Tonight our text is in the book of Proverbs chapter 12. Proverbs chapter 12. We are continuing the contrast between the wicked and the righteous. And here he describes them by what they speak. In our text, it's going to tell us the ones that are wicked, they transgress with their lips. talks about the fruit of the mouth. It talks about he that speaketh truth and he that is a false witness speaking deceit. So these are the contrast this evening that Solomon's going to lay out for us here in our text. And the question I have is, who maketh thee to differ? Who makes us to differ from anyone else? It's the grace of God that has brought us to this understanding, that has given us knowledge, that has given us Christ who is our wisdom, that has made us believe it, and caused us to speak the things that God requires, calls us to speak what he speaks. So let's read this together. Proverbs chapter 12, 11 through 20 says, He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. The wicked desireth the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit. The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips, but the just shall come out of trouble. A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. A fool's wrath is presently known, but a prudent man covereth shame. He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit. There is that speaketh like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of the truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil, but to counselors of peace is joy. I've titled this message, The Abundance of the Heart. The scripture tells us, the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, actually in Matthew chapter 12, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. here in this chapter he has spoken many things about lips, about mouths, about words, about deceit, about truth. And there is a distinct and definitive difference between that which is wicked speaking and that those who have been made the righteousness of God by Jesus Christ and what they speak. Everyone without exception, is born with a deceitful, wicked, depraved heart that is contrary to God in every way. That is anti God. It's anti God. It's a heart of stone. It's a heart that cannot seek after the things of God doesn't desire the things of God, but it desires its own it desires itself. It desires praise. That's our heart by nature by birth. Scripture tells us there's none that do with good. There's none that seeketh after God. No, not one. What does none mean? None means none, doesn't it? Oftentimes men will read those verses and they don't, it can't grasp the concept of none means none. Our responsibility as the Lord's people and me as the pastor declaring the truth is to be as simple and plain as I can be. When the scripture says none, that's what it means. None good, no not one. That's what it means. In Matthew 12, and we're gonna turn there, the Lord just healed someone of a demonic possession. They were possessed of the devil. And amazingly, the Pharisees come up and says, is this not Joseph and Mary's son? Is this not Jesus, the carpenter's son? And they said, he's healed by Beelzebub's spirit. That's Satan. And the Lord rebuked them. The Lord said, how is it possible that the devil can cast out the devil? He said, that doesn't make any sense. He's explaining it to them. But they accused Jesus of healing him by the devil. They hated God in their heart. Think about the marvelous miracle that had just taken place. Someone that was possessed who had no hope of being healed or being remedied from this affliction. And you remember the maniac at Gadara, how awful his situation was. He cut himself. He broke the chains. He had no clothes on. He was running around the tombs. He was out of his mind. What about this individual? Was it similar to that? We don't have a lot of information, but what we do know is that they were demonically possessed and the Lord healed them. But rather than rejoicing in the Lord and rather seeing Him and confessing that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father, they hated Him because all they had was their wicked, stony heart. Turn with me to Matthew 12. Look at verse 22. Then was brought up unto Jesus, one possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. Now did they rejoice whenever they saw this man who couldn't speak and couldn't see? Let's read on. And all the people were amazed and said, is this not the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And Jesus knew their thoughts and said unto them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. Every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is coming to you or else How can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man, and then he will spoil his house? He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. So here we have these men, these wicked men, as we have in our text, the ones that speak deceit, the ones that speak lies unto these people, the one that boasted in what they did, what they wore, what they knew, And they're accusing our Lord of healing by Beelzebub. They're not speaking the truth. Only the Lord's people are made to speak the truth. What is the truth? Christ is the truth. He's the way, the truth, and the life. Only the Lord's people are made to speak Him as all in salvation. Him as completely sovereign. These individuals couldn't speak that because the Lord hadn't give them a new heart. These are liars on God denying that salvation is of grace. They're denying the isness of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're denying that it's God's choice in salvation, that it's his sovereign right to save who he will. And our works don't have anything to do with that. It's all because he elected a people and he died for those people and he regenerated those people by grace alone. And the Pharisees hated him for it. They hated him for it. because he wasn't the king that they desired. They wanted a king to come down from glory, the Messiah, to come down to take up David's place, to pick up a sword and go and destroy all their enemies and establish an earthly kingdom. But what did the Lord say? My kingdom is not of this world. He's telling them right here, if I cast out by the Holy Spirit, then is the kingdom of the Lord come. Now it's here. This is it. You're missing it. That's what he's telling them. They can't see it and they can't speak except that which is in the abundance of their own wicked heart. Here we have the work that the Lord does do in the heart of his people by his determined counsel, those that he elected that will find themselves with a new heart. The Lord Jesus Christ is the strong man that comes in. He kicks the door down. He doesn't knock and ask your permission to come in. And he did say, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will open unto me, I will come in and sup with him and he with me. The Lord's not standing there begging to come in to anybody's heart. It's just not, that's not scriptural. The Lord comes to a man or a woman that has been elected according to the foreknowledge of God, predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. And he kicks the door down of our stony heart. He comes in and he binds this flesh. He binds its will. He binds everything in us. He binds Satan, the demonic influence we have. He binds the sin. He binds everything. and he casts it all out. That's what the picture is here. And if he doesn't do that and give me a new heart, I don't have any hope. I don't have any hope. He's the one that kicks the door and binds the wicked heart that we have. Satan, self, and sin gives repentance towards God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know it to be true. If he didn't do that for you, and if he didn't do that for me, we wouldn't come to him. There's no, we heard Sunday, there's no beauty in him that we should desire. Everything that even I've said thus far would be, it's incredibly offensive to the flesh. Our flesh don't like it because it gives no glory to the flesh. Thank God, the elder shall serve the younger. So you have the new man that is in charge now, that's created in righteousness by Christ Jesus, created by his spirit, according to his power. So now you have a nature that looks to Christ by faith, this new creature with new nature. That's the good news of the gospel, is now that which is required of us, God has provided for us, all because Christ is the strong man. Let's read on verse 31. Wherefore, I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. Now that's, I want to. camp on this verse, just for a minute, because this is something so important. In false religion, men would talk about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is whenever he would come and make an offer unto you for salvation, and you would reject him. That is not what this is talking about. The Lord never has offered himself, but one time, and that was to the Father for salvation, and he saved his people from their sin. Then he comes to us and calls us uh, at the appointed time. And we believe because he gives faith to believe. So there's, there's not an offer on the table for you to take or you to leave. So that's not what he's talking about here. He literally told us what the blasphemy of the Holy spirit is by him saying that they accused him of casting out this demon by Beelzebub, that he's of Satan. They're denying that the Holy Spirit had the power to do that which he wanted to do, that he had to use the devil because he wasn't of the Lord. That's what men say in false religion whenever they say, if you don't make your choice or give your heart to Jesus, if you don't do this or you don't do that, that's blasphemy against the Holy Spirit because it doesn't give him all the glory in it. It doesn't say he's all powerful, sent by the Father unto whomsoever he has chose to save. So to deny Him, deny the Spirit of God, His power, His sovereignty. See, the three triune Godhead, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, they're completely sovereign in everything. So to deny that is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Nothing more, nothing less. We believe that the Lord's Spirit cannot be constrained or restrained by us because He is God the Spirit, that's why. If we can control Him, if we can control Him, I'm God, He's not. He's God, I'm not. He's not God, I am. Look at verse 32. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor there in the world to come. Either make thee the tree good, and its fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by its fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh." There's where we got our title from, the abundance of the heart, the abundance of the heart, the mouth speak. A good man out of the good treasures of the heart bring forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasures of the heart evil treasures bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account therefore on the day of judgment for by the words, now get this verse, this is so important, by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. First let me say that there is, no one can say anything other than what's in their heart. Now I can, deceive with my words and say that I believe the gospel. Lord knows the truth. No one can deceive him. So all I can speak truly, truly is what's in my heart. And the only one that can give me a heart of flesh that seeks after godliness, that seeks after holiness, that seeks after his will, that looks to him is the Lord. He's the one that must do that. The abundance of the heart we're born with is depraved, it's wicked, it's sinful. But the abundance that the Lord gives to his people in the new heart, it's righteousness, it's holiness, it's all the love, joy, peace, everything that the Lord gives his people by his spirit. No man can speak that which he does not have in the heart, meaning that the required heart transplant is not a quadruple bypass. The Lord's not going to come fix this heart. He's going to have to take out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. In false religion, it was almost like you had to give your heart to the Lord in order for him to fix it and give it back to you. And Lord doesn't want anybody's heart. No, there's only one heart that he was pleased with, and it's the heart of Jesus Christ. I gotta have his heart. I've gotta have his heart. His righteousness is what pleased the Father. I've gotta have his righteousness. His holiness was acceptable unto the Father. I have to have his holiness. And if I'm going to be justified, it's going to have to come through and by his finished work, not any works that I do. This new heart, the new creature in Christ with a new nature that looks to him by faith. We already said this, but it's the elder that serves the younger. This is born of his spirit. This is the difference that causes God's people to speak what God says pertaining to life, pertaining to God, pertaining to Christ, pertaining to salvation. This is the difference. The Lord causes us to say that which he says pertaining to God and pertaining to his salvation, salvations of the Lord. Salvation's not by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, nor of blood, but of God. Salvation's according to His will, His purpose, and His grace. This is the work of grace in the heart. Look at verse 37. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. What does he mean, thy words? Because our mouth can only say what's in our heart, God's gonna require complete truth. So on Judgment Day, and I love the fact that the Lord's people were judged in Christ on the cross, Judgment Day is going to sound, for the believer, those who are elected of God, it's gonna sound just like this, enter in thou good and faithful servant. But for those that are not his chosen people, it will be depart from me, workers of iniquity, I never knew you. What a sad state to be forever. There's no word hid unto the Lord. What we speak will reflect what we have in the heart. It will. Meaning if I'm talking to you about who Christ is, eventually my righteousness is gonna come out if it's not him as my righteousness. Eventually, I'll brag about something I do in my flesh as evidence or part of my salvation. If I'm not completely clinging to his finished work alone, if I'm not completely clinging to what he accomplished on the cross, I'm going to speak what's in my heart. It's going to come out. And on judgment day, the Lord's going to require truth and who's going to be able to lie to him. Listen, what he says in Hebrews four for the word of God. is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents." You can't even have an intent in your heart without God knowing about it. God knows all things, he's omnipotence. I must have a heart that is pleasing in his sight. I love the fact that we have evidence in the scripture of a man named David, who was a man after God's own heart. He wrote in Psalms, Lord created me a clean heart, oh God, renewing me a right spirit. What does that mean? He's saying all this is bad, you're gonna have to make it good. I can't do it. That's what he's saying, and that's what we cry with David, isn't it? There's nothing hidden from him. He demands perfect righteousness. He demands a pure heart, true holiness, and we can't produce any of that in the flesh or with this wicked heart that we're born with. Thanks be to God, he did. I love the fact that everything he spoke was truth. Everything he spoke was full of grace. Everything he spoke was good because it was him who did it. It was the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke out of the abundance of the heart. His heart was always pure. He never had, nothing about him had to be fixed. And everything about us has to be fixed. Lord, you're going to have to give me a new heart. Now go back to Proverbs chapter 12. Look at verse, let's just read our text again. And we'll read it one more time in closing after I make a few more points, but hopefully in the light of what we've seen already, the Lord will show us some of these contrasts here. Verse 11, chapter 12. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. The wicked desireth the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit. The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips, but the judge shall come out of trouble. A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man's hand shall be rendered unto him. The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. The fool's wrath is presently known. but a prudent man cover his shame. He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit. There is that speaketh like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil, but to the counselors, of peace, it's joy. He says, a man shall be satisfied with the good fruit of his mouth. All men are pleased with what they say and believe. Did you know that? Think about that. If a man is self-righteous and he speaks about how he's self-righteous and he really, really believes that he's self-righteous, then he's gonna be pleased with himself, isn't he? Now that's the state of all men by nature. They're pretty pleased with this fruit. And we already read earlier about the fruit of corruption and the fruit of life. I think we read that already. But men are going to be pleased with whatever fruit that they can see. The good news of the gospel is we don't look for fruit. Now that we've been born again, we look to his fruit and that's what we speak. And therefore we're satisfied with him alone. That's the point. We're not satisfied with our fruit. We're satisfied with his fruit. I love what he said about the vine. Let's see if I can find that. Well, he's talking about the vine, how it, uh, that's okay. We just have to move on from it. The vine producing fruit. Well, he is the vine. He is the vine. Think about that. He said, I am the true vine. You are the branches. That's the glorious part about our Lord is he produces everything required because you and I can't produce anything. We can't produce anything. The root, Let's read that, verse 12. The wicked desireth the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit. Well, who's the root? Well, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? He's the root, He's the vine. We're just the branches that's been grafted in. All this is Him that gets the glory. If we speak anything of truth pertaining to God, pertaining to Christ, pertaining to salvation, He's the doer of it and gets all the glory. He's the one that teaches His people. Salvation is of the Lord. Only those who've been born again speak the words of righteousness. We speak that Jesus Christ is all in salvation. Jesus Christ is all in salvation. You mean I don't have to do anything and you don't have to do anything? Yes. Well, somebody said you have to believe. Well, believing is passive. It's a gift of God by grace. It's called faith. And if he don't give it, we'll never believe. So yes, you have to believe, but the Lord has to make you. And he has to make me. And thank God, that's exactly what he does. That's exactly what he does. This is why he says in verse 15, the way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Fools believe that they're right in all things. They love the fruit of their lips. They love the labor of their self. They like to look at themselves. Everything about men by nature says, look at me. I mentioned social media sometime just because of that. You see how many people are out there saying, look at me, look at me, look at my life, look how good I've got it. Most of the time it's fake. Greg says it's fake book, not Facebook. I like that. I thought that was funny. But everybody wants to be seen. Everybody wants to be admired. Everybody wants to be praised. And it goes all the way back to the garden, brethren. What did Cain glory in? Did he glory in the fruit of Christ? Or did he glory in the fruit of his hands, the works of his own hands? What did he confess? I should be accepted before God. He gloried in his fruit. That's the picture here. Every man is going to be condemned or justified because of what they say with their mouth comes from the heart. And it's only when the Lord gives a new heart can we confess Jesus Christ is Lord and he reigns supreme and he didn't try to save his people. He saved his people. He was successful on the cross of Calvary. That's the confession the Lord gives his people. God has made his chosen people hearken unto him and speak what he speaks. Turn with me to Romans chapter 10. When I wrote these notes, I thought I'd be done by now. I'm only about halfway done, so I, hmm. Well, we'll speak as long as necessary, Pray the Lord blesses it. Look, turn to Romans chapter 10. This is very, if you were raised in maybe see one, two, three, repeat after me church, they use this. Oh yes. Look, Romans chapter 10, verse eight. This is the clue to speaking the truth. Verse eight. Now, most of the time, this verse is completely missed. People, they call it the Romans road. They say, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. and all the different verses that lead up to this point. And this is what now, this is what you have to do to be saved. That's what they say, but they miss verse eight. And that's the most important, but what sayeth it? What sayeth it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth. Why? Because it's in thine heart. That is the word of faith, which we preach. That is the entire key to the rest of this. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, with what? The faith he's given you in your heart. the faith he's given you, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now here's the key to that. How shall they then call on him in whom they have not believed? Well, how am I gonna call on him if I haven't believed? But how am I gonna believe with not faith? Can we see how he gets all the glory in this? And how shall they believe on him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall he preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings. of good things, but they have not obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah has said, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and here's the key, here's the key. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So he's saying all I have to do to get faith is hear the word of God. Yes and no. Yes and no. Not here with these ears. hear with the new heart, by faith that God's given. It's not just that, what did the Lord say? Ears they have but cannot hear. Eyes they have but cannot see. He was talking about false gods, but he also talks about, in Revelation he says, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Well, doesn't everybody have ears? I mean, I'm sure there's some people that are hard of hearing or they can't hear or deaf, but you understand what I'm saying there. He that hath ears to hear, I've told you this several times, but I still will bring it up just because it was a true story. At one time, I was preaching on that exact subject, having ears to hear, that it's the gift of God by faith. And this woman came up to me and she puts her finger in my face and she says to me, I have ears and they work fine. And I said, I don't think you heard anything I said. This is by faith. This is not physical hearing and physical understanding. This is spiritual. This is life and death. The Lord has to give ears to hear. I love what he said in John chapter 10. My sheep hear my voice. Why? Because I know them. Therefore they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. This is what we confess. Christ is gonna have to do all of this. This is what he puts in the abundance of the heart of the new man. We don't have the same old ways of thinking anymore, do we? He's given us repentance and faith. This word of God must be given by grace and believed in the heart by faith he gives. Therefore, we will confess it as our only hope. This gospel, we'll confess it as our only hope. It is not, our confession is not the cause of our sin. of our salvation. Our confession is the result of salvation bestowed by grace. The confession is evidence of salvation. The confession is evidence of salvation. We don't look at what we just did. We don't say, well, I just confessed, I just prayed, I just came to the altar and had a broken heart and I really poured my heart out unto the Lord and I believe he heard me and he forgave me because I did this and I did this. No. No men and brethren that all that's doing is is telling God you're offering yourself up unto him offering your works up unto him and you're trying to constrain him to save you. And it doesn't work that way. Salvations of the Lord, ordered and ensured from the foundation of the world, accomplished on the cross of Calvary for the Lord's people. At the fullness of time, he comes to where we are by his gospel, puts it in our heart, gives us faith to believe, give us repentance towards God. That's how he saves his people. It's called the calling of the Lord. And because of that, now we confess Christ is all. He is Lord. He's both Lord and Savior to the glory of God the Father. Men use these verses to say this is all you have to do to be saved. But confessing is the result of salvation. Salvation is not the result of confessing. God's elect confess Him because He hath saved His people. You know why we confess Him? Because He confessed us before the Father. That's why. The day that he confessed before the Father, when he prayed to the Father, he prayed for his people. He prayed for his people. He confessed them to the Father. He owned them as his own. He says, they're mine. That's what he said in Isaiah. It says, I've bought you, I've redeemed you, thou art mine. When did he do this? Before we were even formed in the womb, before the world was in existence, before time ever began. His people were known by Him. God's elect confess Him because He hath saved them from their sins. Now go back to me with Proverbs chapter 12. I want you to notice this verse 17. We're talking about speaking out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So I titled the message, Abundance of the Heart. It's a direct reflection of our heart condition, whether the Lord has saved us and given us an understanding of him by faith, we see him, we glorify him, we rest in him completely, or we're looking to ourself for something. And if we're doing so, we're self-righteous and we're wicked, we're sinners. But right here, he tells us what it is to speak the truth. Look at verse 17. He that speaketh truth, showeth forth righteousness. You want to speak the truth, show forth righteousness. Well, how are you going to do that in yourself? How am I going to do that in myself? Well, I can't exactly. I'm going to tell you, come see a man that told me all things ever I did. Is this not Christ? I'm going to come tell you this salvation is not of me or by me or by my works. It's by the Lord Jesus Christ alone accomplished once and for all and forever and ever. You, the Lord's going to draw the confession of righteousness out of it. That's going to be, you're going, I'm going to declare what our righteousness is. We're going to tell the truth on ourself about whether we truly believe God's caused us to believe him, or we're still looking to ourself. He's going to do that either in this life under mercy or in the next life under eternal death. King David had sinned, and he thought that he got by with it. And I know there may be times we feel the same way. But David, for nine months to a year, David went about his business acting like nothing was wrong with adultery and murder. And Nathan came to him. For the sake of time, I'm not going to tell the story that David gets with the lamb situation. It's told by Nathan because David said, well, whoever did that, he deserves to die. He's going to surely die. And he said, David, you're the man. You are the man. And there's a big difference between telling somebody you're the man in the way that Nathan told him that and people that walk around saying, look at me, I'm the man. I'm the man, I'm awesome. You know, I'm amazing. I don't know if some of you might not be familiar with this term, but especially among my generation, when somebody does something really good or in a sport or something, you look at him and say, man, you're the man. You're the man. That's not what Nathan was telling David. David was told you are the problem. You are the sinner. You are the wicked one. What did David say? I have sinned against the Lord. You can read his contrition prayer and it's all in chapter 51. He purged me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I'll be shall be made wider than snow. Restoring to me the joy of thy salvation. Restoring me the bones that thou hast broken. Oh, he got it. Give him repentance. He said, I have sinned against the Lord. And what did Nathan said? Here's our hope. Here's our hope. Fear not for I have put away your sin. You shall not die. The Lord gives the confession to his people that we are the sinner and that he is the savior, that we're unrighteous and he is righteous, that we're false and he's full of truth and grace. This is our confession. This is the abundance of the heart now that the Lord's given us. God draws this confession from his people. You remember the man sitting at the pool of Bethesda. He was impotent, 40 something years he sat there. I find it amazing, that pool had to be crowded. It was in the middle of the town or whatever, and they didn't know when the angel of the Lord would come trouble the water, but it said a certain season, so they knew it was around a certain time, but they didn't have the date and time down pat. There's no way. But we see this man at the pool of Bethesda, he's completely empty, and he can't help himself, and it's amazing to me that there's nobody else that the Lord records in his word that he walked up to at this time. All these other people have all these infirmities, And he walks right up to this man. What is that a picture of? That's a picture of election. That's what that is. He chose to have mercy on whom he would have mercy. And some people hate God for that. I love it. If he hadn't come chose me, we know the truth. We would still have this wicked heart. We would never choose him. We would deceive ourself all the way to the pit. And yet in mercy, he chose to walk up to this impotent man and saying to him, wilt thou be made whole? Now what's he doing? What's he doing? This man's sitting beside the pool. This man has to be thinking, well, I mean, I would, but, and he tells him, he says, sir, I have no man. There's the confession. I have no man to help me when the water is troubled. I can't, this doesn't work. I can't fix it with this. I can't help myself and nobody else can help me. And you know what the Lord did? The Lord healed him. Why? Because he confessed, in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. If you're going to save me, you're going to have to do it because I can't do anything to help you or to prevent you. If I'm going to be saved, you're going to have to do it. The Lord draws these confessions out of his people with the new heart that he gives us. It's a real confession out of the abundance of the heart. He changes the heart. Somebody said, well, we still have the sinful one. That's true. That's true, we still have this old nature that hates God, that still has horrible thoughts, that still thinks of itself, that still has pride, but the elder shall serve the younger. What's that mean? We're constrained by God himself. In the new man's heart, by his spirit, it looks to him as all our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We've been made to see we have no righteousness, and we need his. that we're dead dog sinners, but we desire the crumbs from his table, that it's going to be by grace alone or not at all. True confession, remember this, hope you remember everything I said tonight, but remember this, true confession is agreeing with God. It's siding with God against yourself. Think about that. It's literally saying, I'm going to take your side over my own. Now tell me that's not a miracle of grace. There's nobody that would take somebody else's side over their own and point to yourself. Yep. I'm the bad guy. You know, that's just, that's contrary to our nature, isn't it? Well, that's the point. He has to give a new one or we wouldn't do it. And that's exactly what he does by grace. True confession is seeing His way as not just the right way, it's the only way. Christ isn't just a truth, He is the truth. He is the way and He is the life. No man come to the Father but by Him. True confession is seeing His truth as our only hope. We agree. that the blood was sufficient to accomplish everything it was purposed to accomplish. We confess and believe that everything Jesus Christ came to do, he successfully fulfilled on the cross of Calvary in saving his people and redeeming them back to the Father. We believe that the spirit is not frustrated, that it accomplishes that which God sends and purposes it to do. We believe that his gospel, his word goes forth and does not return void unto him, but accomplishes that which he sends it to do. We believe that God is all sovereign, all powerful. He is seated as the sovereign creator and sustainer of life on his throne. None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? This is what God has given his people in their heart. The abundance of this new heart. to confess. He is all in salvation and he gets all the glory. God gives a new heart that causes his people to see things God's way. You know, we always think about being younger. You wanted things your way. Even I remember really young, maybe teenager years. I have teenagers, so I can really relate to this right now. They want things done their way. They want to do things their way. And I'm like, you know, if you didn't do it that way, it might not be as difficult because dad has a little bit of experience in those kind of things. Whenever the Lord gives this new heart, when he saves us by his grace, when he makes us born again, We don't see, we don't desire our way anymore. We see his and desire his way. That's what he said. My ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. As the heavens are above the earth, so is my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. Lord, give me your way. Christ said, I am. I am the way. So what are we praying for? We're praying for Christ. It all comes back to Him. We're praying for Him. Lord, give me Christ lest I die. Well, Job thought that he was something, didn't he? He was for 30 something chapters, I believe it is. He's sitting there justifying himself, saying, I didn't deserve this punishment that God gave me. Lord had caused all 10 of his children to die in a day. All of his flocks and herds were gone. Thousands of animals are gone. Servants were killed. Now Job is left to himself. He has his wife, but the Lord's allowed him to be afflicted with boils also from Satan. And Job's sitting there having a pity party. And boy, that'd be us too, wouldn't it? I guarantee it. Unless, The Lord sends a gospel preacher named Elihu to you and I, that causes us to hear the truth and the Lord tells us the truth. And what did the Lord cause him to confess? After all this, did he justify himself with God when the Lord said, Job, where were you when I laid the foundation of the world? Answer me if you can. That's just, uh, I mean, I talk about a rhetorical question. If you can't answer me, no, he couldn't. How are you gonna say to that? Where were you when I separated the sands of the sea from the ocean? I numbered every one of them. Where were you when I laid the constellations of the sky and named all the stars? Answer me this, how many stars are there? And he keeps going on Job for like three chapters, I believe it is. And at the end of it, Job said, behold, I am vile. That's the confession. That's the confession every believer is relinquished to. Not that we're just, oh, I'm just a sinner. No, we're vile. We're corrupted. We're polluted from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. We're lepers. And if the Lord doesn't cleanse us, oh, we won't be cleansed. The Lord must do it. What happened at the end of that book? Well, Job has restored everything that he had, but he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He believed on God because God made him confess what he is. And in doing so, that's called repentance. That means faith is given. They're never, ever not given together. Faith looks to Christ as all in salvation. Repentance shows that God's God and I'm not. I'm the sinner that needs to be saved. To speak righteousness is to speak truth about who we are as depraved sinners. To speak truth about who God is as the sovereign creator of this universe. To speak the truth about what Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary, what the blood accomplished. To speak the truth about us being nothing but wretched vile creatures. To speak truth is to speak what God speaks. To see things the way God sees them. And the way God sees them is the way. The way that they are, that's it. We speak what he has done in saving his chosen people. He gives this revelation to his people, and I'm coming to a close. He gives this revelation to his people. I've said this, I think, the last three sermons, or the last three messages I've given. I can't remember if it's been three or four, but it's a beautiful picture. It's a beautiful confession that the Lord gives and even says where it comes from. He asked his disciples, who do men say that I am? They said, some say you're Elijah, some say you're Isaiah or some other prophet. He looks at them and said, well, who do you say that I am? Because with your words, you're going to be justified, or with your words, you're going to be condemned, as we've read in the scripture already in Matthew chapter 12. And Peter said, spoke up, I believe that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And what the Lord tell him, blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood didn't reveal this unto you, but my father, which is in heaven. And he goes on to say, and upon this rock, he's not talking about Peter, I'm not gonna build the church off of Peter, the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord, that is the rock, that's the foundation, Christ is all. This is the confession from the new heart of flesh that the Lord gives to his people. This is the new abundance of the heart that we have by God's grace alone. This is a revelation of God by his will, by his power, by his purpose, his choice and his ability. Now, I have enough time, I want to just read this one more time. Now that we've seen these contrasts, different places in scripture. I want you to see the difference in the wicked and the righteous, knowing Christ is the righteous one that makes his people righteous. Look at verse 11. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. The wicked desire at the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yielded fruit. That's Christ, isn't it? The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips, but the just shall come out of trouble. Why? Because the Lord's the deliverer thereby. A man shall be satisfied with good but the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man's hand shall be rendered unto him. The way of fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. This is what the Lord calls his people to do, is hearken unto him. A fool's wrath is presently known, but a prudent man covereth shame. He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness. To speak the truth is to speak about the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness. But a false witness is deceit. That's what men do. They take the truth and they twist it, make it deceitful. They don't tell the whole truth. There is that speaketh like piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil, but to the counselors of peace is joy. Who's the counselors of peace? It's the Lord's chosen people. Is he not, was he not called the prince of peace? Are we not the ones that, you know what the gospel means? It means good news. And the scripture likens it unto the gospel of peace. So we declare the peace of the Lord when we declare the Lord Jesus Christ. The abundance of the heart, brethren, is now joy, now peace, now mercy, now grace. The abundance of the heart looks to the Lord Jesus Christ alone as all in salvation. This is what God required, and this is what God provided for his chosen people. He gives a new heart, a new nature that glorifies him alone. Thank God he does. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful. that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, and you have given us a new abundance in our heart, even praise unto you, even songs of thanksgiving unto you. Thank you. Bless us to our understanding for your glory in Christ's name, amen. In closing, let's turn to number 489, Glory to His Name, and let's stand together.