. She knew she was an adulteress,
a fornicator. She knew all of it. And we learned
to say it with her. You're a dog. You don't get the
bread from the children's table. That's the truth, Lord. I know
that. You've shown me that. But even
the dogs get the crumbs from the Master's table. I'll take
them. I'll take them. I'll take the
crumbs. Crumbs will be life-giving crumbs
if they could fall from the Lord's table.