Matthew 12. Verse 34. O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh."

Now, every verse of Scripture, these are simple truths that refute the error of Antichrist. Religion loves to say things like, God hates the sin but loves the sinner. He doesn't call them people that do evil things. He said, you being evil, you're evil. And that's something that religion denies. Your sins, what you do is your problem. No, that's not right. It's what you are. And that's taught all through the scripture. David saying, in sin did my mother conceive me. And that's clearly taught here.

Oh, generation of vipers. He compares them to snakes. Of course, Satan took the form of a serpent in the garden, and that was indicative of subtlety and deception. And that's exactly what these religious Jews were guilty of, and the Lord called them sons of the devil. He said, if God were your father, as you claim, then you'd believe me. And that's how we know God is our father. We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by his grace. But he says, you're evil, and therefore, comes out of your mouth is evil.

He had just taught this before. You remember we talked about the good and bad fruit. He said either make the tree good and the fruit good or make the tree evil and the fruit evil. It's not going to be one or the other. A good tree is not going to bring forth evil fruit because of its nature, because of its nature, because of what it is. An evil tree's not gonna bring forth good, and a good tree's not gonna bring forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Out of what you are, because of what you are, you say what you do, and it's evil. And he reveals that to them, infuriating to the flesh.

These were men very proud of their religion and their deeds. But we do according to what we are. If you come to the place and the Lord gives you the opportunity to speak to somebody about the Lord, that's got to be part of the conversation. Because if you don't know what the problem is, you're not going to understand what the remedy is. You're not going to know how God saves a sinner until you know what a sinner is. And a sinner is evil. And people shy away from that.

In all sectors of life, people fail because they refuse to acknowledge the truth. It's offensive. Whether it's politics, whether it's in the home, whether it's at work, it's offensive to people, and so the truth is avoided. That's deadly to the soul. People need to know that they are evil. You are evil. Your little children are evil. I know they're precious to you. But they need a new heart. They don't need to just say their prayers and go to church and do the outward things. They need a new heart from God. Only God can do that. Religion can't do it for you.

So that's vital and basic to understand with regard to the gospel. you generation of snakes he wasn't afraid to say what was offensive because it's necessary how can you being evil speak good thing nothing good is going to come out of your mouth because of what your heart is out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh No wonder you're speaking blasphemy. You have a blasphemous heart. You are a blasphemer. That's so simple, isn't it? But that's denied in this work. It's avoided because it's offensive. A preacher who's trying to succeed and be prosperous and, to put it bluntly, get your money, he's not going to tell you that. He doesn't want to offend you. But how are you ever going to know the Savior if you don't even understand what He saved people from? It's not possible for you to say anything good, because you're evil in your heart. It may sound good to another evil person, but before God, it's blasphemy.

And this helps us understand the next two verses. Look at verse 36. Well, we're back at 35. Look at verse 35. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. And that word treasure, think about that. For an evil man, the evil that's in his heart, that's his treasure. That's what's important to him. His religion is important to him. His religion is what he trusts. But it's evil if it's anti-Christ.

But a good man out of the treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things. That's why we need a new heart. And look, this is not complicated, and it's often complicated by religion, but the truth is never complicated. It's just not. We are born with an evil heart. Our evil heart can't worship, it can't love. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Not the fruit of the flesh. You can call it love if you have affinity towards somebody in your family or something like that, but it's not the love of God. It's not the spiritual love of God that comes from his spirit that comes from a new heart. You can't love him. You can't serve him. Everything you do is evil. It's unacceptable in his sight, but a good heart. That's why he said a new heart.

Will I give you a new nature? You can call it a nature or not call it a nature. It's a nature. It's what you are. I am a child of the devil by nature, by nature. We're children of wrath, even as others Ephesians chapter two. But by the new heart that God gives us, we're children of God, and we're like Him. A child is like his father. We're created in righteousness and true holiness. There is the nature of Christ within us. It doesn't mean we can ever do anything meritorious. The nature of Christ in us is in us because we can't do anything meritorious. And God can only accept that, which is of Himself, of His Son. We can worship now. You think the flesh learned to worship? Your old heart learned to worship? No. You think your old heart learned how to love God? No. That's the new heart. That's just simple, isn't it?

But the new heart within us, though it works, though it worships, though it loves, it lusts against the flesh and vice versa. That's why Paul said, Oh, wretched man that I am. I'm conflicted. I want to do good, but I don't know how to do it. I don't even know how. I can't find it within myself to do something that's meritorious before God. And what was his response to that reality in his own heart and soul? Who's going to save me? The Son of God's got to save me.

But look what he said in verse 36, I say to every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Now think about this. He said, by your words, you'll be justified, and by your words, you'll be condemned. That's just simple too, isn't it? You say, well, no, we're justified by the blood of Christ. That's right, of course. But if Christ shed his blood for you, he loved you from eternity, and his nature dwells within you, it's going to change what you say. If there's a good tree, if there's a good nature, then you're gonna be able to say with Simon, God, Lord, you know I love you. You know everything, you know I love you. That's good fruit. The Father is glorified in that we bear fruit unto him. And the fruit of our lips is praise and worship and thanksgiving unto God.

That's not going to happen if you don't have a new heart. You might praise and glorify the Jesus of your imagination, but you're not going to bow to the sovereign Christ of the Bible and sing hallelujahs unto him without a new heart.

And he just said, a good, a good tree can't bring forth evil fruit. So if that new nature is in you, you're gonna, it doesn't mean you can't say it's impossible for you to say bad things, but everything that comes out of your mouth from now on, you, your words, your thoughts, Your deeds, everything about you is sanctified by the blood of Christ.

When you confess the Lord Jesus Christ, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, that's what we do when the Lord saves us. And that word confess means say the same thing he does. Look that word up, it's so interesting. When we think of the word confess, we think, well, I'm admitting to something. I guess that kind of goes along with what that word means in the scripture. But what it means literally in the scripture is to say what God said, to say the same thing as somebody.

He says, you're a dog and you don't deserve anything. Yay, Lord. We say, I'm a dog and I don't deserve anything. We say the same thing he said. And by thy words, you'll be justified before men and show forth that you have that new nature that he gives.

We're contempt not because our words are the only consideration with regard to our justification or our condemnation. He's just saying that our words will reveal which we are. They will reveal which we are, because they are an expression of what is in our heart. It's just so plain, isn't it? It's plain.

Romans 10, nine, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You see those words? I should have had you turn there, but listen. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, and believe in thine, what? Heart. What did he just teach us in our text? Whatever's in the heart, come out of the mouth.

If Christ is in your heart, then you will say what God said about yourself, about him, and about the Lord Jesus Christ and how God saves a sinner. You're gonna say what he said. And that's what that word means, confess. You'll be justified before God, not because the words of your mouth have merited it in some way, nor because your heart is essentially and meritoriously good through and through, because it's not, but because the God-given faith in your heart in Christ that is expressed by your mouth is evidence that God's grace is upon you, that he has saved you.

We're justified by faith, the scripture says, without the deeds of the law. Well, there again, is my faith so strong and sinless that I'm justified because of that? No, no, if I believe God, that shows that I'm justified by his blood. Romans chapter three, we believe in his blood and we're justified.

By that means, faith is confessed in words, without the deeds of the law, without any goodness of our own, justified. Because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you believe on him in your heart, he's given you a new heart that's able to believe. And that that heart speaks. That heart speaks. That's what our text is all about.

Now look at verse 38. We'll read verses 38 through 42. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. Here he's talking about vital, eternal things. Isn't that just like religion? Wait a minute, there's the issue of righteousness before God. How are you going to be righteous before God? By walking down here and saying something? How are you going to be righteous in the sight of God? How can God be just and justify a worm like you? Show us a sign. and will believe." No, no, no. No. Faith is believing what God said about these vital matters of the heart and soul and eternity, who God is, what you are before God, and how He could save a wretch like you by the blood of His Son. Signs don't have anything to do with that.

And here they are though, let's show us a sign, let's see some, you know, and these eternal matters are before men. But what do they want? They want a cloud that looks like Jesus in the sky, that's shaped like a cross. It was in the news one time when I was a young man that somebody dropped a popsicle on the sidewalk and it melted into the shape of the Virgin Mary. Everybody was making a big deal about that. That's what people want to see. But we have eternal issues. We have sinners hanging over hell by a spider's web, and a cloud ain't going to help them. What about that?

But here they are in the very face of the Son of God is telling them their problem before God by nature. And what can be done about it? What is done about it for his people? And they want to see a sign. But he answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. And there's not going to be a sign given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. Think about that for a second for as Jonas here's what he's elaborating on that What do you mean the sign of the Prophet for as Jonas was three? Days and three nights in the whales belly. So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it and because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Now notice the Lord, the way they addressed him, and the way he addressed them, in verses 38 and 39, and we'll close for a couple of minutes here. Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, Master. Now whether they said that mockingly or just out of respect of some kind, just earthly respect, I don't know. but I know how they felt about him in their hearts. They asked questions to trip him up. We know that from scripture, not to find out anything. Master, we would see a sign from thee. So they're kind of buttering him up there, but you see how they addressed him? Evil and wicked. He wasn't impressed. He wasn't swayed by their calling him master, they're complimenting him, or showing whatever respect they showed, or maybe mockery, more likely mockery. And it's evil. In the face, as we said a while ago, in the face of what sinners need to know, in the face of the gospel, to seek an outward side, that's nothing but evil. When you see these guys, and I don't know if they still, I haven't made the mistake of turning the TV to one of them in a while, but I'm sure they're still like, you know, hitting people on the head and they're falling out in the spirit and stuff like that. That's evil. You want to see Satan at work? You want to see the devil at work? Then turn that on. Because that's what it is.

You want to see Satan, you know, look at the Catholic Church and all their finery and their robes and their beads and their forgiving people's sins. That's evil, evil. The reason people do that, they count beads, it's the same thing as seeking a sign, because what they want is something physical, something outward, something that impresses the flesh. something that they can control and not waiting on God.

Mercy comes at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, not by you doing something, no matter what it is. May God give us the grace to understand and may he root it in our hearts, this basic truth of the gospel that he taught us here.